I assume trouble years are from 1992, when the fight between Prince and WB reached its peak, that caused him to change his name to the following year, until 1996, with the release of 'Emancipation'.

What we know as the 'hits' are not just the songs inclued on the 3 cd set from 1993, but just the music Prince released until 1988/90, the material he is best known for.

I checked the set list for Act II Tour in 1992/93 and saw that Prince & The N.P.G. played almost 3/4 of the new album ( ) for the first half of the show, underlining the fact this record was maybe very important to him, and leaving the second half of the show to the hits.
On the Glam Slam nights in South Beach, Miami in 1994 he barely played the hits, leaving space 4 his new compositions. But then the anger was big and he was not Prince anymore.

After the on-line release of Crystal Ball in 1997/98, he grew safer with his independence as an artist and distributor of his work, that he started playing Prince material again, fusing his new self with the old one.
When he knew his bound to WB was about to break, he made Prince produce a album in 1999 and the Hit 'n' Run Tour in 2000/01 was another Hits Tour.

From then on, with the exception of the One Nite Alone Tour, he carried on touring with his classic material, giving just a little space 4 his new and sometimes very interesting compositions.

I came to a conclusion. Prince is now in complete control of himself, he doesn't have to prove anything and he can be a commercial live artist if he wants to. He did all the fighting in the past, so he rather thinks he deserves it.

When someone is in trouble (every kind of trouble), someone's subject to changes in the life, sometimes deep changes.

That's my opinion.

Thoughts?

I think he's afraid to break out of the greatest hits mould, particularly when playing larger venues.

For example, when I saw him at the O2 during the 21 Nights shows, he opened with 1999 which everyone loved, second song was Let's Go Crazy which got huge cheers... and then he went into Somewhere Here On Earth, at which point I saw a lot of people go to the bar to get a drink.

MattyJam said:

God, that's sad.

Sophianestesia said:

Nice theory - but I think it is much simpler - He used to tour each album whilst he was making great albums that were all charting and getting critical acclaim (the tour would help sell the album). And if you're touring every year on the back of an album,you can't just play the hits.

On these tours he would promote the album and throw in some hits (Nude was the first tour where he didn't do this - and what a surprise he was touring the Batman album that just wasn't much good).

NPS in '98 was another case in point (crap album = hits tour).

Since his comeback in 2004, he has moved into the golden oldie bracket - and people just want the hits as the masses aren't interested in his new albums.

If he makes another great album - I'm sure he'll tour it and cut down on the hits (TRC being the last time he did).

Well Prince is a legend, and the majority of people going to see him aren't hardcore fans familiar with his entire back catalogue, they're casual music fans who want to say "I've seen Prince".

They want to hear most of the Purple Rain album, with Kiss, 1999 and Little Red Corvette thrown in for good measure.

I on the other hand would go nuts if he did Power Fantastic or Face Down... but I'm living in the real world and I know that ain't gonna happen!

Sophianestesia said:

But that is what happened. But i agree with Matty that the hits come naturally with the biogger venues. I woulk say the smaller the venue (and the lesser the number of shows ) the bigger the chance the -not great hits- will be more appreciated, because the number of (real, nowadays) fans is bigger. (% that is of course...)

remko said:

Exactly. The O2 gigs were designed to cater for more casual fans - people who know Kiss, Let's go Crazy, Raspberet Beret etc. but probably couldn't name a song by him since TMBGITW. And in that respect the concerts were amazing. I know loads of people who went along with that kind of attitude and were blown away by his performances.

And then for the more hardcore fans there was the gig at Koko last year (best Prince gig I've ever been to) and the aftershow parties at IndigO2 etc.

When he did the ONA tour here, he had a lot of newer material from TRC, ONA etc. and I can imagine that a more casual fan wouldn't have like it much.

vivid said:

This is sadder.



At least, there's enough room for hope for this to happen.

I don't know how Prince has changed his sets over the years. Appealing to the audience with familiar material is going to be a part of a tour.

Sophianestesia said:

Hi, you have some interesting ideas / thoughts which are similar to mine!!

There are several points I wish to add if I may?

The 1993 Act II tour was also mainly hits, a few O+> songs at the begining and the fabulous encore with Come, Endorphinmachine and Peach etc. but mainly hits.

The Gold Tour in 1995 was the exception upto that point. I do not believe any 1980s hits were played - haven't got time to confirm with Uptown.

I've always thought that the 'retiring the hits' line was in reference to the 1980s hits and therefore left the door open for Prince to still play hits from the 1990s. Whenever, 'the hits' have been retired b4 [such as at the O2] mainly 80s songs have been played.

I am still of the opinion that the 'hits' did not dry up from 31/12/89 onwards!!! Certainly I believe Prince doesn't think so. So I always assumed that Prince just wanted to retire the 'older hits' to make room for new[er] material - much like in 1995 and 2002. It must get a little boring playing the same songs every tour and we as hardcore fans would welcome a more varied set-list I'm sure. But as others have said perhaps this is what the after-shows are for, main concerts for casuals and after-shows for hardcore fans.

Of course it could all be a good marketing ploy to sell more tickets each time he tours!!!!!

Anyway.....!

I disagree. Lovesexy (the album) bombed in America. Yielding only one "hit" with the song Alphabet Street. Still, Prince played much of that album on that tour. It's not like the casual fan was clamoring to hear "eye know" played live. Prince forced the issue and was not down for repeating Purple Rain material over and over again. He had things to prove.

My point is this: Prince used to play a lot more of his (then) new albums in the past regardless of if they were a success or not. Hell, he'd often play the lesser known songs off of those albums. I agree with the original post in that Prince seems to be comfortable playing his "hits" and that he doesn't feel the need to ram the newest album down our collective throats.

Furthermore, I am of the opinion that what constitutes a "hit" to a Prince fan is not the same as what constitutes a "hit" to the casual fan. Example: If Prince plays DMSR live, a hardcore Prince fan would could say, "Oh, he's playing "the hits". However, a casual fan is not familiar with that song. It's didn't chart and is a bit on the obscure side of things. Often Prince fans gripe that he is playing "The hits" when really his playlist is mixed with some older gems that not everyone knows. If you are playing an old Prince song for the uninitiated or a new Prince song for the uninitiated, what's the difference? Challenging the audience is challenging the audience.

[Edited 10/3/08 7:45am]

skywalker said:

But he did end that show with Let's go crazy, When Doves Cry and Purple Rain (and 1999). the exact same ending as the SOTT shows one year earlier.
And let's not forget the fisrt part of the show either. a little obscure now and then but also containing famailiair songs.

I think that back then a lot of people bought his albums and so the songs on them where familiair to a large part of the crowd. By now only his hard core fans (us) are left and the part of the audience that knows the songs from his last albums are a minority (by far). Except of course during the aftershows...

Agreed.



Well, I am not sure. Do you think the average fan knew a song like "I wonder U" in 1986? I would guess they probably knew "Kiss". If you look at US sales for Parade and Lovesexy, the sales numbers are not extremely high. Especially, when you consider the fact that it was Prince in the 80's. So, again, I am not sure...

Perhaps,in this internet age, music has become more fragmented and varied. People aren't all digging on the same few things like they were when MTV played every kind of video and type of artist.

skywalker said:

Could be i am talking from a slightly different perspective: the european one. This might make a difference.

skywalker said:

U get me full of nostalgia, now.