hey all you aussies and those who were lucky enough to catch any of the shows and aftershows in Oz!

Please post some opinions on the new band (3 keyboards?!) for all of us who weren't there!

Thanks!

Aweseome. Probably his best band ever, at the very least on technical merit alone, if not overall. High-precision polyrythmic funk/jazz/rock at its finest. I believe four keyboard players were actually going simultaneously during the encores on Oct 22nd in Melbourne, when Prince was on electric piano. All the Critics and Alphabet St were incredibly funky.

Perhaps you had to be there...I've been listening to a recording of the Melbourne show, and the band definitely sounds tight, but no tighter than the ONA shows for which Renato was the only keyboardist.

The show itself sounds rushed to me. ONA was well thought out and intensely rehearsed.

Maybe it's just because I wasn't there...

-SWANG'sgottathinkaboutalittlemo'

SWANG said:

Tell me SWANG, where did you get that recording?...

me too, I want that recording!!! Melbourne was at the front of the tour, maybe it's rushed sounding cause of that... I want to hear it for myself though, are the tapes on dawnunder?

SWANG said:

Are you referring to the 21st or 22nd? Have you listened to all the encores played on the 22nd? The quality of the recording circulating on the 21st is not very good, however the 22nd is well worth a listen. I doubt that there would be much difference between the musicianship of the ONA band that you saw and this one as they are very similar. The extra keyboards just add a dimension or 2 to certain tunes.

Chance Howard played a sort of "wah-wah" effect on his keyboards while humming along to his improvisations. Sounds good.

RAD is a great jazz/funk organist and a very decent singer too. I purchased her CD (which is a few years old) at the show and it is a nice listen.

It's growing on me...

Piano medley was nice...

Still sounds like he's rushing a little bit...

And I, for one, was NOT excited about the setlist after the eclectic set of ONA...

But all and all not as disappointing as I felt on my first listen. The recording is incomplete too, which doesn't help...

-SWANGreconsiders

Cool. I don't think he was rushing *too* much but it was back to back hits for most of the show (something which I had misgivings about initially but ended up thoroughly enjoying). Also, it was around 2 1/2 hours worth of concert on the 22nd.

I agree that the first 8 tracks missing doesn't help. The latest funked/jazzed up arrangement of Controversy is missing, as is DMSR.

But the highlight for me was the second batch of funky encores with Prince leading from the electric piano - All the Critics and Alphabet St especially. Play these loud and then let me know what you think!

This my first post
I have been a fan since early 80's
I have to say that the band was tight
but Renato didn't do it for me - other
band members on keys have been better
but that's my prefering
Have seen Prince a few times here and in the States
Renato seemed nervous to me - hands shaking on 1st
gig in Melb

AntonL said:

Prince added the instrumental 2nd part of "superhero" , in fact the title of the jam is "outa-space" (Billy Preston) at the end of " all the ctrics..." and that's great.
The new ending of "sign o' the times" is great 2 !