Many years ago I stopped being curious about a new Prince album, simply because his new albums kept disappointing me. Honestly, when was his last great album??? But that's ok, nobody can be so incredibly creative as he was over 20 years or so...

But we still had the live shows! In 2002, after a couple of crap albums, he returned with "the rainbow children", I wasn't into it so much, but Prince was into it! So he based a tour on it, arranged the new songs just fantastically and chose some older songs perfectly matching with his new songs. He again created a musical concept, something that worked. And he chose the right band for that music, the right stage, the right venues (smaller ones) and even the right clothes. I still have my ticket for the show in Frankfurt, a concert I'll always remember, I wished he would never stop playing...so I got my tickets for the next show in Oberhausen and even an about 200€-ebay-ticket for Zurich...money didn't matter those days, cause you could experience magic!

And now? Today and the recent years? Sometimes he still performs quite well, sometimes quite bad, and sometimes you're even happy he doesn't come back for encores. The magic sometimes has turned to pain, I can hardly stand seeing this genius of musician and live perfomer destroying his own masterpieces. But even when his performance is quite good, there is no such thing as a live musical concept, something new and thrilling. The audience senses that, and so does Prince.

And what about a stage show? Well, don't wanna remember his glorious shows in the 80`s, but seeing Shelby waving a flag during "Purple Rain" is just ridicuouls on an epic level...or Prince chasing her with a towel while she's performing "misty blue", then saying "soul music, soul music...yeah, real music by real musicians".....OMG, that sucks. stage itself is a joke too, or should we appreciate there are no disco jelly fish this time?

Then the band: Shelby is just an average soul singer, he needs her, coz he's sick of singing himself, simple as that. But what' really hard to get, that's the woman on the guitar. Prince, please visit the Philippines, a nation full of Karaoke singers and guitar players (some really good), any guitar player there will do better than Andy Allo....if she was sexy at least.....

I think there is only one chance for him to bring back the 'magic': make a reasonably good album with some kind of theme from first to last song, no need fo a masterpiece. Then mix it with older rarely performed songs to something special, choose musicians, not just instrumantelists and go bring the vibe on stages with perfect lighting and sound, and, goddamn, rehearse and soundcheck it 100 times!!! Do it, and me and many other die-hard fans will be back.....There are many Jazz musicians working hard, a hundred times a year on stage, who'd be very happy filling venues holding some 2000 people and getting their applause, because

' a little bit of something beats a whole lot of nothing '

What a knob.

Why do people come up with this rubbish?

maybe seeing this tour has got to me, but i think it was a good eurotour and he was on great form.

Reading the writeups on here, and they all agree, except those who didnt go to the concert and post complaints.

[Edited 8/13/11 9:50am]

powersoul99 said:

What a knob.

Why do people come up with this rubbish?

maybe seeing this tour has got to me, but i think it was a good eurotour and he was on great form.

Reading the writeups on here, and they all agree, except those who didnt go to the concert and post complaints.

[Edited 8/13/11 9:50am]

I suppose they do not realize how riduclous they sound and they clearly have nothing better to do. Its sad, really.

What a sad post.....why are you even interested in somebody who keeps dissapoint you? Go find another hobby.

Juergen187 said:

Many years ago I stopped being curious about a new Prince album, simply because his new albums kept disappointing me. Honestly, when was his last great album??? But that's ok, nobody can be so incredibly creative as he was over 20 years or so...

But we still had the live shows! In 2002, after a couple of crap albums, he returned with "the rainbow children", I wasn't into it so much, but Prince was into it! So he based a tour on it, arranged the new songs just fantastically and chose some older songs perfectly matching with his new songs. He again created a musical concept, something that worked. And he chose the right band for that music, the right stage, the right venues (smaller ones) and even the right clothes. I still have my ticket for the show in Frankfurt, a concert I'll always remember, I wished he would never stop playing...so I got my tickets for the next show in Oberhausen and even an about 200€-ebay-ticket for Zurich...money didn't matter those days, cause you could experience magic!

And now? Today and the recent years? Sometimes he still performs quite well, sometimes quite bad, and sometimes you're even happy he doesn't come back for encores. The magic sometimes has turned to pain, I can hardly stand seeing this genius of musician and live perfomer destroying his own masterpieces. But even when his performance is quite good, there is no such thing as a live musical concept, something new and thrilling. The audience senses that, and so does Prince.

And what about a stage show? Well, don't wanna remember his glorious shows in the 80`s, but seeing Shelby waving a flag during "Purple Rain" is just ridicuouls on an epic level...or Prince chasing her with a towel while she's performing "misty blue", then saying "soul music, soul music...yeah, real music by real musicians".....OMG, that sucks. stage itself is a joke too, or should we appreciate there are no disco jelly fish this time?

Then the band: Shelby is just an average soul singer, he needs her, coz he's sick of singing himself, simple as that. But what' really hard to get, that's the woman on the guitar. Prince, please visit the Philippines, a nation full of Karaoke singers and guitar players (some really good), any guitar player there will do better than Andy Allo....if she was sexy at least.....

I think there is only one chance for him to bring back the 'magic': make a reasonably good album with some kind of theme from first to last song, no need fo a masterpiece. Then mix it with older rarely performed songs to something special, choose musicians, not just instrumantelists and go bring the vibe on stages with perfect lighting and sound, and, goddamn, rehearse and soundcheck it 100 times!!! Do it, and me and many other die-hard fans will be back.....There are many Jazz musicians working hard, a hundred times a year on stage, who'd be very happy filling venues holding some 2000 people and getting their applause, because

' a little bit of something beats a whole lot of nothing '

...You're full of shit. Based on all the raves I've seen here about how great the shows are, apparently they're chock full of 'magic'.

Just because he doesn't do the shit YOU want him to do or have the band YOU'D want him to have, doesn't mean he doesn't.

Well... actually... Juergen does have a point... I also was excited weeks before a new album was released... how will it sound?? how will it look? even how will it feel...? And when there was an album... there was a tour... Almost every album had a tour... too bad there never was an Around The World In A Day-tour...

Purple Rain... Parade... Sign Of The Times... Lovesexy... and even Batman/Grafitti Bridge had some kind of a tour (Nude Tour)... Diamonds & Pearls... Come... and of course The Gold Experience and The Rainbow Children... those concerts were really great...

but after the One Nite Alone-tour something changed... Prince wanted to do his hits... he wanted to play covers... and that was great... why wouldn't he do a couple of shows with only hits? There was the Musicology Tour in the US and there were 21 Nights In London... I went to one show in London in 2007 and it was great... a very short concert (90 minutes), but I enjoyed it very much... but after that he kept playing those hits... kiss, purple rain, controversy, u got the look etc. And don't get me wrong.. I consider myself as a fan... and I do like kiss... I love Purple Rain and Controversy is an alltime classic, but there's so much more...

Why wasn't there a LotusFlow3r-tour? There are some great songs on that CD... there were very rare perfomances of The Old Skool Company and Dreamer, but then again there was Kiss... there was Purple Rain...

Prince has so many other hits... hits that'll make the audience go wild... When Doves Cry... Girls & Boys... Glam Slam... The Future... Partyman... Pink Cashmere, Scandalous, I Hate U, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man...

and there are a lot of tracks that weren't really hits, but that are very well known by a lot of people... Do Me Baby, Computer Blue, Paisley Park...

I was at North Sea Jazz this year... I witnessed the best Prince-show in my entire life... Joy In Repetition, The Love We Make, Mountains, Peach, The Beautiful Ones, Guitar etc... and above all I was very glad that Shelby was hardly on stage... I pay to see Prince... not to look at a woman who keeps shouting Come On, Put Your Hands Up Come On...

Let's hope for a new good album somewhere in the future... and a new tour that'll blow us all away... and the songs the most of us haven't heard for a while... a full version of When Doves Cry instead of a little sample on Prince's little toy...

johanhoiting said:

Well... actually... Juergen does have a point... I also was excited weeks before a new album was released... how will it sound?? how will it look? even how will it feel...? And when there was an album... there was a tour... Almost every album had a tour... too bad there never was an Around The World In A Day-tour...

Purple Rain... Parade... Sign Of The Times... Lovesexy... and even Batman/Grafitti Bridge had some kind of a tour (Nude Tour)... Diamonds & Pearls... Come... and of course The Gold Experience and The Rainbow Children... those concerts were really great...

but after the One Nite Alone-tour something changed... Prince wanted to do his hits... he wanted to play covers... and that was great... why wouldn't he do a couple of shows with only hits? There was the Musicology Tour in the US and there were 21 Nights In London... I went to one show in London in 2007 and it was great... a very short concert (90 minutes), but I enjoyed it very much... but after that he kept playing those hits... kiss, purple rain, controversy, u got the look etc. And don't get me wrong.. I consider myself as a fan... and I do like kiss... I love Purple Rain and Controversy is an alltime classic, but there's so much more...

Why wasn't there a LotusFlow3r-tour? There are some great songs on that CD... there were very rare perfomances of The Old Skool Company and Dreamer, but then again there was Kiss... there was Purple Rain...

Prince has so many other hits... hits that'll make the audience go wild... When Doves Cry... Girls & Boys... Glam Slam... The Future... Partyman... Pink Cashmere, Scandalous, I Hate U, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man...

and there are a lot of tracks that weren't really hits, but that are very well known by a lot of people... Do Me Baby, Computer Blue, Paisley Park...

I was at North Sea Jazz this year... I witnessed the best Prince-show in my entire life... Joy In Repetition, The Love We Make, Mountains, Peach, The Beautiful Ones, Guitar etc... and above all I was very glad that Shelby was hardly on stage... I pay to see Prince... not to look at a woman who keeps shouting Come On, Put Your Hands Up Come On...

Let's hope for a new good album somewhere in the future... and a new tour that'll blow us all away... and the songs the most of us haven't heard for a while... a full version of When Doves Cry instead of a little sample on Prince's little toy...

What a contradictory post.

People...please learn the hard way, like I have. 50% of this site would praise Prince if he hired Kurtis Blow to rap on every song, and had an all female band who couldn't play a lick, and had a choir of 18 female singers, and had them singing cover songs all night.

Then, there are a few serious people on this site who have honesty, and can see that Prince is in decline when it comes to live performances.

Then, there are people like me who believe the majority of his studio work, including 20Ten, are fine studio albums for an over 50 musician, but have to admit that seeing Shelby sing lead on 5 songs a night bores me to tears.

I hate cover songs, and I think Prince is going through the motions most of the time. I really liked the Charlotte stop on the Welcome 2 A Few States Tour, but not one of the six shows I went to was really over 2 hours.

There are some morons who will tell me to quit going to Prince shows if he is not making me as happy. That is not true. His shows still make me happy, and they are still good enough to pay good money for...The Problem: He is capable of so much more. It is like watching Michael Jordan beat a ten year old in a game of 21, but the score is 21-17, when it should've been 21-0.

The above poster was almost spot on. Prince's band is terrible as a whole. I have not seen much of Andy, but she makes Miko Weaver look like Eddie Van Halen. John Blackwell is the closest thing to a legend in the band.

But again, anybody thinking you can say anything bad about Prince on here is hopeless. The morons will come posting behind you, and bashing you.

Somebody around here said it best a few weeks ago...despite all the great moments you get at a 2011 Prince show, you still get more "Put Your Hands Up" and crowd shout outs than you do at a Hip Hop Concert. That is sad...but true.

Prince has always been magical but never as magical as he is in the summer of 2011.

I've seen him eight times this summer(front row) and consider myself very lucky.

I love the band they have really improved, I love Andy Allo for her voice and her beauty and she is of great influence to Prince, he's the happiest I've ever seen him and frankly this makes me very happy to.

no sense post by me

[Edited 8/14/11 2:38am]

Oh, come now. You sound more than a little naively bitter.

At fifty-something Prince is still the best live act on the road. Even if we compare fifty-year-old Prince with his twenty-something year old self he still comes off pretty damn great.

-No matter how or in which way, you 'add it up', , the king is still the king!

DONT BE FEEDIN THE TROLL!!!!

troll bait...why y'all entertaining it?

Funny how one uses the word troll. Perhaps I was a bit harsh when I called some out on this site by using the word morons. I just can't believe that anybody thinks that Prince is on top of his game. U2 is my second favorite, and they are a shadow of Prince's talent.

Where they differ, is Prince doesn't get as much out of his great material as U2 gets out of their weaker material. U2 doesn't have half of Prince's talent, but you get 22-25 full length songs each and every night. You don't get any background singers, and you don't get songs with only a first verse and chorus. And U2 hardly ever plays cover songs. They do a few every now and then, but you get 22 or more full length U2 songs each night. Prince lets a great song like "Computer Blue" rot when he should be playing it at least every 5 or so years. Instead we get "Play That Funky Music." Please.

-This thread reminds me of the Daniel Keys book, 'Flowers for Algernon.'

Why does someone that can obviously write, waste that talent posting NONSENSE...

Wow, that is a great comment here and I agree with you. I think J. Blackwell was the only bandmember in Cologne that made me feel I was at a Prince gig!!!

Where is the NPG gone? This whole tour and hits nonsense is just miserable

stillwaiting said:

People...please learn the hard way, like I have. 50% of this site would praise Prince if he hired Kurtis Blow to rap on every song, and had an all female band who couldn't play a lick, and had a choir of 18 female singers, and had them singing cover songs all night.

Then, there are a few serious people on this site who have honesty, and can see that Prince is in decline when it comes to live performances.

Then, there are people like me who believe the majority of his studio work, including 20Ten, are fine studio albums for an over 50 musician, but have to admit that seeing Shelby sing lead on 5 songs a night bores me to tears.

I hate cover songs, and I think Prince is going through the motions most of the time. I really liked the Charlotte stop on the Welcome 2 A Few States Tour, but not one of the six shows I went to was really over 2 hours.

There are some morons who will tell me to quit going to Prince shows if he is not making me as happy. That is not true. His shows still make me happy, and they are still good enough to pay good money for...The Problem: He is capable of so much more. It is like watching Michael Jordan beat a ten year old in a game of 21, but the score is 21-17, when it should've been 21-0.

The above poster was almost spot on. Prince's band is terrible as a whole. I have not seen much of Andy, but she makes Miko Weaver look like Eddie Van Halen. John Blackwell is the closest thing to a legend in the band.

But again, anybody thinking you can say anything bad about Prince on here is hopeless. The morons will come posting behind you, and bashing you.

Somebody around here said it best a few weeks ago...despite all the great moments you get at a 2011 Prince show, you still get more "Put Your Hands Up" and crowd shout outs than you do at a Hip Hop Concert. That is sad...but true.

stillwaiting said:

Funny how one uses the word troll. Perhaps I was a bit harsh when I called some out on this site by using the word morons. I just can't believe that anybody thinks that Prince is on top of his game. U2 is my second favorite, and they are a shadow of Prince's talent.

Where they differ, is Prince doesn't get as much out of his great material as U2 gets out of their weaker material. U2 doesn't have half of Prince's talent, but you get 22-25 full length songs each and every night. You don't get any background singers, and you don't get songs with only a first verse and chorus. And U2 hardly ever plays cover songs. They do a few every now and then, but you get 22 or more full length U2 songs each night. Prince lets a great song like "Computer Blue" rot when he should be playing it at least every 5 or so years. Instead we get "Play That Funky Music." Please.

The OP sounds like Justin Timberlake, when JT claimed he was bringing sexy back to music, when JT never owned or presented sexy in his music, without sampling the 'sexy' vibes from another artist, who already has their name ingrained in the creative, sexual vibes of their music, and goes without saying who that artist is, who effortlessly still seduces the minds of his fans through his music/performances.

My, my..what a fool JT was to think he could emulate the sounds of an artist whose catalogue he could never match. But that's another story.

Anyway, no disrespect to you, but I don't think you're being fair in your criticism of other fans' experiences and Prince music/performance tastes. It seems more fans here get bashed for appreciating his music/performances, by their own individual experiences. They're not 'morons' as you stated, (although you did admit you may have been a bit harsh) just because they don't follow the different opinions of others' who are sometimes very negative or highly-critical of his music/shows, and those who seem to get confused with the difference between bashing vs constructive criticism. Let's not forget the ones who complain non-stop, like spoiled brats about every and anything regarding his music/shows, with the delusion it's just a personal performance for them. Everyone gets to share their experiences, although different from one another.

On another note, you stated U2 doesn't have half the talent as Prince nor does U2 have a large/extensive catalogue to choose from, spanning from the late 70s to 2000s, like Prince does, so don't you think that may be the reason U2 can perform 22 full length songs per night? Whereas Prince's music catalogue is vast;his setlists are different for every show/every night he performs, singing his popular/rarities/new songs, and yes performing some covers. He has the musical talent, showmanship and has backup singers/other musicians where he unselfishly, showcases their talent(s); receives audience participation during his shows--nothing wrong with that--and yes he performs covers honoring the real music, from well-known, real musicians back in the day, as well as some from the present.

It seems some fans may forget that Prince is not performing specifically for one particular fan, with their very own wish list, and some act like they have some special privilege, to tell him what songs he should perform, how long, and which musician(s)artist(s), he should/should not have on stage with him. The man is performing for many fans, not just one in the bunch.

Not to mention, how many times has he played new or rare songs in an arena, where only diehards such as yourself may know those songs, which is nothing wrong with him performing them, but remember, when he's playing to an arena, it is obvious familiarity, along with a mixture of rare/or new songs, has to exist in the setlist when he's playing to an audience that large, which is what he's been doing. When he's playing in a smaller venue, it is obvious that's where many of the diehards are, and so the setlist more than likely will be different.

I bet another fan who attended the U2 show will not agree with your view of their performance, so it's not expected that everyone will get the same, exact feeling or experience(s) from any musician's/artist's shows/concerts/music.

[Edited 8/16/11 13:32pm]

powersoul99 said:

What a contradictory post.

you're right... I'm sorry for that...

but that's how I feel about Prince... it doesn't matter if I see hem play the ukelele all night long... I'll enjoy the concert anyway... but there's so much more... sometimes I wonder if Prince is aware of the fact that he's such a genius that people will love his music anyway...

but again... there are some mixed feelings... but still... I love his music... and his concerts...

stillwaiting said:

Funny how one uses the word troll. Perhaps I was a bit harsh when I called some out on this site by using the word morons. I just can't believe that anybody thinks that Prince is on top of his game. U2 is my second favorite, and they are a shadow of Prince's talent.

Where they differ, is Prince doesn't get as much out of his great material as U2 gets out of their weaker material. U2 doesn't have half of Prince's talent, but you get 22-25 full length songs each and every night. You don't get any background singers, and you don't get songs with only a first verse and chorus. And U2 hardly ever plays cover songs. They do a few every now and then, but you get 22 or more full length U2 songs each night. Prince lets a great song like "Computer Blue" rot when he should be playing it at least every 5 or so years. Instead we get "Play That Funky Music." Please.

Great material is right. Stillwaitng, I like how you phrase and your use of illustrations.

Prince. Prince. Yes you there Prince. Are you actually hearing any of this? Lol, we all know you are. Listen. You're a gifted and talented person, blaa blaa blaa. You know all that.

When you come back from your European tour or wherever you're at and get a chance to do something new with your setlist here in the States, please do it. You know ya funky!

Ok, carry on

There has never been a Prince tour that didn't educate me musically...everytime I think I know/get an album, simply like or adore he teaches me how the song needs to be listened to. After TRC there wasn't an album that I played so often as that one, but now after the 2010 and 2011 shows I have discovered all the incredible tracks on Lotusflower/Mplsound and 20ten. Sure it makes me a dispicable fan, cause I could have known how good most of the songs are by really listening and studying the album. Dreamer, Colonized Mind, Laydown, etc...all epic songs. But it's fun to have new favorites after a show. So praise this man who continues to write songs like this. And for the last 6 shows I've seen over 2010/2011 I can say I'm a very spoiled girl.

2elijah said:

My, my..what a fool JT was to think he could emulate the sounds of an artist whose catalogue he could never match. But that's another story.

Anyway, no disrespect to you, but I don't think you're being fair in your criticism of other fans' experiences and Prince music/performance tastes. It seems more fans here get bashed for appreciating his music/performances, by their own individual experiences. They're not 'morons' as you stated, (although you did admit you may have been a bit harsh) just because they don't follow the different opinions of others' who are sometimes very negative or highly-critical of his music/shows, and those who seem to get confused with the difference between bashing vs constructive criticism. Let's not forget the ones who complain non-stop, like spoiled brats about every and anything regarding his music/shows, with the delusion it's just a personal performance for them. Everyone gets to share their experiences, although different from one another.

On another note, you stated U2 doesn't have half the talent as Prince nor does U2 have a large/extensive catalogue to choose from, spanning from the late 70s to 2000s, like Prince does, so don't you think that may be the reason U2 can perform 22 full length songs per night? Whereas Prince's music catalogue is vast;his setlists are different for every show/every night he performs, singing his popular/rarities/new songs, and yes performing some covers. He has the musical talent, showmanship and has backup singers/other musicians where he unselfishly, showcases their talent(s); receives audience participation during his shows--nothing wrong with that--and yes he performs covers honoring the real music, from well-known, real musicians back in the day, as well as some from the present.

It seems some fans may forget that Prince is not performing specifically for one particular fan, with their very own wish list, and some act like they have some special privilege, to tell him what songs he should perform, how long, and which musician(s)artist(s), he should/should not have on stage with him. The man is performing for many fans, not just one in the bunch.

Not to mention, how many times has he played new or rare songs in an arena, where only diehards such as yourself may know those songs, which is nothing wrong with him performing them, but remember, when he's playing to an arena, it is obvious familiarity, along with a mixture of rare/or new songs, has to exist in the setlist when he's playing to an audience that large, which is what he's been doing. When he's playing in a smaller venue, it is obvious that's where many of the diehards are, and so the setlist more than likely will be different.

I bet another fan who attended the U2 show will not agree with your view of their performance, so it's not expected that everyone will get the same, exact feeling or experience(s) from any musician's/artist's shows/concerts/music.

[Edited 8/14/11 8:42am]

Great post... I've been to several shows this summer, and this tour is all about pleasing the audience and giving great shows. Prince smiles and the crowd smiles (including the fans in the crowd). There were 30000 people on a purple high in Gothenburg this weekend, and he got raving reviews from experienced music journalists calling it "The best concert I've ever been to".

To me, it sounds like the people who are criticizing this tour has

a) Not actually seen him on tour this summer

b) Been to only one show (Cologne)

For the Cologne audience; I'm sorry that you got that experience, but you can't judge a whole tour and Prince's general ability to perform live on one troubled performance. For the people that are criticizing something they have not witnessed; Shut up.

[Edited 8/16/11 1:03am]

Justfortheloveofit said:

2elijah said:

My, my..what a fool JT was to think he could emulate the sounds of an artist whose catalogue he could never match. But that's another story.

Anyway, no disrespect to you, but I don't think you're being fair in your criticism of other fans' experiences and Prince music/performance tastes. It seems more fans here get bashed for appreciating his music/performances, by their own individual experiences. They're not 'morons' as you stated, (although you did admit you may have been a bit harsh) just because they don't follow the different opinions of others' who are sometimes very negative or highly-critical of his music/shows, and those who seem to get confused with the difference between bashing vs constructive criticism. Let's not forget the ones who complain non-stop, like spoiled brats about every and anything regarding his music/shows, with the delusion it's just a personal performance for them. Everyone gets to share their experiences, although different from one another.

On another note, you stated U2 doesn't have half the talent as Prince nor does U2 have a large/extensive catalogue to choose from, spanning from the late 70s to 2000s, like Prince does, so don't you think that may be the reason U2 can perform 22 full length songs per night? Whereas Prince's music catalogue is vast;his setlists are different for every show/every night he performs, singing his popular/rarities/new songs, and yes performing some covers. He has the musical talent, showmanship and has backup singers/other musicians where he unselfishly, showcases their talent(s); receives audience participation during his shows--nothing wrong with that--and yes he performs covers honoring the real music, from well-known, real musicians back in the day, as well as some from the present.

It seems some fans may forget that Prince is not performing specifically for one particular fan, with their very own wish list, and some act like they have some special privilege, to tell him what songs he should perform, how long, and which musician(s)artist(s), he should/should not have on stage with him. The man is performing for many fans, not just one in the bunch.

Not to mention, how many times has he played new or rare songs in an arena, where only diehards such as yourself may know those songs, which is nothing wrong with him performing them, but remember, when he's playing to an arena, it is obvious familiarity, along with a mixture of rare/or new songs, has to exist in the setlist when he's playing to an audience that large, which is what he's been doing. When he's playing in a smaller venue, it is obvious that's where many of the diehards are, and so the setlist more than likely will be different.

I bet another fan who attended the U2 show will not agree with your view of their performance, so it's not expected that everyone will get the same, exact feeling or experience(s) from any musician's/artist's shows/concerts/music.

[Edited 8/14/11 8:42am]

Great post... I've been to several shows this summer, and this tour is all about pleasing the audience and giving great shows. Prince smiles and the crowd smiles (including the fans in the crowd). There were 300000 people on a purple high in Gothenburg this weekend, and he got raving reviews from experienced music journalists calling it "The best concert I've ever been to".

To me, it sounds like the people who are criticizing this tour has

a) Not actually seen him on tour this summer

b) Been to only one show (Cologne)

For the Cologne audience; I'm sorry that you got that experience, but you can't judge a whole tour and Prince's general ability to perform live on one troubled performance. For the people that are criticizing something they have not witnessed; Shut up.

where did the 270.000 that did not attend get their purple high?

remko said:

Justfortheloveofit said:

Great post... I've been to several shows this summer, and this tour is all about pleasing the audience and giving great shows. Prince smiles and the crowd smiles (including the fans in the crowd). There were 300000 people on a purple high in Gothenburg this weekend, and he got raving reviews from experienced music journalists calling it "The best concert I've ever been to".

To me, it sounds like the people who are criticizing this tour has

a) Not actually seen him on tour this summer

b) Been to only one show (Cologne)

For the Cologne audience; I'm sorry that you got that experience, but you can't judge a whole tour and Prince's general ability to perform live on one troubled performance. For the people that are criticizing something they have not witnessed; Shut up.

where did the 270.000 that did not attend get their purple high?

Ooops, typo.. Still on a purple high.. The purple high is contagious, so I guess I assumed every attendee infected 10 friends during the weekend..

Juergen187 said:

Many years ago I stopped being curious about a new Prince album, simply because his new albums kept disappointing me. Honestly, when was his last great album??? But that's ok, nobody can be so incredibly creative as he was over 20 years or so...

But we still had the live shows! In 2002, after a couple of crap albums, he returned with "the rainbow children", I wasn't into it so much, but Prince was into it! So he based a tour on it, arranged the new songs just fantastically and chose some older songs perfectly matching with his new songs. He again created a musical concept, something that worked. And he chose the right band for that music, the right stage, the right venues (smaller ones) and even the right clothes. I still have my ticket for the show in Frankfurt, a concert I'll always remember, I wished he would never stop playing...so I got my tickets for the next show in Oberhausen and even an about 200€-ebay-ticket for Zurich...money didn't matter those days, cause you could experience magic!

And now? Today and the recent years? Sometimes he still performs quite well, sometimes quite bad, and sometimes you're even happy he doesn't come back for encores. The magic sometimes has turned to pain, I can hardly stand seeing this genius of musician and live perfomer destroying his own masterpieces. But even when his performance is quite good, there is no such thing as a live musical concept, something new and thrilling. The audience senses that, and so does Prince.

And what about a stage show? Well, don't wanna remember his glorious shows in the 80`s, but seeing Shelby waving a flag during "Purple Rain" is just ridicuouls on an epic level...or Prince chasing her with a towel while she's performing "misty blue", then saying "soul music, soul music...yeah, real music by real musicians".....OMG, that sucks. stage itself is a joke too, or should we appreciate there are no disco jelly fish this time?

Then the band: Shelby is just an average soul singer, he needs her, coz he's sick of singing himself, simple as that. But what' really hard to get, that's the woman on the guitar. Prince, please visit the Philippines, a nation full of Karaoke singers and guitar players (some really good), any guitar player there will do better than Andy Allo....if she was sexy at least.....

I think there is only one chance for him to bring back the 'magic': make a reasoneat ably good album with some kind of theme from first to last song, no need fo a masterpiece. Then mix it with older rarely performed songs to something special, choose musicians, not just instrumantelists and go bring the vibe on stages with perfect lighting and sound, and, goddamn, rehearse and soundcheck it 100 times!!! Do it, and me and many other die-hard fans will be back.....There are many Jazz musicians working hard, a hundred times a year on stage, who'd be very happy filling venues holding some 2000 people and getting their applause, because

' a little bit of something beats a whole lot of nothing '

Great post. While I aggree with you, I'm somewhat of a split personality re. P's latest live performances. Yes, of course to the die hards you're exactly right, ONA was the last epic tour, completely amazing and the balance was just perfect.

Reality is this tho - he's done that and now it's arena tours for money/larger scale crowd pleasing. He even acknowledges the lack of familarity of his newer material for comtempory audiences in a recent interview. Of course he knows who he's playing - and playing to. And let's be honest why the fuck would he just appease his die hards. Ultimatley, we're obessives who put too much into him demanding that he play obscure songs just for us*...(will come back to this).

That said, these latest arena tours really, really work. The energy, setlist etc (while repetitive to train spotters) are greatly, greatly appreciated by non- obessives, i.e. normal folk. THIS KIND OF SHOW IS A MAJOR, MAJOR SUCCESS!!! 5* reviews. It's a great tour.

Added to that is are very rare aftershows like Melkweg* (2nd night) and I think that die hards should just chill. Im glad he's around. I love and appreciate his perfomances and Hop Farm, energy wise was one of the best gigs I've ever seen by him (also saw lovesexy 5 x).

We can't have our cake and eat it. If you want to criticise, then criticise his aftershows, that's were setlists - in general - could be so much more interesting... But hey I think he knows exactly what he's currently doing ( A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE LOVING HIM) and I'm very grateful for it (even if that means seeing cream/le freak/play that funky etc music for the 100th time:)

Justfortheloveofit said:

2elijah said:

My, my..what a fool JT was to think he could emulate the sounds of an artist whose catalogue he could never match. But that's another story.

Anyway, no disrespect to you, but I don't think you're being fair in your criticism of other fans' experiences and Prince music/performance tastes. It seems more fans here get bashed for appreciating his music/performances, by their own individual experiences. They're not 'morons' as you stated, (although you did admit you may have been a bit harsh) just because they don't follow the different opinions of others' who are sometimes very negative or highly-critical of his music/shows, and those who seem to get confused with the difference between bashing vs constructive criticism. Let's not forget the ones who complain non-stop, like spoiled brats about every and anything regarding his music/shows, with the delusion it's just a personal performance for them. Everyone gets to share their experiences, although different from one another.

On another note, you stated U2 doesn't have half the talent as Prince nor does U2 have a large/extensive catalogue to choose from, spanning from the late 70s to 2000s, like Prince does, so don't you think that may be the reason U2 can perform 22 full length songs per night? Whereas Prince's music catalogue is vast;his setlists are different for every show/every night he performs, singing his popular/rarities/new songs, and yes performing some covers. He has the musical talent, showmanship and has backup singers/other musicians where he unselfishly, showcases their talent(s); receives audience participation during his shows--nothing wrong with that--and yes he performs covers honoring the real music, from well-known, real musicians back in the day, as well as some from the present.

It seems some fans may forget that Prince is not performing specifically for one particular fan, with their very own wish list, and some act like they have some special privilege, to tell him what songs he should perform, how long, and which musician(s)artist(s), he should/should not have on stage with him. The man is performing for many fans, not just one in the bunch.

Not to mention, how many times has he played new or rare songs in an arena, where only diehards such as yourself may know those songs, which is nothing wrong with him performing them, but remember, when he's playing to an arena, it is obvious familiarity, along with a mixture of rare/or new songs, has to exist in the setlist when he's playing to an audience that large, which is what he's been doing. When he's playing in a smaller venue, it is obvious that's where many of the diehards are, and so the setlist more than likely will be different.

I bet another fan who attended the U2 show will not agree with your view of their performance, so it's not expected that everyone will get the same, exact feeling or experience(s) from any musician's/artist's shows/concerts/music.

[Edited 8/14/11 8:42am]

Great post... I've been to several shows this summer, and this tour is all about pleasing the audience and giving great shows. Prince smiles and the crowd smiles (including the fans in the crowd). There were 30000 people on a purple high in Gothenburg this weekend, and he got raving reviews from experienced music journalists calling it "The best concert I've ever been to".

To me, it sounds like the people who are criticizing this tour has

a) Not actually seen him on tour this summer

b) Been to only one show (Cologne)

For the Cologne audience; I'm sorry that you got that experience, but you can't judge a whole tour and Prince's general ability to perform live on one troubled performance. For the people that are criticizing something they have not witnessed; Shut up.

[Edited 8/16/11 1:03am]

only speaking for myself, I've also been to 2 Rotterdam shows, and last year's shows in Brussels and Berlin and in 2009 I've been to both Montreux gigs. So my impression wasn't based on one concert alone. My general impression is the trend is down, though he surely still can perform well, and if Hop Farm or Gothenburg were so great, Congrats, you were lucky. Also, I'm not disappointed cause he doesn't play the songs I'm so much into, that's not what it's about to me. To me his recent tours just lack of any intensity, of any surprise, of all the things that made his concerts so unique, that's it. I've never seen Prince performing so much time in the dark, and I've never heard other people sing his or even cover songs so much as this time, agree? And I've never seen him so unprepared, he needed to give commands to the sound and light people all the time. In moments I wasn't even sure if he really knows how to continue...though they put that white board on stage, with song titles on it......