Take This Beat
An Exclusive Interview With Bobby Z. Rivkin (Part 1)
An excerpt from Take This Beat in which Bobby Z. discusses the two concerts Prince played with The Rolling Stones in 1981:

UPTOWN: Can you tell us about the shows you did with Rolling Stones?

Bobby: The Rolling Stones shows told us that the mainstream rock audience was not there yet… I was almost in tears. It was catastrophic. It was Mark Brown’s first show, and the first note, of the first song, of the first show, an orange hit his bass. Knocked him out of tune. Then people just kept throwing stuff like you wouldn’t believe. It’s unbelievable that just a few years later we could play in a stadium that size by ourselves. We went on at two o’clock, the people that came at two o’clock were ready to see The Stones at two o’clock. They had been their since six o’clock, they were peaking on all their drugs. They were ready to see The Stones. The last thing they wanted to see was us. We did "Jack U Off" there. We started out with "Uptown" I think, then we went into "Jack U Off," and people thought we were saying "fuck you" or something. Then stuff came flying like you wouldn’t believe.

UPTOWN: Were you the first band on?

Bobby: Yeah. It was... you can’t imagine. We were literally... At the end of the song, though, when you watch the show, people are throwing stuff at them for admiration. It was really foreign to Prince. To be honest to you, the best story I can tell you, and then we’ll move on is: We we’re flying out there, and Matt Fink and I are sitting next to each other reading magazines. Mark Brown turns around and goes, "Hey Matt, Bobby, who are The Stones? I mean, I know ‘Miss You,’ but who are The Stones?". It was like, "Wow! You’re about to find out." He wasn’t sure, but you got a guy who’s grown up basically on Motown and its understandable. The Stones crossed over a little bit, but Prince was fully aware of who The Stones were.

UPTOWN: How big of a thrill was that for you?

Bobby: Incredible. It would have gone better if we would have done more. We would have done Detroit and a couple of others. We were going to do two at the Silverdome, too. That would have worked see. Detroit would have worked. But, in LA, the Hell’s Angels or whoever’s in the front 20 rows - those people are animals. It was still a survival thing, and we still did it, but it changed everything.

UPTOWN: Were you surprised that Prince decided to try it again after the first?

Bobby: He didn’t want to. He was really, really unhappy about. But I think Jagger called him up, we tried to... we had to do it.

UPTOWN: And it didn’t go any better?

Bobby: No. People read about, and actually brought more stuff to throw. They brought stuff to throw.

UPTOWN: Did you change the set any in response to what happened?

Bobby: We didn’t have time. There was a football game in-between. It was like a Saturday night, then Sunday there was a Rams game. They kind of covered the stage. Monday... We didn’t have time to... He flew back in. Got off the plane. Went to the Coliseum, and by two o’clock we were back up there. Just the same set.

UPTOWN: How long did the set last the first night?

Bobby: About 14 minutes. The second night was maybe 15 minutes.

UPTOWN: How long was it supposed to last?

Bobby: About a half-hour.

UPTOWN: Were they afraid that they might start throwing something...

Bobby: Well, they were throwing bottles of Jack Daniels and stuff. Prince has, definitely, an angel looking over him, because he ducked his head and a bottle crashed against the drum riser. Orange juice splashed everywhere. He just left. He just can’t take that kind of crap.

UPTOWN: Were you in the middle of a song when he went off stage?

Bobby: Yeah. We were in the middle of "Uptown," and we didn’t have an ending. He came back to end it, and then that was it.

UPTOWN: Did you completely leave the whole stadium or...?

Bobby: No. We hung out. The first day Matt and I hung out. We talked to The Stones. They said, "Hang in there."

UPTOWN: Did Prince stay, too?

Bobby: No. He flew to Minneapolis. They were really cool. I mean Wyman and Charlie Watts, and Mick. They tried... they had a rough beginning in their career, too. It’s just showbiz. It eats its young, but Prince wasn’t thrilled about it.

so i guess people discuss this subject,only when it's based on a rumors,not
on official stuff like this,from the mouths of bobby z ,former prince's drummer...

I have always heard rumors about this "incident" but never any details. Thanks for posting this!

Poor Prince.

I've heard this story before and it sucks.

Why pick on Prince? What had he done?

It just shows the level of mentality of some of these nutters.

If they don't get the'r sorry ass way they just throw things. How grown up.

T***s

But Mick got on the phone to Prince and convinced him to play again....He came back to California and did another show. Rolling Stone Fans are Drunks and Druggies anyway....They look like Shit Dried up . They oughta get some Class they are USED UP People man. I Hate going to the concerts all OLD People on DRUGS and Drinking Trying to be Cool look like their Skin Gonna fall off... Ugly to say the lEAST....Prince was too HOT for the STONES CROWD into MOTORCYCLES and DRUGS.....

Judging for all little rumours here and there it seems the only guy that really disliked Prince was Keith Richards, and another rumour said he was impressed on Prince´s perfomance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Could someone say if he really talked to Prince on that night, giving him props?

About the incident...usually opening acts face hard time everywhere, and Prince´s androgyny certainly didn´t help...

That happened the day I was born.

thebanishedone said:

The most important part to remember...

Zelaira said:

That's unfair to the Stones and their fans. I'm a HUGE Stones fan, and I am no drunk or (especially) druggie.

Prince is gonna get old eventually, too, sista.

O.K. Sorry I generalized but I saw so many Fans Smoking POT at the Stones Concerts and I just tell ya the Older Fans are kinda like Worshipping Keith.

I find it puzzling when the inherent racism involved in this incident is left out of the explanation. The audience was yelling racial, homophobic and sexist slurs at Prince and his "revolutionary" mixed race and gender group. For a band (The Rolling Stones) that has made a career out of stealing from black blues and R&B it is ironic and poignant that their audience responded the way they did.

The best rock show I have ever seen was the "TAMI Show" when James Brown blows an idolizing Mick Jagger and the Stones off the stage. Track it down, it's not even funny.

Wasn't the crowd noise on 'Pop Life' from one of these concerts??

Zelaira said:

dammme said:

Double

jdcxc said:

Well said ! There a bunch of no good hypocrits.

The Stones fans that I know certainly are. Most turn their sexiest, homophobic, rascist noses up when you mention Prince.

They just don't get him at all. "A black man singing falsetto jumping around in a thong and stilletos" "Is he gay?" "He's a bit weird isn't he?"

Over-rated white English so-called rock. Think they're very superior to everyone else.

pepper7 said:

Eeeeyyy, I love both the Rolling Stones and Prince. I mean, you can not generalize. However, you re righ poiting to the racism and homophobia of some rock (not just Stone´s) fans. But it is the same with some hip hop artist also, they are deeply homophobic...

So far Ive met 3 people who were at this concert. One I just recently disucssed this with the other day. He stated there was also a massive food fight in the stands with food reigning on people (unruly crowd) and that Bill Graham did come out and chastise the crowd (this has been documented I think in DMSR) for how it behaved during the Prince segment. That rarely gets talked about. Dude said Graham called the audience disgusting behavior and more.

DiamondGirl said:

dez dickerson mentioned about that in his book, too.

Whiskas31 said:

No, that's just an urban legend.

A lot of people are talking bad about The Rolling Stones but it wasn't their fault. They wanted Prince to open for them. The ones at fault were some of their racist and homophobic fans (which every artist, white and black, has). Also, radio was very segregated back in those days. Very few white people listened to black music unless it was something watered down for pop radio, which wasn't very often back then (thank God). They weren't ready for Prince but Prince did get the last laugh a few years later.

vainandy said:

He sure did. A lot of the same fans at that very concert that threw shit at P ended up seeing him on the Purple Rain tour, cheering their hearts out. I'll get into this concert a little deeper later on.

vainandy said:

But what I don't understand is that Prince mainly represents "pop culture".

Those Rolling Stones fans thought he was a cheap target. He's not some big macho black man. I doubt Bob Marley or Jimi Hendrix would have had the same response.

Prince even despite some of his risque songs, dances or costumes represents a more refined musical talent.

pepper7 said:

you'd be surprised. one doesn't have to be big and/or macho in order to avoid being attacked by people who obviously didn't get the proper home training while they were being brought up; the only thing it'd take for dullards like the ones who acted up at the concert to act a fool is for their target to simply be black or out of their norm, plain and simple.

nonetheless, the whole incident surrounding that concert opener was quite a sad affair for the most part.

at that time Prince was nothing of the stature, scope, and intensity of the ROllingStones... I don't think he was refined at all back then...

pepper7 said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

But aren't the Rolling Stones fans the same fans that dug all the 60's free love shit ?? And that was Jimi Hendrix right ?

pepper7 said:

i dunno how much of the fanbase who'd been following the stones since the 60s at that point still believed in the whole "free love" schtick in 1981, but i'm thinking that by that point the whole hippie aspect was dead as it is. at that point in time big rock shows were in (y'know, pyrotechnics and lasers and 30-minute guitar/drum solos)--absolute testosterone-driven stuff, so i'm willing to bet that the guys who were throwing shit at prince had that mentality set in place. that, and obviously perhaps they had made too many trips to the beer tent as well.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Remember, Altamont--the place where the utopia ended--and the documentary Gimme Shelter.

dammme said:

exactly.