Post your concert reviews here.

Well, the show only started--or at least was SCHEDULED to start--30 minutes ago. Maybe everyone's phone was impounded at the door?

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[Edited 5/7/13 9:35am]

NICE!

serpan99 said:

God how I hate that Afro... (( and those girls)) blah

Francois Marchand ‏@FMarchandVS

Main set was a snappy 80 minutes. Now how many "encores" do we get? @VogueTheatre #Vancouver

[Edited 5/7/13 9:35am]

Review: Prince delivers unpredictable, uneven performance in Vancouver

http://www.vancouversun.c...story.html

Prince

Monday night (early show) | Vogue Theatre

VANCOUVER - Would it be enough?

That was the real question at the first of four Prince concerts in Vancouver Monday night at the Vogue Theatre.

Would Prince be able to silence those who were becoming increasingly skeptical that the Purple One would be able to pull off the quadruple gig stunt he planned to repeat in several other cities during his West Coast “residency” tour?

Fans were concerned as well.

There was the ticket price, a whopping $275 for a fixed two-hour set that would likely prevent the usual string of surprises and multiple encores that are Prince’s trademark.

But could seeing the diminutive genre-defying guitar god up close and and personal in a room where you have the possibility of finding yourself at the front, covered in Purple sweat, be priceless? The excitement bordered on the feverish early on, but the buzz faded quickly.

With the concerts in danger of being under-attended, the Vogue created a 2-for-1 deal for its newsletter subscribers. The strategy worked, reinvigorating stagnating sales but in turn infuriating fans that had eagerly scooped up their tickets long ago.

This came on the heels of the unexpected announcement of a tour launch party at the Portside Pub on Sunday, which for $25 offered a sneak peek at Prince’s new band 3rdEyeGirl as well as Prince fave DJ Rashida, complete with a surprise glimpse at a new album tentatively titled Plectrum Electrum, discount offers for Vogue concert tickets, and ticket giveaways. (Prince also showed up briefly, to boot.)

Then Monday afternoon, just a few hours after the two early shows had been declared sold-out: 100 free tickets for the floundering late shows were given to Portside boss Mark Brand to sell via his restaurant Save-On-Meats for as low as $50, with the money going to charity.

A classy move, but hardly a sign of demand trumping supply.

So was it enough?

Right at the eight o’clock stroke (a feat, to be honest), Roger Nelson kicked into an ear-blasting, eye-popping four-piece band gig where he lead 3rdEyeGirl -- Toronto-bred guitarist Donna Grantis,

bassist Ida Nielsen and drummer Hannah Ford -- into a rock-heavy display full of electric guitar riffage.

“Are you all ready for some lip-syncing?” he jokingly asked as lyrics from new song Screwdriver appeared on screen.

Not a chance.

Garbed in his long black coat and sporting high heels that never seemed to hinder his strut, Prince played it fast and loose, incorporating a few old riffs into new tunes, jamming out some unknown material for the better part of the first half of the show.

If you wanted the hits, it would probably have to wait after Grantis and Prince played a few wah pedal-heavy face melters and electric funk-rock jams in front of a backdrop of swirling psychedelia and smashing glass.

Plectrum Electrum, whether a full Prince album or not, is going to contain some real scorchers.

One does not question Prince’s creative decisions, but you could be excused for being close to losing your cool as Prince wasted a good five minutes playing a schmaltzy electricity-laden piano-rock instrumental that sounded like a cheesy movie soundtrack, complete with blossoming flowers on screen.

Redemption came a few moments later in the form of a red-hot I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man and an all-too-short snippet of Guitar, which finally got the crowd singing along.

But it was quickly back into jam mode with 3rdEyeGirl, Prince and the girls going all Zeppelin on the Vogue crowd, with new single FixUrLifeUp coming after another long, funkified blast of guitars, bass and drums.

“Don’t worry about doing what the crowd loves, just worry about doing what you love,” Prince sang on the grunge-inspired tune.

Fitting, because Prince was doing exactly what he wanted, even if that meant going nowhere fast extending new track I Like It There into a 10-minute session.

You just had to hang on for the ride and make the most of it, soaking in the strobe lights, the guitar fury, and the spectacular HD projections that must have justified at least half the price of the ticket alone.

“You might want to stick around, something amazing is about to go down,” Prince sang 80 minutes in, which is also the point at which the band said goodbye, leaving the crowd clamoring for an encore that should have come much later.

Prince and 3rdEyeGirl would return for a revamped, White Stripes-ified version of Let’s Go Crazy, Ida Nielsen showing off her bass skills, Grantis lying down on her amps as she nailed her solo.

And then it seemed it was all over. Despite fans calling out for more (and with many having already left), Prince would not return.

“One more song!” chanted the befuddled fans.

Prince wasted a good 25 minutes of potential show time leaving his fans standing, returning only at the very last minute for a half-hearted remedial jam incorporating Billy Cobham’s classic Stratus.

For the asking price, whether the artist’s name was Prince or not, it wasn’t nearly enough.

There is always some hack who calls him Roger Nelson. It's Prince Rogers Nelson....and this mistake will continue long after we're all gone.

and also, 'i like it there' is about 20 years old , it is NOT new..

its AWESOME but not new..

so clearly.. not a Prince expert doing the review..

but for me,, I CANT WAIT..

a TINY room with P playing some new 'scorchers' and 'i like it there' and the new 'i could never take the place of your man'...

that sounds HEAVENLY!

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[Edited 5/7/13 9:36am]

^

f*cking gorgeousness.

Review – Prince at the Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, April 15 2013

http://www.thesnipenews.c...vancouver/

- by Shawn Conner

Prince kicked off his West Coast tour Monday night in Vancouver.

In the first of two shows that night – followed by two more tomorrow night – at the Vogue Theatre, the Minneapolis singer seemed as interested in showcasing his new back-up band as much as showing off his own talents. Unfortunately he has chosen to name them “3rd Eye Girl”.

Never mind that, however. In fact everyone was too charged up and focused on the man in the spiky stilettos at centre stage to much care who was backing him up.

Not that the show was without controversy. The outcry over the ticket prices – $250 a pop – raised some ire when they were first announced. In the end, not enough people wanted to pay that much, and the day of the first show tickets were going for as little as $50, if you could make it to the Save On Meats butcher shop/diner in time.

But once again, this reviewer digresses.

First off, anyone hoping for a Greatest Hits package was bound to go home disappointed. Even more so than in his arena shows, Prince does what he wants in smaller venues like the Vogue Theatre. What he wanted to do was play guitar with a rock band, and not necessarily the songs people would want to hear.

The closest he came to anything approaching a hit was “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man”, from Sign O the Times, slowed down to a grunge tempo. For an encore, “Let’s Go Crazy” got a similar injection of grunge, and though the familiar guitar lines and chorus excited the crowd, the song’s refrain isn’t as convincing when the rhythm has a lead weight attached to it.

Not to disparage the talents of Hannah Ford, who was a monster on drums when she needed to be. The same could be said for Ida Nielsen and her bass. Donna Grantis sure had the guitar-hero moves and the slick licks, but her playing seemed colourless next to Prince’s melodic riffs and solos.

In fact there was a whole lot of 3rd Eye wankery on display as the Live Out Loud tour lived up to its name. Many of the songs hit a psychedelic rock-jam groove which at times was probably more fun for the players than the audience, although Prince is such a showman that few people were going to leave unsatisfied.

A partial setlist includes “Screwdriver”, “She’s Always In My Hair”, “Guitar”, “I Like It There” and something I think was called either “Too Young to Dare” or, just as likely considering it’s Prince, “2Y2D”. There was also “Bambi”, an early Prince song with some Hendrix guitar influence that is as close to this tour has to a signature tune. There was also a horny ballad complete with a stage candle (and footage of candles on the video screen backdrop). Another newer Prince number, “Cause and Effect” ended the set after less than 90 minutes.

With probably about 40 minutes to go before the theatre would have to kick us out and start letting in the late night show’s ticket-holders, we were all hoping for a big-deal encore packed with hits. Instead we got the aforementioned slowed-down “Let’s Go Crazy”. Then the houselights went up. However by now I’m onto this guy’s tricks and so I knew enough to stick around. Sure enough, after about at least a quarter of the people had left and several people had shouted themselves horse, Prince returned for one more psychedelic space-rock jam.

What else can I say? It was Prince.

Another legendary concert with the one and only #Prince @VogueTheatre. #3rdEyeGirl #LiveOutLoudTour #yvr pic.twitter.com/GaWONnVI2P

inspireof said:

Another legendary concert with the one and only #Prince @VogueTheatre. #3rdEyeGirl #LiveOutLoudTour #yvr pic.twitter.com/GaWONnVI2P

That's my boy, 54 going on 17!!!!

Another review:

http://www.theprovince.co...story.html

2 shows in 1 night, seems strange? Why not just 1 show?

itsjustaroundthecorner said:

Astasheiks said:

2 shows in 1 night, seems strange? Why not just 1 show?

Money, of course.

Whoa I'm a bit late but is it really just Ida, Donna and Hannah? No horns no keyboards Morris Cassie Elisa Shelby are all out for LOL tour..? Like the Dakota shows hopefully he brings in guests and more instruments for the US shows but that's just me.

Meh...he plays the hits and the diehards whine, he plays something new and the casual fams whine so you can never win with the setlist but so far it looks pretty interesting! 80 minute sounds a bit brief though.

Hope everyone enjoyed the show. C'mon orgers I'm not going to bed till I see some more reviews >=D!!!

serpan99 said:

Another review:

http://www.theprovince.co...story.html

Woaw. Sounds like a proper disaster.

ohYeeeeeah said:

serpan99 said:

Another review:

http://www.theprovince.co...story.html

Woaw. Sounds like a proper disaster.

This is what happens when he doesn't play the hits.

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[Edited 5/7/13 9:36am]

I'm sure everyone had fun I really like that photo of him with one leg up in his heels, looks proper old school Prince.

serpan99 said:

Review – Prince at the Vogue TThere was also a horny ballad complete with a stage candle (and footage of candles on the video screen backdrop).

That was a little ditty known as "When We're Dancing Slow And Close."

And he didn't edit it. And don't you pretend like you don't know the part.

Well isn't this typical!

People have been twatting on for the past few years about him "always playing the same greatest hits package" and then he dos'nt and it gets slagged in the press! Sounds like a great gig but just coz he didnt do Purple Rain etc its somehow shit? Bellends!

Anyway maybe if you're a casual greatest hits fan you may have been disapointed by the lack of hits but then again you should learn to appreciate the new stuff.

Wished i could of been there!