CNNBREAKINGNEWS said:

harveya said:

Prince was having some difficulty with sound and lighting issues...

I especially liked his "turn the lights OFF! 1001, turn the lights off..." lights go off "well done, there you go!"

i think if i was the tech guy on this tour i would a a BIG sign over the OFF switch of the LIGHTS and a BIG sign over the TURN MY GUITAR UP ...its so easy...just do it when he says!!!

plus an output plugged into a top notch recording device

I'm sorry i disagree with your positive feedback. The show was truly terrible. The organisation of the event was terrible. Having to queue for 1 hour and a half to get in, the advertised parking was non existent. We had to park a good mile away because of this. The concert itself was mixed. The crowd was dead for the most part. They seemed to be more positive and warming to Mint Condition who were terrible at best and GCS who were Amazing! The gold section was 50% full at best. You could move around and get anywhere you needed - that's how empty it was. The sound mixing and lighting operating was average at best, even Prince kept asking for these to be improved and for the most part they were ignored. In my opinion he played with no passion. It was like he clearly was just making a quick buck.

Other than the newly improved sections of Let's Get Crazy and other hits, this was no different to Coachella and Paris. Larry Graham clearly outplayed and shore him. It was another setlist with nothing but the hits. The first half was quite cool, guitar was the highlight of the night for me. On the other hand, the second half was just reminiscence of the ONA Aftershow Official Release. The tour is called 20ten but no new material was played (Xcept the chorus from Everybody Loves Me and Old Skool Company). I really feel like he needs a new band to capture the fabulous sounds that are achieved in the studio. I'm honestly not a hater. His the reason i'm making music, but it was a terrible affair in Arras. It almost made me lost touch with why i fell in love with his music and him.

hestilllovesme said:

but the setlist sounds really cool..

he played more than the berlin and rockslide gig I guess..

cuz I think he added

take me with you

mountains

everyday people

alphabet street

higher

All songs above (except for Alphabet St, I think) were played at Roskilde.

thapurple1 said:

I'm sorry i disagree with your positive feedback. The show was truly terrible. The organisation of the event was terrible. Having to queue for 1 hour and a half to get in, the advertised parking was non existent. We had to park a good mile away because of this. The concert itself was mixed. The crowd was dead for the most part. They seemed to be more positive and warming to Mint Condition who were terrible at best and GCS who were Amazing! The gold section was 50% full at best. You could move around and get anywhere you needed - that's how empty it was. The sound mixing and lighting operating was average at best, even Prince kept asking for these to be improved and for the most part they were ignored. In my opinion he played with no passion. It was like he clearly was just making a quick buck.

Other than the newly improved sections of Let's Get Crazy and other hits, this was no different to Coachella and Paris. Larry Graham clearly outplayed and shore him. It was another setlist with nothing but the hits. The first half was quite cool, guitar was the highlight of the night for me. On the other hand, the second half was just reminiscence of the ONA Aftershow Official Release. The tour is called 20ten but no new material was played (Xcept the chorus from Everybody Loves Me and Old Skool Company). I really feel like he needs a new band to capture the fabulous sounds that are achieved in the studio. I'm honestly not a hater. His the reason i'm making music, but it was a terrible affair in Arras. It almost made me lost touch with why i fell in love with his music and him.

I don't think we saw the same show. I thought it was absolutely amazing, and two of my friends with me, too. Maybe cause we were only second from the front, just to the left of center? The crowd WAS NOT dead up front, I can tell you that. And Mint Condition were not terrible, the musicians were excellent, though the vocalist was not so great.

Entering was a pain, but I don't think they weren't organized, just TOO organized. You only stood in line for an hour and a half? We were in line from 1 PM to 6 PM!

The Gold Section was strange, too large for the number of Gold tickets they sold, so it did seem somewhat empty. Prince only asked a couple of times for changes in his monitors, and yes, the sound guys didn't understand him apparently a few times when he asked for the lights to go down, but maybe they're French and didn't get it right away. Not everyone is a native English speaker you know.

I can't even believe you say he played with no passion! That is one of best concerts I've seen, EVER! I felt a lot of emotion and love from him only 20 feet away. You could read it on his face and in his gestures. My friends with me agreed, and they've seen him more times than I have.

I disagree, the set list wasn't ONLY hits, though a majority of songs were. And anyway, does that matter?

Sorry you had a bad time, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and don't regret one minute paying the 124€, nor roasting in the sun for hours, nor standing for hours on end, to be treated to such a fantastic show.

SquirrelMeat said:

The only shame is that he gives Mint Condition and Larry so much time, he starts late and then runs out of time just as he is hitting his stride!

Also, the event organisation was terrible. Gold Circle was a third of the venue, it was a 30 minute queue to get in and 20 minute queue to get a set of tickets before you could get a drink at the empty bars!

No Merchandise, except for all Larry stuff with NO ONE buying any of it!

I disagree somewhat. Mint Condition and Larry Graham only played about 45 minutes each. That's quite reasonable for opening acts. And Prince is all about helping out fellow musicians.

I do agree that some of the organization was terrible, but you should know that it was the most and best organized concert at a French venue that I've ever been to, in my 13 years here (though I didn't really agree with some of the organization). It did suck to have to wait another hour after being let in at a bit after 5 PM at a second gate, but it sound check was still going on, and the security guards have no power whatsoever, they have to wait for the OK from inside. The Gold Circle was way too big, I said in another post. It only took me a few minutes to get drink tickets and drinks, but that was at the beginning and I didn't return.

I agree too, that no merchandise was a big let down.

harveya said:

SquirrelMeat said:

The only shame is that he gives Mint Condition and Larry so much time, he starts late and then runs out of time just as he is hitting his stride!

Indeed! The group I was in kept saying this MUST be the last one as Mint Condition did yet another overblown (Prince Vegas-type) ending to EVERY song. No, one more...

Thankfully Larry didn't stay too long although ending his encore in the exact same way as he ended his main set was just poor ***shakes head***

AND (my major gripe with Larry) he didn't acknowledge Prince for asking him to join him at Arras. Prince always gives Larry HUGE credit for evrything, yet Larry never seems to pay Prince any compliments. Hands up who knew who Larry Graham was before Prince started kissing his ass! Grrr!

Mint Condition didn't play THAT long, come on. True a few of the songs had overblown endings, but they were damn good musicians.

I suppose you've never seen Larry Graham/GCS before? They usually end shows that way.

I heard him thank Prince. Maybe you guys were griping too much about stuff you didn't like to hear it.

Ever heard of Sly and the Family Stone? Hand up here. And I don't really think Prince is kissing his ass. Do you actually think Prince kisses ANYBODY'S ass?

Am surprised to read about the gripes with the venue and crowd in this thread.

Yes, we all had to queue to get in. That is, right or wrong, what happens at big gigs. The venue staff were all very friendly. The queueing time seemed longer because of the humidity broken only by blazing sunshine.

I can't fathom why anyone would think the crowd wasn't having fun. I was a few feet from the front and everyone around me was dancing, clapping, jumping, singing, and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The rapturous ovations at the end kept Prince coming out for more encores than normal.

Crowd and venue were brilliant, Prince and the NPG were brilliant, and I had a brilliant time that made the trip from England absolutely worthwhile.

I had mixed feelings about this, my 12th, Prince concert since 1990. The good: Prince was in a great mood and put on an excellent performance. This was my wife's first Prince stadium concert (after the much smaller Monaco show last year) and she was thoroughly impressed. It was nice to have a person new to Prince with me - it made me realise again how good Prince really is as an entertainer, even with a less than enthusiastic crowd. We were half-way (lots of space - I don't think more than 65% of tickets were sold) and people seemed to enjoy themselves but there was little or no engagement (I'm sure up front that was differeent!), but he did manage to excite people and get them more involved as he went along. Other plusses: some excellent songs (Mountains!!! How long I've wanted to hear that! Forever in my life!), a nice venue, friendly crowd (no pushing or shoving), free parking nearby, great sound and it's just wonderful to walk in at 21:00 (we had not interest in seeing Larry Graham again) and walk up to a decent spot without problems, with plenty of space to dance and move around. The best part was to see Prince having a great time - the overall energy was very positive and the show a very decent length.

The not so good: there were many parts of the show that were messy. From the fairly weak piano opening to the predictable song selection, the weird arrangements to some of the songs and the almost amateurish Disco Heat and the following jam (that was almost too bad - only saved by Prince's enthusiasm...), it felt as if it had been a long time since he played a large concert. Giving an entire song mid-concert to Shelby J or whatever her name is sucked the energy out of the show and was pointless. It was also a real pity to only hear three songs that were less than a decade old and only two songs from the last albums (I really love lotusflow3r and rate it as one of his 5 best albums). The encores were a mixed bag. Forever in my life was great to hear but a weird choice as an encore, Peach was not played very well, and personally I didn't like the ending very much ('let go, let God'). Higher and the other tracks with Larry Graham were solid but very predictably]e - it was like they'd put on a tape of themselves from 10 years ago, down to the actual breaks.

Having said this, I had a great time. There were enough highlights to make the show very enjoyable.

m3dusamask said:

I can't even believe you say he played with no passion! That is one of best concerts I've seen, EVER! I felt a lot of emotion and love from him only 20 feet away. You could read it on his face and in his gestures. My friends with me agreed, and they've seen him more times than I have.

I've seen the videos, and there's not an ounce of passion there. Heard the same complaint from several other people.

m3dusamask said:

Mint Condition didn't play THAT long, come on. True a few of the songs had overblown endings, but they were damn good musicians. Mmmm

I suppose you've never seen Larry Graham/GCS before? They usually end shows that way. I have seen Larry Graham twice as Prince support - but doing an encore of a song you've already played? Is his back catalogue that poor?

I heard him thank Prince. Maybe you guys were griping too much about stuff you didn't like to hear it. Perhaps you were listening too hard

Ever heard of Sly and the Family Stone? Hand up here. And I don't really think Prince is kissing his ass. Do you actually think Prince kisses ANYBODY'S ass? Of course, but I don't tend to check the names of every musician in every band I hear of... Oh come on, Prince has basically taken every one of Larry's words as gospel for the past however many years.

m3dusamask said:

Prince only asked a couple of times for changes in his monitors, and yes, the sound guys didn't understand him apparently a few times when he asked for the lights to go down, but maybe they're French and didn't get it right away. Not everyone is a native English speaker you know.

Turn my guitar up

Turn the keys up

Turn the lights off, 1001, turn the lights off

Turn the lights on

Turn the background up

Turn the background down (and continued looking over to the side of the stage, pointing at the background singers, pointing to his mouth and waving "down")

And I would worry sooo much if the sound crew were doing the lights!

Perhaps he should've got Larry Graham's guys on the job

First, the venue.

I would not go back there, the organisation was bad, the gold circle was dancing on cobbles, feet were killing me.

Second, support.

Mint condition were on for 40 minutes and were OK.

Larry was on foraround 35 minutes and was as usual Boring.

Finally, Prince.

The setlist wasnt anything new, but Prince was in such a good mood with his reactions and facual exprssions.

The concert was good, but the ending was awful.

powersoul99 said:

First, the venue.

I would not go back there, the organisation was bad, the gold circle was dancing on cobbles, feet were killing me.

Second, support.

Mint condition were on for 40 minutes and were OK.

Larry was on foraround 35 minutes and was as usual Boring.

Finally, Prince.

The setlist wasnt anything new, but Prince was in such a good mood with his reactions and facual exprssions.

The concert was good, but the ending was awful.

The reviews for this show are so wildly different I have to think the haters went in with a bad attitude as usual. May be time for some of you to move on .

thapurple1 said:

Other than the newly improved sections of Let's Get Crazy and other hits, this was no different to Coachella and Paris. Larry Graham clearly outplayed and shore him. It was another setlist with nothing but the hits.

He's been doing this since the Musicology tour. The tour that finally would've put the hits to rest. Yeah right! Altought the Musicology tour had a better, balanced setlist. And now he's randomly picking hits, changing arrangements (got to give him that) and just play a few songs. He's doing what Bob Dylan is doing for more than a decade now: The Never Ending Tour. Basically the same setlist with few changes. His last real surprising tour was One Nite Alone.

Still, nobody beats him when it comes to playing live and give a hell of a show.

laurarichardson said:

powersoul99 said:

First, the venue.

I would not go back there, the organisation was bad, the gold circle was dancing on cobbles, feet were killing me.

Second, support.

Mint condition were on for 40 minutes and were OK.

Larry was on foraround 35 minutes and was as usual Boring.

Finally, Prince.

The setlist wasnt anything new, but Prince was in such a good mood with his reactions and facual exprssions.

The concert was good, but the ending was awful.

The reviews for this show are so wildly different I have to think the haters went in with a bad attitude as usual. May be time for some of you to move on .

So your saying only you can have a opinion?

You think the venue was good? cobbles and all?

So your saying the setlist was new?

Interesting Concert.

powersoul99 said:

laurarichardson said:

The reviews for this show are so wildly different I have to think the haters went in with a bad attitude as usual. May be time for some of you to move on .

So your saying only you can have a opinion?

You think the venue was good? cobbles and all?

So your saying the setlist was new?

Opinions are like buttholes everybody has one but to see people complaining about the venue and the crowd responses instead of the actual music being performed tells me that those people had an agenda when they went to this concert. They went looking for the negative things and they found them.

As far as P's set list who in the hell is going to pay money to see any artist not perform any of their hit songs. I will tell you who "no one" if you want to see P stop performing see what happens if he stops performing any of his hits in his show.

In addtion, he never said he was never going to perform his hits again. He said he was dropping some songs due to the lyrics and some songs he felt were not needed anymore like "1999".

I do not recall P saying he was never going to do any of his hit songs again if that were the case he might as well stop performing.

^ ermmm did u go? until then u can't have an opinion about ppls attitudes and start calling them haters thats such utter nonsense and completely ridiculous, thats ur own negativity mindset on people not the individual who went, u dont know them at all and u wasnt there(?) so take people's view as how u see it coz its there truth, there experience not urs and maybe its time for u to move on

Anyway...We didnt get back until today. we missed so many trains that we had to stay another night.
Well i thought it was great, altho ppl are saying hes dancing for his money: maybe he was maybe he wasnt who knows who cares, if he just

stood there and sang behind his guitar theres complaints, if he dances theres complaints! the man can't win! at the end of the day he was

playful and gave a good show, its the most ive seen him dance and smile in a very long time, glad he pushed the backing singers at the back

and he took over the front, coz ppl did come to see him afterall. when he climbed down off the stage and came and touched the front rows

hands i was quite surprised, he just seemed more loose. the setlist wasnt the best but he made up for that with his persona and he seemed

quite emotional and touched by it all, seeing the sea of people on the screens was pretty cool so from Prince's view it would of looked

amazing in that square. But the reality of it all the conditions was bad in the audience, ppl were getting crushed, it was unbearably swelting

hot, ppl fainting, ppl fighting, men being brutal wit girls, the crowd was very aggressive. ur there standing on stones and rumble for hours

with ur legs and feet crumbling underneath u while ur trying not to faint urself! He should stop play stadiums like that and play seated places

only, his fans are not teenagers anymore.
It was a great show and Prince he looked fantastic, but i wouldnt go back there again (unless it was in a city and seated) no-one on planet earth is worth the stress and health risk for.

catpark said:

^ ermmm did u go? until then u can't have an opinion about ppls attitudes and start calling them haters thats such utter nonsense and completely ridiculous, thats ur own negativity mindset on people not the individual who went, u dont know them at all and u wasnt there(?) so take people's view as how u see it coz its there truth, there experience not urs and maybe its time for u to move on

No I did not go to this concert because I live in the U.S but I have been to 20 other Prince concerts and I find the wild differences in opinions about this show to be strange. I can also read and I can take what I want from these wildly different opinions. Someone bitching about the cobblestones and the lack of response from the crowd and not the actual music seems to be looking for something to complain about because they certainly did not give the music any attention in their review.

If this is all they really care about then yes they should move the fuck on to another artist.

I hope I made myself clear to you but take your time and read as long as it takes for you to get it.

catpark said:

Anyway...We didnt get back until today. we missed so many trains that we had to stay another night.
Well i thought it was great, altho ppl are saying hes dancing for his money: maybe he was maybe he wasnt who knows who cares, if he just

stood there and sang behind his guitar theres complaints, if he dances theres complaints! the man can't win! at the end of the day he was

playful and gave a good show, its the most ive seen him dance and smile in a very long time, glad he pushed the backing singers at the back

and he took over the front, coz ppl did come to see him afterall. when he climbed down off the stage and came and touched the front rows

hands i was quite surprised, he just seemed more loose. the setlist wasnt the best but he made up for that with his persona and he seemed

quite emotional and touched by it all, seeing the sea of people on the screens was pretty cool so from Prince's view it would of looked

amazing in that square. But the reality of it all the conditions was bad in the audience, ppl were getting crushed, it was unbearably swelting

hot, ppl fainting, ppl fighting, men being brutal wit girls, the crowd was very aggressive. ur there standing on stones and rumble for hours

with ur legs and feet crumbling underneath u while ur trying not to faint urself! He should stop play stadiums like that and play seated places

only, his fans are not teenagers anymore.
It was a great show and Prince he looked fantastic, but i wouldnt go back there again (unless it was in a city and seated) no-one on planet earth is worth the stress and health risk for.

Just shows you how people have different perceptions and experiences. I was right at the front of the crowd, and as I mentioned in my review, the crowd was the most happy, polite and friendly I have come across in years. Certainly more so than the London O2 audience that were obsessed with taking camera-phone pictures, going to the bar, and chatting among themselves. The 'cobbles' weren't really cobbles and I managed to stand, dance and jump on them throughout.

catpark said:

Anyway...We didnt get back until today. we missed so many trains that we had to stay another night.
Well i thought it was great, altho ppl are saying hes dancing for his money: maybe he was maybe he wasnt who knows who cares, if he just

stood there and sang behind his guitar theres complaints, if he dances theres complaints! the man can't win! at the end of the day he was

playful and gave a good show, its the most ive seen him dance and smile in a very long time, glad he pushed the backing singers at the back

and he took over the front, coz ppl did come to see him afterall. when he climbed down off the stage and came and touched the front rows

hands i was quite surprised, he just seemed more loose. the setlist wasnt the best but he made up for that with his persona and he seemed

quite emotional and touched by it all, seeing the sea of people on the screens was pretty cool so from Prince's view it would of looked

amazing in that square. But the reality of it all the conditions was bad in the audience, ppl were getting crushed, it was unbearably swelting

hot, ppl fainting, ppl fighting, men being brutal wit girls, the crowd was very aggressive. ur there standing on stones and rumble for hours

with ur legs and feet crumbling underneath u while ur trying not to faint urself! He should stop play stadiums like that and play seated places

only, his fans are not teenagers anymore.
It was a great show and Prince he looked fantastic, but i wouldnt go back there again (unless it was in a city and seated) no-one on planet earth is worth the stress and health risk for.

Spot on report.

And for those that wasnt there and just moaning about others that report on the gig and the venue. maybe if you went instead of staying at home you m ight find out what iit is like at a crap venue.

Arras was my first Prince concert, and it was fantastic. I didn't really like Mint Condition, but Larry Graham was amazing and pretty good for an ouverture.

Then Prince arrived, and the first 40 minutes were totally crazy (Let's Go Crazy!). The jam then was very good and well-played, and I litterally cried during the Purple Rain solo. 3 or 4 encores finished the show and I was amazed by such a lovely artist.

Best concert I've seen in my life (although and I saw some goods ones!)!

laurarichardson said:

catpark said:

^ ermmm did u go? until then u can't have an opinion about ppls attitudes and start calling them haters thats such utter nonsense and completely ridiculous, thats ur own negativity mindset on people not the individual who went, u dont know them at all and u wasnt there(?) so take people's view as how u see it coz its there truth, there experience not urs and maybe its time for u to move on

No I did not go to this concert because I live in the U.S but I have been to 20 other Prince concerts and I find the wild differences in opinions about this show to be strange. I can also read and I can take what I want from these wildly different opinions. Someone bitching about the cobblestones and the lack of response from the crowd and not the actual music seems to be looking for something to complain about because they certainly did not give the music any attention in their review.

If this is all they really care about then yes they should move the fuck on to another artist.

I hope I made myself clear to you but take your time and read as long as it takes for you to get it.

Again u wasn't there and ur patronising of others is a joke. it seems ur the one that really doesn't get it.

olskooljamz said:

catpark said:

Just shows you how people have different perceptions and experiences. I was right at the front of the crowd, and as I mentioned in my review, the crowd was the most happy, polite and friendly I have come across in years. Certainly more so than the London O2 audience that were obsessed with taking camera-phone pictures, going to the bar, and chatting among themselves. The 'cobbles' weren't really cobbles and I managed to stand, dance and jump on them throughout.

Most certainly. We was at the front on Prince's left and they was an angry agressive crowd during the waiting but when Prince got on stage everyone forgot it all and we just went crazy for him dancing jumping singing away, then i realise when it finished i couldnt walk

Prince was amazing that night the stadium was all very pretty in beautiful france but i didnt think it was an ideal place and i would go back but only if its seated.

The o2 main show i totally agree with u there, too many bars, half the time ppl wasnt even listening to Prince they was just drinking chatting it was quite odd and it became more like a sports event than a concert. but the Indigo nights was fantastic the best ever.

laurarichardson said:

In addtion, he never said he was never going to perform his hits again. He said he was dropping some songs due to the lyrics and some songs he felt were not needed anymore like "1999".

Err, yes he did. The O2 gigs were billed as the last time he'd play the hits. Plus he played 1999 at Arras so... fail!

harveya said:

laurarichardson said:

In addtion, he never said he was never going to perform his hits again. He said he was dropping some songs due to the lyrics and some songs he felt were not needed anymore like "1999".

Err, yes he did. The O2 gigs were billed as the last time he'd play the hits. Plus he played 1999 at Arras so... fail!

Well once again I am in the US and when he did his tour in 2004 he said in numerous interviews that he was cutting some songs out due to lyrical content and just dropping some because that were too old. I know that he has performed 1999 since then and I also know that AGE Live was promoting his concerts and it is possible that they put out the hits for the last time to pump up the tickets sales but once again I have never heard P say he was never going to do any of his hits in concert.

Some of you are so jaded and fucked in the head that you actually hear what you want to hear and see what you want to see. No one wants to pay money to go to a concert and hear a bunch of songs they do not know. If P took any of the advice from the haters on this board he would be playing for free at amusement parks but fortunately the guy who has been doing it for other 30 years knows what he is doing and not listening to some moron on a message board who has never put on a concert or recorded one bit of music that anyone was interested in.

At the end of the day he is still rocking and putting money in his pockets and your complaining ass is still paying to see him.

catpark said:

laurarichardson said:

No I did not go to this concert because I live in the U.S but I have been to 20 other Prince concerts and I find the wild differences in opinions about this show to be strange. I can also read and I can take what I want from these wildly different opinions. Someone bitching about the cobblestones and the lack of response from the crowd and not the actual music seems to be looking for something to complain about because they certainly did not give the music any attention in their review.

If this is all they really care about then yes they should move the fuck on to another artist.

I hope I made myself clear to you but take your time and read as long as it takes for you to get it.

Again u wasn't there and ur patronising of others is a joke. it seems ur the one that really doesn't get it.

Okay fuckwad you do not think that the wildly different opinions from the same old bitchers at the same show is strange. I get that much and I get that you are really not that bright since you cannot see the agenda and foolishness of some orges

Thank You and Goodnight. I can have a better discussion with a paper sack

I was a little bit surprised during Larry's set that the female singer was swearing a lot.

Makes me wonder why Prince needs to leave some songs out of his set list.

Maybe next time he can let the background singers do the nasty parts