http://www.startribune.co...95980.html PURPLE TURNS GREEN

Next summer marks the 20th anniversary of Prince's breakthrough film and soundtrack "Purple Rain," and the Purple One is prepared for a big payoff. I.W. has learned that he has contracted with Clear Channel Entertainment to do an extensive concert tour during which he will, for a change, play full versions of his hits. No word if he'll bring the water-squirting 1984 guitar out of mothballs for the tour. (J.B.)

EROTICCITYNPG said:

EROTICCITYNPG said:

yet... weird.

In recent times Prince has made many statments about *not* wanting to play the old hits and about not looking backwards at the past, but forwards. He has appeared to be making great efforts to change his style of music and the image of himself and his band. His mindset of late appears to be lightyears away from that which would be compatible with a big "greatest hits" type tour, *despite* the fact of next year being the 20th anniv. of Purple Rain.

I love the old stuff so personally I'm all for a tour such as the article mentions. It's just a little confusing as to why Prince would be willing to go through a greatest hits tour like that when he recently seems to have been so vocal about NOT wanting to focus on his past. He must realize the PR anniversary is be a potential goldmine that he couldn't resist.

In recent times Prince has made many statments about *not* wanting to play the old hits and about not looking backwards at the past, but forwards. He has appeared to be making great efforts to change his style of music and the image of himself and his band. His mindset of late appears to be lightyears away from that which would be compatible with a big "greatest hits" type tour, *despite* the fact of next year being the 20th anniv. of Purple Rain.

I love the old stuff so personally I'm all for a tour such as the article mentions. It's just a little confusing as to why Prince would be willing to go through a greatest hits tour like that when he recently seems to have been so vocal about NOT wanting to focus on his past. He must realize the PR anniversary is be a potential goldmine that he couldn't resist.[/quote]


yeah but i always thought he said stuff like if youre hear to get your purple rain on...

just as a warning to the crowd he wasnt playing his hits. sort of thing, i dont think he hates the hits, i cannot imagine an artist as musically driven as prince hating old songs or even not liking them. he just wanted people to focus on TRC as that was his statement at the time. now thats done he will do the hits tour. but yeah hes no idiot, he sees the money sure, but then if you werent in the business for the money, he'd give the music away, live in a house and pay the bills by playing gigs locally!

Mmmm - tell me. Doesn't the fact that Prince has just started a mammoth greatest hits world tour tell you that he now clearly doesn't mind playing the "old" hits?
[This message was edited Sun Nov 9 14:50:54 PST 2003 by danmetallic]

Come on now, Purple Rain was a defining moment in Princes career, and therefore a defining moment in the History of Rock'n'Roll. One would xpect Prince 2 celebrate that moment.

...and if he puts on a show like he just did here on Oz, then mark my word he'll be king again.

Maybe he meant this was the last TOUR he was going to play the hits. . .not just the concerts in OZ.

I really hope they're not fucking with my emotions...

Because I can be highly unstable.

Prince is claiming (yet again) that this will be the last tour that he performs his PR material on (just like he said before the Nude tour...and the Act II tour...and, oh nevermind).

I don't really mind him doing a "Hits" tour like he is now, if he alternated by doing a tour like he did for TRC/ONA (album cuts and obscure tunes were the bulk of the setlist). If every other tour focused on fan favorites, then everybody winds up experiencing what they were hoping for. This current "Hits" tour seems interesting, since he's been doing stuff like "Mountains" and "Question of U" amongst the bigger, monster hits. As long as there are a few obscure numbers in there, I'm happy.

softandwet said:

A: Money and Pride. He is not going to sell many tickets playing his recent stuff live and playing to half empty concert halls would hurt his ego. Playing "Greatest Hits" tours over and over again is starting to look slightly pathetic. Before you know it, he'll be playing nightly in Vegas or in Branson.

if u had made one of the most defining,groundbreaking albums of ALL time wouldnt u want to celebrate it?or would u choose 2 please a couple of dozen internet nutters???hmmm tough choice prince!

Funny as hell haha

He's partnering with Clear Channel, the radio conglomerate that owns 11% (and counting) of America's radio stations and is notorious for it's anti-competitive practices against both artists and other radio stations?

Read an article about this shitty corporation:
http://www.salon.com/tech...index.html

There are many other articles at the Salon site as well. If this is true, my respect for Prince hits a new low...
[This message was edited Tue Nov 11 12:04:05 PST 2003 by butter4yourmuffin]

butter4yourmuffin said:

If Prince wants to ca$h in on HIS Purple Rain 20th anniv., then good for him.

While I can see the hipocracy and contradtiction in a deal with CCE, it is somewhat ironic that he is getting retribution (by means of profit) from the same corporate conglomerate system that has screwed him so hard in the past.

Besides, it's not like he is making money from record sales anymore. And he ain't getting any younger! How long do you think he's going to be able to dance like that? Notice he doesn't do the splits so often lately...

"Bob, ain't that a bitch!"

what did he just do in Australia? Greatest Hits... which is what a lot of bands are doing right now who came to the fore in the '80's...
It is a way of Prince regaining a very large audience which for all the dubious association with Clear Channel (yes it does seem strange for someone who's so keen to be independant) makes a kind of sense if he wants to put himself back into a "mainstream"...
This will also satisfy somewhat those who still yearn for the Wendy Lisa etc days which are so long gone...and those who can sing along to the Purple Rain album... which is what one sees expressed on the org a quite a bit; those pop fans of Prince and those who maybe have more diverse interest in the diversity which Prince himself expresses... I loved the ONA shows (saw two in London last year) I loved the musical diversity which straddled different musical aspects of Prince. However he may feel satisfied if he does arena hits shows followed by the club jams. I just hope he can include some of the newer stuff whenever he can...