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The Revolution reunite to make history at First Avenue ReviewThe Revolution reunite to...rst AvenueNo Prince, no problem; band made magic without him
Brownmark and Wendy Melvoin
“That was historical,” declared Questlove, taking the stage to kick off a seemingly neverending DJ set that carried the crowd through the later hours of the night. “That’s not sh*t that happens every day.”
It was an apt summary of the nearly two-hour set by the Revolution, who reunited to perform their first show since 2003 and their first at First Avenue since the mid-’80s. That feeling of history being remade was palpable for even the most casual of Prince fans (of which there were few; most audience members were singing along word for word), as the band that backed the Purple One during the era that launched him into superstardom played note-perfect, emotionally charged renditions of many of his best songs.
The band reportedly only practiced a few times before taking the stage on Sunday night, but you’d never have known it from the quality of their performance; starting with “Controversy,” Wendy Melvoin commanded the crowd from center stage, singing Prince’s melodies and handling many of the rhythm guitar parts while the band laid down a groove behind her. All of the key players were in attendance, including Lisa Coleman and Dr. Fink on keys, Brownmark on bass, Eric Leeds on sax, and Dez Dickerson trading off guitar solos with Melvoin. But the player that got the most attention was the night’s honoree, drummer Bobby Z, who organized the reunion as a way to raise awareness of heart disease and celebrate his recovery from a near-fatal attack last year.
The evening’s intermission was really the only time that the benefit felt like a benefit; the band took a break to screen educational videos from the American Heart Association and Bobby Z and his wife, Vicki, delivered a speeches about their experience with his illness. (Interestingly, Vicki referred to the evening as their “first annual benefit,” leading me to wonder if we’ll hear more from the Revolution next year or if they’ll help book similar reunion-type shows by other acts.) Bobby Z thanked Prince “from the bottom of [his] repaired heart” for giving the reunion his blessing, then brought the group back to the stage and presented them with certificates from the Grammy Hall of Fame and had them recite famous lines from Purple Rain to uproarious laughter and cheers from the crowd. Launching back into the music, the band got the crowd moving again with “1999” and “Life Can Be So Nice,” and then stretched into the 10-minute, Wendy and Lisa-penned “Mountains,” taking the time to showcase their individual skills and revel in an extended jam session with lots of spacey synth work from Dr. Fink. After that, it was all hits: “Baby I’m a Star,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” and, after a blink-and-you-missed-it walk off stage, a first encore of “Purple Rain,” which got the entire room swaying side to side with their arms in the air. If Prince were to have made a cameo that would have been the perfect time to do it, but the band carried on so proficiently and poignantly in his absence that it almost would have ruined the buzz they had built thus far.
The band returned for one more encore, starting with the classic “Uptown” with guest vocalist Greg Sain singing lead, and then stretching out into another extended jam over the chord changes of “Sexy Dancer,” seemingly stalling to keep the performance going as long as they could. The show ended on a strange note, as a woman in the center of the floor fainted and had to be helped off by a swarm of security staff while the players on stage watched and worried, but Melvoin kept the beat going throughout the incident and whipped the band up into one last climax at the night’s end. All told, it was an uplifting and celebratory night, and an impressive showing from the pioneers of the storied Minneapolis Sound.
Set list: Controversy Encore #1 Encore #2
FOR MORE PHOTOS: See our full slideshow by Ben Clark here. Peace ... & Stay Funky ...
~* The only love there is, is the love "we" make *~ www.facebook.com/purplefunklover | |
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wendy and lisa "penned" mountains???
somebody school this fool | |
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What's to school? He's not entirely inaccurate.
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Wendy & Lisa were actually co-writers on Mountains with Prince, they composed the music & brought it to Prince & he finished it adding the lyrics.
[Edited 2/20/12 13:16pm] | |
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The track “Mountains” was originally an untitled song recorded by Wendy and Lisa at Advision studios in London while Prince was in France filming UTCM. “Wendy and Lisa wrote and recorded a few pieces of music and one of the stand out tracks from that was Mountains”, according to their engineer Susan Rogers. “When we came back to France, Wendy played Prince the cassette and Prince was very, very excited about it. He changed the lyrics and added a horn arrangement.” The track was eventually recorded on Saturday, November 30, 1985 at the Washington Avenue Warehouse in Minneapolis. While most of the band had been in the studio together on previous gatherings, it was actually Matt Bliss’ 1st session with Prince and the Revolution.
“One track that I will never forget is of course "Mountains", because that was my audition,” Matt recalls. “And that was my first introduction to not only working with Prince, but being creative with him in a recording situation. When we had first written the parts to the middle part in there that was my first day up there and sitting down, meet all the rest of the band and take a break, myself and Eric and Wendy and Lisa and Prince sat down together and developed these songs, I mean developed the horn part in "Mountains", that was something that sort of sticks out in my mind as another milestone.”
Additional work was done on the track in Minneapolis and it was shelved until Friday, March 28, 1986, when it was edited for the 7-inch and 12-inch mixes for release (the 2nd released from PARADE). “Mountains, a song on the Parade album that I always loved which was Wendy and Lisa's song, the horn parts on the album version are pretty sparse,’ remembered Eric Leeds. “There's a couple of lines, but we did a 12-inch version of that which is my favorite 12-inch that Prince ever did. I think it's a great, great performance, just the whole idea of the 12-inch. There's nothing particularly heavy about the horns on that, but I just really like some very simple stuff. I just remember the whole thing, and just being a part of that was just really nice. I guess the horn parts in themselves don't really stand out as being anything special, but it was just cool.“
Additional horns were overdubbed for the song on April 1, and more mixing and editing followed on April 6, 22, and 27th.
It was eventually released on May 7 1986 (single release) and the 12 inch was released on May 21.
This information is from an early version of “Prince: The Studio Sessions”.
The expanded version of my book PRINCE and The Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions 1983-1984 was released in November 2018. (www.amazon.com/gp/product/1538114623/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0) or www.facebook.com/groups/1...104195943/ | |
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um. I think maybe you did in this case. | |
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These guys have a heart of gold. Just a class act ---------------------------------
Funny and charming as usual | |
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will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. | |
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Thanx. Nice to know that there is an audience for a book like that. The expanded version of my book PRINCE and The Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions 1983-1984 was released in November 2018. (www.amazon.com/gp/product/1538114623/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0) or www.facebook.com/groups/1...104195943/ | |
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Show of hands, now WHICH fool got schooled?? Prince may be the purple Yoda, but Wendy & Lisa and Eric Leeds also sit on the Jedi Council. | |
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I went to the show and it was my first time to MPLS..... and I LOVED IT!!!
MPLS is a very cool city. Great architecture, clean, modern yet with an old school vibe. And I like cold weather
I must give a huge shout out to my new friends: Ivy who so generously invited me to the brunch, the pre party at 7 etc., Melvin from ATL, Serah and Trina who live there and looked amazing in their 80's digs, the "New York" continengent (Claire, Gene, and oh sh*t I'm blanking on the other 2 names right now...sorry, but I know one of you was really from DC !), Harold, John, Kevin and his wife from Iowa, and I finally got to meet my birthday twin Chris!
The concert was great. The Revolution sounded really really good. The vocals, the instruments, everything. First Avenue was PACKED! Even with VIP there was no good place to watch..... I was at the top of the stairs but then security kept making everyone get off the stairs so I wound up behind the railing of the stairs at the bottom but people kept going on the stairs and blocking everyone just to be shooed away by security.
I couldn't see the whole set up from that vantage point but I had seen Dr. Fink's keyboard setup and saw he had an Oberheim (as did Lisa). At one point I thought they had some backing track of Prince's voice cuz I heard what sounded like him on Pop Life and Baby I'm A Star but it must've been G Sharp/Greg who I guess was singing backup the whole time.
Got to meet Eric bacstage in the VIP lounge; he was really nice and down to earth. He signed my Parade album. I didn't try to meet the others since it was jam packed by the photo opp area.
It was an amazing time on many levels!
Here are some pics (no I was NOT the person wearing the mesh shirt on Friday night! )
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I'm on the right!
[img:$uid]http://farm8.st.../img:$uid] [Edited 2/21/12 21:03pm] | |
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Thanks for your post and pics. An epic night! To me, The Revolution put every other backing band to shame. I don't care about technical expertise, ect-these guys gave us a show filled with the Prince sound that has been lacking from even his hottest shows since Revolution. I knew the band was serious as soon as they laid into Controversy. Tight and Funky!! The sound at First Avenue was top rate. Why can't other venues get it right?
The New York Crew helped take the experience to another level. Our vibe was contagious to the casual fans around us. Every new song was greeted by an explosion from us, and we all gathered to sing the choruses. I will NOT be going to another Prince show without these people. As Joy told me before-I thought I was the only one before I met them.
?uestlove, ?uestlove, ?usestlove!!!!! The techs had the DJ set up a mere 15 mins after the last song ended, providing a seamless transition to the afterparty set. And an epic set it was. There are a handful of DJ's on this earth that will have you dancing for "just one more song" when you know you need a bathroom or drink break, and ?uestlove was in that zone in Minneapolis. Thank you, brother, for playing every single Prince song that I've ever blasted in my apartment. Early in his set he played Last Heart and I knew-this dude is a fellow friggin nerd.
Hope this turns into an annual trip. I am sure that if they leave don't allow the bank of professional cameras and video equipment, Prince will play next time since Run & Them were saying "Here we go" | |
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Our Vibe was mos def that... | |
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The VIP area was INSANE!!! Too bad it wasn't more organized, there were people coming at them in every direction. Security were shitty. They were like "hold up your camera and take a pic and move on." I was determined to get my Purple Rain tour book signed by them.
I had the mesh shirt on Friday. TRUE BLUE | |
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I described my impression of the weekend's vibe with the O6 homies --and said wassup to Gary, lol--in another thread, but MPLS deserves another mention.
I think the consensus from the "New York" crew (call me the +1 from DC, lol) is that the Minny-Apple deserves another trip. Great food and waitresses wherever we stopped, clean, fresh air,... Just based on the vibe around town, I'm sure the art scene is bangin' and it kills me to think we did allll that walking (still there Claire? ) in the OPPOSITE direction of Calhoun Square and the lakes. As epic as the trip was, we barely scratched the surface of the city; there's got to be a part deux..
This brutha here is horrible with names so I'm learning all over again, but sweet ladies Ivy and Carrie, the peeps at the brunch, Grumpy's, the "Around the World in a Day" house, and of course Harold...the Ladies and fellas who danced and danced... (the New Position line ) and... even let me get away with messing up my Time steps lol.
Witnessing Wendy & Lisa lead 'Life Can Be So Nice' & 'Mountains' ALONE made the trip worthwhile. For real, I was done. It was all a blur after that, lol.. But ?uesto's set damn near deserves it's own volume; epic in its own right. (Somebody say soundcloud??)
Wish all of you heaven. Thanks for making history.
PS-Who lends a relative stranger $20 for a cab outside the club?? lol
Gene
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...Ur standing in the epicenter, Let the shaking begin... | |
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HaHA! PFPilot, your face said 'Nirvana' every time I looked in your direction. Some folks were just having fun watching us go crazy, its true. Just glad you made it in bro!.. ********************************************
...Ur standing in the epicenter, Let the shaking begin... | |
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you did notice jonylawson hasn't been back since schooling commenced | |
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man i can't count the people who was just shaking my hand because they enjoyed watching us party. | |
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Nirvana, indeed...Banks don't be modest. People shook your hand because of your Bird dance. You motivated ?uestlove to REWIND just so he could see you do that ish again. Next time, I'm bringing a comb and a mirror for you since Run & Them were saying "Here we go" | |
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Damn!!! I totally forgot about that | |
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Wished I could of been there
I hope it becomes an annual event coz I'll for sure attend that. Ohh purple joy oh purple bliss oh purple rapture! REAL MUSIC by REAL MUSICIANS - Prince "I kind of wish there was a reason for Prince to make the site crash more" ~~ Ben |
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I have a feeling Prince won't never consider doing it, until he has a full ownership of the Purple Rain masters. Then he will reap all the financial benefits from it and do a full on promotional campaign of it. With a remastered deluxe reissue.. Prince only does things now when he can benefit from it financially. He knows his appearances r financial windfalls now. Like Barbera Striesand. He is trying to make his brand more exclusive. Walking in on a reunion is not his style....Don't hate [Edited 2/23/12 10:32am] will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. | |
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I have to agree here, except not quite as exclusive as Streisand because he loves to play. My perspective- and I know I wasn't alone- was that it's not something Prince would do, BUT if he ever were to deviate from the norm, it'd be for a special night in honor of Bobby Z's recovery from heart attack; percentage carried out 5-6 decimal places, lol. Even then, it would have been minimal participation. Now, unless there's some kind of Oscar hall of fame award for PR soundtrack... it's all zeroes.
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...Ur standing in the epicenter, Let the shaking begin... | |
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My comparison to her is she commands a lot of money 4 her appearances.I've noticed Prince up until a few years ago. Has took notes from that & doesn't make appearances 4 cheap anymore. He commands millions.He knows his worth. So that is why knew he would not step on stage with The Revolution without it benefiting his bank account & legacy... [Edited 2/23/12 10:33am] will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. | |
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Cheap reunion?
Lady, you are so sad. | |
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Peace ... & Stay Funky ...
~* The only love there is, is the love "we" make *~ www.facebook.com/purplefunklover | |
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Very good interview! will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. | |
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What/where is the Around the World in a Day house? | |
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He really means a room. Ivy and CarrieMpls invited some of us over to their friends house who has a room painted like the cover of the Around The World In A Day album cover | |
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