Prince to roll out the hits
By NUI TE KOHA
18th Sept. 2003

PRINCE will launch a comeback with a world tour starting in Melbourne.

The master of funk, pop and rock, will perform at Rod Laver Arena on October 21.
And in a coup for fans, 45-year-old Prince will perform his greatest hits before retiring those songs forever.

His major hits include 1999, Let's Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, Kiss and Purple Rain.

Prince last toured Australia in 1992, playing sell-out shows at the then National Tennis Centre and a secret gig at The Palace.

He swanned about town with two hired models, Diamond and Pearl, constantly at his side.

"When I'm on stage, the audience has come into my room," he said at the time. "What I want to do is create excitement and provoke people as much as I can."

Many critics have urged Prince to go back to basics and the Melbourne show will attract worldwide attention.

Promoter Paul Dainty and US promotions giant Clear Channel will announce the tour today.

"This has come like a bolt out of the blue for everyone," Dainty said late yesterday.

"Prince is renowned for doing everything suddenly and, in classic style, we will have Prince here very soon. He has committed to doing all the hits, so we are in for a long show of Prince classics."

In a typical Prince twist, he will scrap those songs from his live shows after this tour.

"Prince will perform his hits for the last time," Dainty confirmed.

In his rise to fame, Prince borrowed from Little Richard, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix and influenced a new generation of performers to fuse funk and rock.

His sexual image and risque live shows predated Madonna.

His decision to return to the spotlight as Prince, and perform the hits, is a landmark. He has spent the past decade in the commercial and critical wilderness.

In 1993, he changed his name to a symbol, then The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, to protest about his recording and publishing deal with Warner Bros.

He said the deal, which ended in 2000, amounted to slavery.

Prince tickets will go on sale on September 30th.

http://www.heraldsun.news...02,00.html

"yeah yeah yeah!"

finally prince is bringing hitnrun to OZ
like I said he should do years ago
thats what he is known for
Most australians dont know anything from prince
since TMBGITW...

but i still cant believe its happening !

prince ? making a sound business move ?
I thought he abolished making them years ago ?

Well, must say, that sounds a lot like the Rolling Stones, who every 3-4 years make their "final" tour...

"Last time he will play the hits" - well, how many times has Prince said that, at least about Purple Rain and 1999...

But a world tour would be great, would be good if he comes to Hamburg again... and maybe the tour is to promote a new album... or maybe (cryptic message from NPGMC) a alternative version of greatest hits (acoustic? hehehe)

No Diva, or Joshy comments?

:O

daf1999 said:

Here in Germany we would say: Geil! Geil! Geil!

FloridaNPG said:

And if you believe that...

FloridaNPG said:

Funny how he stopped doing his anti-ClearChannel speaches when they started sponsoring his tours, hm?

FloridaNPG said:

Translation: Prince has got cash flow problems, and thus has decided to reopen the negociations that were happening last year, but back then he decided the Australian offer wasn't good enough. Now he's added the hits and some sense of exclusivity, and voila, there's a deal.

BTW here's a good version of the URL (which turns up bad above because for some reason the prince.org url recogniser still doesn't think a comma can be part of a URL):

http://www.heraldsun.news...02,00.html
[This message was edited Thu Sep 18 5:14:55 PDT 2003 by BartVanHemelen]

"comeback tour"? What´s that supposed to mean? He has been touring constantly recently

SYDNEY & MELBOURNE ORGERS!... i need your HELP!

ok...incase i cant get a credit card 2 join NPGMC by the time tix go on sale:...

if one of my Org buddies (who is also a NPGMC member) from each city could orgnote me...
meaning a fellow Aussie Orger/npgmc member from Sydney & one from Melbourne could orgnote me...let me know if they will b able 2 get an extra ticket for me in those 2 cities.

i think going 2 Brisbane would b a stretch since i would have 2 get all the way back2 Adelaide from BrisVegas after the tour is done.

i will have money 2 travel & a place 2 stay (perhaps orgers could help me out there) ...
but if i dont get this credit card sorted (2 join & buy tix from npgmc.com ...) or some way 2 get npgmc tickets...my dream of being at the soundchecks & aftershows also will b dashed.
anyways if someone could help me out (Anth'...MamaLisa...MrDespues...) it would b killer & 4ever appreciated.

also...my cell fone # is 0438 744 336 on telstra.
if any of u have freetime & wanna give me a buz,that'd b great


,
joshy

the stressin' over P tour edit
[This message was edited Thu Sep 18 3:36:52 PDT 2003 by Joshy]

IS THIS TRUE ???

derek said:

yeah.
un4tun8ly he didnt give us enuf time.

but i will b there by hook or by crook

a tour just to cash in, nothing bad, but..

Neither in the rest of the article, nor at NPGMC is there any proof that this will be a worldtour. So far it's just the south-east. The word world tour is not mentioned at NPGMC...

alexxa15 said:

ppl outside OZ r ungr8ful & selfish.

we havent had a tour here in 11 years.

we dont care.

we're happy

all i can say is wooo hooo

U know I aint fucking missing it this time

"He has spent the past decade in the commercial and critical wilderness."

Hehehe, how very true

BartVanHemelen said:

So Bart,I guess it's safe to say that you're not enthusuastic about this news? LOL

what is the seating capacity at the Australian gig

DavidEye said:

What's there to be enthusiastic about? "Woohoo, Prince is going back to boring greatest hits concerts!"

And don't kid yourself: he ain't gonna play the songs, he's gonna do exactly the same as he's been doing for years and that's play a very uninterested edit of a song followed by a just as uninspired funk/jazz "jam" with lots of boring "look at me! ain't I great? give me your money!" speeching. He's turned into a cliched Vegas lounge act years ago, all he needs to do is add an occasional "shoobedabedoo" and he's there 100%.

Cue the usual boring objections about him and his band being so great by people who forget that in the 1980s Prince also had a kickass band but back then they played incredible shows that are still legendary (as well as in 1994/95, BTW) and didn't forget that it's about the SONGS and not the boring muso crap that so many people mistake for grown-up musicianship. And yet look back at the ONA Tour reports and what do you notice: people who especially loved that he played "Empty Room", a song that IIRC dates back to that incredible mid-1980s period. Funny how all those "ooh I'm so into Prince doing jazz/funk jams" people cite that as a highlight.

Joshy said:

You tell em joshy!!

BartVanHemelen said:

You so wish you were an Australian. Admit it.

Btw, which one is it Bart? It's great he is saying he'll play the hits or crap because he wont. You've got you nuts caught on the fence there Barty boy.

BartVanHemelen said:

- Agree...well, it will be interesting to see Prince playing for a large audience with heavy promotion anyway. I only hope he puts MUSIC in the first place, like he did on the ONA tour.
If this is the last time he plays the hits, I hope he changes the arrangements to fresh ones...

BartVanHemelen said:

So what - let's face it, all pop/funk/soul artists become something like this when they get older - seems like the creative high is in your younger years...

But there is still hope - let's look e.g. at Miles Davis - he had some crappy periods in between (with terrible concerts) - and then, every once in the while, some cool, chilling, ahead-of-the-times stuff.

And - hey, let's start the dissing - look at Elton John - his last album was actually quite good again, after all the filth he put out in the 1990s.

So - let Prince do the Las Vegas stuff, skipp the concert for yourself, and attend again once you think he has the power again.

And - let's face it, Prince will never be in his 20s/30s again. So no need to be getting personally angry at him if he has changed (which I somehow imply in your tone of voice in your comments - don't think he owes you anything, does he?)

BartVanHemelen said:

- Well, I have to disagree here. I had the opportunity to listen to several 80s/90s bootlegs, and saw some videos, and I can say that ONA is the first tour that the music was complete priority
Some of the 80s shows were full of dancing and medleys and some of the beginning of 90s concerts were full of ´attitude´, choreographies (Game Boyz) and showmanship.
Even the mid-90s concerts that I love were full of chants and talking. If you listen to the ONA 3-Cd set (or Budokan concert), you will notice that the songs are played from beginning to end.
I agree that the ´jazzy jams´ can be such a bore to some fans, and I agree that they aren´t innovative as Prince´s 80s music. What I am trying to say is that now he at least is more concerned with his music (doing all guitar work is just an example) than with his image and attitude.

Joshy said:

ahhh, but people outside of Oz know how to write in English and not use stupid f***g words like "ungr8ful" !!!

freakyfeet said:

Cut the negative vibe will ya!

P is coming to Oz and we'll show him a great time!

Simple as that...can't wait.

what the fuck does this mean???'

And in a coup for fans, 45-year-old Prince will perform his greatest hits before retiring those songs forever.




??? ??? ???


fuck!