For those of you saw both tours, which one do you think was better and why?

bigbrother said:

I saw both tours. I saw the 1999 tour twice and the Purple Rain tour 4 times. As much as I loved seeing the Purple Rain tour, I favor the 1999 tour. On the PR tour, it was so much frenzy. Prince, his band and the crowd was so hyped up. There was so much excitement cuz of the film. A big percentage there at the PR tours were first timers. They were there strictly because of the film. But on the 1999 tour, the crowd was there because they had already been into Prince. There were more o.g.'s there so I think Prince played and performed differently. Also because Dez was in the band. The dynamic was totally different. When Wendy joined, the atmosphere on the stage had shifted. Although Prince played more guitar on the PR tour as well. So I loved that. I dig both tours for different reasons.

1999. Because, I liked/like the 1999 album moreso than I did/do the Purple Rain album.

I saw them both, but Purple rainn was the best for me, it was also the first time I saw him 'Live'

I saw the 1999 tour and the PR tour, my fave was the PR tour. I jsut dont have the strength to explain why right now sorry maybe later.

blackguitaristz said:

I would think that Prince doing more guitar on PR would add to all that excitment you had experienced and the difference in the diversity of the crowd,etc. And on 1999 that it would be that it was something still new and fresh in the air among other things.
Could you tell us why you liked both tours for different reasons? Would you elaborate please,and tell us through your eyes how it went down? I would like to hear the personal vibe and details from others point of view since you've seen different sides of both tours on different occasions.

Dayclear said:

How did you feel about that tour,being the first time that you had seen Prince live?
[Edited 7/8/08 8:34am]

bigbrother said:

I saw both and I agree with blackguitaristz. Both shows were hot, but I liked the 1999 show better.

The 1999 show seemed more raw, less restrained to me. The energy level was already set at a high level with Vanity 6 and the Time opening up the show. Then Prince took the stage and raised the bar to a higher level. I also liked the stage and lighting better on the 1999 tour.

Sheila E. opened for the Purple Rain tour and she was great, but the Time were at a different level. I also felt that on the Purple Rain tour, he had to do all the Purple Rain songs, plus his hits to cater to the "new" fans.

The 1999 crowd were all hard core Prince/Time fans, the Purple Rain crowd had the hard core fans, but also had the "newbies" that were there just because of the movie. IMHO.







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[Edited 7/8/08 9:02am]

I've only seen these tourz on dvd,but I preferred the 1999 tour.Y? Dez on guitar and International Lover.

I saw both tours and I preferred the 1999 tour. Purple Rain tour was great but it got a bit bloated for my tastes. Too many people on stage, all the horns and percussion players. 1999 was just Prince and his band with Dez on guitar which I loved. Plus it helped that the 1999 tour played in smaller theatres whereas Purple Rain tour played in stadiums. The 1999 show I saw was at The Saenger Theatre which fit about 5 thousand people. The Purple Rain show I saw was at the Superdome and there were I guess about 50k people there. Not nearly as intimate.

LinnLM1 said:

Interesting....The 1999 tour (1983) in the SF Bay area was at the Oakland Coliseum Arena which held about 13,000 for a concert at that time (before it was renovated, now it holds about 20,000) and the Purple Rain tour (1985) was at the Cow Palace in San Francisco which holds about 13,000 for a concert also.

So both tours I saw were in very similar venues with very similar size crowds. The difference being the 1999 tour had two sold out shows where the Purple Rain tour had 6 sold out shows.

When I went to see the 1999 show, that concert was among the first few concerts I had gone to. I know that I saw Peter Frampton, Olivia Newton John, and the Sugar Hill Gang before I saw Prince...and they were all concerts that I loved...

I will always have a special place in my heart for the 1999 concert with Vanity 6, The Time, and Prince...because of meeting Prince that night,(although we did not talk.) and I took a snap shot of Prince getting into the bathtub...It's not a very clear picture...but I took it that night. Purple Rain, I saw two nights in a row...and Prince in white Lace, is a beautiful memory....Purple Rain was an exceptional show...I loved Sheila's lit up stix...I thought that was cool. There was a great energy in the building. I have a couple of photo's from that night that a friend of mine took...They are framed, and put away.

The audience was shifting as well to the white / Mtv crowd. Prince did what he wanted to and that was to cross over. During the middle of the 1999 tour and after Little Red Corvette hit that is when they noticed the change in the faces in the crowed.

I was surprised that PR tour (atleast "LIVE") only stuck with the two albums and he did't include IWBYL or DM.....
[Edited 7/8/08 18:25pm]

prime said:

Yeah you know,... folks say that. I even read where Monte was quoted as saying the "demographic shifted to 60/40 white". But as I stated before, when I saw P on the Controversy tour out here in So. Cal, it was easily 50/50 then. At the L.A. show on the 1999 tour, it was more white folks there than anything else. Same goes for the Long Beach show on the same tour. And on the PR tour, that was the tour where I saw the LEAST black folks attend. All 4 shows that I attended at The Forum was that way. I was very surprised by that actually.