I'm reading the forum and some of you all thik The Lovesexy tour was Prince's greatest.

I don't know. I haven't really seen any of Prince's 80s tours.

fluid said:

Go Ebay and get Prince And The Revolution Live video (Its the Purple Rain tour in New York March 1985) and Sign O' The Times DVD (1987)

fluid said:

GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH... EVER!

I feel bad for all who missed it in '88, and someone should've issued it to you at birth if you weren't around back then.

the lovesexy tour was what got me hooked. it was phat !
i attented in copenhagen, denmark. i ve seen prince 4 times since, so it makes 5 in all. last time was the one nite alone also in denmark.

when do you come back, darling prince ??

Lovesexy was my all-time favorite concert! It was my first concert at 17 yrs old...and nothing has compared since! I've seen him 5x total, and Lovesexy was by far the best.

I've been a fan for 20 years and I have YET to see this concert...

Damn it!

Any LA fans with a copy of the BBC show?

How did the set look on the Lovesexy tour/

fluid said:

Anybody got pictures?

It was the best tour he did. Definitely the best show I've ever seen him do in an arena; though, my favorites have been in small clubs.

The stage was in the middle of the arena, surrounded by a chain link fence. There were pillars that came out of the stage -- a swingset -- a basetball hoop -- a car (different for the US than the UK, I believe) -- lots of lights -- and speakers everywhere (great sound!) -- and the setlist was a bunch of songs that ran right into the next -- high-energy adrenaline-pumping arrangements. There was a cool intermission where Prince talked with the audience about God and the Lovesexy experience. The 2nd half of the show was much more personal with many of his more spiritual and postive-vibe type songs. Oh yeah, and Sheila was there too!

I was 17 and went with my girlfriend. What an awesome experience to never be forgotten!
[Edited 12/9/04 17:11pm]

Haveing been to all the 84-04 concerts.....

Squirrel says.....

BEST STAGE SHOW - LOVESEXY

BEST MUSICIANSHIP - ONE NITE ALONE

GREATEST PRINCE LIVE SHOW/CONCERT/EXPERIENCE OVERALL - GOLD TOUR

I was born in '88. Thanks Mom and Dad.

*Sighs* I've been searching for a tape or video of this tour for the longest.Yet, I have no luck!

Snap said:

Hi, welcome to the org. Let me introduce you to the "GALLERY."

Just watching the tour on tv helped cement my obssession with Prince. I was already into him to a certain level, then I watched the concert and didn't even know half the songs! Realised I had a long way to go. It was fantastic musically, but also it was so innovative and theatrical, you felt like you were watching a stage play almost.

It was Prince's most theatrical tour. The show was divided into 2 halves.
The first half had a loose storyline with Prince playing the part of 'Camille'
chasing after 2 women (Cat & Sheila E). He performed a lot of his more
sexually explicit material and put a lot of the songs into medleys. Everyone
wore black & white costumes for the First half. The second half featured a
'reborn' Prince, and featured his more spiritually orientated material. The
band wore brightly colored outfits for the second half. The second half also
usually featured a solo spot with Prince playing a medley of songs on the piano.

A typical Lovesexy show setlist...

Act I:

Erotic City
Housequake
Slow Love
Adore
Delirious / Jack U Off / Twelve / Sister
Adore (part II)
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Head / A Love Bizarre
Blues In C (If I Had A Harem)
When You Were Mine
Little Red Corvette
Controversy / Dirty Mind / Superfunkycalifragisexy
Bob George
Anna Stesia

Act II:
Eye No
Lovesexy
Glam Slam
The Cross
I Wish U Heaven / God Is Alive
Kiss
Dance On (Instrumental / Drum Solo)
Piano Medley: When 2 R in Love / Venus De Milo / Condition
Of The Heart / Raspberry Beret / Strange Relationship
Three (interlude)
Let's Go Crazy
When Doves Cry
Purple Rain
1999

encore:
Alphabet St.

As said earlier on this thread, Lovesexy was the highpoint of Prince's live career. While the musicianship of One Nite Alone was better, Lovesexy wins for the overall experience...amazing set design, theatrical elements, theme of the show, great music.

The stage was set up to resemble an urban park with the iron fence, basketball court, swing set, and gateways. The show began with Prince "driving" around the stage in the '67 T-bird. During the first half of the show, money and paper fell from the ceiling to create a trash effect. After the intermission, the trashed park transformed into a garden during "Cross the Line" as flowers grew, archways rose out of the stage, etc. Throughout the stage, different parts of the stage would rise and fall. During "Superfunkycalifragisexi" a bed rose up in the middle of the stage. During "Anna Stesia" Prince's keyboards were on a riser that lifted him up 100 ft as he "approached God." The show would end with Prince, Cat, and Sheila riding on top of the T-bird back around the stage.

The music in the first half was re-arranged into one long medley with literally 10 second snippets of some songs to full versions of others. In addition, most of the arrangements melded into a similar rhythm pattern. Most of the songs had pop and r&b arrangements with jazz flourishes while "Sister" became almost speed metal. As previously stated, the first half included songs with more sexual themes as Prince often stated during the monologue/sermon during "Anna Stesia", "the first half I did b/c that is what you expected me to be." Segues between songs had play-like lines recited by different band members to move along the storyline. At the conclusion of "Bob George" Prince (Camille) is shot by the cops before reciting the line "If I live in sin, then I will die in sin" before reciting the Lord's Prayer. The second half of the show featured the spiritually-based songs mostly in full versions.

Truly an amazing show.

The most amazing concert - I agree 100%. Prince just ruled the world at that time. 1000% confidence, no limits, and a funky spirituality...

15 meters away from the stage at St. Pauli stadium in Hamburg (25.000 attendance, I'd say), with a perfect view, as before me was a security line. He just rocked the place (and had to lower the volume at the next day's concert, as the bass could be felt up to 10 km away).

And than the magical atmosphere at the Dortmund concert, which was broadcast here on TV in Germany...

I was 17 then - probably the time when you are most obsessed about music. And boy, was I glad I did not miss that show (I had seen the Parade show before, but that was not comparable, and later the Hit'n Run tour, and the "Symbol" tour - but the Lovesexy one was the best)

Love is god, god is love, girls and boys love god above - YES

I'm so glad I was there.... I was in rotterdam and was 12 years old, it was a mind blowing experience! Been a fan ever since..... The Dortmund video I have seen a thousand times I think....

Only too bad that I missed The Trojan Horse afterparty, one of the best bootlegs ever!

the show was mesmerizing..
but the lovesexy experience was very frustrating for US fans since the reception for the album was pretty lukewarm.
But then, only releasing the Livesexy video in Europe was a real blow!

I've read that people are looking for videos, etc...
If you go to Ebay, you can easily find the videos on the European format for a cheap price. Then take them to a place that specializes in video, they can convert it to DVD for you. It was a very simple process and now Ive got the DVD's..

It really is incredible..

In fact, I think the Lovesexy tour heavily influenced Madonna's Blonde Ambition: a theatre-like experience that examines their complete bodies of work, the sacred vs. the profane, etc..
She even stole the bed from Superfunkycalifragisexi...

Speaking of the video, while it is one of my cherished possessions (I actually have a "master copy" that has only been played once--when I made 4 copies of the VHS tape at the video rental store my best friend and fellow Prince fan worked at in college), the video was a *bit* of a disappointment. I don't think the Dortmund performance is as good as either of the shows I attended (in Charlotte, NC 9/24/88 and Greensboro, NC 10/16/88) nor the others I have on cassette (LA and Toronto). My main gripe is the guitar problem during "Anna Stesia" which prevented the solo. Further, I didn't think Prince's monologue/message/sermon was as strong that night as later in the tour.

Still, Lovesexy Live does give you a pretty good representation of what the show was all about.

Saw it in Chicago. Easily the best show I've ever seen! He only played an hour and 40 minutes when I had heard he was playing much longer sets in other places. It was great though. The Musicology tour was great too, but there was alot more "action" on the Lovesexy tour and we ate it up! So glad I didn't miss it!

Cherrymoon, most Lovesexy shows were 2 hours to 2.5 hours. Sorry you got a short set.

I saw this show in Paris and in London. Have to say it was the best shows I ever saw. The whole feeling was unbelievable - and he played for longer in Paris (about 3 hours). Prince plays for the crowd so if the crowd responds you'll find he play for longer and it will be better performance. The best thing was the variation of the music - there was something for everyone - I mean who would of thought he would open with Erotic City. The stage design meant he involved everyone rather than those typical found in the front 50 rows.

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

I believe the original question was, "How did the set look on the Lovesexy tour?" And I said "pictures" not "a drawing."

Eye no the Lovesexy tour was just Prince on a whole nother level! I've heard and seen rehearsals of the show and it was crazy. Prince was going through the whole Sign O' The Times and the then unreleased Black Album thus the Lovesexy album and tour were highly conceptual. Love and spirituality vs lust and sexuality. Amazing I don't think we will ever witness anything else like it.
[Edited 12/10/04 16:45pm]

adorable2 said:

The best ever for me too. I'd seen him in '96 and every tour since (in the UK) but that night at Wembley in '88 was the best live music experience of my life. SOTT live was cancelled here so can't compare that one though.

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

don't do that. Don't ENCOURAGE people to feel bad because they missed a concert. That's not necessary. Everybody's lives are different. Just because they missed that show and are just now coming into the Prince fan fold, that doesn't mean they have to look back on that time period and feel bad. And FYI, no, I didn't see the Lovesexy show.

At the risk of making the non-attendees feel worse... it was actually the best concert I've seen in terms of content and mood. Do you all recall how hypnotic the whole show was? It was so many years ago, so what I remember most was the feeling. It was a perfect complement to the dreaminess of the album itself. I felt lucky to attend.

While it did suck that it wasn't well received in the US, it just meant that those of us who did see it were the hard core fans who were giving him and each other much love.

BTW, I mentioned in another thread that I have a signed album from that tour. I'm thinking that the only reason he even did that was because of disappointing sales (it was NYC and not filling 75% of Madison Sq Garden would be really bad). Did he do any signings where y'all attended?

Someone just outbid me on the Sign O' the Times DVD!!!

altavista said:

Yeah he did a signing here in London too and there were no problems with ticket sales here and the reception was rapturous in the extreme 'greatest show on earth' was one comment in the music press.