From Cora’s stone cold drum to Renato’s mellow piano without forgetting the smooth brass section, Josh’s bass, Morris’s (and Prince’s) keyboards, quite an imposing selection of instruments were played during the Earth Tour.

As always, Prince himself used a diversity of guitars. Whether it is the Cloud guitars (TBC), the Symbol guitar, the Hohner Tele, and his new baby Blue Strat, they are all unique and have their own distinct looks and sounds.

My personal favourite is the Hohner Tele “The Prinz” (the one with the leopard print). I think it produces some of the best of Prince’s sounds from old school funk to warm blues and even jazz.
I love the sound of that guitar so much that one day I think I will have to buy one and learn how to play it myself!

All these instruments were of course complementing each other and worked well as a whole, but which one would you say has really hit your spot this summer?



Does anybody know whether or not Prince has played any of his cloud guitars this summer?
[Edited 9/28/07 16:20pm]

Maceos Horn, Amazing!

me and londoners fave instrument was princes backside as we hammered on it with our glow stix from blk115 row dd

on a serious note..... maceos horn.... omg!!!!! blew me away (oh i thought i was getting serious then ) scuse the pun

purplerain33 said:

Was this at the last main show? I was in same blk, row BB!

Maceo is definetly the man, my second favourite actually, although it's hard to choose as I really like them all! I'm going to see him next month btw and I can't wait.

at which show did Prince use a cloud guitar, dont remember ever seeing it, unless it was at an aftershow i didnt see. Mike philips impressed me alot, but Maceo is the man, and if i have a chance I will return for his show, even though i have seen him 4 times already, (1 time being the 31st aftershow)

I know Maceo has been getting alot of props, but I think Mike Philly deserves just as big a shout (if not bigger!!)...his Wonderful World solos were too beautiful for words. I wished the crowd had joined in singing the chorus just one time, that would have been amazing to hear!

Whitnail said:

I haven't been to all the shows so I'm not sure either. I assumed he still occasionally uses the cloud guitars, but I don't really know, can anyone confirm?

Cora made a large impression on me - mainly by her wonderful performance at the 31st August aftershow. Without Prince on stage the whole band seemed to perform better than ever (better than in the other three Prince-a-licious aftershows I saw) - I'm guessing they subconsciously hold back ever so slightly so as not to upstage Prince (as if that were possible).

Mike Phillips was amazing enough on the sax - but the things he can do with that vocoder thing are simply incredible!

Maceo just has a sound and style that is instantly recognisable from his JB days - wonderful.

Renato was awesome on some nights - less so on others.

Mr Hayes was always good but was a little subdued overall I thought.

Greg Boyer was good - but what can you really do with a trombone? No suggestions please!

William Lee Hogan was pretty much in the background although his occasional trumpet solos were always on the mark.

Poor old Josh was the least spectacular to my ears - probably a victim of the sound system more than anything else.

Marva was the cowbell queen!

Shelby can shake my tambourine anytime!!

Obviously Prince's guitars were the real stars of the show though.
[Edited 9/28/07 9:39am]

JazzMeUp said:

yeah last main show.....

DaveT said:

Oh God his solo's had me choked up, really beautiful.

purplerain33 said:

Your arms must be quite long...

Sorry, but it's the Toilet seat

As P said, U gotta know how to work the Toilet seat

JazzMeUp said:

yes go go gadget arms off ebay

Greg Boyer was good - but what can you really do with a trombone? No suggestions please!

Check out Fred Wesley...you can do amazing things with a trombone and Greg is a pretty damn good player.

Poor old Josh was the least spectacular to my ears - probably a victim of the sound system more than anything else.


I thought this as well until I listened to the aftershow on 28th August where he laid down some murderously tight basslines (All Shook Up in particular). Unfussy, unspectacular but utterly solid. Exaclt what a bass player should be.

Oh, and it's got to be Maceo's alto, funky genius...
[Edited 9/28/07 15:37pm]

I can't decide on a favourite, but the horns were unforgettable this summer.

I personally liked it when prince played the spoons on stage, that was great

On a couple of the nights I was at Prince played a mean 2 minute solo on Bass to introduce Black sweat!! That was too good.

However, nothing beats his guitar or piano solos, regardless of the instruments!

Bring back the Purple Axe!

patrickBateman said:

Did he really? In which song?

I'm quite partil to the recorder. sounds shit but ou gotta love it.



loggin off now as very drunk

goddnight all i love you x x x

shut up already.


damn.

JazzMeUp said:

You know that word "hoax" you learned yesterday.....

iloveannie said:

DoMeBaby69 said:

Yes...

JazzMeUp said:

Well believe it or not, Prince didn't actually play the spoons at any of his 02 gigs. Strange but true.

Hearlon said:

Oh yeah, Boyer's an exceptional trombonist - I just don't see that as one of the greatest solo instruments that's all. You know, like the way a Harp isn't as versatile as a guitar so the trombone isn't as versatile as say a sax.

I got nothing against the trombone - just sayin' is all.




He's certainly tight as a gnat's chuff but unfortunately the sound system didn't help us hear how great he really is. I mean at the afteshows you couldn't make much out but at the main shows you couldn't make out anything at all.

In fact, from a music point of view, the sound at both venues was very poor overall (particularly the arena).

A little less volume would have done wonders in both venues but you know how it is with sound engineers these days - louder must be better, right?
[Edited 9/29/07 14:42pm]

DoMeBaby69 said:

Well, anything is poss with a creative man like him. After all, he did play a cow's bell at the 13th aftershow. Yes, really!!! Mooooh

Sorry, you guys carry on the technical debate...

I still haven't got my answer about the cloud guitars btw. Come on, someone must know, surely...

Whatitis said:

I get what you are saying, I do think the trombone is a brilliant solo instrument for funk when you don't need to play musical pyrotechnics. It's a great rhythm instrument, just nails the funk sometimes. (Can you tell I play the trombone and the bass????)...