I Went to 5 Prince shows this month. The only gig with reasonable sound was the gig in De Melkweg. All other concerts the sound was terrible with the first gig of the North Sea Jazz shows beeing an absolute disgrace. I'm a huge Prince fan, trying to visit as many shows as possible. The poor sound of this tour is spoiling the fun big time! I heard so many people complaining about it. I dont like to listen to concerts wearing earplugs but I think with a good soundcrew that shouldnt be needed.

Prince is an absolute great musician, and it is simply insane that such a shitty soundcrew is molesting his music.

Yesterday the sound in Ahoy was real poor again. Why is the sound so hard that it becomes one big blur? Even at this moment there is still a real high tone inside my ears telling me my hearing is damaged!

Its a shame that with such a superstar and great musician as Prince, while his fans pay shitloads of money to see him, they hire such an amateuristic soundcrew.

That's why the only right thing to do for Prince: Fire the bunch!!

[Edited 7/27/11 5:37am]

[Edited 7/27/11 8:04am]

[Edited 7/27/11 8:05am]

erickverlee said:

I Went to 5 Prince shows this month. The only gig with reasonable sound was the gig in De Melkweg. All other concerts the sound was terrible with the first gig of the North Sea Jazz shows beeing an absolute disgrace. I'm a huge Prince fan, trying to visit as many shows as possible. The poor sound of this tour is spoiling the fun big time! I heard so many people complaining about it. I dont like to listen to concerts wearing earplugs but I think with a good soundcrew that shouldnt be needed.

Prince is an absolute great musician, and it is simply insane that such a shitty soundcrew is molesting his music.

Yesterday the sound in Ahoy was real poor again. Why is the sound so hard that it becomes one big blur? Even at this moment there is still a real high tone inside my ears telling me my hearing is damaged!

Its a disgrace that such a superstar and great musician as Prince, while his fans pay shitloads of money to see him, they hire such an amateuristic soundcrew.

That's why the only right thing to do for Prince: Fire the bunch!!

[Edited 7/27/11 5:37am]

Amen Erick! The Show was awsome and Prince was in good shape but his sounds engineers are shame for the whole music industry!

If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

erickverlee said:

I Went to 5 Prince shows this month. The only gig with reasonable sound was the gig in De Melkweg. All other concerts the sound was terrible with the first gig of the North Sea Jazz shows beeing an absolute disgrace. I'm a huge Prince fan, trying to visit as many shows as possible. The poor sound of this tour is spoiling the fun big time! I heard so many people complaining about it. I dont like to listen to concerts wearing earplugs but I think with a good soundcrew that shouldnt be needed.

Prince is an absolute great musician, and it is simply insane that such a shitty soundcrew is molesting his music.

Yesterday the sound in Ahoy was real poor again. Why is the sound so hard that it becomes one big blur? Even at this moment there is still a real high tone inside my ears telling me my hearing is damaged!

Its a disgrace that such a superstar and great musician as Prince, while his fans pay shitloads of money to see him, they hire such an amateuristic soundcrew.

That's why the only right thing to do for Prince: Fire the bunch!!

[Edited 7/27/11 5:37am]

signed

ludwig said:

If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

not only fire these, but hire some good ones!

I'm a Prince fan since 1984 (yes, Purple Rain) and visited quite a lot of concerts since 1987 (from SOTT). My last concerts where in 2002, ONA tour. Why....?

I have also been a musician from the late 80's, combined with concert going. In 1994, I developed tinnitus (ringing in ears), which is slowly getting worse. At one point I decided not to visit concerts any more, not to perform (amplified) music, not to visit loud places. I want to save the rest of my hearing abbilities for the second half of my life.

So no more Prince concert for me, which is quite hard to handle. It feels quite bad that I'm not able to go to my favourite artist anymore, reading all the setlists and reviews. The pain limit for your ears (120 dB), experienced with earplugs, is still 100 dB on your ear drum, which can give damage within a few hours....Only possibility for me to see Prince again would be if he would give an acoustic concert (wishful thinking)....However, I'm glad I've visited some classic performances(SOTT, Lovesexy, Nude, Gold, ONA etc). And of course I can enjoy his cd's (even his latest!).

Music making and music listening for me is two way communication. So no wall of sound in which one part of the participants is blown away. Music is not about giving other people physical damage...

Please be careful with your ears. There is no healing or medicine for damage, and life with a constant ring in your ears is not easy. It gave me a lot more trouble than just sleepless nights (relational, social, in work, etc).

Please do not see this as a pitiful story, but I want you to rethink your definition of 'enjoying music'....

PS, I sometimes wonder if Prince himself does not have any kind of ear damage. He plays loud music for over 30 years, even sometimes standing closely in front of the main PA side speakers....

saw some shows this tour but for me only kent and nsj first night was terrible...I wonder where you all were standing? if you were on one of the seats i can imagine the sound was terrible but in the pit?? I heard not very much complaints but as i said hopfarm and nsj first night sucked big time.

rafael said:

oops!

[Edited 7/27/11 13:37pm]

I agree.

I've had buzzing & beeping ears for at least a week after NSJF.

At the west, 1st ring at Ahoy. Horrible sound.

last night the distortion was awfully painfull for the ears, it was all way to loud,

and different sounds didnt mix up during the event like it should mix together ...

Prince, your such a perfectionist ... you can do a whole lot better then this !!

Due to pre-organisedholiday we could only do the first night of NSJ, at the time we thought 'well one night is better than none'.

Travelled over from Newcastle England for the worst sounding show I have ever been to. But my biggest gripe was the the lights, where we were sitting the backlighting only showed silhouettes on the stage, coupled with the brightest halogen spotlights pointed direct into my eyes, couldn't even make out the big screen at the back.

After 40 shows since 1986 this was the most amateur setup I have ever seen.

Left show early to get back to SS Rotterdam spending the taxi ride back trying to explain to my girlfriend that it was not a Prince concert we had just witnessed as it was her 1st time. She's now telling her friends now that Prince is the worst show she has ever seen.

Relying on Malahide to pull it out of the bag and put NSJ to rest

Come on Prince, we know you better than NSJ.

Earplugs are, unfortunately, neccesary at a Prince concert these days. With earplugs you could hear that the mix was quite good. Although it had too much bass and Shelby's voice was turned up too much every now and then. It also made clear that Andy Allo and Ida are singing out of tune a lot. That suggests they can't hear themselves properly through their monitor.

Although I find that wearing earplugs diminishes the overall concert experience considerably, I will wear them to keep my hearing from getting damaged.

I agree with Jazzz. Prince most likely is a bit deaf by now. That may be an explanation for the sound problems. If he wants to take decisions about the front of house mix, but can't hear properly, maybe this is what you get.....

in 2004 the sound was ridiculous, but last Feb in Oakland I did not need earplugs.

erickverlee said:

I Went to 5 Prince shows this month. The only gig with reasonable sound was the gig in De Melkweg. All other concerts the sound was terrible with the first gig of the North Sea Jazz shows beeing an absolute disgrace. I'm a huge Prince fan, trying to visit as many shows as possible. The poor sound of this tour is spoiling the fun big time! I heard so many people complaining about it. I dont like to listen to concerts wearing earplugs but I think with a good soundcrew that shouldnt be needed.

Prince is an absolute great musician, and it is simply insane that such a shitty soundcrew is molesting his music.

Yesterday the sound in Ahoy was real poor again. Why is the sound so hard that it becomes one big blur? Even at this moment there is still a real high tone inside my ears telling me my hearing is damaged!

Its a shame that with such a superstar and great musician as Prince, while his fans pay shitloads of money to see him, they hire such an amateuristic soundcrew.

That's why the only right thing to do for Prince: Fire the bunch!!

[Edited 7/27/11 5:37am]

[Edited 7/27/11 8:04am]

[Edited 7/27/11 8:05am]

the sound is bad . because the tickets are not that expensive!!!!

hi there,

i visited the three concers @ NSJ and the first one @ The Milkway (melkweg)

i agreed with you. the sound was between not great and acceptable.

@ the Melkweg i was talking with the soundman an d he confirmed that P does the soundcheck and he also told me that P makes pictures of the desk so he can controle afterwards.

during the show i was right behind the desk and it's true . the man only touched some fader slightly and the gain when Shelby started, he adjusted the vocal compression on Prince and Shelby and the gain from P's guitar.

he really never touched the channel EQ. at some point during the show you heard that the kick needed little bit less 200/240 Hz to get it tighter.

while my fingers where wiggling for it, he just touched the FOH EQ a little.

my biggest dream was to become a Prince soundengineer, but if he really really let's the soundguy not do his job than i think i will pass.

--or offcourse when he just heard me do my job @ the soundcheck i'm sure he let's me touch everything on the desk.

myloveis4ever said:

erickverlee said:

I Went to 5 Prince shows this month. The only gig with reasonable sound was the gig in De Melkweg. All other concerts the sound was terrible with the first gig of the North Sea Jazz shows beeing an absolute disgrace. I'm a huge Prince fan, trying to visit as many shows as possible. The poor sound of this tour is spoiling the fun big time! I heard so many people complaining about it. I dont like to listen to concerts wearing earplugs but I think with a good soundcrew that shouldnt be needed.

Prince is an absolute great musician, and it is simply insane that such a shitty soundcrew is molesting his music.

Yesterday the sound in Ahoy was real poor again. Why is the sound so hard that it becomes one big blur? Even at this moment there is still a real high tone inside my ears telling me my hearing is damaged!

Its a shame that with such a superstar and great musician as Prince, while his fans pay shitloads of money to see him, they hire such an amateuristic soundcrew.

That's why the only right thing to do for Prince: Fire the bunch!!

[Edited 7/27/11 5:37am]

[Edited 7/27/11 8:04am]

[Edited 7/27/11 8:05am]

the sound is bad . because the tickets are not that expensive!!!!

Er?...have you seen Dublin prices?? Paris prices??

Nice to see some rich people on th org!!!!!

Interesting that people are also reporting hearing issues....I couldn't hear right for the few days after Hop Farm, it was muffled and even now and again I get ringing one month on...

Great concert though but no-one wants their hearing damaged, earplugs probably should have been handed out - lots of other young people too.

It didn't seem too bad at the time but my looking at my Iphone videos even the sound on those is terribly distorted showing it must have been really f-ing loud!!!

[Edited 7/31/11 12:40pm]

This all boils down to Prince's own bad management....again.

If he got himself a decent tour manager, with contracts and experience, then sound engineers would be vetted and instructed properly.

Equally, if they had planned the tour properly, with a pre-schedule rather than dates simply popping up wherever they could get the booking, then they would not find themselves rushing across the continent giving themselves too little time to set up in some cases.

Just like the online music clubs, its simply a bunch of yes men and women trying to play manager without the experience.

SquirrelMeat said:

This all boils down to Prince's own bad management....again.

If he got himself a decent tour manager, with contracts and experience, then sound engineers would be vetted and instructed properly.

Equally, if they had planned the tour properly, with a pre-schedule rather than dates simply popping up wherever they could get the booking, then they would not find themselves rushing across the continent giving themselves too little time to set up in some cases.

Just like the online music clubs, its simply a bunch of yes men and women trying to play manager without the experience.

Bring back SCOTTIE P! He is the only one who ever made P sound great!!!!

Very much agreed. Heard him at the Forum from numerous spots in the venue. Thin, distorted. Reminded me of how many concerts used to sound in the old days before technology improved.

Saw him in Luxembourg while on vacation. Again, crappy sound.