I've never seen a bad Prince show, but I've been to a few that were pretty rote, most of them during 2000/2001.

his hits tours are usually kinda "bleh." though, i say this as someone who has seen the man 29 times so i'm a little jaded at this point, lol! i think its because now when he goes through the hits he performs them more like a duty (generally speaking) as opposed to a genuine desire. or, more precisely, he seems to mimic himself - his old self, that is.

his two best tours, looking on the positive side of things, were one nite alone and lovesexy.

I was living in Atlanta at the time and saw the JOTY tour for my birthday back in January of 1998. It will always have a special place for me since it was my first Prince show. HE was awesome that night.

The HIt N Run tour of 200-01. It made a stop in ATlanta on the Saturday before Easter.


Why was the show a piece of shit? The following reasons

a) he kept admonishing the crowd half jokingly about Sunday being Easter and for whatever reasons, the show seemed like it ended a bit prematurely.

b) Never mind he just played tons of medleys that were constantly seques into Najee` solos. Imagine Computer Blue degenerating into a jazz piece

c) The second worst thing was that it was held at the Atlanta CIvic Center, which has HORRIBLE acoustics.

d) Opening act(s): Millenium, The Fonky Baldheadz

I am looking forward to his next tour. I only wish I had a chance to see him at his peak (the 1980's).

I think the Gold tour was initially hard work - does anyone remember the opening nite in the U.K at Wembley Arena - i think it was nearly 3hrs of songs that you had never heard before, plus a few weak covers thrown in. However, by the time it hit Sheffield ,it had been developed, was alot leaner & was the best show that i had ever seen.

Jam of the year was the worst tour i've seen. By anyone.

wonder505 said:

maybe you have some literacy problems since I just said "I saw a few of them..."

Hit N Run; he sang medleys of songs; what's up with that?? What a waste!!

agreed about the hit'n run tour of 2001. that totally blew. it was like the 'dime budget tour.' everything was so cheap. even the chair he brought out to frolic on with geneva looked second hand. and this was in his hometown, we were 1st row center, PLUS it was the culmination of the TRC Celebration AND Common and Erykah were there. WTF happened? we were so struck by our bordom. Erykah's show at Paisley smoked Prince by FAR. altho, i heard he did some rare nuggets at the 2nd show like "still would stand all time" which is one of my all time faves. grrr.

the 2000/2001 hit and run tour was by far the worst. when you're performing "darling nikki" with a damp towel on your head, you have nowhere to go but up.

Hit & Run

Omadon said:

It wasn't his best, but still far from the worst tour by anyone. I saw Metallica and hated it, possibly because I was up too far and the sound was distorted so everything sounded the same. I dunno, my girlfriend likes them more than me, but 4 guys standing in the same spot for 2 hours bored me.

I guess y'all aren't feeling brave this morning but it has to be said. So it's up to me...


All shows that included Larry! As good as Larry is and yes he is good at what he's done musically... but watching him on stage with Prince to me is the equilvalent of watching dogs poop! Simply nasty and not in a good way.

Maybe I kept an open mind, or I have very little to compare it too, but I saw Prince in '98 with Larry and Doug E. Fresh and I loved it. Maybe it's because it was my very first Prince concert.

P.S. Whether I have anything to compare it to or not, Musicology was incredible.

SexyBeautifulOne said:

i don't mind larry one way or the other. it was that dancing windmill woman who was a talisman of doom for prince. what was her name? placenta?

Jam of the Year.
I was more impressed by his fans than his performance. People were really getting into his crap performance.

But the afterparty at the Millenium club here in Tampa was great.

Anx said:

I loved Jam of the Year, but later when he toured with Chaka & Larry, I saw him at a place with an 11:30 curfew and so he could only play for an hour or so after them. That was the worst!

2freaky4church1 said:

fuck off, they were fantastic.

GoldiesParade said:

i dunno about the D&P tour, but at least what i've seen of it was tight and polished, unlike the hit'n'run footage i've seen (though i'm sure i just saw an "off" night).

...and all the gold experience tour stuff i've heard is pretty amazing.

Anx said:

Same thing on the Diamonds & Pearls tour. The NPG seemed tight enough, and had some pretty decent choreography with Prince most of the time, so I think it manages to stay afloat.

Act II, on the otherhand, I have to only listen to audio. I couldn't stand his hair during that period.



And the Gold Experience stuff is vibrant. Self-indulgent to the fullest.

*****

[SNIP! Get your whole lotta nothing here. Bye bye - BananaCologne]

*****

....wait for the snip.

i wish we had a dancing scissors emoticon to go with the dancing lock.

MendesCity said:

I was at that show. Lenny Kravitz jammed onstage with Prince which was cool. Like you, I didn't know a lot of the songs, but still enjoyed the concert.

2freaky4church1 said:

the bass solo had my jaw on the floor But comparing that to the concerts I saw through the club, it was watching a Prince imposter

I've been to

Lovesexy
Act 1
Jam of the Year
Musicology

Of these, my least favorite was Jam of the Year. Just not that exciting..and I wasn't too keen on Emancipation of PP.

Regarding Gold TOur...I have a boot of it and it sounds VERY COOL. From the "prince is dead...to the cussing and all. He was very angry and had a lot of mad guitar energy. That said, I would have been bored at the time if I had gone. He played a lot of Exodos and NPG material...very little of his own...and Just about NO HITS. He jammed a lot on covers I know nothing of...or knew at the time. I am sure they were all tiny venues...standing room only...and late as late can be. But it sounds like he ROCKED OUT. Songs like Get WIld and 18 and Over and Days of WIld were simply on fire. But as I said my fan level was not such where I would have enjoyed these shows.

JAA said:

You MUST have seen many shows then...to balance all the crap you endured. One wonders why you keep going if it's all garbage. It's pretty expensive garbage if you ask me.

MendesCity said:

If you can find June VII, it captures them jam moments pretty well.

sosgemini said:

WHat's funny, is I keep hearing Nude tour this and that was this the D&P tour? I have heard a tour from around that time (Spanish Harem) and it sounds fantastic starting off with The Future...

sallysassalot said:

You're right WHen he plays the hits there isn't a lot of feeling put into them. SOmetimes like Controversy he rips the roof off. But normally song like Kiss and When DOves Cry are just byt he numbers.