Post all your reports and experiences here. Thanks

I really enjoyed the first half, starting with act of god and then partyman a bit later were my highlights.
The second half did tail off a bit though, only because it was too similar to the night before, not a problem to people who were only there for that show.
Now hopefully for a 3rdeyegirl set tonight and I will be very happy with my time in montreux!

The first half of the show was excellent - high in energy and very funky. I was (at that time) very glad he brought the horns. I thought 'yeah, he is bringing the funk tonight! no more big band from yesterday...' I changed my opinion later on...

The rest was pretty good too, don't get me wrong, Prince and the band had fun, but the tempo slowed considerably for a while and the uptempo stuff became a bit messy and sort of samey with a 'big band' version of everything... Gold material like Days of wild and Mutiny which bore so much promise never really took off, it was too much all over the place. I actually became bored for a while which I have never done at a Prince concert before. And Big City was so boring it left a massive black hole of nothingness. It made it into somewhat of a tourist big band doing covers of not so familiar songs. Meeh.

And he never played an instrument. I was gutted. Having heard the previous Montreux concerts I figured I was in for an experimental treat with him really taking it to another level with old and new stuff. And shredding that guitar. No siree..Was I disappointed in the concert as a whole? Damn right I was. I would not have travelled to Montreux if I knew about the format, I just wouldn't. I chose to go to Montreux for it's more aftershow feel, and when you get (mostly) big band version of greatest hits and some good and some boring covers I am quite disappointed.

Having said that, those are my expectations, and I cannot blame anyone (but myself). Prince often does the unexpected, or tries something new and most of the times I have enjoyed the surprises and the journey immensley. I am just not into that 'big band' thing. It was still sort of fun in a party kind of way, but a bit cheesy and rarely very interesting. Next time around I will probably not get tickets until I am more sure of the format, methinks.

I hope go all 3rdeyegirl on you all tonight!! I saw Donna was just itching to tear the roof off with her guitar...

Have fun tonight!

Stranger

Stranger said:

The first half of the show was excellent - high in energy and very funky. I was (at that time) very glad he brought the horns. I thought 'yeah, he is bringing the funk tonight! no more big band from yesterday...' I changed my opinion later on...

The rest was pretty good too, don't get me wrong, Prince and the band had fun, but the tempo slowed considerably for a while and the uptempo stuff became a bit messy and sort of samey with a 'big band' version of everything... Gold material like Days of wild and Mutiny which bore so much promise never really took off, it was too much all over the place. I actually became bored for a while which I have never done at a Prince concert before. And Big City was so boring it left a massive black hole of nothingness. It made it into somewhat of a tourist big band doing covers of not so familiar songs. Meeh.

And he never played an instrument. I was gutted. Having heard the previous Montreux concerts I figured I was in for an experimental treat with him really taking it to another level with old and new stuff. And shredding that guitar. No siree..Was I disappointed in the concert as a whole? Damn right I was. I would not have travelled to Montreux if I knew about the format, I just wouldn't. I chose to go to Montreux for it's more aftershow feel, and when you get (mostly) big band version of greatest hits and some good and some boring covers I am quite disappointed.

Having said that, those are my expectations, and I cannot blame anyone (but myself). Prince often does the unexpected, or tries something new and most of the times I have enjoyed the surprises and the journey immensley. I am just not into that 'big band' thing. It was still sort of fun in a party kind of way, but a bit cheesy and rarely very interesting. Next time around I will probably not get tickets until I am more sure of the format, methinks.

I hope go all 3rdeyegirl on you all tonight!! I saw Donna was just itching to tear the roof off with her guitar...

Have fun tonight!

Stranger

I knew this would be the case... As a musician, I wouldn't care to witness these type of shows. As amazing a bandleader as Prince is, it's just simply not the same as seeing him on Bass, Guitar, Keys, etc.

It worked during the Parade tour, but that's about it.

Although I love his voice (I also sing besides playing various instruments), his voice has aged much more than his skills on guitar, bass, etc., where he just keeps getting better.

I'm old school, and I've always "hated" the terms "singer" and "pop star" used in refference to Prince. He's simply far greater than that.

I'm thinking that he may be planning his move to solely being a bandleader, which is great. Duke. Cab. Many in jazz. I prefer the combination of player and bandleader. The jazz fusion that happened with John Blackwell, Rhonda, and Renato was phenomenal. I love the live 3rdEyeGirl stuff I've heard. I also love the larger, heavy horn section band, but for Pete's sake P... play something!

I just really hope and pray it's not something like carpal tunnel syndrome or arthritis... his hands are too precious for that, but it can happen.

All of this time without an album, and now the live stuff seemingly lost, and sort of falling apart... I hope he finds his way.

Peace.

And Princevault.com has got the setlist here http://princevault.com/in...July,_2013, thanks guys.

Stranger

Dig these Set Lists!!!

Giovanni777 said:

'....the live Stuff seemingly lost.....sort of falling apart' Wow, u r in2 drama...!But everyone is of course entitled 2 express their opinion..

the organization at the venue was pretty awful, nowhere near enough staff and a silly queue, but it was moving along. It's clearly obvious the festival can't handle these events. also obvious was there were way more than 3,900 inside the place.once we were inside the venue he started at about 9pm, which was a little too long a wait given the heat and no drinks inside. this really wasn't unexpected to me, i waited a lot longer at NSJ and other shows, but for those at thier first P show it's not cool - and it's just too long.i thought the show was very good overall, i think the multitude of horns make up for the core band not being so comfortable with this type of approach to the tunes. it was more a "show" and less about the music. the whole "goodnight" crap after every mini set of about 15 minutes gets really tiresome. abit too much manic horn dancing and not enough focus on the musicanship imo, with a very few standout solos.obviously P didn't play anything, something i expected, but others around were disaponted with that, and also the usual "not enough hits" from some around us. there was one dude in front of me who stood stock still for the entre 90 minutes and was trying to convince his buddy to bail with him a couple numbers before the end. i couldn't beleive this guy, seriously - he just stood there the whole time like a statue whilst the phonk was being laid down.it was also a short show at about 95 mins, which along with the extended breaks and late start made many walking out a little underwhelmed. these things dampened the overall nite a bit.I did like the somewhat varied set list, but not so much a fan of the beyonce style dancing chick whoever she was. the backup singers were good, but they were very much needed as P wasn't on particualrly top form vocal wise. larry G made an appearence but thankfully it was just the suit and the hat and not the bass and his old hits! A lot of the tunes started well and had big promise, but sort of fizzled out (days of wild in partcular)when i booked the tix way back i was hoping for more "jazz" but it was overall a very enjoyable night. just not really what i was hoping for i guess. oh and when damara came on at the end to say "we start tomorrow at eight sharp" that wasn't cool, given the late start, if they'd just put some background music on that would have got the message across to a clearly wanting more audience the message the show was over!

harbars said:

the organization at the venue was pretty awful, nowhere near enough staff and a silly queue, but it was moving along. It's clearly obvious the festival can't handle these events. also obvious was there were way more than 3,900 inside the place.once we were inside the venue he started at about 9pm, which was a little too long a wait given the heat and no drinks inside. this really wasn't unexpected to me, i waited a lot longer at NSJ and other shows, but for those at thier first P show it's not cool - and it's just too long.i thought the show was very good overall, i think the multitude of horns make up for the core band not being so comfortable with this type of approach to the tunes. it was more a "show" and less about the music. the whole "goodnight" crap after every mini set of about 15 minutes gets really tiresome. abit too much manic horn dancing and not enough focus on the musicanship imo, with a very few standout solos.obviously P didn't play anything, something i expected, but others around were disaponted with that, and also the usual "not enough hits" from some around us. there was one dude in front of me who stood stock still for the entre 90 minutes and was trying to convince his buddy to bail with him a couple numbers before the end. i couldn't beleive this guy, seriously - he just stood there the whole time like a statue whilst the phonk was being laid down.it was also a short show at about 95 mins, which along with the extended breaks and late start made many walking out a little underwhelmed. these things dampened the overall nite a bit.I did like the somewhat varied set list, but not so much a fan of the beyonce style dancing chick whoever she was. the backup singers were good, but they were very much needed as P wasn't on particualrly top form vocal wise. larry G made an appearence but thankfully it was just the suit and the hat and not the bass and his old hits! A lot of the tunes started well and had big promise, but sort of fizzled out (days of wild in partcular)when i booked the tix way back i was hoping for more "jazz" but it was overall a very enjoyable night. just not really what i was hoping for i guess. oh and when damara came on at the end to say "we start tomorrow at eight sharp" that wasn't cool, given the late start, if they'd just put some background music on that would have got the message across to a clearly wanting more audience the message the show was over!

Yes. I was particularly annoyed by that. First being an hour late, then playing a shortened set and at the end insisting that the show starts "sharp" at any time is a bit rich. We where there sharp at 8. Prince was 1 hour late. Also as I got little sleep the night before, due to GCS and an early check out time and had a 3 1/2 hours drive ahead of me, I didn't find it that cool at all (of course, looking at it from that angle, the short set played in my hands... then again, I'd rather would have had that short set starting "sharp" at eight. Also I agree with the multiple "good night" speeches and the "i got so many hits", "we just got started", "it's gonna be a long night" and similar... save that crap when you only play 90 mins.

[Edited 7/15/13 15:24pm]

a few (not very good) photos from the show:http://www.flickr.com/photos/fekg/sets/72157634652747727/

Travelled from UK for 2nd & 3rd shows.2nd show was the worst I've seen (seen 84 shows).Prince put zero effort into this show with every song made to sound exactly like the last.The good thing was it didn't last much more than an hour with all the breaks @ dance competitions.The 3rd show for the majority ( the 3rd eye girl bit) was pure magic.Great guitar work,killer set list,superb performance reminded me of what i was doing in Montreux.

SpiritChild said:

I don't get this. The first to nights featured new arrangements and a new line up. A new approach to his old material, and some new songs as well. The third night new songs and arrangements as well, but in a very conventional rock format. I wasn't there, so I don' know or understand why people seem to prefere to 3rd eye girl stuff.

SpiritChild said:

Travelled from UK for 2nd & 3rd shows.2nd show was the worst I've seen (seen 84 shows).Prince put zero effort into this show with every song made to sound exactly like the last.The good thing was it didn't last much more than an hour with all the breaks @ dance competitions.The 3rd show for the majority ( the 3rd eye girl bit) was pure magic.Great guitar work,killer set list,superb performance reminded me of what i was doing in Montreux.

i only saw the 2nd show, travelled from the uk & agree with everything you have said about it here. it was a dismal effort, i was actually embarrassed to be there.

i'm really glad it wasn't a wasted trip for you, the 3rd show is what i had hoped for.

excited said:

But what exactly was wrong with the show? I still don't understand. The clips I've heard and seen sounds and look terrific.

I'm sorry for your experience excited.If I had only seen the second show I would be just as dismayed.The 'Jerome' character & the female dancer were totally unnecessary.Judging a dance contest between band members.Playing nothing other than a minutes cowbell, every song sounding bloated & bombastic & identical to the previous one.Turning up an hour late then reminding us to be there for 8 sharp?It was insulting to the crowd to think that rubbish like this is acceptable.I live 25 minutes from London but if he put on an NPG show like this at the O2 I wouldn't bother going.If I hadn't seen the 3rd Eye Girl show I would not travel abroad to see him again.

paulludvig said:

I think it was maybe because the people that shelled out loads of money to go to these shows did so on the back of the guitar heavy 09 gigs. It's the only thing I can think of. I also prefer the guitar stuff, as I play a little myself, but I really enjoyed the first 2 shows, the hornz were off the chart!

kangafunk said:

Prince has always said he prefers singer songwriters/musicians to mere performers.Well the second night was far more 'Elvis' than say Janis Ian.Any current pop star could of given that performance but only Prince could of delivered that supreme guitar work on the third night.

I too travelled from the UK & saw the 2nd show only. I couldn't get any more time off work, as I made the decision so last minute. Yeah, I was stupid to attempt it but I flew out the same day -purple craziness. Flights went smoothly but unfortunately there was a signal fault at Genva & my train sat at the platform for 40mins. Faced with the possibility of missing the show I did all I could think of doing which was get a TAXI....which cost me 380 CHF! Repeatedly asked the driver to estimate the cost & he dodged the question. I just made it by the skin of my teeth. I am now well & truly broke & more than a little embarassed, feeling slightly empty.

I honestly can't process whether show 2 was much good. The two previous Prince gigs I'd seen (Dublin, Zurich 2011) I found to be almost religious experiences where he telegraphed so much emotion. Apart from 'Something in The Water' which was beautiful...there seemed to be a lack of sincerity & WAY to many party songs. Horns, no guitar, being nothing like 2009 gigs etc would all be fine, if I felt MOVED. I don't know maybe things will coalesce better for me once I've got over the drama of my journey.

As by magic I have been able to listen to the concerts (thanks guys!!!) and I have to say that my initial view has not been changed at all. If anything I might have overstated how good the first part was, though I still it consider it quite good. It has those cheesy horn arrangements, and there is this medley feeling including too many poor/boring covers (which way is up, dancing machine).

Also, throughout it is like he is trying to do too much, ie playing too many songs at once including snippets of several songs in one. It just seems unfocused and messy. Pick a song and play it focused and properly, please...

I remember at one point when he was ending one of the encores shouting for the 'Vegas' ending, Well too right, bro. On this second listen it sounds quite Vegas-y. Maybe even cruiseboat or cabaret. And then I am listening to the third night. Wow! That is what I am talking about. Real music by real musicians. Why did you do that Prince, when you can do this?

Stranger