Okay so this is fairly old news and was no doubt posted here before by someone but hey, here it is again...

http://the.honoluluadvert...il02a.html

extract:

The testiest moment of our chat came when I quizzed him about his recent decision to do "hit-loaded" live shows after years of virtually ignoring audience favorites on stage. This was also when I found out that Prince does indeed read his own press.

"I'm not doing it because I need the cash," Prince said sternly, after commenting on news stories (including one I'd written for The Advertiser's TGIF section last Friday) that suggested the artist was looking to feather his retirement nest egg with the guaranteed cash of a "greatest hits" tour.

He pointed out that he already had more money in his bank account than he needed, thanks to ownership of the publishing rights for his vast hits catalog and new music created outside of his famously strained relationship with former record label Warner Bros.

Recent hit-heavy shows, he said, were practice runs designed to prepare his New Power Generation band for larger American and international tours planned for the near future. The shows were purposely scheduled in Hong Kong, Australia and Hawai'i to keep them "far away from the press and the cameras," Prince explained.

(Whispers) Pssst. Prince.

Camera technology has reached Australia.

You were on MTV after the Hong Kong festival.

And this interview with the 'The Honolulu Advertiser' - they're 'the press'.

.

Yep.
New Tour starts in late April here in the U.S.
Will hit Europe in May.
And it will be a greatest hits tour -- one last time.

Ubiquity said:

HOw do you know, what is your source. I have heard the tour will hit europe in march...afterwards the u.s.

rafael said:

The band starts to rehearse the material in March. Give them some time.

Ubiquity said:

Why??? They already warmed up last year in asia and australia, some giggs in january...

I know, right? How much time do they need to rehearse the same songs? I mean I'll LOVE the concert, granted...but what exactly are they rehearsing?

rafael said:

Don`t ask me. There WILL be much rehearsing in March. Obviously Prince is going to put together a new show for the new tour.

theblueangel said:

There is gonna be a new show. Obviously the band needs to rehearse songs that they didnt play before. March is rehearsal time for the new tour, because Prince obviously thinks the band needs it. Go ahead and wonder why, but it`s a fact.

Ubiquity said:

At the moment, from his 'House of Blues' gigs, it looks like it is going to be a world tour of very small venues - Prince at a pub near you!

If Prince is intending to do a world tour with a new show with new material,then why isn't he using these HOB gigs to rehearse the new material? A band that has hardly changed since the last world tour and is playing material that it has always played, or played at big gigs already in Hong Kong and Australia.

I think these latest gigs are what they are - Prince likes playing his songs live and when he feels like it, he books a place. No grand design at all.

He may swap to bigger arenas, who knows? But at the moment he seems to enjoy the small intimate venues - which is great for the fans who see it, awful for the thousands of fans who fail to get tickets.