jjazznola said:

laurarichardson said:

jjazznola said: He is mumbling on that CD no one knows what he saying he is never going to be P level and artificial age received excellent reviews and stayed on RuB for many weeks. You realize people are calling the 2nd showoneif the best ever.

Nice English! He is mumbling? Maybe you have hearing problems. I have no problem with hearing the outstanding lyrics. I doubt him or anyone else will be as great as Prince overall, I'm just talking about right now. AOA got nowhere near the accolades as Black Messiah. If AOA is so good, why doesn't P play the songs live? D'Angelo plays most of his current album instead of his older 90s hits and no one seems to mind at all. D'Angelo is now, Prince is for the most part an oldie act. I went to the early show in DC and thought it was one of the weakest Prince shows out of the 25 or so times that I have seen him. Still a lot of fun and I'm glad that I went but that band is nowhere as good as most of his bands from the past and is not in the same leauge as D'Angelo's curent band, The Vanguard. And then there's that dopey sampler set with the same old pre-recorded songs. Why? I do like when he does the piano set. It's obvious that he needs to sit down during the shows but 7 short songs into the show? He aint that old! 3EG is just not very funky at all, they hardly jam out at all. Bring back the NPG vibe. Hopefully P will wake up and move on from them. We shall see.

[Edited 6/16/15 12:16pm]

Do you think you would have enjoyed the 2nd Show better? Seems like it had a better variety of songs.

Also did the people at Show 1 had to all leave and Show 2 was a hold different paying crowd unless you bought tickets for both shows???

tammuzra said:

I listened to D'Angelo's latest album once and was pretty unimpressed. I thought Voodoo was an all time classic though. He is a great artist, no doubt. I do doubt that people will be singing many, if any, of his songs 20 years from now. He is unique and stands out in todays musical landscape, but please don't try to compare his mojo to the likes of James Brown or Prince. Seriously, its a whole different level. No offense...

Black Messiah is way better than Voodoo which was very good. I actually think it the best album in any genre that I have heard in a long while. It has layers that need to peeled away each time that you listen. For those who doubt the greatness of D'Aangelo live these days, all I can say is watch this smokin' hot set from last Sat night at Bonnaroo that everyone is talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=982&v=eS5nEUmkJ5g

[Edited 6/16/15 17:05pm]

Astasheiks said:

jjazznola said:

Nice English! He is mumbling? Maybe you have hearing problems. I have no problem with hearing the outstanding lyrics. I doubt him or anyone else will be as great as Prince overall, I'm just talking about right now. AOA got nowhere near the accolades as Black Messiah. If AOA is so good, why doesn't P play the songs live? D'Angelo plays most of his current album instead of his older 90s hits and no one seems to mind at all. D'Angelo is now, Prince is for the most part an oldie act. I went to the early show in DC and thought it was one of the weakest Prince shows out of the 25 or so times that I have seen him. Still a lot of fun and I'm glad that I went but that band is nowhere as good as most of his bands from the past and is not in the same leauge as D'Angelo's curent band, The Vanguard. And then there's that dopey sampler set with the same old pre-recorded songs. Why? I do like when he does the piano set. It's obvious that he needs to sit down during the shows but 7 short songs into the show? He aint that old! 3EG is just not very funky at all, they hardly jam out at all. Bring back the NPG vibe. Hopefully P will wake up and move on from them. We shall see.

[Edited 6/16/15 12:16pm]

Do you think you would have enjoyed the 2nd Show better? Seems like it had a better variety of songs.

Absolutely. He had Stevie Wonder there! I saw Prince play Superstition with Stevie a bunch of years back at MSG. Pretty cool. I'll always catch Prince as his shows are still a blast. Just wish he's mix up the songs and dump 3EG. I think a lot of fans never thought they would still be around considering that he tends to go through a lot of band members.

jjazznola said:

trc1 said:

Astasheiks said:

Marco81 said:

Was John Blackwell on drums at some point???

Yea, I see him in a photo. Was he the drummer the whole concert or Hanna was there he just set in a few songs?

It wasn't Jonh Blackwell, it was Kirk Johnson, he stepped in, in Hannah's drums when Judith Hill sang, he's part of Judith Hill's band, saw him drum for her at PP.

jjazznola said:

Stingray60 said:

I tend to agree with the comment that his shows now are a ''scam for money''. Pretty much the same core set every show ever since this 3rdEyeGirl rubbish. The sampler set is a cheat & It's just a touring Vegas show now & it needs to change soon or I will have to call it quits. It's not even worth downloading the bootlegs anymore, they are all the same.

Sad, but true.

jjazznola said:

laurarichardson said:

jjazznola said:

Nice English! He is mumbling? Maybe you have hearing problems. I have no problem with hearing the outstanding lyrics. I doubt him or anyone else will be as great as Prince overall, I'm just talking about right now. AOA got nowhere near the accolades as Black Messiah. If AOA is so good, why doesn't P play the songs live? D'Angelo plays most of his current album instead of his older 90s hits and none seems to mind at all. D'Angelo is now, Prince is for the most part an oldie act. I went to the early show in DC and thought it was one of the weakest Prince shows out of the 25 or so times that I have seen him. Still a lot of fun and I'm glad that I went but that band is nowhere as good as most of his bands from the past and is not in the same leauge as D'Angelo's curent band, The Vanguard. And then there's that dopey sampler set with the same old pre-recorded songs. Why? I do like when he does the piano set. It's obvious that he needs to sit down during the shows but 7 short songs into the show? He aint that old! 3EG is just not very funky at all, they hardly jam out at all. Bring back the NPG vibe. Hopefully P will wake up and move on from them. We shall see.

[Edited 6/16/15 12:16pm]

I want to believe that most people today would understand that it is not that easy to type on a cellphone but I guess you are a little slow to catch on. You are full of crap about those vocals and I am not the only person to bring it up. What is the point of having great lyrics if you cannot make out what he is saying? Aoa received great reviews my guest is you were too busy being negative to notice and once again is D'angelo selling tickets for hundreds of dollars? Do you expect people to pay big money to hear songs that are not as familiar with mainly because radio decided not to play any of the singles from the CD. You do not see the different between D'Angelo playing a rock fest with many other acts and P playing sold-out shows in small venues. So what if he is a oldie act so are the Rolling Stones an Bruce Springsteen at least all of these acts had careers that lead them to be at a level to be an oldie act. Do you really think D'Angelo will be around that long? Do you think people will be covering D's songs or the public remembering the vast majority of them? You are glad you went but the show was weak? No words for that one. 3Rd Eye is a rock band not a funk group and I am glad he dropped NPG after about 20 year's of using that name. You sound like someone who needs to get off the purple train.

Do you expect people to pay big money to hear songs that are not as familiar with mainly because radio decided not to play any of the singles from the CD? What does radio have to do with anything? If the songs are good, play them. I said the show was one of the weakest ones that I've seen but that would never stop me from having fun and enjoying myself, I'm just comparing it to all of the other shows of his that I've seen. I am definitely not alone in that opinion. I don't care what name he uses for his band, I just like to hear more funky jams when I see Prince instead of him sitting at his sampler. The Stones are definitely an oldie act but Springsteen still plays newer material mixed in with songs from his entire career over his 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hour shows. He also plays sometimes hundreds of different songs over the length of a tour, something I wish Prince would do a little more of. He just has so many great tunes that most fans would know, that he never plays. I'm not talking about obscure rarities. And no, D'Angelo is NOT selling tickets for hundreds of dollars, nor should any other artist. I paid $122.50 to see him and Gary Clark Jr this coming Sunday, in the 12th row. Not bad for 2 excellent acts.

https://gma.yahoo.com/pre...ories.html#

jjazznola said:

malexandria said:

No because unlike most touring acts, Prince changes his shows up from night to night to keep it fresh for the audience and problem himself. I've seen him multiple nights in a row and over 15 times and no two shows are the same. He'll do a core group of songs but then he'll do different arrangements, different order and will always throw in a bunch of extra songs outside of the core stuff. So it always feels fresh.

Really? He has been playing a lot of the same "core" songs for years and years now plus those idiotic sampler sets with a lot of the same pre-recorded songs. Why? He has dozens of songs that fans would love to hear but he sticks to mostly the same ones year after year, tour after tour. Just last night he played the following hits that it seems like he always plays:

Let's Go Crazy

Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
U Got The Look
Cool / Don't Stop Til You Get Enough

Controversy

1999

Little Red Corvette
Nothing Compares 2 U

Play That Funky Music

Kiss

Purple Rain

And the same old obnoxious, redundant sampler set:

When Doves Cry

Sign O The Times
Hot Thing

Nasty Girl

A Love Bizarre

Darling Nikki

I love the guy but c'mon. mix it up! Maybe if he had a better band....

jjazznola said:

malexandria said:

No because unlike most touring acts, Prince changes his shows up from night to night to keep it fresh for the audience and problem himself. I've seen him multiple nights in a row and over 15 times and no two shows are the same. He'll do a core group of songs but then he'll do different arrangements, different order and will always throw in a bunch of extra songs outside of the core stuff. So it always feels fresh.

Really? He has been playing a lot of the same "core" songs for years and years now plus those idiotic sampler sets with a lot of the same pre-recorded songs. Why? He has dozens of songs that fans would love to hear but he sticks to mostly the same ones year after year, tour after tour. Just last night he played the following hits that it seems like he always plays:

Let's Go Crazy

Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
U Got The Look
Cool / Don't Stop Til You Get Enough

Controversy

1999

Little Red Corvette
Nothing Compares 2 U

Play That Funky Music

Kiss

Purple Rain

And the same old obnoxious, redundant sampler set:

When Doves Cry

Sign O The Times
Hot Thing

Nasty Girl

A Love Bizarre

Darling Nikki

I love the guy but c'mon. mix it up! Maybe if he had a better band....

Are you just a jagoff troll? I saw the Baltimore show and went to the 11 O'Clock show, two COMPLETELY different shows and experiences. Yes he has a core group of songs that he plays, but he switches up the order, the arrangements and he throws in a lot of additional stuff. People go to Prince concerts because they pay to hear some of the core stuff like Purple Rain and if you've paid attention at all like you claim you'd know he always throws in different songs amongst his core. So yeah, no two Prince concerts ever feel the same. I get it you don't like him or want to attend his shows anymore, bully for you.

jjazznola said:

laurarichardson said:

jjazznola said: ---/--I do not like D'Angelo cd and love AOA and I know plenty of people who feel the same. D is not catching P now and was not catching him 15 years ago. Every show P does has different arrangements so you are not seeing the same show and he is not going to charge a couple hundred dollars and not do songs people want to hear.

Well, sales figures for the two albums tell a much different story. D'Angelo will most likely be up for multiple Grammys, he won The Village Voice poll for album of the year and has garnered rave reviews for the album and his tour. Like I said, I wish Prince was still the man but I've seen both recently and the difference is great. Basically D'Angelo is now and Prince is part of the past. As for Prince playing the hits, I agree but why the exact same ones for years now? He has plenty more that he rarely or never plays. Plenty of his fans feel the same way. "Every show P does has different arrangements" That is simply not true.

Who the fuck cares about D'Angelo? Go to a D'Angelo board.

righteous1 said:

Has anyone identified the jazz tracks that were playing before the show? I really liked them!

I'd also like to mention that I was a little bummed in going to a hits show. Because like many of you, I also collect shows, keep up with his setlists, etc. so it seemed a bit boring. HOWEVER, being there...hearing and seeing him play the hits live and feeling the music pound through my body was incredible. I am very lucky to have seen both DC shows because the 2nd was more up my alley, it was an amazing pairing. BUT with the hits performances...People at the concert LOVED it! I dont think a majority of the concert goers are as obsessed as some of us and he also has to consider his casual fans - I think he has done an incredible job at striking a balance and the two DC shows are evidence.

PSS - I'm sick of coming to this thread and having to scroll thru all the D'Angelo talk...Please move that to another thread.

Astasheiks said:

Also did the people at Show 1 had to all leave and Show 2 was a hold different paying crowd unless you bought tickets for both shows???

They made everyone leave after the first show and ticket holders for show 2 had to get in line and go back in again.

derrick31 said:

Stingray60 said:

I tend to agree with the comment that his shows now are a ''scam for money''. Pretty much the same core set every show ever since this 3rdEyeGirl rubbish. The sampler set is a cheat & It's just a touring Vegas show now & it needs to change soon or I will have to call it quits. It's not even worth downloading the bootlegs anymore, they are all the same.

Sad, but true.

Maybe you should just call it quits with downloading bootlegs. It's fun but it sounds like it ruins the surprise element for you and causes his shows to become blase. You know Prince loves surprising people so maybe that is one reason he frowns on bootlegs, youtube, etc. Maybe wait and listen to your downloads after a certain tour is finished so you can enjoy the live experience to its fullest. People at the concert LOVE his sampler set, I can tell by the way they cheer him on.

partyup77 said:

derrick31 said:

Sad, but true.

People at the concert LOVE his sampler set, I can tell by the way they cheer him on.

It's probably the hokiest thing I have seen any artist do in many years, and I go to see a lot of music. Just play the songs. Prince is the guy who used to brag "real music played by real musicians". What happened? And he has also taken potshots at those who lip synch, rightly so. But what he does is pretty much the same thing. I love when he just sits and plays and sings at the piano or when he did the acoustic sets during The Musicology Tour. They were amazing! But sitting at a keyboard, hitting pre-recoreded (and some vocals) music of the same old songs and bragging about how many hits that he is going to play is pretty lame, especially for someone as talented as he is. I think that is what drives a lot of longtime fans crazy about him. We really do expect more from him than playing the same, mostly old songs, doing sampler sets and playing with an all-female rock band. He is just too great to be doing this.

Well, I'm off of that mandatory five day waiting period. Would have posted this much sooner.

Anyway, here goes for first post on this board:

I was at the Baltimore show last month, and damn what an experience it was. I hadn’t seen Prince in concert since the last time he was in Baltimore in 2001 for the Hit N Run tour. I was only 8 at the time, and it was the third Prince concert my parents brought me to. So regardless of the band he had, the guests he had, or the fact that several of you stated that his recent shows have been lacking compared to earlier ones, I had a fantastic time and was glad to be able to see him in my adult years. But that’s a whole other review.

We got in line a little after 10, and we were instantly greeted with venue staff saying to keep our phones away during the performance or risk getting ejected from the venue. The massive crowd from the first show took at least a half an hour to filter out. People were walking beside the barricades asking for tickets for the second show, stating how incredible it was. One guy walked by saying “he did a bunch of songs that nobody knew”, which led me to believe that show #2 would be a full on hits set. I was a little concerned since I really wanted to hear some Plectrumelectrum tunes, and the Baltimore setlist was primarily hits.

After waiting in line for 50 minutes, we were finally let in and got to our seats. The merch table had the exact same items from the Baltimore show, minus the event t-shirt and poster. The lights went down at exactly 11:30, which was earlier than I had expected. Hannah expressed in her opening statement to “put yo phones away and keep them off”, “they wanted to interact with the whole audience” and that “you would definitely miss something on stage if you’re busy trying to take your phone out to take a picture.”

They opened up with Guitar with took me by absolute surprise. They followed up with a heavily rockin’ Plectrumelectrum, which I was ecstatic to hear them play. Midway during the performance, I looked to the right of the stage and saw Stevie Wonder sitting down. So I’m pointing at the stage and yelling at everybody around me “IT’S STEVIE!!!” He did the formulaic hits afterwards, Let’s Go Crazy, Take Me With U, Raspberry Beret and U Got The Look. At the start of the next song, Prince goes “I need somebody to dance with”, and brought up about 10 people from the front rows. He did an incredible version of “Shake” which, again, I wasn’t expecting. So I knew that Cool/Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough was going to follow.

The following several songs were played with the pre-recorded tracks, and it started with When Doves Cry. After he did a brief sample of Nasty Girl, he cued the sample for 777-9311, a song I’ve loved since age 4 due to my family playing it all the time. As if I wasn’t losing my mind enough, Ida walked over to Prince and handed him her bass. He walked to the front and slapped the bass part for a good minute. People were turning around looking at me because I was screaming at the top of my lungs! Housequake (albeit with edited lyrics) added more to that fire. He sung the first two verses of Pop Life, which he didn’t in Baltimore when he did a tease of it. He brought the full ensemble back out for some more hits, Controversy, 1999 and Little Red Corvette. I like how with Kiss he has a camera either inside or by the bass drum where the video is projected onto the screen.

Judith came out for As Trains Go By, which sounded way better than from what I remembered. Mountains followed, which you simply can’t go wrong with. The projections on the screen were absolutely beautiful. Like in Baltimore for Dance Electric, Prince advised to “take out your cell phones! Light this place up!” Most people, including me, took advantage of this cue and filmed the performance. Prince went over to the keyboard and played a few bars of Superstition. Next thing, you see Prince walking Stevie over to the keyboard and getting him set up. You could tell the fan boy in Prince was fully coming out. It was such a treat to see the both of them sharing the stage, and Stevie absolutely OWNED the short set he played. He included Superstition, I Wish, Signed Sealed Delivered, and Living For The City. Amidst Stevie’s hits, the band did a funky tease of Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin.

The Purple Rain close was obviously incredible with everybody in attendance singing along. It wasn’t as long and personal as the Baltimore performance, but at least he sung all the verses unlike in Baltimore when Estelle sang a chunk of it. The band left the stage and the house lights came on just shy of 1:30.

malexandria said:

People go to Prince concerts because they pay to hear some of the core stuff like Purple Rain

.

Some people have heard those core songs more than enough times, so please speak for yourself.

The lack of `new` songs tells it all about mr. Prince.

udo said:

malexandria said:

People go to Prince concerts because they pay to hear some of the core stuff like Purple Rain

.

Some people have heard those core songs more than enough times, so please speak for yourself.

The lack of `new` songs tells it all about mr. Prince.

So does doing 2 shows in one night and charging outrageous prices for some tix. It's all about the $.

partyup77 said:

derrick31 said:

partyup77 said:

Maybe you should just call it quits with downloading bootlegs. It's fun but it sounds like it ruins the surprise element for you and causes his shows to become blase. You know Prince loves surprising people so maybe that is one reason he frowns on bootlegs, youtube, etc. Maybe wait and listen to your downloads after a certain tour is finished so you can enjoy the live experience to its fullest. People at the concert LOVE his sampler set, I can tell by the way they cheer him on.

The fact that Prince's shows over the past few have become like a caberet Vegas style show has nothing to do with how many bootlegs people have downloaded. I've seen Prince at least once every year, and for the past few years his shows are all the same. There are rarely, if any, surprises. In the past, his shows varied from tour to tour based on his current release at that moment. Of course, he had some core hits he would play, but even then he would mix them up from tour to tour. As talented as the Prince is, he seems like he has become content with be a nostalgia act......even the after shows are gone. [Edited 6/18/15 12:10pm]

Well! If U don't like the shows, then stay home & don't go...

s0ulbrain said:

Well, I'm off of that mandatory five day waiting period. Would have posted this much sooner.

Thanks for this! Nice to find an actual report here, looks like you had a good time.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

derrick31 said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Well! If U don't like the shows, then stay home & don't go...

The point is that the shows have become repetitive and boring over the years....[Edit - langebleu moderator]

With many on here, like obsessed fanboy KCOOLMUZIQ, Prince can do no wrong and they do not like to hear any criticism whatsoever. Many of these people never saw him when he was at his peak, early/mid 80s - early 90s or even on The Musicology & W2A Tours. These recent shows pale in comparison. Back then, there were no sampler sets, no nonsense about how many hits he has, great new albums that everyone wanted to hear played, way more dancing with Prince on top of his piano, playing backwards and then jumping off, themes with lots of sexual tension vs religion, great, versatile bands that jammed out and shows that were at least 2 1/2 hours long. Even the show that I saw back in Dec of 2013 at Mohegan Sun blows away these recent shows. At least they played a few more obscure tunes, jammed out and played over 2 hours. Having Damaris Lewis on stage dancing the entire show was pretty cool too. He did do that sampler set with the same exact songs as I heard the other night in DC, which was and still is pretty lame.