I think all of his usual songs should be retired from live performances. Songs like Lets go crazy, purple rain, kiss, rasberry beret,etc should be officially retired. All are classic jams but let's change it up a little. If you are gonna play Kiss, play a remix version. Let's start hearing more b-sides in live performances. I can't remember ever hearing jams in concert such as DMSR, Let's Pretend we're Married, Erotic City, 17 days, She is always in my Hair, Joy in repetition, The One, Beautiful Strange, etc ( I realize that some of these tracks I mentioned are not just B-sides )

I wish he would dust off some of his classic remixes. Prince will always be the King of Remixes and Extended Versions. I would love to hear a concert of tracks that were never released as singles. I've seen numerous shows over the years. It seems like the shows he has done in the last five years, he always plays pretty much the same songs. Remember back in the day when you would go to different cities during a tour, and every show was different?

jaimestarr79 said:

I hear what you're saying but I think it would be a extremely DUMB move for prince to officially retire his hits....I mean, yeah..you and me and a bunch of us here have seen him in concert umpteen times....but that's not his fault. Prince can't cater his set lists to his hardcore fan base....sure he can try to accomodate us but...not cater to us. I swear every show I've been to there is always some lady or dude around me who I hear say "I wish he'd play...LRC, or WDC" or whatever hit he didn't happen to do that night. Besides, some of the songs you listed he has (reportedly) been playing recently such as Joy in Repitition and DMSR. He did she's always in my hair for the Rave DVD, I've heard him do Bambi, and let's work, I mean...I think that's why he says "so many hits so little time" a lot lately.
but hey....that's just my take on it

just think how much his music catolog will be worth someday. The beetles will have nothing on prince's catolog of music. He is the greatest of all time!

Sorry to be selfish, but I aint seen him live yet, so I want to hear everything!!

Get over to Scotland, Prince, and play a 24 hour gig to make up for all those I've missed!!

Shorty said:

Yep! Is it love or is it money? He often flirts with doing the right thing, But it will never come to pass.
I'm sick of his medleys, They're such half hearted cop-outs!

Yeah I know what your talking about. Sometimes I will just be getting into one of my jams and then he will switch to another song. I like enjoy some of his medleys because some are very creative the way some of the songs just flow together. One of my biggest gripes is when he stretches some mediocre song out to a 10-15 minute jam session. One concert he performed a song with larry graham and he stretched it out to a 15 minute song. It always seems that he plays his "usual songs" all the way through but he cuts the jams short in length.

I don't want the hits retired.I'm looking 4ward 2 Let's Go Crazy on Superbowl Sunday now!

alxndrstff said:

I've never seen him either, I would love to hear the hits. B sides also though, I like a mix.

I don't particularly agree, except for when it comes to that damn 'Take Me With U/Raspberry Beret' medley. That thing's got to go (especially Take Me With U, when he has the whole band play that damn 'doodle-oodle, oot-doot-DOO!' riff every four freakin' bars )!

No way! get rid of all them fuckin' medleys.
2 hell with the likes of sexxydancer. The only way 4 prince 2 b (or remain) relevant is 2 b in the here and now. It's better to die tryin' than not 2 try at all.
I don't think prince has got the balls 4 that anymore though. He's through taking chances, and that's a loss 4 music lovers.

For those of you that want to retire certain songs, my suggestion would be not to see him in concert. Of course everyone has their favorites, etc.....but it's silly to think of someone retiring a song.....

URTHE1 said:

You and your kind want to turn him into a wlkin' museum. 2 hell with u!

thedribbler said:

I'll pretend I didn't read this,ok?

alxndrstff said:

Shiiit! A 24 hour gig?

I swear, I hope you get your wish...I love to travel and that'll be a trip worth taking!!

All HITS except Purple Rain (cause he so likes to play it) should be retired.

ESPECIALLY Take Me With U/Raspberry Beret medley.

If he wants to do hits, then how about
these hardly done tracks:

Theives in the Temple long version
Uptown
I Would Die 4 U
The Sex of It (couldve been a hit for him)

jaimestarr79 said:

He played DMSR and The One regularly on the Musicology tour, She Is Always In My Hair on Rave era tours, Beautiful Strange and Joy In Repetition often on the ONA tour... And even Kiss is never played with the same arrangements between tours, isn't that essentially a remix? Doesn't that make your point mute? You personally haven't experienced these in concert, but others have. He has pulled these out to satisfy the hard-core fans, but he can never satisfy all of the people all of the time. His Vegas gig is half comprised of new songs from his 3121 album. He does mix it up as best he can with new stuff while still pulling out a few old faithfulls that the majority of the audience still remember, expect, and enjoy. It's ridiculous to suggest he should play songs only to satisfy a minority of his audience, he tried to give something for everyone, and yet still gets criticised for it.

Yeah, rrright.

Next thing, you'll be wantin' to move them in an "elderly community environment"
with the promise that they'll be beginning a whole "new, rewarding" chapter in their lives.

metalorange said:

True, fans will never be completely satisfied...he plays some hits; people will say "why doesn't he pull out some more obscure stuff", he plays some rarely heard-fan pleasers; the casual concert-goers start asking "where's Purple Rain?". He can't win really.

metalorange said:

Even prince gets board with his eighties hits.
He needs some new hits, failing that, to disappear with dignity.
The mans' edge has been ground down 2 smoothness, tryin' to please 2 many.
He's no ordinary mortal, y'know!

No way. Keep playing them P

I don't want Purple Rain or Let's Go Crazy to be retired.

What I do want to retire is any sort of JW/religious speech during Purple Rain and "GO,GO,GO!!!" during Let's Go Crazy.

I know Prince wants to retire Purple Rain but trust me it will never happen, audiences won't let his off the stage until he sings that one! I say keep them both.

What about his new/young fans? If he retires them, they wont be able to see them live? And I think a lot of people will tell you theres a big difference between live vs. on housequake/youtube.

MajesticOne89 said:

True. I have yet to see Prince perform.

alxndrstff said:

ive never seen prince live either!!!
told my family we're goin 2 vegas
3 small probs with that
1.no passport
2. no $
3.hate flying!!!!

wlcm2thdwn said:

I don't think that's true. In the Jay Leno interview before the Musicology tour where he was supposed to be playing his hits for the last time, he said he'd miss playing Purple Rain the most - to the point where he hasn't bothered retiring it at all!

Prince decides the setlist, no one forces him to put Purple Rain on there if he didn't want to play it, and in fact there are plenty of concerts where he hasn't performed the song and got off stage perfectly well. Personally I think it is simply a case of he knows this is his signature song, it's a great song, and he loves playing it, so why not play it when he's in the mood? Because a few hardcore fans are bored with it? Sheesh...

Negritaluvyu said:

I've only seen him once....and that was GMA....

metalorange said:

I've never been to a show where he did not play both of these songs. What show was this?

i wanna hear the version of Black Sweat that was played at the Versace show.

Live.
[Edited 1/22/07 14:16pm]

jaimestarr79 said:

Most of the ONA tour he did not play these songs, though later on he occasionally added PR. Then there were many concerts around the Gold era '93-94 where he avoided playing his hits completely.