I couldn't thoroughly enjoy the performance because I had to watch it on a a portable hand-held tv.

PurpleCharm said:

Prince needs a manager...

You know that scene in Purple Rain where the manager of First Avenue tells Prince that no ones but himself is feeling or understands his music - well, those words couldn't better describe what happened this morning.

The people in the audience came to see him based on the strength of his past catalogue and Prince brought out some new tunes that sounded totally uninspired. So many came to see him and you could see how much they weren't feeling Get On The Boat and Red Headed Stepchild. Prince had to go back and do a tune that he knew would move the crowd and played a short version of Let's Go Crazy and as imagined, that crowd got into it.

I'm not saying prince hasn't written catchy pop tunes since Let's Go Crazy - Love, Fury, The Word, Incense and Candles are prime examples from the new record - his live performances are erratic and do no real work for him. My girl, who isn't a fan, was unimpressed by Prince and Tamar. She didn't like the songs and as a result, has no interest in either of their records. She's the general audience that Prince was trying to get at today and he missed huge!!

Very dissappointed in Toronto

So "Get on The Boat" WASN'T Televised...correct?

jayARDAHB said:

I don't think Prince was trying to target an audience for himself AT ALL today, this was to promote TAMAR. Prince being there was just a bonus. Every advertisement for the show said "Prince with TAMAR".

i don't understand why, if prince is so "yay rah tamar 24/7 all the time", why there haven't at least been a couple of promo tracks on NPGMC or tamar's site to get people buzzing about her? the mini-tour was great, but that only really connected with the fammyfams, and the vegas show with the superfammyfams. for the casual mainstream consumer, trucking her onstage is a bit out of context. he needs NPGMC people handing out free TAMAR promo cd singles before the performance, and he shoulda released 'beautiful loved and blessed' with a video and pimped the hell outta that clip.

but of course, this is prince world, so like never mind.

Anx said:

I was JUST talking about this with Dan.

Anx said:

Me either. I was there so I missed the whole thing.

anon said:

i hope you were facing the stage at least.

Anx said:

hard to say

DaisyHall said:

He did Get on The Boat first off and yes it was televised.

In order of performance and all were televised:

1. Get on the Boat
2. Red Headed Stepchild
3. Let's Go Crazy (Crappy Chees-a-roony version)

Anx said:

I'm with you on this!! I absolutely loathe this version of LGC. I hate the "GO GO GO" chant. It's so cheesy. I makes me wanna

Anx said:

Uhmm, there were those 2 live tracks featuring Tamar which were on the npgmc 3121 room for a weekend, Partyman and... something else, I forget. And there were 2 tracks available to hear in full on her mysite site.

metalorange said:

it's WORLD DOMINATION!!!!

how is it i can come to this site every day and go to NPGMC a couple times a week, and i never heard about the 2 tracks on her mysite site? and what the hell is a mysite site? why isn't she on myspace? prince is! fury is one of their featured videos, and (i guess) universal slapped together a profile for him.

as for the 3121 weekend offerings, you're right. some folks with NPGMC memberships got to hear those songs over the space of one weekend, and in their infinite wisdom, NPGMC refused to post those tracks for sale in the musicology shop (even though they were GREAT live clips).

i stand corrected. THIS IS A TOTAL MARKETING COUP. genius!

wait...Myspace has an 'official' Prince profile now?

endorphin74 said:

that's my understanding...the account with the 3121 cover art - someone started a thread about it on NPGMC, and one of the PPs said universal wanted prince to have presence on myspace, because all artists are doing it these days.

he has no personal involvement with the account that i'm aware of - it's just a promotional thingie.

Anx said:

interesting

anon said:

were you in the right park?

Anx said:

funny!

Yes. and I wasn't even in the back.

Not complaining 'cause I got there at 7:30ish. When I reached the entrance, I asked if it was the correct one and the guy there, told me to go in. I learned later that he let me ahead of a line that wrapped around the block (and that's one of the big city blocks). The park filled really quickly after. Most of those around me were on line at 6 or before so I didn't have the heart to work my way up further.

It was a fun time. Only being able to see in slithers, was an experience in itself. When the crowd chanted "We want Prince"...those near me chanted "Move those kids" (there were kids on shoulders with signs). Brutal crowd.

Glad I went. Now I can't wait to see what I went to.

I see several people complaining about the set list. Other than Let's Go Crazy, which I could have done without, he was promoting his new album and Tamar's new album. And for the most part he has played a new song from 3121 on every TV appearance he's made. Which, I would think would be the appropriate thing to do to promote a new album.

NAACP Life Achievment show late last year he did Satisfied

Sat Night Live he did "Fury" (w/Tamar doing BLB)

American Idol he did "Lolita" and "Satisfied"

Good Monring America he did "Get on The Boat" (w/ Tamar doing "Red Headed Stepchild")

Brit Awards he did "Te Amo Corozon" and "Fury"



Maybe on the BET Awards he'll do something else, perhaps "Black Sweat" or "Insense & Candles", "Love" or "3121".

Him going on TV and continually playing his old songs defeats the purpose in my opinion.

unfortunately for the diehard fans, playing old songs makes PERFECT sense for someone like prince. you have to remember, he's playing to a mainstream audience - not folks who frequent the org or NPGMC or housequake - and while prince could pull off a new single back in the day, he can't get away with that now because his new songs don't take off on radio like they used to.

basically, to the mainstream public, prince has transitioned into a nostalgia act. he may have a new album to push, but if the general public gathers to see him, they want "let's go crazy" and "little red corvette".

for me, it would be like seeing elton john doing a GMA concert - i'm not a fan, so if he started off with new material, i'd be like "yawn, wake me when it's over"...but if he did "crocodile rock" or "saturday night's alright for fighting", i'd be into it.

that's how a lot of people watching GMA on their televisions feel about prince. so "let's go crazy" is a necessary evil.
[Edited 6/16/06 10:32am]

Anx said:

I understand what your saying but I disagree.
Using the Elton John reference: if I knew he had a new album out because he had already made several other high profile TV appearances and I stood in a park at the crack of dawn and he played Crock. Rock or Tiny Dancer I'd be like well shit I know what these songs sound like, I thought he had a new album out.


song title edit
[Edited 6/16/06 13:01pm]

Ifsixwuz9 said:

yeah, but you appreciate music...you don't just consume it. i'm assuming this, at least.

Anx said:

And you'd be assuming correctly.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

my mom and some of my friends are a perfect example of what i'm talking about...there have been times where i've totally geeked out over a new prince concert DVD or live audio recording, and when i've wanted to share it, they're like "does he do 1999 on it?" and i'm like, "well, it's mostly new stuff," and they can't be bothered. i think that's how most non-fan music consumers are with prince these days. they'd be more apt to buy something like "ulitmate prince" than "3121". so i think, yeah, while we diehards might be sick of "let's go crazy", it reels in other folks and maybe gets them interested in what he's doing now...or not.

Anx said:

Kind of funny to think there must have been a time when Prince fans were going "Let's Go Crazy? Why's he playing these new songs, we came here to hear 1999 and Controversy, not this new stuff that's not as good. What's all this Purple shit mean?"

If you went to see James Brown or anyone you're not intimately aware of their back catalogue, you'd expect to hear the hits, not an entire performance on new material. I think Prince does right by doing the classics alongside introducing new stuff - although he is perhaps overplaying Let's Go Crazy recently...

metalorange said:

I understand where you're coming form also but, with respect to Prince I don't agree. Using the James Brown reference it makes sense that people would want to hear his classics. He hasn't put out a full fledged new album in years and he does not tour that often. Where Prince is concerned he is still more of a current artist than James. And it's not too hard to find out what he's been doing for the last couple of years.

I think Madonna would be a closer comparison to what I'm, talking about. While I'm not a huge fan of hers if I heard that she was going to do something like GMA or the Today show I would expect the hear her doing material from her latest release not Like a Virgin or Like a Prayer. And if I was only interested in hearing her stuff from 20 years ago I wouldn't assume she'd use this type of forum to do it. Maybe a full on concert, but not a one off promotion event like a morning news show.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

well, madonna's not really a fair comparison either, because she seems to continue to be really invested in pushing her new singles - she still makes quality videos, she releases singles with top-knotch remixes (and the occasional unreleased b-side track), and she makes appearances to promote her singles. prince doesn't really seem so interested in that kind of promotion, at least not with 3121. if he doesn't care about the singles he releases, why should his audiences?

Ifsixwuz9 said:

I agree. But in this case, since it seems he slipped that last song in, it works.
It appears he did it for the crowd and not to plug. That's pretty cool...especially with a turnout like that. It was the right thing to do.

Anx said:

I agree. But her situation in terms of being a performer from the 80's who is still out there putting out new music and touring is closer to Princes' than James Brown. Granted she is more in your face in terms of promotion.

anon said:

I don't mind him playing old material just not the same thing over and over. He's got plenty of old songs that casual fans from the 80's and 90's know. My only point with respect to that was that if I were going to go to a one off event like this (GMC or Today Show type of thing) I wouldn't be expecting to hear Prince play 1999, etc.