It's not a tour, so it's going to be loose and easy. It's a promotional jaunt, nothing more. People should just lower their expectations and go with the flow, then maybe they'd enjoy it a whole lot betta.

Prince was enjoying it tonight more than I have seen him in years.

SquirrelMeat said:

Prince was enjoying it tonight more than I have seen him in years.

Review/setlist please?

Ok, maybe slightly negative at first reaction.

But i still experienced a show that was (sometimes very) well-done and gave a lot of people value fo their money. But again, imo it lacked true inspiration. So i witnessed an act including the standard tricks and teasing. The standard musical craftmanship (and oh yes that is at a very high level, yes it is). No real magic.

Besides that, there where some great moments at the end: forevere in my life (different from berlin) and the let go, let God sequence. Moving indeed.

Anyway, no big deal. Thought i share my feelings about Arras. And yes that has something to do with my personal expectations, but also seeing the man for some time (1987) and 'knowing' when things go special or standard.

Art.

Wow, that is completely contrary to what I experienced yesterday!

I saw a guy having just about the greatest time ever on stage, dancing from the first 'till the last second constantly having this big grin of his (he does seem to have enough teeth for two, doesn't he?).

I can only say that, with all the concerts where I was present in mind, this one easily ranks top three!

Btw, did anyone get a picture of his expression when he feigned to toss his guitar in the crowd? You could just hear him think; "yeah right, you know how much this cost"?

Oh, and did anyone catch Shelby missing her cue in Dance (Disco Heat)? Prince saw it coming and ran over to her to give her a nudge

Xibalba said:

It's not a tour, so it's going to be loose and easy. It's a promotional jaunt, nothing more. People should just lower their expectations and go with the flow, then maybe they'd enjoy it a whole lot betta.

for 80/150 Euros I'm not lowering my expectations...

Well I agree with art....seen P around 30 times now and this wasn't his greatest performance, IMO. Agree with weejimmy on another thread about the French crowd too - not exactly the most excited bunch!

Thought he was having a ball when Larry came on stage, and his performance was excellent throughout (nice to see the man dancing lots), but on the whole the sound wasn't fantastic, keyboards weren't loud enough and the setlist was not inspiring.

My other half (daf1999) wants to add that he missed the horns section and wasn't feeling the new tracks....we can remember the words but not the melodies to any of them

Everyone's entitled to their opinion and I'm glad we came, but we've seen better. Happy that so many people thought it was fantastic - no-one can change the memory you create for yourself!

It was indeed very disappointing but i didn't expect much anyway considering that he used his "pop" band. Prince now has the unchallenging Josh/Cora/Morris/Singers band for this and hopefully he'll keep using the challenging Rhonda/John/Renato band for richer performances.

Here it was just playing pop star, playing the hits, having a very generic sound, do what he does and satisfying the mass of non-fans who just wanna see Prince once in their life and hear "Kiss".

There were a few great moments, particularly "Guitar" and "Controversy/Sexy Dancer/Le Freak", but even songs that i love to hear live sounded flat ("Peach" was really disappointing compared to last year's Montreux version!).

I won't complain, Prince was very friendly towards the audience and i'll be back to see him in Geneva and possibly Nice as well, but i'm just so sick of hearing "Let's Go Crazy", "Take Me With U", "1999", "Kiss" and "Purple Rain" again and again and again... I deeply love these songs, they're old friends, but i've just heard them too many times to want to hear them again at a show...

The setlist, for those who care, was more or less that (with order mistakes and possible ommissions since it's from memory):

Venus De Milo

Let's Go Crazy

Delirious

1999

Take Me With U

Guitar

Controversy

Sexy Dancer/Le Freak

Some boring soul song by Shelby J.

Nothing Comparse 2 U

Mountains

Everyday People and (i think) Release Yourself (?) both with Larry G.

Purple Rain

Old Skool Company

Kiss

Peach

Everybody loves Me

Forever In My Life

7 (chorus only, leading to a "Let go, let God" chant)

I wasn't there but what I've seen so far on yt is very promising 4 2nite - he looked much happier compared 2 his concerts in London and I love 2 see him dancing like that.

But now I need 2 get going - Werchter is waiting. Huray!

I totally disagree with the first post. It was a brilliant concert, on of the best I've seen from Prince !

Setlist according to my memory and other posts (might still be some shifts) :

- Venus de Milo

- Let's go Crazy

- Delirious

- 1999

- Little Red Corvette

- Take me with you

- Guitar

- Some parts of "Hot Summer"

- Controversy

Interludium : "Angel", by Shelby J. (one of his chorists)

- Nothing compares 2 U (with Shelby J.)

- Mountains

- Shake your body

- Everyday People (with Mint Condition and Larry Graham)

- The Freak

- Alphabet Street

- Higher (Jam)

- Kiss

- Purple Rain

- Everybody Loves Me

- Disco Heat

- Peach

- Ol' Skool Company

- Forever in my life

- 7 (Chorus only, leading to a "Let go, let God" chant)

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 his arse off 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 with girls, the crowd was very aggressive. ur there standing on stones and rubble for hours

with ur legs and feet crumbling underneath u while ur trying not to faint urself! He should stop playing stadiums like that and play seated places only, his fans are not teenagers anymore.
It was a great show and Prince 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:

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 his arse off 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 with girls, the crowd was very aggressive. ur there standing on stones and rubble for hours

with ur legs and feet crumbling underneath u while ur trying not to faint urself! He should stop playing stadiums like that and play seated places only, his fans are not teenagers anymore.
It was a great show and Prince 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.

It sounds nightmarish! Hope u got some of those half price tickets catpark!

eireboy34 said:

catpark said:

It sounds nightmarish! Hope u got some of those half price tickets catpark!

no we didnt unfortunately!

And also who ever was doing the lighting for him was absolute crap or deaf. He must of told them a million times either to switch the light off or on and they just wasnt doing it. God knows what all that was about.

I don't know why ppl are saying the show wasn't that good cos I thought it was great. Looked like he was having a fun, too! Didn't expect so many old tunes, but thought it was a fantastic night anyways! Took my partner who doesn't really know P's music and now he's converted.

I agree that the lighting person was sh!te - couldn't tell the difference btw OFF and ON LOL

catpark said:

ladymisskat said:

ladymisskat said:

catpark said:

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 his arse off 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 with girls, the crowd was very aggressive. ur there standing on stones and rubble for hours

with ur legs and feet crumbling underneath u while ur trying not to faint urself! He should stop playing stadiums like that and play seated places only, his fans are not teenagers anymore.
It was a great show and Prince 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.

I enjoyed the show to THE MAX and can't understand any criticism directed to Prince. What do u want? U can't please everyone all the time, but I honestly had the best night ever. Can't believe I didn't see u Cat, we MADE the glum people around us join in the happy vibe along with our Parisian friends Rudy and Isabelle. Then had to sprint for the 12•40 train which actually didn't leave for another half hour! Larry, GCS, Prince and the NPG rocked my socks off and I even warmed to Mint Condition. I was there to party and was provided the best music around to do it to, so I can't complain and only thank the music x x

The show was great, Prince was amazing. We was right at the front to Prince's left, there was a lot of pushing and shoving and a lot of angry ppl there but once he got on stage we was all going mad dancing and singing away, he came to our side a lot which was bonus for us. its was quite an emotional show well for me it was! but even before that Larry was excellent couldnt fault him at all the man is hard. Mint condition were good not sure why all the criticism for them.

Can't believe i didnt see u either Kat. I wished we just waited for the next train but we decided to stay the night and end up being there until sunday! long story.

France is a beautiful place would go back again only if its seated tho!

catpark said:

It was a fantastic show.

And about the heat, the pushing, the stones on the square, well you gotta do something to deserve it:lol:

It was a fabulous show!!

I missed Mint condition as the train from Lille to Arras was cancelled so a large number of fans were very late. (I arrived just in time to see GCS who were fab)

Arras was my 9th Prince concert but for his performance and mood on stage it was the absolute best Prince show i've ever been to, it definately the most i've ever seen him dance live and when Mountains came on there was a lump in my throat (love that song )

The only downside for me was I couldnt get as close as I wanted to the stage.

The French seem to smoke alot and dance very little, I was really suprised as I expected them to be on good form and rocking all night The Audience directly infront of the stage to about 20deep was on REALLY good form, they had balloons and tamborines, sang along and clapped and waved all the way through the show.

There were little pockets of people dancing away within a sea of smoking statues, (the smoking statues only moved when Guitar & Kiss was played).

I was surrounded by the statues for a good portion of the concert but my night was saved when a couple of people made there way over to me and we danced and sang into the night!! eventually the smokers standing around put their cigarettes out and started dancing too!

We then danced and sang so much I missed my 23:54 train but fortunately the 00:40 was delayed so snuck onto that one

I forgot to Mention the Dance with Me to the disco beat portion of the show was Hilarious!! it just went on and on and on and on and ON.. Lil man kept stopping walking away then doing a James Brown about turn and comming back for more!

Not all of the Youtube vids really dont convey any of the brilliant atmosphere so judging the concert on those sells the night short. (RodolhpheIDF medley has the best crown interaction snippets IMHO)

For all the MJ fans he channeled his MJ with two bandages on his arms and a smattering of MJ moves throughout - most obviously throughout Kiss he also dedicated a cover 'for my friend' later then launched into shake your body.

I'm still smiling it as an trully magnificent experience. He started Playing about 8:45 and the show didnt end until 00:10 or there abouts.

EPIC

[Edited 7/12/10 4:42am]

I thought the show was amazing and I thought there was something in it for everyone. There was not one bit of Prince's performance that I didn't like. I felt the show was balanced and flowed brilliantly. Where I stood it was interesting watching people getting excited about different songs. Some go mad for Peach others go mad for Mountains. I loved watching when someones favourite song came on and they just went wild.

From where I was standing people were going estatic and dancing their little feet off. Also as the night went on people got more relaxed and were just enjoying the concert and all the pushing and shoving and the cobbles and heat were forgotten.

Also the Youtube clips really don't do the night justice for me. It's hard to capture all those small nuances that Prince did. Pretending to throw his guitar into the crowd, dancing with the promoter, and teasing us with the oh-eh-ooooss.

Really, you had to be there!

Like I said earlier; I had a great time seeing what a great time he was having

But french guys smoking pot and shouting "Choco-Prince" all throughout the concert;