If you were to take a Prince tour from every year of his career from 1980-90 and pitch each one against the other which one was best? U can only choose one

My money is on the PARADE tour!

He was on Fire! Everything was just right. It would be the tour I would show to anyone unconvinced of his stage prowess

From the ones Ive been to I'd say Diamonds & Pearls


Its very close between Diamonds & Pearls and The Gold Experience (which I was front row at....that might be why I like it so much)

I'll tell you the worst just out of interest - Act II

That's cool. To be honest i kinda switched off from any shows after the early nineties, i'm an old school Prince fan. No doubt some of those shows were great but i feel that the fire wasn't there as much as in the eighties whe he was at the height of his powers.

Maybe thats more a reflection on me than Princes shows
[Edited 5/8/05 5:40am]

WOOF!

Butcherdog says Parade. Prince was a Baaaaaddddd Man
[Edited 5/8/05 5:42am]

nothing compares to the 83 Triple Threat Tour, Vanity 6, The Time, Prince, anyone who was there knows what Im talking about

StereoSushi said:

I enjoyed the D&P tour more than the 80s shows I went to...although they were both very different feels. The D&P was more of a show where as Parade etc were Concerts

'86 through '88 were sublime. Both bands were incredible, Prince was peaking as a singer, dancer, and musician and all-round stage performer. Each tour was an absolute joy, and although I've seen him many times since, enjoying every concert, no concert has come close to giving me as much pleasure as Parade, SOTT or Lovesexy.

vivid said:

Couldn't agree more!

vivid said:

i agree, but which is the alpha-male of those three tours?

The "Fire It Up" tour in early 1980 with Prince and Rick James trying to outdo each other.

Sign O' The Times for me.

Parade was a great tour, but Lovesexy holds a special place for me because it was the first show I saw live.

TheBigBang said:

Same here!

this is soooo..... ezi !!

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LOVESEXY!

Lovesexy

Sorry y'all, but I gotta say the "Parade" tour was the absolute hottest!!! The band, the extended Revolution, was extra hot and Prince, as a stage performer, was just on top of his game!!! The choreography was well rehearsed but also had some spontaneity to it. Just listen to some the aftershow boots from that tour/time (particularly "Burn It Up"). I'm also in love with the SOTT and Lovesexy tours, but Parade just comes out on top, in my opinion!

Lovesexy comes a very close second but seemed alot more choreographed in ways. It is a very hard call but the Prince of the Parade tour had a certain swagger "I hate rock n roll" onstage that was just amazing, he just seemed so COOL, more masculine too. The intro to the show when he jumps off the piano is SICK!!! The outfits were his sharpest by far and to see Wendy and Lisa was just a bonus! I love the lovesexy tour for different reasons but it was still amazing.

'Lovesexy' Tour

The CONTROVERSY tour is the best!!
There’s no competition at all. The only tour that comes close is the DIRTY MIND tour,
but the CONTROVERSY tour is far superior.

The rawness, the rebel-driven guitar work, the looks, the coolness, the jammin' ...
This is Prince at his best.

Listen to those three outstanding boots:

You Belong To Prince

Observation Records Catalog # OB003
Date/Venue Houston, 9 December 1981
Source Soundboard
Sound-quality EXC-
Concert-rating 10
Track Listing
The Second Coming, Uptown, Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad, I Wanna Be Your Lover, Head, Dirty Mind, Do Me Baby, Controversy, Let's Work, Private Joy, Jack U Off

Moonlight disc 1

Star Catalog # 001/002
Date/Venue ISU Bloomington 27 February 1982
Source Soundboard
Sound-quality EXC-
Concert-rating 10
Track Listing
Second Coming, Uptown, Why U Wanna Treat Me So Bad, I Wanna Be Your Lover, Head, Annie Christian, Dirty Mind, Do Me Baby, Controversy, Let's Work, Jack U Off, Party Up


Dance To The Beat

Moonraker Catalog # 132
Date/Venue 8 March 1982 First Avenue
Source Audience Recording
Sound-quality GOOD
Concert-rating 10
Track Listing
Bambi, All The Critics Love U In New York, When U Were Mine, Sexy Dancer, Still Waiting, Head, Sexuality, Dance 2 The Beat, The Stick, Party Up

Lovesexy without a shaddow of a doubt!! I took a friend who was a "soul boy" to that one and he only went to take the piss I think, but within a month he had bought every Prince album out there. I have to say that since seeing that concert (4 times) I have been to hundreds by Prince and other artists and all have fallen way short of that so I come out feeling a bit let down.

In the 90s the tours became too much of a formula and only One Night Alone was a bit of a return to form.

Parade comes a very close second and the Lyceum gig in 81 was just electric and tragically under attended.

What’s wrong with y’all?
The LoveSexy tour?

All those medley’s and those one-minute versions?
Aren’t his songs strong enough to deserve a long jammin’ version?
I prefer a long extended jammin’ version of one song above a medley of 10 songs!

Those great songs that only got played one minute:
Delirious, Jack U Off, I Wanna Be Your Lover, A Love Bizarre, When You Were Mine, Little Red Corvette, Controversy

Those great songs that are distroyed by the new arrangements or a short version:
The Cross (too fast), Kiss, Let's Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, Purple Rain (isn’t it worth a proper version?)

That BORING piano medley, mostly containing:
Venus de Milo, Starfish And Coffee, Raspberry Beret, Condition Of The Heart, Strange Relationship, When 2 R In Love

This tour makes it clear that Prince is losing it ... the songs in part one are far superior to the songs in part two (the Lovesexy songs)

Please ... listen to the controversy tour: that’s how a concert is supposed to be

Hmmm... I think musically the One Nite Alone tour has been his best tour. The band was up there technically with the Lovesexy band yet the tour itself was more loose and unscripted. The setlist changed nightly! I believe that the success of the Musicology tour would not have been without this tour. I think a lot of his fans were kind of disapointed in the 95-00 tours but this was the tour that people started to remember how great a musician he really is. Suddenly it was kind of cool to be a Prince fan again!

Having seen ALL his European tours from day one (yes also the famous Aftershows) my money is solidly on... Sign O' The Times. No question about it. His dancing, singing, the set, the album, for me it's the highlight of Prince's career. That whole era he was on fire: The Family, Jill Jones, Sheila E., Madhouse and the unforgettable Eric Leeds. There was no stopping the man. I tell you, I have literally felt the whole Utrecht (Netherlands) Stadium shake during Housequake (Jump up on the one, now you're having fun).

Just awesome.

BeauFunk said:

... so ... you really attended the Dirty Mind concert in Amsterdam or Paris ?????
I've also attended all his european tours starting in 1986 with the parade-tour, but I wish I would have seen the Controversy tour!

ThataintFunky said:

Well full versions are best I agree, and medleys can be really unsatisfying as in his 90s tours, but in Lovesexy he was taking a concept on the road (like SOTT) and the flow of the shorter versions kept the tempo going really well. It was the most energetic concert I have ever seen and so well executed that he made live performance an artform! Controversy was more of a traditional rock gig which had the format we would all expect from a raw/hungry singer songwriter but by '88 Prince had built such a body of work and was feeling the confidence of being a "star" that he exploded on us all.

i'm surprised that nobody's given the 1999 tour props.

purpledoveuk said:

you think?

i thought Diamonds & Pearls was okay (i was at the Maine Road show), but that Act II was much better. TGE again was okay - excellent in parts and a bit lame in others (though i was at Wembley, so the sound was terrible).

TheFrogSpawn said:

I my humble opinion it's all very simple:

The tours are getting better 'til the Controversy-tour, which is the highlight of Prince's career ...
From the Controversy-tour on it's getting worse, 'till the Diamonds & Pearls tour, which is the worst tour Prince has ever done (I sold my tickets for the other shows after attending one show). From than on it's getting better again.

But I have to say that every tour 'till the LoveSexy tour is spectacular!
And I've really enjoyed every tour, except the D&P-tour.
But the Dirty Mind / Controversy era ís untouchable.

TheFrogSpawn said:

Really??? - saw Act II at Wembley Stadium and Birmingham - it just seeme dlike a second rate hits show, a crap Nude Tour.

I guess there is a Prince for everyone after all