The 4U concerts are now going to be hitting Europe throughout November and December 2018. It would be nice to be able to share our experiences on one thread...

I've just got two tickets for the Royal Albert Hall in London on 13th December. Should be quite the experience and I've always wanted to go to this venue but have never got around to it before.

The Orchestra for London is the London Contemporary Orchestra but I guess the arrangements mean the concerts are all pretty much identical, regardless of which country is providing the musicians?

[Edited 11/8/18 4:24am]

All threads self-lock after two months. Moderators can't reopen them. If you want people to post their 4U concert experiences in a thread then you'll have to start a new one.

sexton said:

All threads self-lock after two months. Moderators can't reopen them. If you want people to post their 4U concert experiences in a thread then you'll have to start a new one.

Thanks. I've edited the title and content of my post above so this is the new thread I guess...

KeithyT said:

sexton said:

All threads self-lock after two months. Moderators can't reopen them. If you want people to post their 4U concert experiences in a thread then you'll have to start a new one.

Thanks. I've edited the title and content of my post above so this is the new thread I guess...

Even though the venue was half empty when I saw this concert in New York, it looked like everyone who was there had a great time.

Who is coming to the concert on November 26 in Paris?

http://www.ledomedeparis.com/events/4u-symphonic-celebration-of-prince/

sexton said:

All three shows in germany are canceled:

https://www.rollingstone.de/rolling-stone-praesentiert-4u-a-symphonic-celebration-of-prince-1558069/

Yesterday eve, "4U: A Symphonic Celebration" arrived in Brussels.

-

It's. The. Worst. Concert. I've Ever Been. To !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If it wasn't for my dear friend and Prince lover who was with me, I left after the first 8 minutes.

-

Sloppy.

Messy.

Uninspired.

A true Shame to The Great Musician our dearest Prince was/is.

Nothing to do with Prince or his music !

It seemed like everyone was drunk on Belgian Beer - and that's strong beer, believe me.

Most of all, I really don't understand Questlove at all. (just in it for the Money ?)

-

Now, why was it so bad ?

First of all, tickets were sold to 'celebrate' this in a huge venue. Different expensive tickets.

It changed a week or two ago to a much smaller venue, where only 2/3 was filled.

And I think honestly, we were the only two Prince fans in there ?

By the way, with the beginning of the show, people already started rightfully leaving this mess.

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You really have no idea.

The violins, brass and guitarist played false notes and were more then often out of tune. (did they have a monitor? Earpiece? didn't see it ...)

-

The mix of the show was HORRIBLE.

With a good view on the mixing amp (or whatever it's called) in the middle of the venue, I noticed that these two guys basically never touched a button.

The arrangements of the orchestration was so poor... and the overall sound was simply too poor to mention; then too hard, another moment too soft. Nothing matched.

(The images on the screen had nothing to do with the music. but later more about that.)

Why the hell was there a conductor ? He seemingly was bored, or even worse, I even think he never ever conducted an orchestra before.

And then there was a... girl (some kind of musical Jodel girl) with an electric violin, who was blessed with the idea to entertain us. :'(

Where did on earth did she come from?

Who is she ?

Did she mistakingly ran from the musical Les Miserables ?

Grabbing the mike from time to time to yell "OK LET'S GO...(Crazy)"

-

Stage setting was so poor, I thought we were at a second grade highshool party setting.

The lightning was... purple. Oh and sometimes it flashed.

Dangling symbol signs, non lit, cut from a the cheapest cardboard were hanging there... next to a ... very small screen.

They basically projected some imagery on it, and when finaly a Prince image was to be seen, it was either Prince's body alone without his head, or only the neck of his guitar, with Prince out of frame.

Also I have never seen such blur images. Nothing sharpe, nothing clear. Underlit and underexposed.

During Computer Blue, we got... zeros and ones.

During purple rain we got... rain, not even purple.

Sloppy imagery, banal graphics, a few prince pictures, A FEW, some details of P's handwriting (just twice, no lyrics, just notes from what to wear...), no other unreleased live performances...

Basilly lots of cut-ups from the UTCM movie and Purple Rain movie,

nothing that mathced the music.

-

When Prince's voice was heard over the speakers, it was so poor/unlcear, you could hardly understand it.

They just copied the sound of his voice from some low resolution videos from youtube, and then just bluntly copy-paste it with no fading or fine mixing, just brutal cuts.

The orchestra & band always were slightly too late after an excerpt of Prince in some interview was heard, like they never rehearsed..

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I did not discover anything new on the screen or in the music played.

And then the final : a fucking unbelievable poor video of half an image of Prince, life in Syracuse (during the Purple Rain tour), and for the first time 'his voice' was to be heard over the... something called a mix of Live music & that bunch of musicians.

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Choice of songs only till 1986. Basically only hits & some surprises like a piece of Junk Music, loads of UTCM/Parade tracks, and some added extended noise with no Prince involvement.

-

The only positive thing I can say is that they played the extended version of Alexa De Paris.

No merchandising.

By the way, who is this orchestra ? What are they ? Where do they come from ?

Why didn't they ever listened to a Prince record before ?

-

Shame on everyone involved.

Shame on The Estate.

Some shame on Questlove.

Shame of the money.

Shame on waste of time.

I felt ashamed being a Prince fan.

-

I give a -5 on 10, worse than zero.

The reviews on the USA threads were largely positive. Sad to see the tour has lost something overseas. Or maybe Americans have very low standards.

I visited the Amsterdam concert tonight and am positively suprised: the orchestra was pretty good, but the electric violin playing girl was embarrissing. Highlights were all the Parade songs, The Beautiful Ones and Purple Rain. When the videos showed Prince you felt the melancholy in the audiance...

Overall a good experience, which I would rate a 7 out of 10.

And now on to the Revolution in Paradiso next year!

sexton said:

The reviews on the USA threads were largely positive. Sad to see the tour has lost something overseas. Or maybe Americans have very low standards.

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Evidently something that's been discussed before in many topics over the past years.

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well, possibly because European culture is so old and therefor rehearsed and refined,

and on the other hand American culture is (so) young and in need of confirmation, thus fresh.

Good contemporary art comes from the USA, and good intelligent rap also... among other things.

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Prince hated cover versions of his own songs.

This wasn't even on a level of acceptable 'background muzak' for ugly elevators in tasteless hotels.

Still no answer on who these pays paid pour musicians are.

This was lower than Disney for 4 year olds.

I absolutely can't understand that, even if it was played well, that someone actually can like this crap as a Prince fan... but that's my (un)humble opinion.

It was also too early to do this show; they should've waited for 10 years or so.

-

A long time ago, there was an album of orchestral versions of Prince hits done by Bob Belden and some orchestra.

Unraw and too polished elevator muzak, but that was at least acceptable somehow.

-

Honestly, why didn't they asked the son of Clare Fisher to organise this ?

He together with his father basically wrote 98% of all the string and orchestra sections for Prince's music. Even a lot of them unheard.

I know that Clare and his son are both recognized and respectec professionals, and are/were both capable of conducting. Since they were a lot in contact with the pop and rock scene.

Parade is basically refined with their orchestral colours. Prince thnaked them for it in his liner notes of that album.

-

ludwig said:

All three shows in germany are canceled:

https://www.rollingstone.de/rolling-stone-praesentiert-4u-a-symphonic-celebration-of-prince-1558069/

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That's simply because the reviews so far in Europe are absolutely devastating.

No one want's to spend their money on chewed junk.

-

They promised a 'stae-of-th-art' production.

But the FEW images came from google,

the graphic video's were made by a 4 year old,

the videos came from low resolution youtube.

-

State-of-the-art my ass.

-

[Edited 12/1/18 6:05am]

So are the orchestra a touring fixture or differrent in each country. On the London show it states it's the London Contemporary Orchestra or something.

I'm guessing this is not the same group of musicians used in Belgium and other European countries?

I'll reserve judgement until next week but I can't help being apprehensive at the mixed reviews. You'd think Questlove (and the estate for that matter) would aspire to a higher standard as he's such a Prince music lover, and has his name associated with this.

Vannormal said:

sexton said:

The reviews on the USA threads were largely positive. Sad to see the tour has lost something overseas. Or maybe Americans have very low standards.

-

Evidently something that's been discussed before in many topics over the past years.

-

well, possibly because European culture is so old and therefor rehearsed and refined,

and on the other hand American culture is (so) young and in need of confirmation, thus fresh.

Good contemporary art comes from the USA, and good intelligent rap also... among other things.

-

Prince hated cover versions of his own songs.

This wasn't even on a level of acceptable 'background muzak' for ugly elevators in tasteless hotels.

Still no answer on who these pays paid pour musicians are.

This was lower than Disney for 4 year olds.

I absolutely can't understand that, even if it was played well, that someone actually can like this crap as a Prince fan... but that's my (un)humble opinion.

It was also too early to do this show; they should've waited for 10 years or so.

-

A long time ago, there was an album of orchestral versions of Prince hits done by Bob Belden and some orchestra.

Unraw and too polished elevator muzak, but that was at least acceptable somehow.

-

Honestly, why didn't they asked the son of Clare Fisher to organise this ?

He together with his father basically wrote 98% of all the string and orchestra sections for Prince's music. Even a lot of them unheard.

I know that Clare and his son are both recognized and respectec professionals, and are/were both capable of conducting. Since they were a lot in contact with the pop and rock scene.

Parade is basically refined with their orchestral colours. Prince thnaked them for it in his liner notes of that album.

-

It has been reported that Brent Fischer is involved: https://music.mxdwn.com/2...of-prince/

KeithyT said:

So are the orchestra a touring fixture or differrent in each country. On the London show it states it's the London Contemporary Orchestra or something.

I'm guessing this is not the same group of musicians used in Belgium and other European countries?

I'll reserve judgement until next week but I can't help being apprehensive at the mixed reviews. You'd think Questlove (and the estate for that matter) would aspire to a higher standard as he's such a Prince music lover, and has his name associated with this.

I agree. I flip-flopped whether to make the trip to London or not, but I've decided I'm not going to go. I do hope it's a fantastic night though for you.

sexton said:

Vannormal said:

It has been reported that Brent Fischer is involved: https://music.mxdwn.com/2...of-prince/

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Thank you.

I must admid, I did not know this.

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Somehow I'm still baffled. The whole show was so bad !

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If that is the case, i can't help but think that Dr. Clare Fischer was the named composer behind most of the arrangements as we know them on Prince records.

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Again, thank you for the article.

Still I would not recommend any Prince fan to go and see this mistake of a show (from what i saw) that still is unclear why it is created. It doesn't 'celebrate', it 'ruins' a legacy.

-

maplenpg said:

I agree. I flip-flopped whether to make the trip to London or not, but I've decided I'm not going to go. I do hope it's a fantastic night though for you.

Thank you! I'm sure it will be an experience whatever

KeithyT said:

maplenpg said:

I agree. I flip-flopped whether to make the trip to London or not, but I've decided I'm not going to go. I do hope it's a fantastic night though for you.

Thank you! I'm sure it will be an experience whatever

Please do let us know what your experience was like

Hey All,

I have two tickets for the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow (13th December) 8pm start, I paid £45+booking fee for each for them but I would take £35... please message if you'd be interested. Can send electronic copies.

Unfortunately the lady I'm going with is unwell so I'm reluctantly giving them up.

Circle, door 8, row 5, seats 187 and 188. Pretty good view apparently...

Thank you

rubberfish said:

Just seen the Albert Hall gig. Overall a good show, with excellent sound and a great selection in the first half. As talented as the girl with the electric violin was, the same can’t be said for her singing and dancing. They should have kept it instrumental only! Apart from that though I thoroughly enjoyed it. Highlights were The Beautiful Ones and all the Parade tracks (which suit an orchestra well).

Agree.

I really enjoyed it too and I'm glad I went, had never been to the Royal Albert Hall so that was also a plus.

I especially liked Computer Blue/Automatic, the transition gave me goosebumps!

It wouldn't be to everyone's taste but money well spent as far as I'm concerned. Prince was all about being different and trying new things and this was an interesting take on his music.

[Edited 12/14/18 5:20am]

Really good to see inside the Albert Hall for the first time, and see it nice and full even up to the top level where each standing section seemed to have a good smattering of music fans. A beautiful venue.

It was different as a concert experience, I found it an odd mix of a contemporary orchestra, live band, the occasional bit of vocals from the aforementioned electric fiddle lady. Occasionally I think the strings and flutes were rather drowned out by the drums and bass. It felt a little neither one thing nor the other, but must be hard to do justice to modern rock/pop (esp Prince) with a symphony orchestra alone?

Music was good, musicians more than competent of course. I wish a few more people had got up and danced in the section I was in, cos I'm not the most extrovert and like it if others encourage me to let my inhibitions go a little.

Video screen was distracting at times, especially when showing edits of Prince's music videos. I think I actually would have preferred only stills and the abstract patterns and projections.

Most people enjoyed themselves from what I could see.

[Edited 12/14/18 6:16am]

Vannormal said:

ludwig said:

All three shows in germany are canceled:

https://www.rollingstone.de/rolling-stone-praesentiert-4u-a-symphonic-celebration-of-prince-1558069/

-

That's simply because the reviews so far in Europe are absolutely devastating.

No one want's to spend their money on chewed junk.

-

They promised a 'stae-of-th-art' production.

But the FEW images came from google,

the graphic video's were made by a 4 year old,

the videos came from low resolution youtube.

-

State-of-the-art my ass.

-

[Edited 12/1/18 6:05am]

State of the arse, more like.

I'm glad I didn't bother with it. Just an amateur-ish Estate cash grab.

KeithyT said:

Really good to see inside the Albert Hall for the first time, and see it nice and full even up to the top level where each standing section seemed to have a good smattering of music fans. A beautiful venue.

It was different as a concert experience, I found it an odd mix of a contemporary orchestra, live band, the occasional bit of vocals from the aforementioned electric fiddle lady. Occasionally I think the strings and flutes were rather drowned out by the drums and bass. It felt a little neither one thing nor the other, but must be hard to do justice to modern rock/pop (esp Prince) with a symphony orchestra alone?

Music was good, musicians more than competent of course. I wish a few more people had got up and danced in the section I was in, cos I'm not the most extrovert and like it if others encourage me to let my inhibitions go a little.

Video screen was distracting at times, especially when showing edits of Prince's music videos. I think I actually would have preferred only stills and the abstract patterns and projections.

Most people enjoyed themselves from what I could see.

[Edited 12/14/18 6:16am]

Thanks for the review, and the ones from the other orgers too. I'm glad you all enjoyed it - that's the main thing.