Exactly. I mean who are we fooling here. | |
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Agree, he is still a human and you went to see the revolution, but it seems he has been awhile but saw to much camera's and recording equipment because he was attending to play at the end at purple rain, I only got this from somebody he has been there.
But still it was a revolution reunion.
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Totally agree. Not only that, if he did show up and performed with them, you would see comments like "See, this is the band he should play with, because all his current lineups post-Revolution band members "insert here". I do think some are still upset that he didn't show up. Some have already started to comment on how the Revolution members performed last night, in comparison to Prince's current band lineup- post Revolution era. That may be a good reason why he has chosen not to reunite with the original band members and tour with them, because he probably is aware that whomever is in his current/future lineup, will always be compared to the Revolution band members, as well as, some claiming Prince himself, wouldn't be able to/or can't succeed as a musician without them (former Revolution members), but he has.
He's invited W&L on stage to perform with him in the past (Brit Awards) and Wendy was on stage at his 7/07/07 concert, so it's not like he's hasn't collaborated with them post-Revolution era. We've seen many 'eras' of Prince, and the Revolution era, is just one of many, and he never projected the idea that he liked being pigeon-holed into one, specific genre of music or era.
You know that poster with Prince standing in front of the 'Controversy' album pic, that was sold during the W2A tour? When I saw that poster it spoke volumes. It basically sent the message "That was me (Prince) "Then"...This is me "Now", and his expression in that pic, looks very content in the "Now". I'm sure one day some fans will get over that the 1984/85 era is not coming back. He does perform songs from that era, with his current lineup, but that's pretty much expected from a well-known artist, to play some of his classics, even if that doesn't include the original band members, especially when performing in an arena. Many groups from back-in-the-day,still performing today, have changed band members and play their classics. I don't see why it has to be an issue, that Prince has moved on and changed/toured with various band members.
[Edited 2/20/12 13:41pm] | |
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I really think I know what u are getting at. Reminds me of Bowie talking about being in Tin Machine. Bowie was so use to running everything. When he goined Tin Machine he had to take a step back and let go of some of the control. I think from the interviews I've seen he felt like in the end he grew more as a musician/person. Prince changed over the years but so have the members of the Revolution. I would also speculate that P may have been reluctant because if he did jam with the Revolution every news outlet in the world would have reported it. Fans would have demanded reunion, world tour, album etc. If P really doesn't care to do that why have that shadow over what you will do next. Fans reaction would be ho-hum this isn't the reunion to the next project. I'm doubting a reunion will happen but if VH reunion can happen anything can happen. With all the work in the vault would be cool if he pharmed out stuff like Roadhouse Garden to W/L. Maybe someday? Right. What are you outraged about today? CNN has not told you yet? | |
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Goes beyond the event. For years people would be talking reunion, album, tour of the Revolution. If you think the reaction is ho-hum to his current releases if he would had stepped foot on stage last night he would have been asked the reunion question from here till the end of time. What are you outraged about today? CNN has not told you yet? | |
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it was a rhetorical question - of course it would be VERY special if Prince was there. My point is that it would be MUCH MORE special than just a regular Prince show. Why? Because the Revolution is there! The Revolution would still be the important component that is completely necessary to make the night exceptional.
I guess I'm just not sure what people mean when they say that Prince would take all the focus... He'd be the frontman, sure, but do you think people would just forget that they're watching Wendy, Lisa, Brownmark, Dr Fink, Dez, Bobby, Eric (and g-sharp!) play? Do you think people would forget that it's a charity gig? I don't see why they would... | |
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Right, this rings much more true to me than anything else. I think it's a totally legit reason, too. | |
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My point was, those who 'were hoping Prince showed up', and l there would have been a strong possibility the attention would have been taken off the reason for the chairty, and the talk would be more about Prince showing up, and the Revolution and Prince reuniting together.
By the way....who is G-Sharp? Now that's a name that's not familiar with the Revolution. [Edited 2/20/12 13:32pm] | |
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Oops, had to make a correction in the bolded part of my post. Yes, I think that could be a possible reason why he chose not to perform. | |
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Yeah, I guess you're right. Without Prince it goes down like: 'Yeah it's for charity!'
With Prince it would be: 'holy shit!' 'Yeah it's for charity!' 'Fuck one-off shows, I hope they tour!!!!!'
.... yeah, I'm slow, but I see your point now.
Click "LIKE" To Find Out!
[URLG]http://www.facebook.com/whoisgsharp[/URL] | |
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Without mentioning a charity in the first line, I don't think anyone would ask 'why' or 'what charity' and they would still say 'Holy Shit' and then still ask "is Prince going to be there' | |
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Everyone including Bobby Z had hopes Prince would show up, of course they would.
The money paid to get in was for the charity and then the intermission talk of the charity, Prince being there or not would not have stopped that.
I don't think Prince being there 'would take the attention off the charity. If this was a 'talk with booths' charity, yeah that would be distracting. But it's a charity built around the music and band. So Prince being there could only possibly make the charity awareness better. But they still got the 'charity' money they needed cause they were sold out and any other donations that followed.
Even without Prince being there, there were still people who didn't focus on the charity, they focused on the band and music.
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Ok, didn't check out fb, but read the article on this thread, further down, as to who he is. Thanks. [Edited 2/20/12 16:33pm] | |
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Give Prince credit, he did Bobby Z the clearance to use the Revolution brand-name that he does own. We should thank him for that.
I mean considering somebody who sullied his name by suing his own fans, I don't exactly have that high expectations you know? | |
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Setlist:
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V1OLETBLUES THANK YOU so much for posting those pictures! Made my day!
Dez w/ the headband and black Les Paul standing next to Wendy is priceless. Please forgive me for asking this but was Dr. Fink there? I didn't see him in the pix. | |
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..never mind! OldFriends just posted a pic while I was typing. | |
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Maybe we longtime Minnesotans are a little blase about Prince performing in his hometown. Maybe we didn’t appreciate what it meant for out-of-towners and younger-than-baby-boomer Minnesotans to witness the Revolution reunion Sunday at First Avenue.
For them and for this longtime Prince follower, it was a treat to hear those 1980s songs in First Avenue played by that band on that splendid sound system, mixed by Rob "Cubby" Colby (Prince’s longtime soundman and one of the best in the business).
Factor in that Prince hasn’t played many proper gigs at First Ave in decades. There was the final of three shows on 7/7/07 (remember: first, Macy's, then Target Center and finally First Ave) but it was cut short by the police because it was after-bar hours. So the one full show before that was in 1987 prior to the Sign o the Times Tour.
In other words, this Revolution reunion was a big deal for Prince fans who came from all over the States and Europe — and even New Zealand.
"This was the Holy Grail," proclaimed Chris Garcia, 41, of Los Angeles, in his Wendy & Lisa T-shirt, afterward. He has seen more than 30 Prince shows, even worked at Paisley Park as a video editor for two weeks and also saw the Revolution reunion cameo in 2003 at a Sheila E-organized benefit in Los Angeles. "Since ‘1999,’ Prince has been the soundtrack of my life," Garcia says, but he'd never witnessed the Revolution, his favorite backup band, at First Ave.
Some younger First Avenue employees asked me how this gig compared to the Prince shows at the club back in the day.
Aside from the obvious fact that Prince didn’t perform, the big difference was that most of 1980s shows had no advertising or even much advance notice. Prince would decide that day (or the day before) that he’d like to play at First Avenue. There was no social networking or even Internet back then. It was pick up your land line and call all your friends. The gigs were totally word of mouth. At most, KMOJ radio might announce the show. Moreover, the crowd back then was hipsters in their 20s and 30s; Sunday's show drew mostly people older than 40 seeking nostalgia.
Seeing the Revolution without Prince demonstrated how integral — and good — these particular players were in his pre-New Power Generation days. Each brought different elements to the melting pot of Prince’s music. That the expanded Revolution — Bobby Z, Dr. Fink, Wendy & Lisa, Brownmark plus Dez Dickerson and Eric Leeds (and two backup singers) — sounded so good after only a day-and-a-half of rehearsals was impressive.
To be sure, this performance lacked the kinetic energy and unstoppable excitement of a front-person dancing around like a dynamo wielding a guitar. But Wendy Melvoin acquitted herself admirably as a frontwoman, and Greg "G Sharp" Sain, a Twin Cities club singer who specializes in Prince songs, did a fine job stepping front and center on "Uptown."
(As explained in the newspaper report, the Revolution was prepared for Prince to show up -- they had gear for him -- but they weren't certain that he would appear even though his close pal Larry Graham sat by Colby at the mixing console.)
Z organized the sold-out reunion as a benefit to help create awareness about heart health because he had a near-fatal heart attack in February 2011. The American Heart Association was pleased with the response from the more than 1,500 fans.
"This is so different from whatever we’ve done," said Barb Ducharme, the senior director of community health for the association. "This has now made the American Heart Association cool." What added immensely to the evening was after-party DJ Questlove of the Roots. He introduced himself as the world’s No. 2 fanatic of Prince and the Revolution because he’s knows there’s got to be someone out there crazier than he.
Then, for three hours, he displayed his encyclopedic knowledge of the Minneapolis Sound by spinning Prince obscurities, Time and Sheila E favorites and even Stevie Nicks’ "Stand Back" (which featured Prince). And how ‘bout mixing in "Starfish and Coffee" in a dance set and that closing instrumental theme from the "Parade" album featuring trombone and perhaps tuba? Only a guy who would make his own Time T-shirt featuring the first names of all seven original members would be dedicated enough to come up with three compelling hours of Purple music that kept the dance floor full.
By the by, many clubgoers who stuck around for the Questlove set got a chance to mingle with the Revolution members late in the evening.
Here is the set list played by Wendy & the Revolution: Controversy/ Do It All Night/ Party Up/ Let’s Work/ Pop Life/ America/ 2 heart-health videos were shown and Bobby Z and his wife, Vicki Rivkin, gave brief speeches ("I want to thank Prince from the bottom of my repaired heart"); he presented the members of the Revolution with certificates for "Purple Rain" being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame/ "Revolution Theater," with each member reciting a line or two from "Purple Rain"/ 1999/ Life Can Be So Nice/ Mountains/ anotherloverholenyohead/ Baby, I’m a Star/ Let’s Go Crazy ENCORE Purple Rain/ Uptown (G Sharp on lead vocals) | |
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I would have been thrilled to be there last night. I would have been over-the-sun-moon-and stars to have Prince join them on stage. What OldFriends4sale posted above really reads true for me. Having said that, a good time was had by most, if not all, money was raised for a good cause and The Revolution played First Avenue! Holy Cow!! As for it being set up for Prince to join them,(guitar on stage), IMHO, I do think to some degree, Prince didn't want the event to be about him, but the thing that stands out to me has been the comments that there wasn't much rehearsal and during the show cues were missed. Not exactly the way Prince rolls. Maybe he didn't want to bring his rehearse-a-show-within-an-inch-of-it's-life style to the event and decided to just enjoy watching the show. I'm firmly planted in denial | |
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Hey, it's okay that you disagree with both of us on this. | |
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I don't think it was really a disagreement, just a different take on that kind of scene
Think about the Dance Company Benefit show Prince & the Revolution did in 1983. It was a benefit 2 raise money for the Dance Company, it was also the night Prince previewed and recorded 4 the album Let's Go Crazy I Would Die 4 U Baby I'm a Star & Purple Rain along with Computer Blue
It got the job done, people came 4 both. | |
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Lovely pics. If it's a go next year I'm temped to go if I can. What are you outraged about today? CNN has not told you yet? | |
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I think that was ultimately why I decided not to go. I knew Prince would not show. I honestly can't imagine him joining The Revolution on stage again, especially when his name is not on the advertisement. He hasn't been rehearsing with them and they are not as tight as the musicians he's worked with since then. He's too much of a perfectionist to go down that road.
I had to keep it real. The ONLY reason I would travel to MPLS for such a show would be for the nostalgia of seeing Prince and The Revolution reunited. Once I rationalized that this just would not happen in the normal Prince world, I realized that seeing The Revolution alone was not enough of a draw for me.
But I hear that the Purple Politicians had a blast. That's great. It sounds like a fun weekend went down in Funkytown. | |
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Well said. I will forever love and miss you...my sweet Prince. | |
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U 3 have to remember that they only had 1 1/2 days time to rehearse, and they did a really good job on just that alone | |
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very nice pics.
thanks to U.. OF4S for sharing.. Prince 4Ever. | |
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Well that's fine. And it's great that folks want to see The Revolution by themselves to see what they have to offer and enjoy their performance, nothing wrong with that. I'm sure they worked hard and did a wonderful job.
My point is that I'm not going to spend air fare money in addition to a $65 ticket price to see Prince's ex-backing band, especially when I'm used to seeing them playing "tight" as PurpleChi mentioned. But that's just me (and part of what PurpleChi was saying) and it's okay. I will forever love and miss you...my sweet Prince. | |
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This is a great pic. No justice, No peace | |
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^ Great shot! | |
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