ian said:

- The lack of "primary" guitars. It really feels like they should have had at least one of the heavily used cloud guitars on display, either the original Hohner tele or one of the clones that he played a lot onstage, and at least one symbol-guitar. Their absence is ludicrous.

- A bit rushed - only 1.5 hours to explore the exhibition including VIP and merch shopping

It is definitely worth a visit, but it is also a little heart-breaking in some ways to see it done quite so badly. Hoping we'll see these artifacts presented better in a future exhibition at Paisley or wherever.

[Edited 11/11/17 1:05am]

There is most definitely a Hohner / Madcat clone on display (not the original one; no chips out of it for a start) but it's there, near the start of the exhibition - we spent quite some time looking at it!
.
Not sure why you only had 1.5 hours to explore, unless your VIP tour was late-starting? We spent 7 hours in there in total, lol - and did the VIP bit in the middle.
.
Agree with you on there being a lot of mistakes, and it not being brilliantly set-out - however, it's whetted our appetite for a PP visit in early 2019, all being well.

Dibblekins said:

ian said:

- The lack of "primary" guitars. It really feels like they should have had at least one of the heavily used cloud guitars on display, either the original Hohner tele or one of the clones that he played a lot onstage, and at least one symbol-guitar. Their absence is ludicrous.

- A bit rushed - only 1.5 hours to explore the exhibition including VIP and merch shopping

It is definitely worth a visit, but it is also a little heart-breaking in some ways to see it done quite so badly. Hoping we'll see these artifacts presented better in a future exhibition at Paisley or wherever.

[Edited 11/11/17 1:05am]

There is most definitely a Hohner / Madcat clone on display (not the original one; no chips out of it for a start) but it's there, near the start of the exhibition - we spent quite some time looking at it!
.
Not sure why you only had 1.5 hours to explore, unless your VIP tour was late-starting? We spent 7 hours in there in total, lol - and did the VIP bit in the middle.
.
Agree with you on there being a lot of mistakes, and it not being brilliantly set-out - however, it's whetted our appetite for a PP visit in early 2019, all being well.

Just to be clear, the Hohner guitar on display is the crappy early-90s mass-produced budget guitar, with the pointy-shaped headstock and the wrong pickguard. I know because I own one myself (I can sell you a VIP ticket to visit it if you wish?!).

It has very little do with the original guitar Prince made so famous, or the various luthier-made copies that Prince played over the years. Seeing the cheap little guitar on display in a glass case was utterly ridiculous. If there was a single bit of photographic evidence that existed to demonstrate Prince playing one of those, fair enough, but I don't believe there is and more to the point it isn't what fans are there to see. They want to see the real thing!

Like I say, none of Prince's more famous guitars were shown, which is a shame.

As for time, our VIP bit started on Friday at 6pm sharp, and we were told we needed to out by 7:30pm. I know because a bunch of French girls who had just bought tickets were pretty furious about the time limit, and I don't blame them.

[Edited 11/12/17 6:53am]

ReddishBrownOne said:

About the ban on photos and phones - I personally think that made for a better experience. Nowadays at exhibitions - or concerts for that matter - you can't see what is there without having to negotiate a sea of fucking prannets who feel they have to take a million photos of everything. Even when people aren't on their phones, the mere presence of them can draw ones mind away from the here and now. I noticed that without the temptation of digital distractions, people seemed to be a lot more into the displays. Some were even doing little dances to the music. And I could actually look at the exhibits! It's what Prince would have wanted.

I kinda agree, but it might have been nice if the notebooks had been scanned and made available for fans to read later on in the programme etc. These are precious artifacts for Prince fans, it sucked to not be allowed to photograph those in particular.

ian said:

ReddishBrownOne said:

ian said:

Dibblekins said:

There is most definitely a Hohner / Madcat clone on display (not the original one; no chips out of it for a start) but it's there, near the start of the exhibition - we spent quite some time looking at it!
.
Not sure why you only had 1.5 hours to explore, unless your VIP tour was late-starting? We spent 7 hours in there in total, lol - and did the VIP bit in the middle.
.
Agree with you on there being a lot of mistakes, and it not being brilliantly set-out - however, it's whetted our appetite for a PP visit in early 2019, all being well.

Just to be clear, the Hohner guitar on display is the crappy early-90s mass-produced budget guitar, with the pointy-shaped headstock and the wrong pickguard. I know because I own one myself (I can sell you a VIP ticket to visit it if you wish?!).

It has very little do with the original guitar Prince made so famous, or the various luthier-made copies that Prince played over the years. Seeing the cheap little guitar on display in a glass case was utterly ridiculous. If there was a single bit of photographic evidence that existed to demonstrate Prince playing one of those, fair enough, but I don't believe there is and more to the point it isn't what fans are there to see. They want to see the real thing!

Like I say, none of Prince's more famous guitars were shown, which is a shame.

As for time, our VIP bit started on Friday at 6pm sharp, and we were told we needed to out by 7:30pm. I know because a bunch of French girls who had just bought tickets were pretty furious about the time limit, and I don't blame them.

[Edited 11/12/17 6:53am]

Totally agree - seeing the original would have been absolutely wonderful...And the lack of a symbol guitar was pretty glaring...
.
I think maybe we just got lucky with the people who were in charge on the day we went - as I say, they were more than happy for us to go in before the VIP bit, as well as stay afterwards. It was a quiet Monday, I guess!

ian said:

ReddishBrownOne said:

About the ban on photos and phones - I personally think that made for a better experience. Nowadays at exhibitions - or concerts for that matter - you can't see what is there without having to negotiate a sea of fucking prannets who feel they have to take a million photos of everything. Even when people aren't on their phones, the mere presence of them can draw ones mind away from the here and now. I noticed that without the temptation of digital distractions, people seemed to be a lot more into the displays. Some were even doing little dances to the music. And I could actually look at the exhibits! It's what Prince would have wanted.

I kinda agree, but it might have been nice if the notebooks had been scanned and made available for fans to read later on in the programme etc. These are precious artifacts for Prince fans, it sucked to not be allowed to photograph those in particular.

That was the bit that really frustrated me more than anything else, to be honest...
.
When my Dad passed away, the thing that I found most moving, most 'real' was seeing his handwriting on things - more than objects he owned, things he wore, photographs or videos - handwritring is 'real', an extension of themselves as a person.

.
I wanted to read every single page of P's notebooks - see his little spelling mistakes, his crossings-out, his doodles. And yet, they had displayed them on top of each other, so all you had were tantalising glimpses of pages underneath! It was maddening!!!

Both me and my son spotted the copy of the madcat Hohner... it stuck out a mile!

Was disapointed slightly not to see a symbol guitar...

We were in their from 3pm till 6pm (it does state that entries after 6pm have to be out by 7.30pm)

Was well pleased I got a copy of the Photographing Prince book.... which I had almost purchased a week before in my local bookshop.... but hadent as a page was damaged!

Was so disapointed to not have the fortutude to take home the white gloves that were used to hold his Guitar.... damn....a wasted opportunity.... my only regret of the day!

I understand that there are some items (which may have been mentioned above and absent from the exhibition) that are to never leave Paisley Park by Prince's wishes... and if that was what he wanted thats fine by me!

I debated on taking something to add to the fence....deciding not to right up until the day before (as i didnt want to get over emotional) at the last minute i poored it out into an overly long note the day before I went - which I am glad I did now.....

The guy gave me so much joy over so many years (and many more to come I hope) so I thought it was the least I could do!

I didnt read any notes on the fence... but I sat quietly taking it in for a moment before adding my note to an already impressive collection!

So glad they banned the taking of photographs in the main exhibition.... having some idiots knocking out selfies every minute would be so direspectful in my opinion... for some people this is an absolution and a very emotional experience!

PurpleHippyUK said:

Both me and my son spotted the copy of the madcat Hohner... it stuck out a mile!

Was disapointed slightly not to see a symbol guitar...

We were in their from 3pm till 6pm (it does state that entries after 6pm have to be out by 7.30pm)

Was well pleased I got a copy of the Photographing Prince book.... which I had almost purchased a week before in my local bookshop.... but hadent as a page was damaged!

Was so disapointed to not have the fortutude to take home the white gloves that were used to hold his Guitar.... damn....a wasted opportunity.... my only regret of the day!

I understand that there are some items (which may have been mentioned above and absent from the exhibition) that are to never leave Paisley Park by Prince's wishes... and if that was what he wanted thats fine by me!

I debated on taking something to add to the fence....deciding not to right up until the day before (as i didnt want to get over emotional) at the last minute i poored it out into an overly long note the day before I went - which I am glad I did now.....

The guy gave me so much joy over so many years (and many more to come I hope) so I thought it was the least I could do!

I didnt read any notes on the fence... but I sat quietly taking it in for a moment before adding my note to an already impressive collection!

So glad they banned the taking of photographs in the main exhibition.... having some idiots knocking out selfies every minute would be so direspectful in my opinion... for some people this is an absolution and a very emotional experience!

Do you know what items that are not supposed to leave PP?

Angelsoncrack said:

I went yesterday, just got back home to Manchester after staying with some friends. I enjoyed it thoroghly, I was so excited to see the Graffiti Bridge wardrobe. We did the VIP.

My first initial thoughts were how small the mannequins were. I mean, I know P was small but holy crap, I'm 5 ft 2 and female and those clothes would of been a perfect fit on me. I also found it interesting to see that some of the clothes were quite worn in. The graffiti bridge white tunic was all bobbly (like what you get sometimes when you wash a top too much), and some garments had loose thread and even hems that were loose.

A few grumbles we had:

-Some of the garments were positioned awkwardly. Ie: the graffiti bridge leather jacket was only shown from the back, so a lot of the front detailing was hidden. Could of done better with having either rotating mannequins or put at a 3 quarter viewing point.

-It seemed sort of moot when the tour guides were telling us we were 'respecting Prince's wishes' by not taking pictures of the main attraction yet it was totally fine for us to take pictures in the VIP bit??

-It got a bit jumbled once you got past the Purple Rain bit. It's all chronological then all of a sudden you jump from Sign o the Times to Graffiti Bridge in one space.

-We also felt maybe the VIP space could of been used to show protoge or associated acts outfits and instruments too seen as it was generally the more hardcore fans that were going for VIP tickets.

-The prices had been hiked up on the shop from the day before. 35 quid I paid for the fashion book. Scandalous. And not in the Prince way!

Other than that I enjoyed the exhibition and I will never forget it. I left a little momento on the fence and snuck a pic of it, so its very blurry lol

Awww, I went today... and I saw your lovely little memento x

[Edited 11/13/17 17:06pm]

ian said:

Dibblekins said:

There is most definitely a Hohner / Madcat clone on display (not the original one; no chips out of it for a start) but it's there, near the start of the exhibition - we spent quite some time looking at it!
.
Not sure why you only had 1.5 hours to explore, unless your VIP tour was late-starting? We spent 7 hours in there in total, lol - and did the VIP bit in the middle.
.
Agree with you on there being a lot of mistakes, and it not being brilliantly set-out - however, it's whetted our appetite for a PP visit in early 2019, all being well.

Just to be clear, the Hohner guitar on display is the crappy early-90s mass-produced budget guitar, with the pointy-shaped headstock and the wrong pickguard. I know because I own one myself (I can sell you a VIP ticket to visit it if you wish?!).

It has very little do with the original guitar Prince made so famous, or the various luthier-made copies that Prince played over the years. Seeing the cheap little guitar on display in a glass case was utterly ridiculous. If there was a single bit of photographic evidence that existed to demonstrate Prince playing one of those, fair enough, but I don't believe there is and more to the point it isn't what fans are there to see. They want to see the real thing!

Like I say, none of Prince's more famous guitars were shown, which is a shame.

As for time, our VIP bit started on Friday at 6pm sharp, and we were told we needed to out by 7:30pm. I know because a bunch of French girls who had just bought tickets were pretty furious about the time limit, and I don't blame them.

[Edited 11/12/17 6:53am]

I guess we've got to face facts: there are some guitars that are never going to be leaving Paisley Park, including that Hohner. I mean, if I had schlepped all the way to Minneapolis only for the folks at Paisley Park to tell me, oh, soz, it's currently out on tour, I'd be pretty pissed off. That's why I was really quite thrilled to see the Vox guitar he used during the 3rd Eye Girl period.

Leslita said:

ian said:

Just to be clear, the Hohner guitar on display is the crappy early-90s mass-produced budget guitar, with the pointy-shaped headstock and the wrong pickguard. I know because I own one myself (I can sell you a VIP ticket to visit it if you wish?!).

It has very little do with the original guitar Prince made so famous, or the various luthier-made copies that Prince played over the years. Seeing the cheap little guitar on display in a glass case was utterly ridiculous. If there was a single bit of photographic evidence that existed to demonstrate Prince playing one of those, fair enough, but I don't believe there is and more to the point it isn't what fans are there to see. They want to see the real thing!

Like I say, none of Prince's more famous guitars were shown, which is a shame.

As for time, our VIP bit started on Friday at 6pm sharp, and we were told we needed to out by 7:30pm. I know because a bunch of French girls who had just bought tickets were pretty furious about the time limit, and I don't blame them.

[Edited 11/12/17 6:53am]

I guess we've got to face facts: there are some guitars that are never going to be leaving Paisley Park, including that Hohner. I mean, if I had schlepped all the way to Minneapolis only for the folks at Paisley Park to tell me, oh, soz, it's currently out on tour, I'd be pretty pissed off. That's why I was really quite thrilled to see the Vox guitar he used during the 3rd Eye Girl period.

Yeah it was nice to see that ugly-ass Vox. I still don't really know what the vinyl wrap on it is all about, I can make out some lips but not much else. I never noticed that the original guitar was white before, so that was cool to see.

Regarding the famous tele.... well Prince had several copies that he played regularly, so it would have been cool to show one of them in the London exhibition. Same goes for the cloud guitar, the symbol guitar... is this really the best they could do?

ian said:

Leslita said:

I guess we've got to face facts: there are some guitars that are never going to be leaving Paisley Park, including that Hohner. I mean, if I had schlepped all the way to Minneapolis only for the folks at Paisley Park to tell me, oh, soz, it's currently out on tour, I'd be pretty pissed off. That's why I was really quite thrilled to see the Vox guitar he used during the 3rd Eye Girl period.

Yeah it was nice to see that ugly-ass Vox. I still don't really know what the vinyl wrap on it is all about, I can make out some lips but not much else. I never noticed that the original guitar was white before, so that was cool to see.

Regarding the famous tele.... well Prince had several copies that he played regularly, so it would have been cool to show one of them in the London exhibition. Same goes for the cloud guitar, the symbol guitar... is this really the best they could do?

The cloud guitars on display at PP are Schecter models made during the NPGMC period. They aren't HIS guitars (made by Rusan et al).

At least this was the way at the 2017 Celebration.

the exhibition is worth visiting for a fan, and i spent an hour in the vip area, so thought along with the book and bag and laminate it was worth the extra money. i knew it was going to be flawed, but some of the flaws should have been picked up on and action taken, but the staff don't really seem to care

a few flaws/issues

audio guide mentions prince working with james brown and/or at paisley - he never worked with james and james never went to PP - prince remixed a track with james and aretha, but didn't work with either

the dodgy hohner, which is a cheap copy with the non leopard scratchplate and a bit of black tape covering the TE/LE prinze part. incredibly this is pictured in the program near the start

organge cloud they say he played during 21 nights at the o2 when he never played any cloud, and the cloud looks suspiscous as the scroll detail is different from the ones prince used or even the schechter copies, and i don't think it had the PP property plate either. dunno what the story was with this, but the wording is wrong

the Vox info says it's custom built, but it's a stock model with a custom skin

theres a sign saying lovesexy artwork next to a picture of the i wish u heaven single cover

the gemini/partyman outfit is missing the mirror bat logo and has the wrong shoes

the refer to the taylor purple accoustic as the one used on mtv unplugged, but he never played on mtv unplugger. the staff member then tried to argue the art of musicology was an mtv unplugged show officially. AOM was actually shown on VH1 (owned by viacom like MTV), but it's a PP production and MTV or unplugged isn't mentioned anywhere

they mentioned the phone pocket things were like what they used at pp when prince played there, of course that's wrong, and phones were completely banned, no pocket things used (they may use them at PP now but not when he was alive)

merchandise, poor management and planning as usual, so loads of stuff sell out within the first day or so, meaning punters can't get stuff they want, and sales are lost as a result. staff have no clue if/when they will be back in stock and differing stories from differing staff about an online store being setup. no bigger size mens exhibit shirts means staff have no clue about the demographic of fans being no longer skinny teenagers

staff, the guide spoke like she was taking 5 year old kids on a zoo trip. again, no clue about the demographic. i don't think there was anyone under 40 on the tour. no recognition of the fact the guide knew considerably less than some of the punters on tour

security, again clueless and didn't really care about much. they moaned about me getting to close when pointing stuff out using the audio guide thing, and mentioned they could see me on the video screens. if they could, then they would see i wasn't touching anything, and there was no signs or warning saying don't get too close, just to say don't touch. the over all manner from the staff was poor and didn't reflect the price paid for VIP. security staff are supposed to get training to address issues and descale things by talking nicely, so an excuse me sir/mate, would you mind not getting so close to the items, as opposed to irate moaning, would work better. and instead of saying i just work here, i don't know, some pretence of giving a shit may go a bit further

as for the guitars, there's at least 2 hohners, several clouds, and several symbol guitars so they could have put one of each at the o2 and at pp, and stuck them in a glass cabinet so you couldn't touch

also the lighting in the area with the cloud suit was more like a disco, it was too dark so you couldn't see properly, and with no mirrors, you couldn't see the other sides of many items. there was lyric books laid in a pile so you could only see the writing on the top one

overall it was very reminiscent of the real prince, fun and flawed. nothing was ever perfect in prince land. perhaps that's part of the charm. but look at the reviews of the exhibition and it's mostly folk moaning about things that wouldn't be hard to fix. the ticket scanner didn't work on arrival, and that was a sign of what was to come

what would be good is if the staff did give a shit and asked for feedback and did something about it. it wouldn't have been that hard to fact check some stuff on google and princevault

oh yeah the video quality in the vip room was awful too. showing the 21 nights promo dvd would have been better, or showing the art of musicology where he uses the guitar you get to akwardly hold with gloves on. they also mentioned they couldn't find a 21 nights setlist so used a swedish one. the setlists were printed off from laptop so the digital files to reprint them must be somewhere

oh yeah, outfits in vip room were side racked so you couldn't see them properly. generally speaking there wasn't a good use of space in that area

Sorry... I do not... I was told by the VIP guide that there are a number of items listed in an itinary that Prince put together for the planned exhibitons at paisley park and outside paisley park.

PennyPurple said:

PurpleHippyUK said:

Both me and my son spotted the copy of the madcat Hohner... it stuck out a mile!

Was disapointed slightly not to see a symbol guitar...

We were in their from 3pm till 6pm (it does state that entries after 6pm have to be out by 7.30pm)

Was well pleased I got a copy of the Photographing Prince book.... which I had almost purchased a week before in my local bookshop.... but hadent as a page was damaged!

Was so disapointed to not have the fortutude to take home the white gloves that were used to hold his Guitar.... damn....a wasted opportunity.... my only regret of the day!

I understand that there are some items (which may have been mentioned above and absent from the exhibition) that are to never leave Paisley Park by Prince's wishes... and if that was what he wanted thats fine by me!

I debated on taking something to add to the fence....deciding not to right up until the day before (as i didnt want to get over emotional) at the last minute i poored it out into an overly long note the day before I went - which I am glad I did now.....

The guy gave me so much joy over so many years (and many more to come I hope) so I thought it was the least I could do!

I didnt read any notes on the fence... but I sat quietly taking it in for a moment before adding my note to an already impressive collection!

So glad they banned the taking of photographs in the main exhibition.... having some idiots knocking out selfies every minute would be so direspectful in my opinion... for some people this is an absolution and a very emotional experience!

Do you know what items that are not supposed to leave PP?

I went yesterday evening and it was awesome.

I had set myself no expectations and had deliberately not read any reviews or looked at pictures which turned out to be good thing. Having been a Prince fan since 1985, while it would be great to see other items, I was suprised about how much there was to actually look at. The videos that were playing helped remind you of the items that you were looking at so not obtrusive.

There were only 3 of us in the VIP room which made it a great experience and nothing was rushed. I then spent about 75 mins in the main exhibition. I loved the fact that they locked your mobile phone. It is just you, your headphones, the music/comentary and the items. You could really concentrate on the details and remember what you saw. No one pressurised you to go round and I was lucky there were few people there to distract away from everything.

While you couldn't touch items in the main exhibition - very little was behind glass. You could get very close. Lots to see.

For what it was, I thought it was great and really well done. Yes it could have been better but it coud have been so much worse. I'm just grateful I got tickets and was able to go.

Simon.

[Edited 11/15/17 11:14am]

[Edited 11/15/17 11:15am]

I just got back from London, and did the VIP Experience on Tuesday.

It was slightly flawed, but I definitely enjoyed it, and thought it was worth my money.

The VIP Room is the only place you can take pictures, so if you're wanting to do that you have to buy the VIP package. The room itself was cool, and there were definitely some things in there I wasn't expecting to see, yet not quite as many of the more iconic items that were in the main exhibition. Some of the guitars and other items, I don't ever remember seeing, and wouldn't know they were even Prince items unless I was told.

It was mentioned by the tour guide that most of the things on display at the exhibition were already selected by Prince, not specifically for a Paisley museum, but a touring exhibition that would follow him on tour. Fans would be allowed to peruse these historical items before the show would start. Janet Jackson did a similar thing on her Unbreakable Tour, and I wondered if he got the idea from her. It's a smart idea either way.

Some of the VIP room items included a bunch of things that were found at Prince's personal vanity after he passed were on display. I chuckled at seeing Oil Of Olay, Dove Soap, and Maybelline mascara next to other high end brands. Also, a hand towel monogrammed with the symbol.

A lot of the outfits weren't the memorable, iconic ones, or were ones he wasn't photographed in very often, if at all. The orange top from the 2015 Grammy's stuck out. A top from the Alphabet St. video looked familiar. A lot of the Lovesexy outfits were hung on a rack, so you could only see the sleeve side of them. Various shirts and coats with Minneapolis on the sleeve were there, as well as one that stuck out to me, because it was one from one of my favorite pictures of him as a child, which I first saw in either Right On or Word Up magazine, 1988.



Lots of shoes, and accessories were on display, most in his signature zip-up, high heel style, as well as a few surprises, like custom glittery gold sneakers, with traditional laces, but also his signature zipper on the side. His 3rd Eye glasses, the gold sleep-mask style glasses, the chain-link magenta police hat he wore during the Act I My Name Is Prince performance (and also on Aresenio), were all on display as well.

A few stick drawings with various outfit designs were on display, with personal notes from Prince, as well as cloth samples.

I would say the most moving portion was seeing footage from one of his O2 concerts. Controversy was one of the songs, and maybe another before concluding with Purple Rain. During Purple Rain, the tour guide brought out his purple acoustic guitar, used during the Musicology tour, and on the Art Of Musicology special, and we each got to take turns holding it.

I wasn't expecting this, and it absolutely made me shed some tears. Between the song that was playing (which he always put his heart into), holding his guitar, and just being surrounded by all of his stuff, it was definitely emotionally overwhelming. I did feel a little manipulated by the moment, as it seemed set up specifically to create an emotional reaction, but I guess from a buisiness standpoint, you need those moments to heighten the experience, and keep it from being just a walk though his old closets.

We also got our own green room area, to have a rest if need be, stocked with complimentary drinks and snacks, in addition to a free totebag with the VIP lanyard, and a copy of Steve Parke's Picturing Prince book, which was a nice touch (and a great read btw).

I did feel like some of the area was poorly organized. They had a ton of empty gear cases that Prince used to hide in, as a means of getting to the concert stage unnoticed. But do we really need to see more than one of these? Not very interesting. I would much rather that space be used spread out all of those Lovesexy outfits that were hung on a rack, and not fully viewable. It was also quite dark in there, as well, which worked to hide a couple of shed tears during Purple Rain, but not so well for photos.

I won't write too much that hasn't already been written about the main portion of the exhibition. I thought it was pretty well organized, and informative, contained nearly enough of the iconic items from his career (there can always be more), as well as a few surprises (Batman Gemini suit, Pink Cashmere video suit from 1993, handwritten lyric sheets, handwritten script pages from an early Purple Rain script, the original bass that the cloud guitar was modeled after.)

I didn't learn much from it being a diehard, but took away a couple of new bits of info.

Lyrics from an unreleased song called "1010" which contained the line, "We want 2 let the funk unwind."

A scene from an early draft of Purple Rain, where Prince and Vanity's characters are introduced. He asks her name, and she replies, "Nicarthra Ann..."

"What kinda name is Nicarthra Ann - Nikki for short then, right?"

Hence, Darling Nikki. I never knew this.

A video for Pink Cashmere was filmed in 1993, and the suit from it was sort of peacock-ish looking, with turquoise, and hot pink bits, and two giant white lapels with the full lyrics to Pink Cashmere on the right one, and the full lyrics to Peach on the left, both written in black calligraphy.

I would say it's well worth the money to do the VIP Experience. The main exhibit is great as well, and obviously essential, but the VIP Experience made it more special and personal. The merch was decent, and I liked that they also sold his music. It reminded a little bit of the NPG Store days. Now only if they could bring back that incense.

ian said:

Dibblekins said:

There is most definitely a Hohner / Madcat clone on display (not the original one; no chips out of it for a start) but it's there, near the start of the exhibition - we spent quite some time looking at it!
.
Not sure why you only had 1.5 hours to explore, unless your VIP tour was late-starting? We spent 7 hours in there in total, lol - and did the VIP bit in the middle.
.
Agree with you on there being a lot of mistakes, and it not being brilliantly set-out - however, it's whetted our appetite for a PP visit in early 2019, all being well.

Just to be clear, the Hohner guitar on display is the crappy early-90s mass-produced budget guitar, with the pointy-shaped headstock and the wrong pickguard. I know because I own one myself (I can sell you a VIP ticket to visit it if you wish?!).

It has very little do with the original guitar Prince made so famous, or the various luthier-made copies that Prince played over the years. Seeing the cheap little guitar on display in a glass case was utterly ridiculous. If there was a single bit of photographic evidence that existed to demonstrate Prince playing one of those, fair enough, but I don't believe there is and more to the point it isn't what fans are there to see. They want to see the real thing!

Like I say, none of Prince's more famous guitars were shown, which is a shame.

As for time, our VIP bit started on Friday at 6pm sharp, and we were told we needed to out by 7:30pm. I know because a bunch of French girls who had just bought tickets were pretty furious about the time limit, and I don't blame them.

[Edited 11/12/17 6:53am]

I too was disappointed with the absence of any of Prince's most iconic guitars. In relation to the Hohner on display, I bought the Paisley Park Archives Guitar & Bass book on the way out and guess that it could be the one pictured on pages 64-65 (or a very similar one). In the accompanying text it says: "...a model of the Hohner called 'The Prinz' was created in Prince's honour; when Prince acquired one, he affixed a piece of tape to black out his name on the headstock." It would have been handy to have the book beforehand! I couldn't remember if there was a piece of black tape on the one on display, so looked online for any photos or videos from the exhibition picturing the guitar in question - all I could find was the image at 9.25 in this video: https://youtu.be/1-eB_J3ffWI

I'm not sure it's identical to the one in the Guitar & Bass book (pictured), but there does appear to be a piece of black tape affixed to the headstock. Out of interest was the 90s mass-produced one labelled The Prinz?

I was wondering if some of the items were merely later copies never actually owned or played by Prince, though Paisley Park have stated that they only exhibit Prince's belongings (if that is to be trusted)

[Edited 11/17/17 14:23pm]

SchlomoThaHomo said:

I just got back from London, and did the VIP Experience on Tuesday.

It was slightly flawed, but I definitely enjoyed it, and thought it was worth my money.

The VIP Room is the only place you can take pictures, so if you're wanting to do that you have to buy the VIP package. The room itself was cool, and there were definitely some things in there I wasn't expecting to see, yet not quite as many of the more iconic items that were in the main exhibition. Some of the guitars and other items, I don't ever remember seeing, and wouldn't know they were even Prince items unless I was told.

It was mentioned by the tour guide that most of the things on display at the exhibition were already selected by Prince, not specifically for a Paisley museum, but a touring exhibition that would follow him on tour. Fans would be allowed to peruse these historical items before the show would start. Janet Jackson did a similar thing on her Unbreakable Tour, and I wondered if he got the idea from her. It's a smart idea either way.

Some of the VIP room items included a bunch of things that were found at Prince's personal vanity after he passed were on display. I chuckled at seeing Oil Of Olay, Dove Soap, and Maybelline mascara next to other high end brands. Also, a hand towel monogrammed with the symbol.

A lot of the outfits weren't the memorable, iconic ones, or were ones he wasn't photographed in very often, if at all. The orange top from the 2015 Grammy's stuck out. A top from the Alphabet St. video looked familiar. A lot of the Lovesexy outfits were hung on a rack, so you could only see the sleeve side of them. Various shirts and coats with Minneapolis on the sleeve were there, as well as one that stuck out to me, because it was one from one of my favorite pictures of him as a child, which I first saw in either Right On or Word Up magazine, 1988.



Lots of shoes, and accessories were on display, most in his signature zip-up, high heel style, as well as a few surprises, like custom glittery gold sneakers, with traditional laces, but also his signature zipper on the side. His 3rd Eye glasses, the gold sleep-mask style glasses, the chain-link magenta police hat he wore during the Act I My Name Is Prince performance (and also on Aresenio), were all on display as well.

A few stick drawings with various outfit designs were on display, with personal notes from Prince, as well as cloth samples.

I would say the most moving portion was seeing footage from one of his O2 concerts. Controversy was one of the songs, and maybe another before concluding with Purple Rain. During Purple Rain, the tour guide brought out his purple acoustic guitar, used during the Musicology tour, and on the Art Of Musicology special, and we each got to take turns holding it.

I wasn't expecting this, and it absolutely made me shed some tears. Between the song that was playing (which he always put his heart into), holding his guitar, and just being surrounded by all of his stuff, it was definitely emotionally overwhelming. I did feel a little manipulated by the moment, as it seemed set up specifically to create an emotional reaction, but I guess from a buisiness standpoint, you need those moments to heighten the experience, and keep it from being just a walk though his old closets.

We also got our own green room area, to have a rest if need be, stocked with complimentary drinks and snacks, in addition to a free totebag with the VIP lanyard, and a copy of Steve Parke's Picturing Prince book, which was a nice touch (and a great read btw).

I did feel like some of the area was poorly organized. They had a ton of empty gear cases that Prince used to hide in, as a means of getting to the concert stage unnoticed. But do we really need to see more than one of these? Not very interesting. I would much rather that space be used spread out all of those Lovesexy outfits that were hung on a rack, and not fully viewable. It was also quite dark in there, as well, which worked to hide a couple of shed tears during Purple Rain, but not so well for photos.

I won't write too much that hasn't already been written about the main portion of the exhibition. I thought it was pretty well organized, and informative, contained nearly enough of the iconic items from his career (there can always be more), as well as a few surprises (Batman Gemini suit, Pink Cashmere video suit from 1993, handwritten lyric sheets, handwritten script pages from an early Purple Rain script, the original bass that the cloud guitar was modeled after.)

I didn't learn much from it being a diehard, but took away a couple of new bits of info.

Lyrics from an unreleased song called "1010" which contained the line, "We want 2 let the funk unwind."

A scene from an early draft of Purple Rain, where Prince and Vanity's characters are introduced. He asks her name, and she replies, "Nicarthra Ann..."

"What kinda name is Nicarthra Ann - Nikki for short then, right?"

Hence, Darling Nikki. I never knew this.

A video for Pink Cashmere was filmed in 1993, and the suit from it was sort of peacock-ish looking, with turquoise, and hot pink bits, and two giant white lapels with the full lyrics to Pink Cashmere on the right one, and the full lyrics to Peach on the left, both written in black calligraphy.

I would say it's well worth the money to do the VIP Experience. The main exhibit is great as well, and obviously essential, but the VIP Experience made it more special and personal. The merch was decent, and I liked that they also sold his music. It reminded a little bit of the NPG Store days. Now only if they could bring back that incense.

Was it a cool video?

rap said:

SchlomoThaHomo said:

A video for Pink Cashmere was filmed in 1993, and the suit from it was sort of peacock-ish looking, with turquoise, and hot pink bits, and two giant white lapels with the full lyrics to Pink Cashmere on the right one, and the full lyrics to Peach on the left, both written in black calligraphy.

I would say it's well worth the money to do the VIP Experience. The main exhibit is great as well, and obviously essential, but the VIP Experience made it more special and personal. The merch was decent, and I liked that they also sold his music. It reminded a little bit of the NPG Store days. Now only if they could bring back that incense.

Was it a cool video?

The video wasn't shown, just the outfit. I would say the outfit wasn't the coolest. But a lot of the clothes looked kind of silly and even cheap up close. They looked much better in print and on film imo.

Does anyone know why he would black out Prinz on it?

CinnamonBone said:

ian said:

Just to be clear, the Hohner guitar on display is the crappy early-90s mass-produced budget guitar, with the pointy-shaped headstock and the wrong pickguard. I know because I own one myself (I can sell you a VIP ticket to visit it if you wish?!).

It has very little do with the original guitar Prince made so famous, or the various luthier-made copies that Prince played over the years. Seeing the cheap little guitar on display in a glass case was utterly ridiculous. If there was a single bit of photographic evidence that existed to demonstrate Prince playing one of those, fair enough, but I don't believe there is and more to the point it isn't what fans are there to see. They want to see the real thing!

Like I say, none of Prince's more famous guitars were shown, which is a shame.

As for time, our VIP bit started on Friday at 6pm sharp, and we were told we needed to out by 7:30pm. I know because a bunch of French girls who had just bought tickets were pretty furious about the time limit, and I don't blame them.

[Edited 11/12/17 6:53am]

I too was disappointed with the absence of any of Prince's most iconic guitars. In relation to the Hohner on display, I bought the Paisley Park Archives Guitar & Bass book on the way out and guess that it could be the one pictured on pages 64-65 (or a very similar one). In the accompanying text it says: "...a model of the Hohner called 'The Prinz' was created in Prince's honour; when Prince acquired one, he affixed a piece of tape to black out his name on the headstock." It would have been handy to have the book beforehand! I couldn't remember if there was a piece of black tape on the one on display, so looked online for any photos or videos from the exhibition picturing the guitar in question - all I could find was the image at 9.25 in this video: https://youtu.be/1-eB_J3ffWI

I'm not sure it's identical to the one in the Guitar & Bass book (pictured), but there does appear to be a piece of black tape affixed to the headstock. Out of interest was the 90s mass-produced one labelled The Prinz?

I was wondering if some of the items were merely later copies never actually owned or played by Prince, though Paisley Park have stated that they only exhibit Prince's belongings (if that is to be trusted)

[Edited 11/17/17 14:23pm]

PennyPurple said:

Does anyone know why he would black out Prinz on it?

CinnamonBone said:

I too was disappointed with the absence of any of Prince's most iconic guitars. In relation to the Hohner on display, I bought the Paisley Park Archives Guitar & Bass book on the way out and guess that it could be the one pictured on pages 64-65 (or a very similar one). In the accompanying text it says: "...a model of the Hohner called 'The Prinz' was created in Prince's honour; when Prince acquired one, he affixed a piece of tape to black out his name on the headstock." It would have been handy to have the book beforehand! I couldn't remember if there was a piece of black tape on the one on display, so looked online for any photos or videos from the exhibition picturing the guitar in question - all I could find was the image at 9.25 in this video: https://youtu.be/1-eB_J3ffWI

I'm not sure it's identical to the one in the Guitar & Bass book (pictured), but there does appear to be a piece of black tape affixed to the headstock. Out of interest was the 90s mass-produced one labelled The Prinz?

I was wondering if some of the items were merely later copies never actually owned or played by Prince, though Paisley Park have stated that they only exhibit Prince's belongings (if that is to be trusted)

[Edited 11/17/17 14:23pm]

Hi there, yes I have the same book. I think that is definitely the guitar that was included in the exhibition, I just question whether Prince has ever even touched it

The book, like the exhibition, is full of mistakes too so it wouldn't surprise me if someone found this guitar at Paisley and jumped to conclusions about its utility. I guess it is possible Prince might have bought this just to check it out as it has his name on it, maybe figure out if he needed to sue anyone over it, or to check if it could be useful as a cheap emergency backup (for example, the blue stratocaster Prince played at the superbowl was actually a cheaper Mexican stratocaster, which maybe makes sense when you remember that it was pouring rain and the conditions were likely going to damage a lot of gear.

As for the name, yeah there have been a few versions, TE Prinz, The Prinz, The Artist etc. They're okay, it's not what fans wanted to see at the O2.

ian said:

PennyPurple said:

Does anyone know why he would black out Prinz on it?

Hi there, yes I have the same book. I think that is definitely the guitar that was included in the exhibition, I just question whether Prince has ever even touched it

The book, like the exhibition, is full of mistakes too so it wouldn't surprise me if someone found this guitar at Paisley and jumped to conclusions about its utility. I guess it is possible Prince might have bought this just to check it out as it has his name on it, maybe figure out if he needed to sue anyone over it, or to check if it could be useful as a cheap emergency backup (for example, the blue stratocaster Prince played at the superbowl was actually a cheaper Mexican stratocaster, which maybe makes sense when you remember that it was pouring rain and the conditions were likely going to damage a lot of gear.

As for the name, yeah there have been a few versions, TE Prinz, The Prinz, The Artist etc. They're okay, it's not what fans wanted to see at the O2.

Did you actually go to the exhibit? You don't seem to have the same take away as Schlomo...

purplethunder3121 said:

ian said:

Hi there, yes I have the same book. I think that is definitely the guitar that was included in the exhibition, I just question whether Prince has ever even touched it

The book, like the exhibition, is full of mistakes too so it wouldn't surprise me if someone found this guitar at Paisley and jumped to conclusions about its utility. I guess it is possible Prince might have bought this just to check it out as it has his name on it, maybe figure out if he needed to sue anyone over it, or to check if it could be useful as a cheap emergency backup (for example, the blue stratocaster Prince played at the superbowl was actually a cheaper Mexican stratocaster, which maybe makes sense when you remember that it was pouring rain and the conditions were likely going to damage a lot of gear.

As for the name, yeah there have been a few versions, TE Prinz, The Prinz, The Artist etc. They're okay, it's not what fans wanted to see at the O2.

Did you actually go to the exhibit? You don't seem to have the same take away as Schlomo...

Not sure what you mean by that. I posted my review of the exhibition earlier in the thread. I enjoyed it, there were a few mistakes here and there. Pretty much along the lines of what unique said, except with less detail.

ian said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Did you actually go to the exhibit? You don't seem to have the same take away as Schlomo...

Not sure what you mean by that. I posted my review of the exhibition earlier in the thread. I enjoyed it, there were a few mistakes here and there. Pretty much along the lines of what unique said, except with less detail.

My apologies; your comment was fair and I am glad you enjoyed the exhibit.

rogifan said: