Let me start by saying this is pure conjecture based on my observations.

There was a lot of rumour around this Australian tour that Janelle Monae would be joining Prince on stage but I think it's the other way around. I suspect Prince is joining her at the Opera House this Sunday. She's only doing two shows and Prince only has Sunday night off from his tour.

The rumours were partly powered by one of her tweets, "Rehearsing with Prince... Watch out Australia" which seems pretty damn obvious that they're up to something. Prince also said at the May 22 Sydney concert that he can see the Opera House from his hotel room window and he'd like to play there some day. He then said we should support his friend Janelle Monae.... Hmmmm, I thought.... Hmmmmmm.

I hope I'm right but even if I'm wrong, who cares! Janelle Monae is amazing and I was going long before Prince told me to.

She's here for the Vivid festival which is when the Opera House and surrounding area, (and Sydney in general), is at it's absolute best with projections on it's sails, light sculptures on its forecourt and surrounding buildings and just an amazing place to be. It would be fanstastic if Prince was part of it and would really top off Prince month. Check it out.

http://www.vividsydney.com/

I think you are right. I will be there enjoying the show and hoping it does happen. I will be ready...

real shame he didnt play the opera house

for that i would have come over..but i would LOVE to see janelle monae!!

Did you see the thread "Brissy arrival"? A poster, whose bf is on the tour crew, says Prince is flying to Sydney right after the Brisbane show.

Looks likely!

Things are hotting up in ol' Sydney town again! Whoot Whoot!!!

beatriceau said:

This would be such a fantastic show, I hope that everyone who can, goes. The thought of Janelle and Prince doing this is putting a GREAT BIG smile on my face

They are the ultimate two, imo.

artist76 said:

Just got home from Janelle.... WOW, WOW. WOW. First time seeing her in concert. What a talent.... AMAZING.

No Prince didn't show. I wasn't expecting it given he was playing in Brisbane until 5am

She did play Take Me With U and I did think for a second And at the end, she said I have a treat for you Sydney... and again, but i was 99% sure he wasn't going to just come out for an encore.. It would have been awesome though..

I am just really happy to have seen her show. I guarantee next time she's in Australia she will be playing much bigger venues. A superstar in the making...

Agreed. That show was amazing in every possible way. I sort of got the impression Janelle was 'stood up' by Prince. She belted out a fantastic version of Take Me With U, on her own. I even think her band did a better job of it, and to be in the Opera Hall of the Sydney Opera House, it's such a beautiful and cool venue. Prince, you missed out.

May... what a month.

Now I'll be back to my casual perusing of the org and seldom posts.

I agree with the version of Take Me With U, was maybe better... It sounded fresh...

In general I was blown away with the sound of the band, the acoustics, everything sounded so good. I could hear everything.

funkylust said:

I agree with the version of Take Me With U, was maybe better... It sounded fresh...

In general I was blown away with the sound of the band, the acoustics, everything sounded so good. I could hear everything.

Where were you sitting?

(I've found the Sydney Opera House has a lot of echo off the wood decor. I was down the front for Erykah Badu a few months ago and found it wasn't clear, but echoy. Or maybe it was the sound guy turning things up too loud?? I prefer concerts outside on the forecourt at the Sydney Opera House - no echo.)

astone said:

funkylust said:

I agree with the version of Take Me With U, was maybe better... It sounded fresh...

In general I was blown away with the sound of the band, the acoustics, everything sounded so good. I could hear everything.

Where were you sitting?

(I've found the Sydney Opera House has a lot of echo off the wood decor. I was down the front for Erykah Badu a few months ago and found it wasn't clear, but echoy. Or maybe it was the sound guy turning things up too loud?? I prefer concerts outside on the forecourt at the Sydney Opera House - no echo.)

Opera houses are made to naturally amplify voices and orchestral instruments. Hence there is alot of echo which is part of the whole deal. Opera singers use this to great effect with their voices.

That fact means an opera house is not necessarily the best place to listen to other styles of music, it has potential to sound like a mess.

Opera houses are made to naturally amplify voices and orchestral instruments. Hence there is alot of echo which is part of the whole deal. Opera singers use this to great effect with their voices.

That fact means an opera house is not necessarily the best place to listen to other styles of music, it has potential to sound like a mess.

Yes I had heard that and was preparing myself for it to sound bad but was surprised at how good it sounded with a full band, tons of instruments...

I have seen different styles in the Opera House before. KD Lang, Josh Groban (vocalists sound great) and I have seen the Australian Chamber Orchestra there too and of course yes they sounded great too. But I swear Janelle's band sounded fantastic and much better that I was expecting... Clear, rich, deep sounding with clarity, fidelity and no distortion.

funkylust said:

Opera houses are made to naturally amplify voices and orchestral instruments. Hence there is alot of echo which is part of the whole deal. Opera singers use this to great effect with their voices.

That fact means an opera house is not necessarily the best place to listen to other styles of music, it has potential to sound like a mess.

Yes I had heard that and was preparing myself for it to sound bad but was surprised at how good it sounded with a full band, tons of instruments...

I have seen different styles in the Opera House before. KD Lang, Josh Groban (vocalists sound great) and I have seen the Australian Chamber Orchestra there too and of course yes they sounded great too. But I swear Janelle's band sounded fantastic and much better that I was expecting... Clear, rich, deep sounding with clarity, fidelity and no distortion.

Cool. I've never been to the Sydney Opera house so I can't comment on it's acoustics.

I'm generalising about opera houses in my post above, so it may not apply to Sydneys. They may have done appropriate acoustic dampening to make it versatile as a venue.

It may be a venue set up well for many styles for all I know. Astone may just have been in a bad postion acoustically, within the room OR just a bad position relative to the speaker setup that particular night that he/she went.

Yes I know what you mean, sometimes her voice was a little lost when the band was in full flight. I guess I was talking more about that I could hear every instrument and it was clear and not distorted or levels being really off.

Its good they took steps to improve the acoustics in the Opera House. It was a very enjoyable show...

and when I said early that is sounded 1000% better than Prince, I mean Prince's show at Allphones, acoustically to me, didn't sound great but I think thats all to do with that venue. I have heard reports that it sounded great at Rod Laver Arena and other shows. Its a shame Sydney doesn't seem to have a really high quality sounding venue...

I can only hope that the new Sydney Entertainment Centre that is due for completition in 2016, has state of the art acoustics and is really made for world class sound.

We owe that much to our artists and to our audiences. Sorry Prince, you deserve better venues!

[Edited 5/29/12 18:12pm]

So it was probably that it was all just turned up to loud (for the Erykah concert I saw at Syd Op H).

Have been to Syd Opera House for symphonies and ochestral stuff years ago and that was ok.

I find concerts outside can be good if you get in a good spot, as the sound won't be echoing back and forth off the walls etc. (eg I saw Erykah in Rome 2 yrs ago at outside location and no prblm with sound.)

I found the sound at All Phones Arena for Roger Waters last year was good. Not all distorted and echoey.

Sound for Prince at All phones arena was distorting heavily so at times I stuck my fingers in my ears for a cleaner sound.

I'm a bit devastated that Syd Ent Centre is shutting - it's a much better size and layout than All phones in my opinion. Sound at Syd Ent Cent varies a lot depending on where you sit and the sound guy. Hope the replacement layout is a similar size and not too big.

For sound, I could hear the bass clearly at All Phones for Prince, but couldn't hear the bass at all for a recent Lenny Kravitz gig at Syd Ent Cent. (Though for the latter, it's possible the sound guy just forgot to turn it up - even for the bass solo). Sade at Syd Ent Cent last yr sounded good. So overall the problem at All phones was it was prbly just turned up too loud.

So if Prince wanted to perform inside the Syd Opera House, perhaps it would be best to be an unplugged gig - acoustic guitar, real piano... Could do all his slow piano stuff.

astone said:

So if Prince wanted to perform inside the Syd Opera House, perhaps it would be best to be an unplugged gig - acoustic guitar, real piano... Could do all his slow piano stuff.

YES PLEASE!!!

astone said:

So it was probably that it was all just turned up to loud (for the Erykah concert I saw at Syd Op H).

Have been to Syd Opera House for symphonies and ochestral stuff years ago and that was ok.

I find concerts outside can be good if you get in a good spot, as the sound won't be echoing back and forth off the walls etc. (eg I saw Erykah in Rome 2 yrs ago at outside location and no prblm with sound.)

I found the sound at All Phones Arena for Roger Waters last year was good. Not all distorted and echoey.

Sound for Prince at All phones arena was distorting heavily so at times I stuck my fingers in my ears for a cleaner sound.

I'm a bit devastated that Syd Ent Centre is shutting - it's a much better size and layout than All phones in my opinion. Sound at Syd Ent Cent varies a lot depending on where you sit and the sound guy. Hope the replacement layout is a similar size and not too big.

For sound, I could hear the bass clearly at All Phones for Prince, but couldn't hear the bass at all for a recent Lenny Kravitz gig at Syd Ent Cent. (Though for the latter, it's possible the sound guy just forgot to turn it up - even for the bass solo). Sade at Syd Ent Cent last yr sounded good. So overall the problem at All phones was it was prbly just turned up too loud.

So if Prince wanted to perform inside the Syd Opera House, perhaps it would be best to be an unplugged gig - acoustic guitar, real piano... Could do all his slow piano stuff.

I LOOOOVE outdoor concerts because the sound is usually fantastically clear and defined for that reason.