omg.... you made me laugh! Brilliant!

wildgoldenhoney said:

His entire set was about 45 minutes or so of complete mayhem and frenzy!

When you first entered the Coliseum, there was no curtain and everything was setup at the front edge of the stage: mic-stands, keyboards, and very few other props. The drum set was in the middle of the stage placed up on a little riser with an oval-shaped sign over it (which was first covered in canvas) that had "PRINCE" spelled out in lights, as in the logo on his 1979 "Prince" album. Everybody was just standing around, jamming to the pre-concert music that they play over the system, smoking joints, grooving, and basically waiting for Rick James.

No one really knew who Prince was yet. In fact, I thought we were about to see a band called "Prince For You" (the title of his first album). I didn't know yet that Prince was an individual and not just the name of a band. I thought certainly that no one would be actually named "Prince".

Then… BAMM! The lights went out, and you could make out 3 shadowy figures move onto the stage, and then stood with their backs to the audience. The rest of the band took their place, and all you could hear over the sound system was someone speaking in a low, sort of foreboding tone: “Char-lotte! Are you ready for me?”

The drum roll hit, the stage lights came up, and Andre, Prince, and Dez turned and all charged about 4 or 5 steps toward the audience – and everybody freaked the Hell out! These guys looked scary as shit! The one in the middle (who I soon learned was Prince) had this spiky hairdo, full make-up, a pink leather motorcycle jacket, panties, black stockings, and pumps! The audience reaction was pure fright! Then Prince reached around to his back, pulled his guitar around to the front, then the whole band started jamming “Sexy Dancer”, and the crowd quickly got over their fright and started rocking to the music and jamming along - all hands were in the air. By the end of that first song, everybody was like: “Oh shit! This guy AIN’T playing!” The party was ON full blast!

Their play list consisted of songs from his first two albums, but the song they did that most sticks out in my mind is when they played “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?”, because Prince was ad-libbing a lot. Like:

Why you wanna treat me so bad? Is it the clothes I wear?
Why you wanna treat me so mean? Is it the style of my hair?

But what completely blew people away was when they played their encore: “I Wanna Be Your Lover”.

Prince went mad, threw off that cool ass pink leather jacket, peeled off his stockings, threw them at the audience, and was running around the stage jamming to the beat with nothing but his guitar, bikini underwear, and high-heeled boots (with little stars on the side). And then once he was done jacking-off the microphone (as if he were giving it head - Prince was a real whore on stage back then), tossed his guitar to the side, reached his hand down into his panties to cover his dick, and pulled his panties all the way down to his knees, gyrating toward the audience with only his hand covering his dick! WTF!!! The audience was going crazy! At the end of his set, Prince said “Damn Charlotte, we’re gonna have to come back here again soon!” And that was it! I was a stoned-cold Prince fan! I started telling people about Prince the next day!

At that point, everybody was standing around like they had completely forgot about Rick James. But the roadies came out and moved all of Prince’s stuff off stage, the sign over the drums came apart into two pieces and they removed that. But what really tripped me out was once all of Prince’s equipment was off stage, they removed the backdrop that was behind Prince’s set, and you could see that the stage was actually HUGE and that Prince had only been setup right up at the front. There was a giant curtain hanging behind all of that. After several more moments of getting everything set up, the lights dimmed again, the music started, the curtain opened up, and there you could see that this stage was about a mile wide and a mile deep! This was Rick James’s stage!

Rick came out, and The King of Punk Funk reminded you of what you came here for! His show was awesome, but I’ll save it for another thread. But it was interesting to note that many people in the audience started moving out, because at least initially, Rick was no comparison to what we had all just seen out there! Don’t get me wrong, Rick tore the roof off that sucker, but it was hard to stop thinking about what we had just seen Prince do out there.

Rick’s show was about 2 hours long, and the Stoned City Band succeeded in funking us to death! The show was actually exhausting! I remember thinking “How in the Hell can they do this every night, and from town to town?” Ahh, the memories!

---

Nice... Really enjoyed your story!

This is such an amazing piece of history to have witnessed! I love hearing about this Prince. Such a performance artist/exhibitionist. Amazing. Love it. And thanks.

What instance made you a fan?

It all started with VH1 playing Purple Rain like a thousand times per weekend. I mean every weekend it was simple...12 noon, Saturday-watch Purple Rain. From there, it turned into stealing my dad's Purple Rain cd. It transformed into grabbing a blank tape every single time I heard the radio playing a Prince song. '98-'99 was the birth of a new Prince fan. I eventually outdid my father and my step-mom with the fandom. I remember licking the screen when Rave UN2 The Joy Fantastic commercials would come on. I screeeeeamed and rolled on the floor christmas morning when I got the damned thing.

Good times....good times. The rest is very funky history.

It all started with VH1 playing Purple Rain like a thousand times per weekend. I mean every weekend it was simple...12 noon, Saturday-watch Purple Rain. From there, it turned into stealing my dad's Purple Rain cd. It transformed into grabbing a blank tape every single time I heard the radio playing a Prince song. '98-'99 was the birth of a new Prince fan. I eventually outdid my father and my step-mom with the fandom. I remember licking the screen when Rave UN2 The Joy Fantastic commercials would come on. I screeeeeamed and rolled on the floor christmas morning when I got the damned thing.

Good times....good times. The rest is very funky history.

the year was 1979 I was 9 years old at the time, I lived in Oklahoma. my sister which was big into music at that time had a prince poster on the back of our bedroom door. Prince was dressed in a shiny Purple trench coat,with a red shirt and black pants, I had a portable 8-track player, my sister bought both of prince"s 8-track tapes at that time, I played those 8-tracks all the time, I also bought prince"s 8- track of 1999. I had been hooked ever since then.and I still have that poster I had the Prince 8-track, For You 8-track,and 1999 8-track. then When the cassettes came out, I bought every single cassette that had came out. I loved Dirty mind. such memories, I grew up listening to Prince, thanks to my sister, I learned a lot about sex, thought Prince"s music. then I wonder why I am so screwed up. I would not change a thing.

interactiveplayer said:

Did you keep those 8-tracks?
They're probably collectibles now!

My step monster took them.....

Now that new concert has been cancelled, I though it would be good if we all, ya know, continue....

3121, never hurt anyone

Whitnail said:

The Dublin show?

Or better asked... what do you mean?

CJanssen said:

just bumping this thread, coz i know some great stories will arrive soon

1979: Attended a Rick James concert in Charlotte, NC. Prince was the opening act - Blew EVERYONE away! Rick James could not compare when he followed Prince's act. In fact, about 20 minutes into Rick's set, people in the audience started walking out. It wasn't that Rick James performed poorly, it was just that after seeing Prince - there was no where else to go! Prince wore everybody out! I feel like I was a part of history that night. May Rick James be resting peacefully.

---

It was 1979...and I called radio stations on occasion...One day winning ten albums...and Prince was one of them...I loved Prince before I opened to album to hear, "I wanna be your lover." Superficial I know, but Prince was fiiine, back in tha day! I was 12.

Within a few weeks, I bought, "For You.." and it's 29 years later....

due to 2 threads on mjno one was the normal prince thread which i went into 4 some reason and someone had uploaded chocolate invasion and slaughterhouse and after hearing those 2 albums i was gonna be a fan forever, the other thread was called 'is prince sexy...like really' and it put the buff threads here to shame it eventually got shut due to various song lyrics being posted and gif of a certain occassion involving a naked ass

the first time i saw him live was a koko even though now i barely remember 1/2 of it but i do remember asking myself why the hell had i not payed attention to his music before he is just an amazing musician and artist

b3xy said:

I feel the last part of your post. When my mom found out I was a fan, She said "Where the hell have you been?" Haaah...
I told her "Mom, I'm sixTEEN"

I'm starting to think she's a closet fan / maybe even an old schooler...

Wow, thanks for starting such a great thread. It is really refreshing to read these stories. It is also a testament to what an amazing artist Prince is to see the different decades in which people became "fans." It trips me out to see people who just became fans in the earlier part of the 2000s, or the 1990s or even the late 1980s (post PR). I should say that it is a wonderful kind of trip to read this stuff.

What is so funny to me is that I logged in to share my story, but I can't even remember when I actually became a fan. I've heard people say that when something profound happens in your life you remember the exact moment when it opens the door that changes you or sets you on a new path. The thing is that I have been a Prince "fan" (I hate to use that term too) for so long that I cannot remember a time when I was not a fan. I remember listening to "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Sexy Dancer" on the radio stations here in Chicago when I was in second or third grade. I remember being happy when Willis and Charlene danced to "I Wanna Be Your Lover" on Different Strokes, so I was already a full-fledged fan by that time. I can also recall when videos first came out and we'd rush home from school to see "Dirty Mind," "Uptown," "Sexuality," "Controversy," and "Automatic" on the video shows. I remember they would advertise the Controversy tour on the radio on B96 and I was sad that I could not see him in concert because I was far too young. Prince was slowly building momentum at this time, but most of my friends were still crazy Michael Jackson fans. I didn't care because it was all about Prince for me. Even my sister was into MJ until one day she really checked out Prince and joined me in "fandom." We became partners in crime spending our allowance or begging our mother to buy every Black Beat, Fresh and Right On that featured anything about Prince.

By the time the LRC video came out more people were hip to him. Then Purple Rain came. The trailers for the movie were on TV left and right. My sister and I were nine years old when it came out and we BEGGED and BEGGED our mother to take us to see it. So I know I was hardcore by then. Our cousin, who was 13, went to see it first and told us all about it. I can see her demonstrating "the Bird" now. After that, we really turned the heat up on our incessant begging and our mother finally broke and took us to see it along with our older brother who was 18. He was too cool to sit with us so he sat a few rows up front. If I thought I was a big fan before seeing the movie, I knew I would be one for life after that. Finally seeing Prince perform (if only in a movie) epitomized magic. There was no turning back after that. And nearly 24 years later here I am on a Prince fan site (sometimes) typing about the man.

Oh, one funny thing that I remember about seeing PR was that when we returned home my sister asked our brother what masturbation meant and I asked what grinding meant.