antonb said:

There hasn't been any after shows, and I don't think there will be any cus of the daft 2 shows a night.

I dont think it is daft the two shows a night - they are awesome - if he did not do the two a night then so many of would have missed out on this concert. It is so intimate you feel like you are in his living room anyway - it blew my mind.

2freaky4church1 said:

The prices are almost evil. No poor people can ever see him live again. I would never ever pay 400 bucks to see even God. The most I ever paid was 68 bucks.

I went to the concert he gave in Baltimore...Paid just a little under $100 bucks for a ticket....Very affordable.

I think the best way to look at high ticket prices is venue venue venue......If Prince is playing an arena/stadium/festival gig, tickets prices will be in your economic wheelhouse...

If Prince is playing small venues (1000 to 3000 seaters) then u should expect to pay ALOT more...

Common sense, no?

antonb said:

Great if you lived in sidney not so great if you live in melbourne. 2 hours a show in sidney, 75 mins in melbourne. Two shows a night makes it too inconsistent.

I dont live in either Sydney or Melbourne, I live on the Gold Coast and had to fly down and pay for accommodation for two people - I am so glad I saw the show and would do it again and again - I dont begrudge it for a moment. I understand what you are saying about the Melbourne gigs but I think they were shorter because he had bad news that day and I think also the fact that Opera House was such an amazing venue he was pumped and the audience were very involved too.

When he came to Brisbane in 2012 he did two shows at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre - the first show he did was only just over 90 mins - the second show he did the following weekend was well over 2 hours - I think it depends on Prince and the vibes he gets from the crowd.

murph said:

2freaky4church1 said:

The prices are almost evil. No poor people can ever see him live again. I would never ever pay 400 bucks to see even God. The most I ever paid was 68 bucks.

I went to the concert he gave in Baltimore...Paid just a little under $100 bucks for a ticket....Very affordable.

I think the best way to look at high ticket prices is venue venue venue......If Prince is playing an arena/stadium/festival gig, tickets prices will be in your economic wheelhouse...

If Prince is playing small venues (1000 to 3000 seaters) then u should expect to pay ALOT more...

Common sense, no?

Exactly - the venues were amazing on this tour - small and intimate and you can only imagine how much the Opera House would cost to hire for an event. There were no bad seats in that house at all. We all felt like we were in his living room. I think $400 was a fair amount to be honest.

Madonna is coming here to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre next month and that holds thousands - the cost of a decent seat there? $500 !!!!!! (actually cost me a little more by the time they added their charges on top) - and Prince is far more worth it. I dont feel I was ripped off for a moment with the Prince tickets, the only thing is that it a little more warning might have been nicer so some could finance a little better if they had no savings to fall back on for unexpected things.

[Edited 2/23/16 12:50pm]

[Edited 2/23/16 12:51pm]

Oops sorry - double post

[Edited 2/23/16 12:49pm]

lust said:

AAAHHHHHHHHHHH. LE JOUR EST ARRIVÉ. Prince in New Zealand. I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe.

How did u find out?

.

All I can find is a story saying Prince will send us home if we bring cameras and phones into the show.

Luv4u or mods controlling threads, you may want to realise that NZ is 21 hours ahead of your American time zone and hence 1.11pm Tuesday is actually 10.11am here in NZ. Prince will be on stage in 8 hours.

.

Weather in Auckland for shows, gloriously fine with 0% chance of rain or rogue water kissing (Although there was a surprise shower at midnight). High today 26c (78f for you Americans using stone age measurement systems) and low of 18c (64f). Temperatures should still be 23c or so at 6.30pm.

Sunrise in Auckland is 7.00am and sunset is 8.08pm, so the first show will start in the daytime.

I just got paid a little extra thing for a freelance job yesterday, and checked ticketmaster once again (as I'd been doing 10 times a day for the last fortnight since the announcement, and it selling out in 10 minutes). As I had hoped, there was indeed a late release of tickets. I got 2x of the "cheaper" $220 tickets for 10pm tonight, Auckland, I'm pretty much crying after a week of angst.

During my regular checking I saw 2x $400, Row A Centre (actually 5th row) available yesterday. So, if you missed out on tix during the initial ticketmaster.co.nz cluster****, and have serious FOMO it might be worth trying again.

[Edited 2/23/16 14:20pm]

Adorecream said:

We don't even know if he is in NZ yet, but as he is jetting off to Perth for Thursday, its doubtful.

That's what I thought as well, but I'm pretty sure Prince is capable of anything so who knows! It doesn't sound as if he has done any in Australia this time around though.

mynameisnotsusan said:

Mong said:

I noticed that one of the purple VIP boxes with the limited edition T-shirt and "poster" is on ebay, for quite a ridiculous price.

But thinking of it, we paid even more for it...

Oh well, at least we got some food, drinks and a massage on top of it

Hey, where's the thread for the NZ concerts?

Onthe1jb said:

Can anyone tell me what he hsa said about David Bowie at the shows?

Prince talked about David Bowie at one of the Paisley Park Piano & a Microphone concerts. "Peace to David Bowie. I only met him once, but he was really nice to me. Seems like he was that way with everybody. Just wanted to say that."- Prince

Got got my tix, had lunch with Naz and feeling good until the show begins. 4 and a half hours and we countin for the funk.

Adorecream said:

Got got my tix, had lunch with Naz and feeling good until the show begins. 4 and a half hours and we countin for the funk.

Gotta pre-party before the concert of a lifetime...

antonb said:

There hasn't been any after shows, and I don't think there will be any cus of the daft 2 shows a night.

Dude, this tour just isn't an 'After Show' tour - and I never expected it to be. It's Prince solo doing intimate performances to much smaller audiences. After Shows happen when Prince and his entire band, dancers, and crew roll into town ready to party hard - this Piano And Microphone tour on the other hand has a more low-key vibe. Sure, I was hoping in Melbourne he might swing past Bennett's Lane jazz club and play some piano late into the night - but I wasn't expecting or demanding it. Hell, the guy had just played 2 shows! ...how much more do we want from him? As for the 2 shows a night format, it isn't daft at all. It was a way for Prince to reach as many fans as possible playing venues with much smaller capacity. When in Sydney and Melbourne Prince normally plays stadiums, usually two shows in each city over separate nights. This tour wasn't ever going to be seen by as many people so 2 shows a night was the answer to satisfy demand. Also, the 2 shows a night format harks back to a musical tradition, jazz musicians often played 2 sets a night in clubs - Prince was sort of paying homage to that format as he was tipping his hat to his father's jazz piano legacy. Thank you Prince for the shows - you were more than generous!

murph said:

2freaky4church1 said:

The prices are almost evil. No poor people can ever see him live again. I would never ever pay 400 bucks to see even God. The most I ever paid was 68 bucks.

I went to the concert he gave in Baltimore...Paid just a little under $100 bucks for a ticket....Very affordable.

I think the best way to look at high ticket prices is venue venue venue......If Prince is playing an arena/stadium/festival gig, tickets prices will be in your economic wheelhouse...

If Prince is playing small venues (1000 to 3000 seaters) then u should expect to pay ALOT more...

Common sense, no?

It's true that smaller venues will see higher prices in comparison to festivals and arena shows, but another factor for Australia is the distance. We're used to paying more down here to see international acts because it costs them a lot of money to tour here, especially if they're bringing a big stadium show with a large crew. Also, the Australian dollar isn't as strong as the US dollar and ticket prices go up to cover the difference - artists don't want to tour Australia if they're going to lose money. To put this into perspective for US readers, the recent Melbourne shows had three pricing tiers: $400, $225, and $105 - in US dollars those prices would be: $288, $162, and $75.

Prince: Piano & Microphone tour

(There just seems to be so much going on in this tour I had to write this down. This also pulls together comments from my posts to different specific concerts.)

The icon for this tour shows the phases of the moon, and it is a fitting motif as the tour appears to be a reflection upon the constant reinvention of Prince the artist. In particular the waxing and waning of the moon may also reflect the stages of a relationship – emotions build in the same way the crescent moon increases through to a full moon, then the waning follows through to darkness and the end of the relationship, but then a new moon appears and in a sense perhaps a new Prince emerges.

The dialogue from Prince during the concert reveals his side of a conversation with his lover, and he is using the “story of a relationship” in order to do a number of things simultaneously, including present a wide range of songs from his catalogue; present those songs in a wide range of musical styles, with a tip of the hat to his musical influences; and doing so with all the finesse of a world class performer, with his voice ranging from deep tones up to high falsetto faultlessly, and demonstrating complete mastery of the piano.

At the 10pm Saturday 20 February 2016 show at the Sydney Opera House we heard Prince’s side of the "relationship conversation" at the end of Screwdriver (which features the lyrics “I’m your driver, your my screw”) where he says "I'm sorry, it was just a joke" implying the girl didn't take it very well, then Prince moves into Eye love U buy eye don't trust U anymore, where we bear witness to the relationship breakup.

The stages of the relationship and different musical styles were demonstrated with:

-Rock n roll love affair where the relationship is in full swing, in a style reminiscent of Little Richard,

-then came the hauntingly beautiful A Million Days where echoes of pain rippled like water across the keyboard,

-then The Ballad of Dorothy Parker moving into Miles Davis' So Blue,

-then Prince changed tempo and introduced the shift by saying "the space you need between the space you don't need dictates if it's funky" where he moved into "How come U don't call me anymore" in a James Brown funky style, and the relationship ends,

-then a reinvented Waiting in Vain (Bob Marley)/ If I was your girlfriend mash up - with all the hope and anticipation for a new relationship,

-then the new relationship begins and its 1000 Xs & Os - and all that new energy is evidenced by a Marvin Gaye sound,

-then Satisfied in a gospel soul sound,

-then Adore - once again a painfully beautiful melody, with some funky piano and it then moves into a lullaby.

Prince is inserting different songs to play these roles across each of the concerts – for example, at the 10pm Sunday 21 February 2016 show at the Sydney State Theatre, Prince inserted Time instead of Adore. It is also not something Prince is strictly sticking to, as at the Sunday night show Prince opted to insert some of his early hits to elicit more audience participation and get the audience on their feet.

When the Lights Go Down early in the Saturday set list was the culmination of Prince bringing all the styles together to create his unique sound with this fantastic tune.

While the audience may be hoping to hear Purple Rain they should know not to expect it. Prince is using this as an opportunity to demonstrate the beauty of many of his other songs and his genius at musical composition and performance.

The songs that I was thrilled to hear Prince perform live at these shows were Joy in Repetition, A Million Days, Adore(!!!), Purple Rain, Condition of the Heart and Venus de Milo, but there were other less well known songs which were equally exquisite including Time, When She Comes and Black Muse.

And to keep the punters happy, many hits were touched on during the concerts including Eye could never take the place of your man, Take me with U, Little Red Corvette, Raspberry Beret, Starfish & Coffee and Paisley Park.

But there were also many other unexpected joys with his performance of The Ballad of Dorothy Parker morphing into So What (Miles Davis), his reinterpretation of Waiting in Vain (Bob Marley), and the new track Ruff Enuff with some more amazing piano work.

If only I could’ve been at a show with Sometimes it Snows in April!!! However if I start putting together a wish list of tunes to hear him perform this way I quickly realise the list is endless. When it comes to Prince’s music I’m insatiable, and hearing samples of certain tunes only makes me want to hear more – so my head was spinning a bit when we heard part of The Beautiful Ones, Anna Stesia and Paisley Park. The only solution to this is to see him as many times as you are able, to give the best chance of catching as many different songs performed in full as possible.

Stories of the artist and muse abound, and in a sense the different albums and songs of Prince often depict different periods of time and likely reflect the love interest or relationship Prince was in at the time. In particular the recent death of Vanity and tributes to Vanity by Prince in the Melbourne concerts of this tour highlight the very strong likelihood that Vanity was his muse and (perhaps) inspired Prince to write songs such as Little Red Corvette and Beautiful Ones. Some might even debate the extent to which the muse itself can be credited for the creative output of the artist. So while I’m forever grateful for Prince’s determination to achieve excellence in all things and constantly push the bounds of creativity, let me take this opportunity to thank all the love interests who have captured Prince’s attention and spurred him on to write and perform this amazing music.

There is a part of me that thinks he chose to commence this tour in Australia for a particular reason. In 2012 at a Sydney concert Prince encouraged the audience to see Janelle Monae at the Sydney Opera House (her tour was also on at the time) and Prince went on to say “I hope to play there some day” (or something like that – and at the time I think he was just being polite). I think this sowed the seeds for the Piano & Microphone tour. [The Sydney Opera House is best suited to orchestral instruments and it would be best for it to be an acoustic set for Prince at the Sydney Opera House.] I’m just so happy that I was able to experience it. Thank you very much! It really was life changing!

Prince is the Master of Melody. This tour provides a more intimate setting for Prince to present his music, and in particular to showcase his musical genius in composition for the piano, as well as his extraordinary talent and ability in playing the piano and performance.

Unmissable.

[Edited 2/24/16 2:26am]

Junglehop said:

astone said:

Prince: Piano & Microphone tour

(There just seems to be so much going on in this tour I had to write this down. This also pulls together comments from my posts to different specific concerts.)

The icon for this tour shows the phases of the moon, and it is a fitting motif as the tour appears to be a reflection upon the constant reinvention of Prince the artist. In particular the waxing and waning of the moon may also reflect the stages of a relationship – emotions build in the same way the crescent moon increases through to a full moon, then the waning follows through to darkness and the end of the relationship, but then a new moon appears and in a sense perhaps a new Prince emerges.

The dialogue from Prince during the concert reveals his side of a conversation with his lover, and he is using the “story of a relationship” in order to do a number of things simultaneously, including present a wide range of songs from his catalogue; present those songs in a wide range of musical styles, with a tip of the hat to his musical influences; and doing so with all the finesse of a world class performer, with his voice ranging from deep tones up to high falsetto faultlessly, and demonstrating complete mastery of the piano.

At the 10pm Saturday 20 February 2016 show at the Sydney Opera House we heard Prince’s side of the "relationship conversation" at the end of Screwdriver (which features the lyrics “I’m your driver, your my screw”) where he says "I'm sorry, it was just a joke" implying the girl didn't take it very well, then Prince moves into Eye love U buy eye don't trust U anymore, where we bear witness to the relationship breakup.

The stages of the relationship and different musical styles were demonstrated with:

-Rock n roll love affair where the relationship is in full swing, in a style reminiscent of Little Richard,

-then came the hauntingly beautiful A Million Days where echoes of pain rippled like water across the keyboard,

-then The Ballad of Dorothy Parker moving into Miles Davis' So Blue,

-then Prince changed tempo and introduced the shift by saying "the space you need between the space you don't need dictates if it's funky" where he moved into "How come U don't call me anymore" in a James Brown funky style, and the relationship ends,

-then a reinvented Waiting in Vain (Bob Marley)/ If I was your girlfriend mash up - with all the hope and anticipation for a new relationship,

-then the new relationship begins and its 1000 Xs & Os - and all that new energy is evidenced by a Marvin Gaye sound,

-then Satisfied in a gospel soul sound,

-then Adore - once again a painfully beautiful melody, with some funky piano and it then moves into a lullaby.

Prince is inserting different songs to play these roles across each of the concerts – for example, at the 10pm Sunday 21 February 2016 show at the Sydney State Theatre, Prince inserted Time instead of Adore. It is also not something Prince is strictly sticking to, as at the Sunday night show Prince opted to insert some of his early hits to elicit more audience participation and get the audience on their feet.

When the Lights Go Down early in the Saturday set list was the culmination of Prince bringing all the styles together to create his unique sound with this fantastic tune.

While the audience may be hoping to hear Purple Rain they should know not to expect it. Prince is using this as an opportunity to demonstrate the beauty of many of his other songs and his genius at musical composition and performance.

The songs that I was thrilled to hear Prince perform live at these shows were Joy in Repetition, A Million Days, Adore(!!!), Purple Rain, Condition of the Heart and Venus de Milo, but there were other less well known songs which were equally exquisite including Time, When She Comes and Black Muse.

And to keep the punters happy, many hits were touched on during the concerts including Eye could never take the place of your man, Take me with U, Little Red Corvette, Raspberry Beret, Starfish & Coffee and Paisley Park.

But there were also many other unexpected joys with his performance of The Ballad of Dorothy Parker morphing into So What (Miles Davis), his reinterpretation of Waiting in Vain (Bob Marley), and the new track Ruff Enuff with some more amazing piano work.

If only I could’ve been at a show with Sometimes it Snows in April!!! However if I start putting together a wish list of tunes to hear him perform this way I quickly realise the list is endless. When it comes to Prince’s music I’m insatiable, and hearing samples of certain tunes only makes me want to hear more – so my head was spinning a bit when we heard part of The Beautiful Ones, Anna Stesia and Paisley Park. The only solution to this is to see him as many times as you are able, to give the best chance of catching as many different songs performed in full as possible.

Stories of the artist and muse abound, and in a sense the different albums and songs of Prince often depict different periods of time and likely reflect the love interest or relationship Prince was in at the time. In particular the recent death of Vanity and tributes to Vanity by Prince in the Melbourne concerts of this tour highlight the very strong likelihood that Vanity was his muse and (perhaps) inspired Prince to write songs such as Little Red Corvette and Beautiful Ones. Some might even debate the extent to which the muse itself can be credited for the creative output of the artist. So while I’m forever grateful for Prince’s determination to achieve excellence in all things and constantly push the bounds of creativity, let me take this opportunity to thank all the love interests who have captured Prince’s attention and spurred him on to write and perform this amazing music.

There is a part of me that thinks he chose to commence this tour in Australia for a particular reason. In 2012 at a Sydney concert Prince encouraged the audience to see Janelle Monae at the Sydney Opera House (her tour was also on at the time) and Prince went on to say “I hope to play there some day” (or something like that – and at the time I think he was just being polite). I think this sowed the seeds for the Piano & Microphone tour. [The Sydney Opera House is best suited to orchestral instruments and it would be best for it to be an acoustic set for Prince at the Sydney Opera House.] I’m just so happy that I was able to experience it. Thank you very much! It really was life changing!

Prince is the Master of Melody. This tour provides a more intimate setting for Prince to present his music, and in particular to showcase his musical genius in composition for the piano, as well as his extraordinary talent and ability in playing the piano and performance.

Unmissable.

[Edited 2/24/16 2:26am]

Great post. Sometimes it snows in April on the 17th, show two is literally just out of this world. Along with many others of course but there's a depth deeper than deep when it's just voice and gentle quiet piano. Few words to describe it.

Bohemian67 said:

astone said:

Prince: Piano & Microphone tour

(There just seems to be so much going on in this tour I had to write this down. This also pulls together comments from my posts to different specific concerts.)

The icon for this tour shows the phases of the moon, and it is a fitting motif as the tour appears to be a reflection upon the constant reinvention of Prince the artist. In particular the waxing and waning of the moon may also reflect the stages of a relationship – emotions build in the same way the crescent moon increases through to a full moon, then the waning follows through to darkness and the end of the relationship, but then a new moon appears and in a sense perhaps a new Prince emerges.

The dialogue from Prince during the concert reveals his side of a conversation with his lover, and he is using the “story of a relationship” in order to do a number of things simultaneously, including present a wide range of songs from his catalogue; present those songs in a wide range of musical styles, with a tip of the hat to his musical influences; and doing so with all the finesse of a world class performer, with his voice ranging from deep tones up to high falsetto faultlessly, and demonstrating complete mastery of the piano.

At the 10pm Saturday 20 February 2016 show at the Sydney Opera House we heard Prince’s side of the "relationship conversation" at the end of Screwdriver (which features the lyrics “I’m your driver, your my screw”) where he says "I'm sorry, it was just a joke" implying the girl didn't take it very well, then Prince moves into Eye love U buy eye don't trust U anymore, where we bear witness to the relationship breakup.

The stages of the relationship and different musical styles were demonstrated with:

-Rock n roll love affair where the relationship is in full swing, in a style reminiscent of Little Richard,

-then came the hauntingly beautiful A Million Days where echoes of pain rippled like water across the keyboard,

-then The Ballad of Dorothy Parker moving into Miles Davis' So Blue,

-then Prince changed tempo and introduced the shift by saying "the space you need between the space you don't need dictates if it's funky" where he moved into "How come U don't call me anymore" in a James Brown funky style, and the relationship ends,

-then a reinvented Waiting in Vain (Bob Marley)/ If I was your girlfriend mash up - with all the hope and anticipation for a new relationship,

-then the new relationship begins and its 1000 Xs & Os - and all that new energy is evidenced by a Marvin Gaye sound,

-then Satisfied in a gospel soul sound,

-then Adore - once again a painfully beautiful melody, with some funky piano and it then moves into a lullaby.

Prince is inserting different songs to play these roles across each of the concerts – for example, at the 10pm Sunday 21 February 2016 show at the Sydney State Theatre, Prince inserted Time instead of Adore. It is also not something Prince is strictly sticking to, as at the Sunday night show Prince opted to insert some of his early hits to elicit more audience participation and get the audience on their feet.

When the Lights Go Down early in the Saturday set list was the culmination of Prince bringing all the styles together to create his unique sound with this fantastic tune.

While the audience may be hoping to hear Purple Rain they should know not to expect it. Prince is using this as an opportunity to demonstrate the beauty of many of his other songs and his genius at musical composition and performance.

The songs that I was thrilled to hear Prince perform live at these shows were Joy in Repetition, A Million Days, Adore(!!!), Purple Rain, Condition of the Heart and Venus de Milo, but there were other less well known songs which were equally exquisite including Time, When She Comes and Black Muse.

And to keep the punters happy, many hits were touched on during the concerts including Eye could never take the place of your man, Take me with U, Little Red Corvette, Raspberry Beret, Starfish & Coffee and Paisley Park.

But there were also many other unexpected joys with his performance of The Ballad of Dorothy Parker morphing into So What (Miles Davis), his reinterpretation of Waiting in Vain (Bob Marley), and the new track Ruff Enuff with some more amazing piano work.

If only I could’ve been at a show with Sometimes it Snows in April!!! However if I start putting together a wish list of tunes to hear him perform this way I quickly realise the list is endless. When it comes to Prince’s music I’m insatiable, and hearing samples of certain tunes only makes me want to hear more – so my head was spinning a bit when we heard part of The Beautiful Ones, Anna Stesia and Paisley Park. The only solution to this is to see him as many times as you are able, to give the best chance of catching as many different songs performed in full as possible.

Stories of the artist and muse abound, and in a sense the different albums and songs of Prince often depict different periods of time and likely reflect the love interest or relationship Prince was in at the time. In particular the recent death of Vanity and tributes to Vanity by Prince in the Melbourne concerts of this tour highlight the very strong likelihood that Vanity was his muse and (perhaps) inspired Prince to write songs such as Little Red Corvette and Beautiful Ones. Some might even debate the extent to which the muse itself can be credited for the creative output of the artist. So while I’m forever grateful for Prince’s determination to achieve excellence in all things and constantly push the bounds of creativity, let me take this opportunity to thank all the love interests who have captured Prince’s attention and spurred him on to write and perform this amazing music.

There is a part of me that thinks he chose to commence this tour in Australia for a particular reason. In 2012 at a Sydney concert Prince encouraged the audience to see Janelle Monae at the Sydney Opera House (her tour was also on at the time) and Prince went on to say “I hope to play there some day” (or something like that – and at the time I think he was just being polite). I think this sowed the seeds for the Piano & Microphone tour. [The Sydney Opera House is best suited to orchestral instruments and it would be best for it to be an acoustic set for Prince at the Sydney Opera House.] I’m just so happy that I was able to experience it. Thank you very much! It really was life changing!

Prince is the Master of Melody. This tour provides a more intimate setting for Prince to present his music, and in particular to showcase his musical genius in composition for the piano, as well as his extraordinary talent and ability in playing the piano and performance.

Unmissable.

[Edited 2/24/16 2:26am]

Great post. Sometimes it snows in April on the 17th, show two is literally just out of this world. Along with many others of course but there's a depth deeper than deep when it's just voice and gentle quiet piano. Few words to describe it.

Amazing review, starting to reanalyse his Auckland shows now.

Just some random notes about the tour, reviews are on the concert individual show pages.

.

TICKET SELLING PRACTICE

Overall this was good, the tickets were released at 12pm on February 11^th a Thursday, anti-scalping measures as limiting it to 2 tickets per person and showing the cards on collection ensured scalpers were gone and no tickets appeared on Trade Me afterwards. The NZ Herald wrongly reported they sold out in 10 minutes and used alarmist headlines to derail Prince the whole way through his tour. The NZ Herald is a newspaper with very few ethics and is a right tabloid in all intents and purposes.

.

Actually buying meant being on a website and it went quite smoothly, taking less than 15 minutes to get tickets to both. A major grumble was pricing of tickets at tiers of $99, $219 and $389 and these did not include a 2.3% card fee and $5 transaction charge per ticket, they also tried to whack on $22 ticket insurance, but this could be unticked, the boxes were preticked, a practice Consumer (Social advocacy group) does not like! Virtually 95% of tickets were the most expensive and Ticketmaster/Dainty could be accused of bait pricing and gouging. There were very few people who paid $99 or $219 and this stinks, especially as Prince is publicised as saying he hated high ticket prices and wanted to charge only $25 per ticket.

VIP ticketing included 2 tiers at $749 and $949 per show, neither tier wa sdifferent except in seat locations. These tickets included a special entrance, lanyard, purple box, some drinks and cocktails (Of good quality apparently), but no meet and greet.

.

Distribution began on the day with queues to pick up tickets and wrist bands; this was fairly efficient with a queue of 100 people going by 12.30pm and a wait for tickets of under an hour. Lining up for second show tickets ensured a 15 – 20 minute delay as they had not been printed. Service was friendly and not too paranoid.

........

MERCHANDISE

There was a limited amount, mostly overpriced. Included was 3 t-shirts, with great designs and very average quality at a ridiculous $50 each, the material was typical of $10 - $20 Warehouse shirts, still I bought two, a white one and black one. They are made in Bangladesh, quite thin and wearing the white one a sunny warm day (25c) caused me to sweat after a few minutes. The black one held up well during both shows and an exhausting hill climb and descent to my car (>1km)

A cheap supermarket style tote bag for $30 emblazoned with Prince 2016 tour words, 3 posters of good framable quality at $15 each, and one showed him, the others showed his piano and moons theme. I bought one and will get it framed at a later date.

Also noticeable was a mug and this cost a ridiculous $35 and looked to be of a quality similar to $2 shop mugs. All of the merchandise sold out.

There was no programmes – but VIPS got a purple box, not sure of contents, but it had a tour picture on top.

I noticed one bootleg t-shirt seller outside the Aotea Centre, due to ongoing construction, he was 20 feet from the entrance and he was selling white t shirts that had a low quality Piano and Microphone image at $20 each, possibly better than official ones.

.

AUDIENCE DYNAMICS

For show one, mostly white middle class, average age was 40s with a huge range 30 to about 60/65, mostly a mix of conservative middle class, obese people and funky looking people in loud shirts (As Prince said, Mamma Jammas in alligator shirts), goatees and a few hipster types. Most fans like myself are usually large to obese frame, early middle age or late young adult (35 – 40) and (40 – 50). There were a few wealthier Asian people and quite a few overseas tourists of similar profiles including Australian and American, a few people also looked identifiably homosexual as well, again the gays were mostly white and middle class. There were almost no Maori or Pacific Island people, but the few who came were very passionate. Behaviour was excellent with polite applause and a dignified feel. Most of these people probably had jobs to go to the next day.

.

For show 2 (10pm) most patrons were of the fan type, less middle class suits, a few more Maori and Island people – because like me they are less likely to have to go to a job in the morning. More gays and the cognoscenti and the average age was younger with people in their 30s (Late young adulthood) predominating over middle aged people (40 – 60). There were a significant number of young well-dressed hipster types in their 20s and early 30s. This crowd was louder and more daring with 2 incidents taking place in the show, both discussed in the review, Behaviour was only average with louder catcalls and more dancing and stamping. Prince played on this audience better and knew they were ready for more daring songs and less crowd pleasing hits that in Show 1. In both shows audience seemed well satisfied and in praise of his talents, although the start of show 2 did see some people a bit bored with 3 new songs in a row and the hard core was easy to find.

.

CD Distribution and exiting.

CD’s were handed out efficiently and well, and people did seem to examine them, no one dumped them from what I could see. There were very few scattered tickets meaning most people kept them as souvenirs.

.

Prince said he hoped he could return to New Zealand again and I hope he does as this tour was a great start!!!!

[Edited 2/24/16 17:10pm]

Junglehop said:

It's true that smaller venues will see higher prices in comparison to festivals and arena shows, but another factor for Australia is the distance. We're used to paying more down here to see international acts because it costs them a lot of money to tour here, especially if they're bringing a big stadium show with a large crew. Also, the Australian dollar isn't as strong as the US dollar and ticket prices go up to cover the difference - artists don't want to tour Australia if they're going to lose money. To put this into perspective for US readers, the recent Melbourne shows had three pricing tiers: $400, $225, and $105 - in US dollars those prices would be: $288, $162, and $75.

This distance (or cost of getting to Australia) is only a small factor. A small population is the limiting factor.

International acts love to tour here because they can charge much more. Pink did a run of around 50 shows in Australia in one year.

For acts like George Clinton it is an issue because he has a large band. They have a smaller lineup and less gear when they perform here.

The is no reason why Prince could not play the same venues for less money. You can see Sufjan Stevens for $85 (Australian dollars).

So, if the prices would be $100, $160, $230 he could still make good cash. With the current demand he could do 6 to 8 shows in Melbourne easily.

[Edited 2/24/16 17:16pm]

chamill said:

Mong said:

I really wish he'd drop that string pad that comes in when he holds down the keys.

Hi Mong, In simple non-musicians terms may I ask what you mean? It's not a real Piano? What are keyboard strings please? I would like to fully understand your meaning. Also what is your ideal setup of the sort of Piano he should have used?

It's not a "real piano", but a digital piano. A digital piano triggers samples of a real piano. It would take someone with golden ears to hear the difference. Apart from the natural piano sounds he mixes it with a synthersizer-like sound to mimic the sound of a string ensemble.

chamill said:

^thank you for explaining about that epronk. That helps me understand a lot. I have a tall order to ask fellow Orgers: Does anyone know the approximate running times for these shows by City? Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland and Perth. Out of curiosity I wonder how long he played. Shows 1 and 2 for each city. And the single Prrth show.

Auckland was 90 minutes and then 120 minutes.