Hello, everyone. This is my first post after lurking awhile, so I thought I'd share an experience I had had waaaay back in 1980. Read on...


Prince Somewhere in North Carolina in 1980 - UNBELIEVABLE!


actually the concert was in Greensboro, NC....

Its been nice hangin’ out here in the forums reading all the different opinions on Prince’s albums. Love him or hate him, he’s pretty much left an indelible stamp on the pop music landscape since 1978. I was one of the very first original fans of his music way back then after being primed and primped by such magazines as ‘Right On’, which were already saying that this new kid on the block would shake up everyone and everything. When his first LP ‘For You’ hit the stands I remember playing the album and thinking, wow, this is very different…I mean, George Clinton and his crew had already tapped into the funk/rock think, and of course Jimi Hendrix had opened a lot of those doors also – but Prince brought into that mix a very overt sexual stance and look that was just ready for the 80’s and beyond… and on top of that they were already saying that he plays ALL of the instruments himself – he’s a genius, I remember reading time and time again. Heck, after his first two albums I was actually kinda believing the hype too. And then in the winter of 1980, being a soldier stationed in Ft Bragg, NC, a buddy of mine and myself were mesmerized by the sound and feel of Prince’s third LP ‘Dirty Mind.’ To this day I still feel that it is one of the greatest albums of all time.

We decided we had to check out this guy in concert in Raleigh, NC. My friend and I were music junkies who thought we had heard and seen everything… man, were we in for a surprise!

The opening act would be Teena Marie. We arrived about two hours early and found out that we were the first in line. Seating was first come, first served – so we were pretty jazzed about that. As my pal Randy and I were just standing around outside the front entrance door we could hear Prince and the band warming up. The warm up was AMAZING…The band locked onto the groove of Dirty Mind’s funk gem ‘Head’ and they did not let up for at least twenty minutes!! We could hear all kinds of solos going on and Prince saying things to the band members. Dr. Fink’s keyboards were so locked into the groove that Randy and I were just in a daze…Andre Cymone’s Bass, Dez Dickerson’s guitar stylings, Bobby Z’s tight drumming and Lisa Coleman’s Keyboards were tearing up the joint – and this was just for the mike check!! As more and more people started arriving it became a little party outside as the Funk grooves of ‘Head’ would just not let up.

Once inside it was obvious we all felt that this new dude named Prince was up to something completely new and different. The crowds even back than were multi-racial, very much into their own look and flaunting their sexuality like I hadn’t seen at a concert before. I remember Randy and I buying the cool poster of Prince with the leg stockings, sitting on a mattress that was sliding down, the rest of the band all standing around him in a cramped bedroom type setting …The P.A. system were playing some pretty cool R&B jams to get everybody into the mood. Teena Marie finally came on and had a pretty good set. Her voice was very soulful and her band was very tight. After she did an encore everyone got up and started milling around. Randy and I remained in our seats (for fear of losing them!).

Then it happened….The P.A. system started playing the most absolutely funky, funny and coolest songs I had ever heard in my life. I could tell it was Prince, and a woman’s voice talking and joking around. Randy and I were stunned – Just where in hell could we buy this stuff at?!? It had the ‘Dirty Mind’ type synths and handclaps and new wave type melodies and it also had tons of groaning and lyrical ad lib stuff. Very sexual conversations between Prince (using the ‘old man’ voice he would use a lot later on) and the female voice who we never knew.

After about three weirdly, frenetic funky tunes over the P.A. system Prince came out and did the title track from “Diry Mind’ and all hell broke loose. First off the sound was so crystal clear that it blew us away… the crowds were so into it that you could see that Prince and the band were giving it 150%…The band left the stage after the last tune, which I think was ‘Party Up’, but returned about 3 minutes later with the ‘Uptown’ encore that just floored everybody!!! Easily of the 6 different times that I have seen Prince in concert it was easily the best thing I had heard ever! ( I also saw the Purple Rain tour in Washington, DC in 1984). What an amazing night of showmanship and music it was on that cold night in 1980….

Thanks for taking us back..I can only imagine the excitment of "discovering" someone like Prince !

I love it when old school fans come up with some really old reviews. Thanks !
Appreciate it a lot.

Sometimes I miss those days.

wlcm2thdwn said:

all the time i miss those days !

Cool insight, thanx.
U still got that poster?

Excellent review Cody. I would have killed to have been at that concert. Welcome to the org.

christos7 said:

Nah - wish I did! I actually bought two at the time and sold them both before I went back in the Army!

I would have loved to have been able to attend a Prince gig in 1980. It is like a real fantasy. And to see Teena Marie as the opener??? WOW..... Thank you for your recollection. It did something for me.