Hi,
Awhile back I posted a note looking for accounts, reviews, personal reminiscences, etc. of concerts on October 9 and 11, 1981, where Prince opened for the Rolling Stones. I am curious about the negative reception he received in those two shows. I am still looking for people who were there or heard about it at the time. If anyone on this board was actually there or knows of written accounts (reviews, from fans, whatever) of the shows and can point me in that direction, I would very much appreciate hearing from you. You can reply here or email me at briancomfort@gmail.com. I am a grad student in American studies and I am writing a paper on this incident and how it may reflect or challenge the attitudes of fans about gender, sexuality and race in popular music in the early 1980s.
Thanks,
Brian

I'm pretty sure his negative reception didn't have as much to do with gender,sexuality, race as much as it had to do with him absolutely TEARING the roof off and making the Stones look weak by comparison. The Stones were pissed and so were the fans.

Keith Richards & Mick Jagger(1983): On Prince getting booed opening for the Stones in L.A.

Keith: Prince has to find out what it means to be a prince. That's the trouble with conferring a title on yourself before you've proved it. That was his attitude when he opened for us on the tour, and it was insulting to our audience. You don't try to knock off the headline like that when you're playing a Stones crowed. You'd be much better off just being yourself and protecting that. He's a prince who thinks he's a king already. Good luck to him.

Mick: I talked to Prince on the phone once after he got two cans thrown at him in L.A. He said he didn't want to do any more shows. (Laughs) God, I got THOUSANDS of bottles and cans thrown at me! EVERY kind of debris. I told him, if you get to be a really big headliner, you have to be prepared for people to throw bottles at you in the night. (Laughs) PREPARED TO DIE!
[Edited 11/21/06 12:19pm]

Didn't he get boo'd off stage early on though?
Like before, anyone even got to see what he was capable of?


Those times and those crowds weren't the most diverse in the world back then.

AsianBomb777 said:

Well based on their comments, he got a chance to do SOMETHING they didn't approve of...and you gotta remember, Mick asked him to open after seeing that show in NYC in '81. So you gotta know he knew exactly what he was getting.

FruitToAttractBears said:

Yeah, that was what I heard too. That Mick actually encoraged him to do a second show.

But on the second show the crowd actually came prepared with chicken and stuff to throw at him.

I was just under the impression they already thought he sucked and that is why he was boo'ed. Nobody ever gets boo'd for being better than the headlinig act.

That was one of the reasons Metallica rose to poularity--they actually performed better than the bands they openned for. I guess it just strikes me as highly unlikely that a crowd would meet a band that kicks ass with hostility.

I dunno, I'm just telling the way I've heard it told over the years. And I don't think it's so unlikely, considering Prince was who he was, doing what he was doing back then, even if he was kicking ass, I can imagine a Stones crowd having the "Who the hell does this motherfucker think he is?" attitude and being hostile. And the impression I get from the quotes I posted above seems consistent with that situation...

But, I wasn't there. S'just what I've heard.
[Edited 11/21/06 12:46pm]

briancomfort said:

In terms of first-hand accounts, the most obvious is that provided by Dez Dickerson in his book, 'My Time With Prince'.

http://www.dezdickerson.com/

For the first show, Dez reports that the opening number was a success, but during the numbers that followed, some parts of the crowd began to express their restlessness by throwing things. After Prince had prematurely quit the stage, the rest of the band had to follow suit.

It was then that the booing started. When compere, Bill Graham, took to the stage and began berating some elements of the crowd for their behaviour, the booing increased - but directed at Graham. However, a radio show reported that Prince had been booed off stage.

As a result of this, apparently the story grew and Dez believes this resulted in the Sunday show opening to boos before Prince even took the stage. Then the pre-prepared missiles flew.

Dez also provides much detail about the intervening negotiations for Prince's return to perform the second show.

.

I know one thing, Prince is a lot prettier than them stones. I went to see them in concert once, and it was the highest at the time that I had ever paid for concert tickets.I don't care what anyone looks like, but them guys looked like somebody dug them up out of the ground and put them on stage. (I actually thought for the cost of the tickets, they could have made a little effort) The opening band was a street band that I never heard of and they were so bad that I had my fingers in my ears and I looked around and other people were doing the same. So, maybe Prince was just too good!

briancomfort said:

HI Brian,
I was at I'm not sure if it was the first or second concert in 81. It was J. giles , george thorogood , Prince , and the stones. Prince was actually rocking the stage, But the audiance was not too receptical to him in his trence coat and black G string. He Played 3 songs, the last song was an audience participation song it was " Jack You Off" That is when the Jack Daniales bottles and chicken was being thrown. Later that evening Bill Grahmm got up on stage and shamed the audience by saying that the Rolling Stones asked them to play at that concert.And that they should have had some courtesy towards them. I was 3 rows back from the stage, and didn't understand why the audience acted that way. he was rocking the place just like the other bands were doing. But I'm pretty sure most of the people at the concert never heard of Prince. I think they were offended by what he was waring the most that got them all rilled up. because the first song went well until he showed the G string. they were not ready for that. Well If you want to know more. I can remember most of it.
leeslave
[Edited 11/22/06 13:29pm]
[Edited 11/22/06 13:31pm]

leeslave2 said:

And then out comes Mick Jagger and his hyper masculine self.

iconsweat said:

Well we all knew that Mick was Bisexual by then. But people bought tickets to see him and his hip swaying self. They weren't expecting a Black male to show what he showed. Hell I was surprised at what he was wearing. But I did like what he was playing. and he did rock. I think if you were there you would have understood what was going on. Not too many people at that concert had ever heard of Prince, and was a little shocked. But they shouldn't have booed him off the stage. Some of the people around me felt the same way. They were yelling give him a chance.. If you were there you would have known that. However that was a time of closed minded people. Who came to see one band The Rolling Stones. If I would have had the choice to see Prince or The Stones I'd pick Prince on any given day. The man is legendary, no if's and's or but's about it.

I see that alot of people have been bashing the stones as it relates to prince and the audience reaction to him. But lets not forget that it wasn't the stones fault how their audience reacted to prince, that was completely on the audience themselves. Also lets not forget that the stones were very taboo and very sexual before prince was even making music and I bet that he was influenced by them in some way or another, everyone who was into rock music during those times were. I myself do like the stones music but I do of course agree that prince is more talented than the stones and can even rock harder than them(well at least harder than the ron wood version of the stones) and that they have indeed over the past 15 maybe 20 years become a pretty mediocre band both in the studio and on stage. But lets at least give them some credit for what they have accomplished during their whole carrear and what they have given to the world of rock and roll music is every bit as great as what prince himself has given to it.

FruitToAttractBears said:

I see Keith didn't even realize that 'Prince' is the man's real name.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

Did anyone back then?

FruitToAttractBears said:

Ifsixwuz9 said:

I just think that Keith is a pretty envious guy in general and cannot handle anyone upstaging him or the stones. He was the exact same way when Mick Taylor was in the band and could not deal with how great a guitar player Taylor was so he basically had him booted out of the stones and replaced with Ron Wood who is a mediocre guitar player and so there was no danger of him overshadowing Keith with his playing.

Thanks all. This is really helpful information so far.

This topic was brought up before sometime ago. My girlfriend at the time, well her dad and her stepmother went to the show. By the time I found out P was even on the bill, the tickets had long since been sold out. Anyway, her dad had went to the first show. The next day, I went over there and since he knew I was into P, he told me about what had happened. He said that he liked how P sounded and so did the rest of the audience. Up untill P started singing "Jack U Off". That's when when shit started flying. But it was just a few folks. Anyway, P was on his last song when this happened, so it wasn't like they kept him from finishing perse. But by the time news got out, it was turned into that P got booed off stage. KLOS radio station out here in L.A actually played on the air when P was getting some boos. But mostly, it was a lot of cheering. U actually couldn't tell what was happening. But the band had definately stopped playing. The dj's were actually telling people to show up the next day and were making jokes and comments on what u should bring to throw! Again, from the second show, they played the section where P was introduced and u couldn't really even hear the band, the boos were that strong. They didn't make it through the first song before they left.

arent there tapes of the radio broadcast?
would be cool to hear what the djs were saying