I don't blame Prince for this at all. He's doing what he always does, occasional intimate late night show for the fans. Real fans know that you take your chance with these. AEG/Ticketmaster have been greedy & selling tickets giving the impression that Prince is guaranteed to appear. If you're a genuine fan you know there's no such thing as a guaranteed aftershow. By advertising the shows & making the tickets easily available, they've given access to the aftershows to a lot of people who wouldn't normally bother with them & don't know the rules.
Personally I went on the 4th, where he put in an appearance for 10 minutes, & thouroughly enjoyed myself. Nikka was great, fantastic to hear them playing loads of Prince in a club & an appearance by the man himself was icing on the cake.
Suggestion. Next time sell tickets through 3121.com (or even better, bring back the NPGMC) & just sell to genuine fans. And leave AEG out of it, they've done their best to milk fans for all they're worth this tour

I think its only the "Purple Rain" fans that are complaining. If anyone is a real fan of Prince, they know that nothing is ever written in stone. Sometimes he performs at the aftershows, sometimes he doesn't. Besides, the band can take a break now and then.

iain99 said:

What the hell is a genuine fan? I've seen Prince live once and don't have every album - what does that make me? Now before you answer this bear in mind I'm travelling from Edinburgh by plane and staying in a hotel which in total is costing us around £500 (for me and my partner) and yes I would be delighted if he sang Purple Rain.

So dinnae start this elitest genuine fan pish. Do you want Prince all to yourself or something - ever wondered why he gave his last album away free - is that coz he only wants Genuine Fans to hear his music.

Can't stand this crap - away and dook for chips ya fanny.
[Edited 8/12/07 12:34pm]

tznekbsbfrvr said:

To quote the person above me ; "dinnae start this elitest genuine fan pish"

So if he has nothing on the next night then watch out eh...??

My tickets are for the 18th August with no shows following till the 24th... woohoooo I hope we gonna get all funked up

Is there anyone out there who expected Prince to play a 2+ hour concert followed by a full aftershow concert every nite of the London tour? Please explain your logic.

Oh god, here we go with the people saying real fans are elitist.

It is not elitism, it is simply that more dedicated Prince fans know that there is no such thing as a guaranteed Prince appearance at an aftershow. If you bought a ticket expecting Prince to definately be there, you are fooling no one but yourself. Why do you think he pulled the stunt on friday about claiming he wasn't gonna b there and then showed up? It was to weed out all the people that have no concept of what an afterparty is.

The bottom line is that if you want to see Prince perform - buy a ticket for the show, simple as that. If (like me) you know that seeing Prince perform is going to leave you so excited and buzzed that you need to dance your ass off for 4 more hours in a club to calm down, and that there is a possibility that Prince may show up there but its not certain, go to an aftershow too, and if Prince isn't there, its no big deal, if he is, its an unexpected bonus.

SquirrelMeat - you said that the BBC reporting this "speaks volumes"....actually, it doesn't. How do I know? I work there. The BBC reports impartial news - if a bunch of people who didn't do their research want to kick up a storm because they didn't thoroughly look into what they were buying when purchasing afterparty tickets, then the BBC will report it for no other reason than it has happened. All it does it show that there's a bunch of stupid people out there and creates negative energy which ultimately lands on Prince's shoulders. And you call yourself fans....

I think what does speak volumes is that both the org and HQ were mentioned in the article. To all the whiners and complainers.....way to go. If you seriously have a grievance....take it up with ticketmaster. Don't come here to a fansite and put Prince on blast for your own shortcomings. And whether you are accusing it of being his fault or not, that's still what you're doing.

Would you buy tickets to the BRIT awards afterparty and expect them to give out a few more awards??

jdcxc said:

I expected nothing. The expectations were set when tickets went on sale. Now really, I wouldn't mind if Prince never played another aftershow as long as he lives. The issue here though is that people were sold tickets to an aftershow, and instead got a bar with a DJ spinning discs.

If Prince and his band are too tired to perform at aftershows, that's absolutely fine. What isn't fine is Ticketmaster and AEG misleading customers about what they're getting for their £25+. If Prince felt that a second performance after doing 2+ hours in the main arena is too much, that's perfectly understandable and I doubt anyone objects to that. The complaint here is with Ticketmaster and AEG for selling tickets to something that didn't take place.

Militant said:

Not a good analogy. The clue is in the name. Afterparty? No, that just sounds like a party? Aftershow? That sounds like a show, and I'd expect some kind of... show. I personally wouldn't pay £25+ for a party. I can get pissed in my hotel room if I really want to. I would pay £25+ for an aftershow though, and that is a distinction that I am sure was not lost on Ticketmaster when they put the tickets on sale.

Militant said:

Exactly. Before you purchase tickets, isn't it prudent to do two minutes of research on this site, HQ, 3121 or a number of other areas to get the lowdown? And as far as elitism, everyone is invited to the party but the spoilers "got to get the hell out of here." Fair criticism is one thing but this whole argument is beyond ridiculous.

When will we, as Prince fans, stop accepting bad behavior, not only from Prince but those working with/for him? I see people say: well, it's Prince, so this is to be expected. I'm sorry but I can't do that anymore. While we were in Minneapolis, there was the First Avenue aftershow. How increidbly disappointed and upset would we had been if there was indeed no show? Would we have said: that's just Prince? We stood in line for 8 hours to get those tickets. How much comfort would "well that's what Prince does" had been if he had not played?

Call it an afterparty. Aftershow denotes a "show".

Some etymology:

Aftershow is derived from 'Aftershow Party'. These are very common events that many musicians do after their main gigs. They were generally private affairs with invitations, or industry events.

Prince changed the whole view of these in the late 80's when he played at some of them, but not at all of them. This seems to have fueled expectations of what they will involve.

Indeed even now you can buy tickets for the 'Rolling stones aftershow at o2, and bon jovi had them too at the o2. They did not play and nobody ever expected them to.

I too am disappointed when he does not show (as last night), but the times he does show make up for them...(Garage 95, Hippodrom 92, Marqee 02, Indigo 10.8.05)

Prince is exceptional in that he does play at some aftershows when other musicians do not....

(How AEG marketed this is a another matter though.....)

Lothan said:

but the question still remains... Who came up with the idea to call it an aftershow and charge extra for those tickets advertised as such. Was it P's camp or Ticketmaster's attempt to capitalize on the money that could be made from misleading people? If it was the idea of P and his camp then fine they mislead the people and should own up to it. But it seems this was not the case. It seems it was Ticketmaster and AEG that advertised these events as aftershows and not afterparties.

yeah, I went to this after-party, he never showed up and it was snowin', snowin', snowin', that was 1985, and then I show up at "Blue Cats" and wait around, and everybody said I shouldn't have left the concert early cuz they said he went to "liquid." My whole night was ruined, and the next day I was very tired.

adorable2 said:

Like I said earlier in my post, Prince or those working with/for him. Had the word gone out BEFORE the aftershow tickets went onsale that Prince would not be performing then, fine, people don't have a reason to be upset. But, it was advertised as Prince-The Aftershow or something and I'll be damned if Prince, as big a control freak as he is, would let something like that get past him without his stamp of approval. My thinking is that he probably planned to play that many aftershows and, let he usually does, changed his mind with notifying anyone.

jdcxc said:

The logic? Prince selling tickets for it in advance. If he didn't want to mis-led, don't sell them in advance. Simple.

ian said:

Its same damn thing no matter what words you use. Afterparty. Aftershow, short for aftershow party, which surprisingly is a party, after the show.

If you bought tickets because "well, that's what it SOUNDS like" then you have no room to complain. You didn't do your research. That's no ones fault but yours.

As for expecting some sort of show, yeah given the ticket price that's fair enough, and I've said as much. And there HAS been shows. There's been Nikka Costa, there's been Dr John, there's been Beverley Knight.
You are arguing that you expect there to be a show and there has been, every night with the exception of last night when evidently something went wrong. So what the hell was the point of you saying that?

If you believe its ticketmasters fault....like I said go ahead and phone them up. Its unnecessary, and because of that you and others are pushing negativity towards not only Prince, but this site and housequake as well. You think Prince hasn't read that BBC article? You think other people reading that article won't be left with a gross misunderstanding of the whole affair and think that Prince fans are a bunch of fucking ungrateful complainers? Thanks for managing to tar us all with the same brush. If I were a mod here I would have closed all those threads and told everyone to take up any personal issues with ticketmaster. Some of the American folks here have said they can't wait for Prince to come home as they've never seen such complaining and ungratefulness. Frankly I don't blame them.

Many more people knew that an aftershow party is not a guaranteed Prince performance, bought their tickets and had a great time whether he showed up or not.

It's such a shame that a few whiners with no reasonable argument and leg to stand on have probably tarnished Prince's image of the UK and his fanbase here and managed to drag down the names of the two most prominent Prince fansites in the process.

Militant said:

Oh, please. People with a complaint, regardless if YOU think it's reasonable or not, have every right to do so. And if someone is dumb enough to let the opinion of a couple of posters on a fansite speak for everyone, then that's their problem.

You may say that aftersgow is short for aftershow party, can you show me where it says that on the 3121 site or Ticketbastard site ot AEG's site? How are fans to have known what it means?

Militant said:

Some of us are just whingers !
some of us have reason to complain, sorry dear I'm not going to go away!
In May 2007 I learned that Prince was to perform at the o2 arena in London (o2 owned and managed by Aeg Worldwide), as I was staying in London for a wedding on 4th Aug I tried to buy tickets for £31.21 the price of the tickets advertised (through Ticketmaster the sole agents) The only tickets available were VIP TICKETS £235 each, due to the press releases by AEG and the PR company and website information stating the first 14 dates were sold out! (I have copies)and having promised my son and daughter I would take them to see Prince I felt I had no alternative but to buy these tickets 3 x £235. I did not wish to attend the preshow party with canapés and 3 complementary drinks I only wished to see the performer.

I subsequently found out that batches of £31.21 tickets were being released and I along with hundreds of others requested a refund and exchange of tickets, I know from the Prince Forums that quite a lot were exchanged and refunds given after I made the request (again documentary evidence). I am aware that many have complained to BBC watchdog and Greenwich trading standards and S.T.A R (ticket retailers association) I was repeatedly refused any help by Ticketmaster.

I, along with my son and daughter attended the performance, however problems ensued, I had to attend to a lady who was at the end of our row of seats, she was on the floor crying, only after I started to see to her did the stewards arrive. This lady and her male partner were escorted away by security and their seats were taken by some males.

These males were aggressive and I subsequently found out my son was bullied out of his seat, (I later found he had returned to the hotel) I requested help from a steward who was American the same as the 5 aggressive substance intoxicated males involved, she ignored my request and I feel failed in her duty of care, thereby allowing the situation to escalate, I also believe she had poor risk assessment abilities/training.

We were so intimidated it resulted in myself and my daughter attempting to leave the event, as I left I was sexually assaulted to which my daughter who was behind me reacted instinctively by hitting the male who had hold of me. She was then grabbed and pushed over resulting in the property in her hand being lost and her camera broken. I then demanded to see the manager of the event, we were taken to an area and security attempted to quash the incident, even bringing one of the assailants over to us to speak to us, asking us to go somewhere quiet with him to talk about it! I found this particularly disturbing as he had sexually assaulted me. there is more to this story, i.e. the police not allowed into the arena as they have their own security (I have just checked with Greenwich Police and this was confirmed),

The after show party I did not feel I could attend in the event these males were present (3 x £25 tickets) another reason was seeing people who were so drunk they were unable to walk straight being admitted to the Indigo club (documentary evidence of people who were inside the club discussing on the forums the unconscious people on the dance floor) The fact we were paddling in beer and bottles at a seated event (photo) scratches on my back(photo),so many patrons drunk and still being allowed to purchase alcohol(forum statements), and more worrying, in the event of an emergency evacuation it was glaringly obvious that a number of the 22.000 crowd were in danger due the drunks and obstacles/hazards they would need to navigate. I also have concerns that events such as this are not recorded by the police therefore when O2 (Aeg) submit alcohol licensing applications it appears there are no problems at this venue.

I have been a huge Prince fan for over 20 years, and this was to be a once in a lifetime event for myself, my daughter and my son. The part of the performance I saw was fantastic; however the evening will always be remembered with a sick feeling following the actions of all the parties mentioned. I am so disappointed and feel this should NEVER happen to anyone again.

I feel so strongly that the health and safety of patrons, along with the consumer rights are severely compromised by AEG, that I will forward my concerns to XXXXX CITY Council ahead of their decision to award the contract for the building and management of the new multimillion pound Arena. I believe AEG may consider they are strong contenders. XXXXX City Council do not deserve a company such as this. NEITHER DO WE!

Not blaming Prince !!! the show I saw was fantastic, the people around him are to blame for 99 percent of the problems, You Americans are obviously valued customers, we in the uk appeared to be here to generate $$$$$
[Edited 8/12/07 16:19pm]

Lothan said:

Typically, yeah, I would agree, but I think this situation has gone beyond Prince's control and a lot of assumptions have been made based on his track record and legacy that weren't necessarily part of his intentions for these shows. And as for Minneapolis, I think Prince knew that he'd BETTER deliver the goods, cuz you don't mess with the hometown crowd and expect to get a pass!

BBC have updated the article. This morning they said a prince spokesperson was unavailable.

Now a spokesperson says ""What's always been up on the official website was that Prince's band would play most nights, and on any given night the Purple One could come."

Am I missing something? When did 3121 say that in June or July!?!?

SquirrelMeat said:

All i know is this sounds exactly like his Musicology tour here in 2004. All afterpartys were booked in advance, and to my knowledge he almost never played at any of them, he def didnt in NYC were he booked 3 afterpartys at BB kings and those tickets like i said were around 25 dollars myabe more i forget. I mean i have learned to expect nothing at these things, ive been to so many, including one night in NYC at Tramps when there were actually instruments on stage and he never showed up, at least to play, he just chilled in the VIP with Mayte and her family, and trust me when hung out and waited and waited. But even when they let you in the club people were asking the security "is he playing" and security would say "who knows with him".

Militant said:

How charming!

What "research" would you expect people to do then, just out of interest? Tickets were being sold for something clearly labelled "Prince - the Official Aftershow at Indigo2". That's pretty unambiguous I feel.



There have been shows, but not every night. That's great if you're able to go every night, but most people can't.



Ah yes, we've tarnished Prince's image of the UK... no doubt he's sitting in his hotel thinking "Damn, so now I can't even charge these Brits for shows I don't do? Selfish jerks!". This isn't Scientology you know, you don't attain Princely enlightenment by emptying your bank account into Prince's pockets. Prince is a musician, playing some shows. He gets paid, we enjoy the show, everyone is happy.

Try not to take this personally. We all know you had a great time. We know you're happy to spend £25 to stand in a bar. You've made that very clear. However you are not everyone. Some other people bought tickets for a "Prince Official Aftershow", at not inconsiderable expense, and were disappointed with what they didn't get. It wouldn't be a big deal, if not for the way the shows were advertised and sold. Sure, there were warnings later that Prince might not show, but not until after the tickets had already been on sale.

This isn't about having a go at Prince - really I think his people have done their best at damage limitation on this. The blake seems to rest at the feet of Ticketmaster and AEG who misrepresented what they were selling. You have no complaints, and I'm happy for you. Some other people have perfectly reasonable complaints, and you could try being a little more considerate and a little less hysterical about offending Prince.
[Edited 8/12/07 18:11pm]

ian said:

prince's site said from the jump that he would not be guaranteed to perform at the aftershows. this should have been pretty obvious to anyone with an understanding of what an aftershow is. you think MJ would even show up to any afterparty after one of his gigs? most artists do not, that is the standard. if prince showed up to an aftershow you were at, consider yourself lucky, he didn't have to.

there has been a show of some form, every night except for yesterday.

i'm going to catch some Z's, but i'll respond to a few of your other points tomorrow.

Militant said:

Is this true? I do not remeber reading that back in May when the shows were announced.

Lothan said:

i remember reading early on that some of the shows would be afterparties and some would be aftershows, but in all fairness, i think that warning could have been made a little more emphatically from the get-go...but then, how much more emphatic could they be, and perhaps more to the point, how much more emphatic would they have been ALLOWED to be?

Anxiety said:

Lothan said:

No, it isn't true. The message on 3121 arrived only after the tickets had already been onsale.

Militant said:

No it didn't. In fact, it leant heavily on suggesting you could "jam with Prince".
[Edited 8/13/07 2:01am]

tznekbsbfrvr said:

Here we go again!


strike back!