Ramdon general info for People:

Plenty of Merchandise if you like spending on that sort of thing. Lovely programme, overpriced tee shirts, Poster, Mug.

There were also good unofficial tee shirts on sale on the way back to the car park (good to see them back!)

Show started at 20.43 and ended and 23.05.

I was in Block 16 (one of the immediate stage side blocks, row X seat 515. I was very disappointed at first, having paid £134. The seat was three from the end of the aisle, almost square on to Prince's mic. The problem was, there were tower amps on the corner of the stage, which meant P was obscured. Block 15 would have been better.

As it started, I look for spare seats (there were a few) and I was able to move down to Row G, about 20 seats in, then I got a fantastic view. I had three seats to myself and a coffee (God I'm getting old), so I could kick back, enjoy the show and text the set list. Made a nice change to the scrum on the floor (looked a bit cramped), besides, I did all that in Feb.

Stage looked good, with 2 screens, but they were fairly central, so they probalby only benefited those at the back.

Prince came on stage with a big bunch of white and purple balloons.

Sound was good for an arena where I was sitting.

Two additional keyboard players.

A couch hidden on either side of the stage with a woman on each. Kieran was one, too far to see the other.

Good balance of hits, rare and 3EG. Sagged for the casuals in the middle a little.

Loved the new reworks of Kiss, Controversy, Little Red Corvette.

Hot Thing never sounded better.

Ida never sounded better.

Great that nearly every song was done in full.

Empty Room, Whats my Name, Electric (can't say intercourse).....stunning highlights.

Pretzel sounded great live.

For an old timer die hard like me, I never thought I'd hear Electric Intercourse. I was stunned.

Great show. Not in the same league as Feb, but arenas can't pull that off.

slimeyc said:

SquirrelMeat said:

Home! Think it went like this:

Funk n roll
Take me with u
Raspberry beret
U got the look
Musicology

Kiss (new arrangement)
Empty room (new arrangement, P on Piano)

Lets go crazy
She's always in my hair
Guitar
Plectrum electrum

Fix ur life up
Something in the water
Pretzelbodylogic

Whats my name

How come u don't call (full on Piano, inc all the fade out lyrics)
Diamonds (One verse, one chorus, on piano)
Beautiful ones (two verses, two choruses on piano)
Electric intercourse (Full song, on piano, no intercourse!)

Controversy (new arrangement)
1999 (new arrangement)
Little red corvette (excellent new arrangement)

Keyboard set.
Doves (Most of the song)
Sign (Part)
Forever (Most)
Hot thing (full, Band came back)
Housequake (Part)
Nasty girl (Snippet)
Poplife (half)
I would die for U (Half)


Purple Rain

Play That Funky Music

I think he played a bit of The most beautiful girl in the world at some point too.

Yeah there were a few bars on the Sampler, Alphabet St too.

Prince seems to be plagued with sound issues. Is it his (or his crews) job to ensure things are taken care of or, the staff of the venue?

SquirrelMeat said:

EuanH91 said:

Ah, awesome! A lot of the 3rdEye stuff falls a bit flat for me, so this is great news. So excited for tomorrow, now!

He must have been listening to your requested for hits and balance. I think he got it about right.

Haha, I know! These shows look like they were tailor-made for me. Thanks Prince

EuanH91 said:

SquirrelMeat said:

He must have been listening to your requested for hits and balance. I think he got it about right.

Haha, I know! These shows look like they were tailor-made for me. Thanks Prince

You are going to be pulling that funky face out if he repeats Hot Thing in Manchester.

Electric Intercourse

Ac cording to Prince vault, this was only ever played live once at First Avenue back in 1983!!

Empty room

Sounds great

what is the deal wit hthe writbands?

Were they only to mark the position in the queue outside or was there a cordend off 'pit' near the stage for wearers of the bands?

[Edited 5/15/14 19:29pm]

[Edited 5/15/14 19:31pm]

Well, I gotta say it sounds like it was great--I'm very interested in the new arrangements (besides obviously the performance of Electric Blank). I hope some of it shows up somewhere so that I can get some feel for what happened--maybe some official footage?

It would be nice....

It looks good overall. I still wish the sampler set would go away though. Piano medley and sampler set seems like overkill for me. The first half of the show looks very interesting though.

agoose said:

lordfalconer said:

agoose said:

what is the deal wit hthe writbands?

Were they only to mark the position in the queue outside or was there a cordend off 'pit' near the stage for wearers of the bands?

[Edited 5/15/14 19:29pm]

[Edited 5/15/14 19:31pm]

In Birmingham- they appeared to be only for standing tickets- no pit passes

Ppenguin said:

lordfalconer said:

In Birmingham- they appeared to be only for standing tickets- no pit passes

Any idea what time people started queuing...can't face 11 hrs again

1p1p1i3 said:

lordfalconer said:

Well, I've been to 20+ shows and this was by far the worst experience I've ever had. The sound was absolutely hideous for most of the gig from Block 2, just right of the stage. I also thought the audience seemed pretty flat. On top of that at least 3,000 people couldn't see him at all when he was playing piano/keys as he was directly behind a speaker stack.

I thought it was meh. Could hardly make out his vocals, until the bass stopped.

Can't win them all, but I was very disappointed. Got the whole family going to Leeds and not convinced it's going to be great

jasontate said:

Good show, just 3 disappointments, the sound wasn't so good, the crowd never really got into it and finishing with play that funky music ,why?

Block 4 - £137 for a ticket was a total total rip off.

Miles away and crappy sound. Yea the set list was interesting but that was NO WAY near enough of a good view or fun vibe. £60 for that and I wouldn't be bitching.

A few bits of confetti and some screens with weird pictures of a rose or a phonebox doesn't make for a great large venue experience. When I think about the Gold Tour in Birmingham that was how to entertain a room that size.

Don't get me wrong i like the band etc but that was just a cash cow gig. blurg. Spend a bit of all that filthy $$$ on an interesting stage and let us see what is going on P. It all felt rushed, from the setup to the pace of the opening tracks.... (although he did settle into it)

On the plus side my 10 year old daughter loved it, so maybe if you have nothing to compare it to you would have not felt like your wallet had been lifted. (she was in wheelchair access seats much closer to the stage)

Was going to go up for monday but now I think i will save my £££.

I do have the number of a tout that i met outside that has tix for monday at face value or considerably less. Orgnote me if you need it. When asked him if he was gutted about losing all that money on tickets he just said "you win some, you lose some" so he must come out on top in general.

[Edited 5/16/14 0:31am]

onlymatt said:

Top gig !! (for an arena) - we were standing.

Set list was a great mix and highlights for me were - Little Red Corvette re work / Something in the water / Hot Thing and the sampler set ! -- Guitar sound and vocals were not good to start but they got a handle on it ok ! 3EG were great and having a good time up there !

Glad he came back over after London hit n runs as with young kids we just couldnt get up to them !

I take it that there was no problems with ID's getting checked?

Can people who attended the show tell us more about the Jehovah Witness version (censored version) of "Electric Intercourse" (oops, I should say "Electric Blank") played yesterday evening?

Quite frankly, not turning me on. Really. If the Purple Rain Deluxe in preparation for later this year has JW versions, he can keep those tracks in his vault! I prefer to have the original versions, even if they are not remastered.

I see the discussion is here: http://prince.org/msg/7/407629

[Edited 5/16/14 2:19am]

Ppenguin said:

jasontate said:

Well, I've been to 20+ shows and this was by far the worst experience I've ever had. The sound was absolutely hideous for most of the gig from Block 2, just right of the stage. I also thought the audience seemed pretty flat. On top of that at least 3,000 people couldn't see him at all when he was playing piano/keys as he was directly behind a speaker stack.

I thought it was meh. Could hardly make out his vocals, until the bass stopped.

Can't win them all, but I was very disappointed. Got the whole family going to Leeds and not convinced it's going to be great

KOKO sound was like that - the voice was really tinny and, with the bass, everything was obscured....but I put that down to size of venue and being stood about 12 ft away from a chocking great speaker. I'm going Monday but I'm optimistic, whatever happens, it'll be better/longer than KOKO. I'm standing so just hope I'm not right at the back...why oh why did I pick the smallest musician to follow

Honestly, the sounds at KoKo was significantly better than last night. KoKo was too loud, but last night was just distorted badly, even though it wasn't paritcularly loud. When P was on keys it sounded fine, but then we couldn't see him at all. I love Pretzelbodylogic, but it sounded like a big ball of noise last night. Hey ho. Next time will be awesome I'm sure.

Can't believe the setlist, can't wait for tonight!

jasontate said:

Can't win them all, but I was very disappointed. Got the whole family going to Leeds and not convinced it's going to be great

Leeds arena is a fantastic venue.. the view is great no matter where you're sat/stood, and the sound is meant to be world class. Besides, it's a full week after the first show, I'd think the kinks would have been worked out by then.

What are you people winging about with the sound? it was a proper loud noisy heavy rock punch. I loved that sound - infact I was woried that it would be on the quiet/subtle side like the O2 gigs, but I was not to be disapointed.

How much fucking guitar? that was heavier than mot of the gig's I've been to (except but heading to nearly Metallical level!)

LOVED IT!

I turned up by myself and was standing about 10 yards to the left in front of the console thingie.

Loved "What's my Name", "Electric Intercourse" (my 10th show and never heard these live before), etc, etc.

He made a few comments about camera phones early on; he said something along the lines of "Put your phones down and get your party on!" during funknroll, but there were still alot who chose to watch the gig through their screens rather than enjoy the moment (never understood that, but then again I'm old!).

Another thing, maybe it's because I was driving and therefore not drinking so maybe I remembered more but I thought his singing was particularly good last night, even better than usual.

Have fun to all how are going to the other shows

You could buy off the tout or from a die hard Prince fan who just needs to sell one ticket. Org note me. Thanks. x

errr yea of course! I mean if you are stuck and desperate it is always nice to stick it to the touts and have fun on their losses.

Ppenguin said:

lordfalconer said:

In Birmingham- they appeared to be only for standing tickets- no pit passes

Any idea what time people started queuing...can't face 11 hrs again

I asked a guy who put a video on Instagram.. He said he started queuing at about 5:30, and he looked pretty close in the videos. Maybe.. 5-6 rows back?