Hi orgers!

I writing a piece about the recent shows. I've been lucky enough to attend quite a few of them, from the first press conference at Electric Ballroom to shepherds bush, koko and ronnie scotts. Unfortunately didn't get to Manchester!

I hope those that got to a show really enjoyed it. I'm writing a piece on this tour and on how it has used social media and also the phenomemnon of ticketless gigs and the sense of community it has fostered, from the hashtag princearmy to the friends made in queues.

I'd love to hear your views on this and even if you didnt get to a show - what was your view of how it went down?

If you're interested in taking part PM me and I will send you my email address where you can send your thoughts. If I use your information I will give you full credit and you will get a thank you for sharing anyway.

Peace & B Wild

M

It hurts... but hurts so good

kaber said:

I saw Prince played Bambi - enough said

+1

If you look for negatives in anything in life you'll find them.

But if 17 days ago someone would have said I'd drive from Leeds to London without a ticket in the hope of getting into one of the best concerts of all time, that I would spend all my time refreshing Twitter, that I would get tickets for two gigs in Manchester and still queue for over 3 hours to get to the front and that I would see over three hours of basically my dream gig, I'd have given almost anything

February 2014. The stuff of dreams

Fantastic feedback so far guys - thanks for sharing your thoughts - keep em coming!

The only negative thing I can think of is people queueing the longest being rewarded with the shortest show.

There's no perfect way around announcing last minute shows.

Prince is still the best live act there is, and we got to see him playing with a stripped down back to basics band. Being grateful wouldn't hurt a lot of Prince "fans", to be honest...

Who are you writing it for? A website, a magazine, a newspaper? Surely you should tell us that first?

My first Prince gigs (the 2 Koko shows) and I had an incredible time. Prince and the band are on top form.

Eight days ago my wife, who had been watching me glued to Twitter and so on, said we could travel to Manchester and that she was prepared to queue for the eight hours of so. She got me to book a hotel that night.

Skip to The Brits... suddenly he confirms what we knew, Manchester was happening! And then the terrible happened. Ticketed event. Oh fuck. Friday's show appears on the site. Tickets gone. But I want Saturday. Thought if I was gonna keep hitting refresh and tickets didn't go on sale until the next day I was gonna be up all night. And then...

So with two tickets paid for, the hotel booked, working days having been changed due to a course earlier in the week we left. 5:20 alarm... snooze.

Left the house Saturday morning at 7:30, 163 miles to go. Arrived, hotel room ready (first time ever). Lunch at Jamie's Italian, drink in a Victorian pub, bath in the hotel, clothes put on, tickets and id checked for the 10,000th time (it may have been more than that).

Hit the queue at 5pm. Numbers 206 and 207. Met fans, got cold, got excited, wished I hadn't eaten so much at lunch.

And then it happened...

So close I could see the light in his eyes. The seven year old boy in me once again finds out Santa is real.

divas21212 said:

Ppenguin said:

4 words "Get,me,a,camel" this tour had the hallmarks of somebody who is out of touch with most of reality - got kids, live outside London, not too blessed in the bank balance, got a job....chances are this tour wasn't meant for you. I thought the whole thing was disorganized and chaotic which was both it's charm and down-side. Forget the discrepancy in pricing; £10 was never going to be the long term price, forget the fact that deception on the part of his manager ruined it to some people (how many people travelled to London when Kiran posed the question "who'd pay £70 for a show tonight"...how many didn't travel when the SBE gig was advertised as £70 but was actually £10). But for me the biggest bugbear has be the way he's tried to squeeze 2 shows out if some evenings and the way the more 'devoted', 'loyal' whatever you want to call them fans who queued for hours got the toughest deal. I know the first Camden Ball Room gig was shorter than the second that evening and that those that had queued all day got a rougher deal than those who hadn't...but maybe you could argue that, for £10, you can't argue too much. I don't think that argument holds much water at the KOKO gigs though. It can't be right that those who queued overnight,12 hours,11 hours etc and paid £70 got a show lasting just 90 minutes and 19 songs (2 of which were only played because people literally refused to leave)and were ushered out to make way for another crowd who could have waited no more than 4 hours (capacit was reached at 5pm I believe) and they get a 2.5-3 hr gig with at least 15 more songs: look at the pricing: Camden Ballroom show 1 - £10 for 90 mins Camden Ballroom show 2 - £10 for 2-2.5 hrs Shep Bush Empire - £10 for 2.5 hours (40 songs) KingsHall - £70 for acoustic set and Q&A KOKO show 1 - £70 for 90 minutes (19 songs) KOKO show 2 - £70 for 2.5 to 3 hrs (35 songs) RONNY Scott's - £35 for intimate gig Manchester show 1 - £70 for 2.5 Hrs Manchester show 2 -£70 for 3 hrs (40 songs) don't get me wrong, I loved my 90 minute experience (including 10 minutes of sit-in protest) but i can't say I don't feel hard done by when you look at the list above...Unfair in the very literal sense Let's not mention the 180 degree turn when it comes to the stance on the Internet...one month it's dead but suddenly, when it's a means of free publicity, it's the dogs bollocks and a way for his manager to hobnob with celebs in true "mwah, mwah...you were fabulous darling" style [Edited 2/23/14 11:44am] [Edited 2/23/14 11:46am]

Agree with most of what you've said, apart from the time people queued to get in to the 2nd Koko show...I was 20 people away from being in first show, so queued for 6.5hrs.

I found the whole "tour" frustrating - even though I eventually got to see two shows.

I could have made the SBE gig, but thought it'd be oversubscribed so stayed at home, nearly travelled down the next week after Kirans tweet (thatnk god I didn't)...and even though the fans took the lead and tried to get some order and fairness in the que (sharpie hand numbering), it still didn't solve que jumping...a well known member on here said he was 1274 in the KOKO que (30ish behind me) yet got into the first show...

At the end of the day, as much as we love Prince, he has never really taken our needs/feelings into consideration, we've been used as a (free) publicity tool.

At £10 that's OK...at £70 not so much.

At least the Manchester gigs had tickets, so I could arrange babysitters, travel 3hrs with a mate and my girlfirend & know we were all getting in.

Having said that, the 22nd Manchester show was possibly the best gig I've ever seen (Prince or otherwise)...so I'm happy for that reason.

I though even though the 2nd KOKO show was good, it felt disjointed and lost it's direction with the sampler set and never regained it's momentum...though had plenty of indivually great moments.

As a long time fan who didn't get to actually see Prince on this tour here's my opinion (regarding the organisation of Manchester, London is just too far for me) ..... when I missed out on tickets when they were released I was gutted - the prices put up on online ticket sales sites were silly money that I just couldn't afford.

There was some information that a limited number of tickets were available on the door BUT - I live 3 hours away, my husband works and I have 3 kids to look after. The absolute earliest I could have got to Manchester on Friday would be 6.30 and I thought there would be no point - the limited number on the door would have been taken hours ago. Therefore I didn't travel. If only I'd known.

Sense told me that there would have been even less tickets on the door available Saturday as the fans who paid £35 were being allowed in. Therefore if I wanted to go I'd have to get there early. Again I had commitments that prevented me going too early (and in the end prevented me going at all) but had I had a ticket in advance I would have absolutely made the effort.

I actually like the fact that many of the people who got in hadn't paid mad money to touts but I feel much more comfortable going to a gig knowing that I'm going to get in. Therefore there should have been more information regarding how many tickets were going to be available on the door and the chances of getting a ticket should I have travelled. Also I think the promoters need to realise that some of his fans from 20 years ago now have families, jobs etc... and sometimes cannot (or will not) queue for hours on end in the freezing cold at a moments notice (full credit to those that did).

I'm truly gutted to have missed what sound like shows of a lifetime, especially knowing that I could have gone on Friday and got in - but I guess thats what happens when you live miles from a major city. My loss

I have been a Prince fan for 26 years so i was overjoyed when i found out about this tour. I Live in Edinburgh and after spending all my time refreshing twitter/ Fb for a bit more advanced notice than on the day(i wont fly) and it not happenning , I tuned into radio 6 music live announcement from 3eyegirl on the sunday and was gutted to say the least that i would miss out on another gig so i decided for my sanity's sake to take up residency at my friends house in Northampton (10 hours on the coach) from tue-mon so i would have more chance to get into london although it still took 2..5-3 hours to get there. I was one of the people who went to london on the thursday based on Kiran's £70 tonight tweet so my non prince fan friend wandered around london for 8 hours and no announcement came i was gutted! i did however jump on the tube and met some fans in a pub in camden it's nice to put a face to people u talk to through social media. Friday arrives and 3EG tweets in the morning , my friend said to me lets go to london , my reply was no because of yesterday i will wait for a venue as i did not want to drag him around london again for nothing , the venue announcement as u all know came after 7pm , i was distraught as i knew there was absolutely no way i would make that queue in time. the only thing that stopped me crying was the tweet from someone i met on the thursday night about Koko's, Ronnie Scotts and Manchester. Koko's- We left Northampton at 6am and was in the queue by 9am, i was #87 which was the year i fell in love with Prince Yes Im finally going to get in !! by the time we got in my feet were throbbing but as usual Prince was mind blowing !!! so funnily enough whilst he was on stage i had forgotten about my feet, we got back to northampton at 2.30 and i was up a few hours later to catch my coach home, i was so tired physically and emotionally, missed my kids and husband . would i do it again YES!!!!! It's Prince !! I was one of the lucky few that got tickets to Saturday's Manchester gig this time i went with my hubby and eldest son, neither of them were very keen on queing all day but i explained that if we dont queue i will not be able to see him (im 5 ft 3 ) so we left at 11pm on friday nght arrived in Manchester at 4.30am we had to wait until 5am for the car park to open before we could have a few hours sleep in the car. we were in the queue by 9.45 (#40-42) again we met some lovely people which just made the day queing easier to cope with . when the doors opened we unbelievably got stuck behind someone having trouble with their tickets and got passed by i dont know how many people , so instead of front or second row we were 4th row. we had a really good view all night (apart from the man in front who insisted on putting his hands in the air blocking my vision lol) but seriously it was a really good view . i just cannot put into words how incredibly amazing it was, we were all completley blown away, it was my sons first Price gig and he could not believe how amazing it was. I have always been totally in awe of him but saturday was just something else, i do not know how it is possible to be better than he already is but he managed that on saturday by the bucket load. 3EG are just amazing and seem to relax him, the energy and chemistry they have on stage is electrifying. I hope they come back very soon. !!!

Debjam - I bow down to you - that's commitment

maplenpg said:

Debjam - I bow down to you - that's commitment

thank you!!

My thoughts:

- As a PR tour, it seems to have worked a treat for Prince and the gang. The hit and run gigs have had the specialist music press in raptures, gotten the tabloid showbiz pages all gooey and even won admiring coverage from serious news outlets (Radio 4, Newsnight, the Sunday Times). Social media was whipped into a frenzy, and the UK was served notice that Prince remains a relevant, working musician, not a nostalgia cabaret act. And the sight of massive queues of devotees in the freezing rain must surely have drummed up industry interest for bigger things...

The organisation - it was a tremendous thrill to be able to hear an announcement on tjhe radio and a few hours later be at a monumental gig. I hand;t been so excited about a gig in years. But I realise that this doesn't work so well for people who can't just drop everything and run to Central London.Also, a lot of people outside Koko left when it was confirmed that the price was £70, after queuing for half a day, so advance notice of the real pricing would have been nice. This isn't a game for most people

- As a personal experience - it was a dream come true to see Prince rocking hard in such intimate venues. And because he just won't be pigeonholed, the piano/sampler bits were utterly spine tingling. The set lists were fat free and the band were solo tight. At SBE I was close enough to see the wrinkles on his face (figure of speech - he doesn't seem to have any) and every bend and buzz of his guitar strings.

It was also heartening that, on the whole fans looked after each other so well in the queue, and made the trial of waiting for hours a pleasure. Shows that there is a great community of real music fans out there.

I think Prince knew the way he sold gig tickets meant that "original" fans would struggle to watch him, most have many commitments these days. Prince was courting new fans, a younger generation. Whipping up hysteria to catch the media eye. And why not, its his fantastic career. I'm sure more gigs will follow soon for us all to witness.

[Edited 2/25/14 13:39pm]

YowMaScroow said:

Ppenguin said:

YowMaScroow said:

I think Prince knew the way he sold gig tickets meant that "original" fans would struggle to watch him, most have many commitments these days. Prince was courting new fans, a younger generation. Whipping up hysteria to catch the media eye. And why not, its his fantastic career. I'm sure more gigs will follow soon for us all to witness.

[Edited 2/25/14 13:39pm]

I thought that but loud guitar music isnt really the 'in' thing anymore and a lot of the show I saw (did I mention it was only 90 minutes long including time off stage ) were his 80s hits. If it had any agenda other than $ it was to show the world he was a 'real' musician and not a sample hound (apart from the section of the show they relied on samples).... The current music scene on terms if popularity is redundant to Prince and Princeis redundant to that music scene.

be interested to hear what age groups were predominantly in your crowd. 18 -30 ? 30 -40 ? ..... 40+ ?

YowMaScroow said:

Ppenguin said:

YowMaScroow said:

be interested to hear what age groups were predominantly in your crowd. 18 -30 ? 30 -40 ? ..... 40+ ?

looking at the queue and all people around me, I'd say most people were 30s to 40s but I only saw 2 people who were possibly in mid 20s....but then I obviously did t see 3000 people so that's no real barometer

So the crowd was made up of people who were 18 in mid late 1990's. (18 being the age we really start to get into and go out to see live music). Probably irrelevant but thats when Prince went "Slave" and left WB, releasing Gold Experience, C&D, Emancipation etc. Hardly big media events. Wonder what attracts that age group to the recent Prince gigs.

YowMaScroow said:

robturp said:

3QuartersInAGlass said:

kaber said:

I saw Prince played Bambi - enough said

+1

Saw him play this in Paris on the Diaonds and Pearls tour.

Would hope he'll have something else up his sleeve if he pops over here again.

Make me nostalgic for the Gold Experience.......

Ppenguin said:

YowMaScroow said:

So the crowd was made up of people who were 18 in mid late 1990's. (18 being the age we really start to get into and go out to see live music). Probably irrelevant but thats when Prince went "Slave" and left WB, releasing Gold Experience, C&D, Emancipation etc. Hardly big media events. Wonder what attracts that age group to the recent Prince gigs.

I don't know about 18...I'd say, for me personally, and those around me during school years, we started to follow particular bands at 14-15 so you're probably looking at Batman thrusting him into the mid-teen market or maybe even as far back as SOTT for the 30market and obviously 40s is Purple rain backwards

Interesting. Most 30-40 year olds i know would struggle to name 5 P songs. But you're right, 14 was the age i got grabbed, hook, line & sinker by the 1999 video. Nothing else out there came close.