Flat answer, NO!!

He used to be, though. As Saafiir mentioned, his shit from Parade on through Lovesexy was on point!! He was clearly the best then! I'd even include the 1999 tour as a part of this. But these days, he's not even a shell of his former self. He has no rhthym guitar player in his band because he doesn't move anymore so he just stands there and plays his guitar. Cause, if he had a player in his group, his lack of movement would be too noticeable and he'd be, well, boring!

I mentioned this in another thread a week or so ago, but nowadays, a blind man can get the same thing out of a Prince show as anyone else. There's nothing to SEE anymore, nothing for the eyes. No choreography, no humorous faces, etc. Just him standing there playing a guitar and declaring he's got "too many hits"! Have the band move a little bit, dammit!! Just simple little steps or moves brings more urgency to the music/performance. I'm not asking him to do the splits anymore or jump off of a piano, but move like the music is danceable or something. And the band just stands there as if they're bored to pieces. As much as we all hate the Tony M era (me included), watching the D&P, Nude Tour, and Act I tours again, I appreciate that he's at least giving something for the eyes, something funky to see.

So, is he the best ever? Maybe if he was as passionate about his performing as he was "back in the day". But that boat has long since sailed, and I'm about to swim out to catch it and see if I can get a ride!

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Seen him several times in recent years and seen him several times back in the day. And as amazing as those old concerts were, I'm constantly amazed by how much better he sounds (singing and playing) when he doesn't have to do twenty splits and jump off of pianos while singing and playing guitar. That was damned impressive, but I do appreciate what he does now also.

That said, have you really watched him recently for a whole concert? He's not just standing still for two hours.

Yes, Prince is still on fire: the aftershow I saw in London 2007 was 100% amazing.

Well to be fair to MJ, everything from his Bad Tour and concerts before that were live singing. If you look up the Bad tour on YouTube you'll see some of the best concert performances ever IMHO, surprisingly Billie Jean is to me not as good as all the other songs live.

Prince is bad ass as hell too, I love the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame performance. They both have their on and off performances.

RexTheKid said:

Well I saw the Bad tour twice and can assure you there was plenty of lip-synching.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Were u fortunate enough 2 see the Musicology Tour? If not, I highly recommend it. As many times as I have seen Prince, I never saw him sitting and playing the hell out of his acoustic guitar. If I can remember correctly, he said he always wanted 2 perform n that fashion. The Prince concerts I have gone 2, I will rank this as one of my favorites. Nothing beats seeing him in a small club. Up close and personal is the way 2 go.

Is he the BEST? Most DIFFIDENTLY Nothing Compares 2 him.

am i the only person that sees a pattern in these questions mj's name always pops up lol smdh ive never seen him live but it is really cool watching him on my computer

kenlacam said:

It's true. Ask anyone who is a big fan of an artist and they will say that their favorite artist is the best. If you ever saw Prince in person in the earlier days (82-95), he toured in those years to support a new album and would play almost all of the new songs. The aftershows would often be of unreleased songs. Since then it seems like an uninspired greatest hits show for the most part, with hardly any of the new songs being played (no complaint here about that though). The aftershows...at least half, reworks of other people's music.

mzspongebob said:[quote]am i the only person that sees a pattern in these questions mj's name always pops up lol

Well I would imagine there's a great reason for that.

pennylover said:

Yes, I was at the Musicology shows plenty of times. And though, he didn't stay at one place, he just walked around with barely any choreography (especially with the band as one), except when he's dancing like someone's old ass uncle at a cookout. Shit, he had four corners to occupy. He had to walk around at least a little bit!

ElCapitan said:

But see, his playing and singing was already spectacular then, even while splittin' and jumping off of pianos (which, again, I am NOT asking him to do again). It just still seems like something's missing from his performances. And yes, I've seen him do an entire concert within the past couple of years, and he's so busy trying to be Joe Cool that he doesn't even want to sweat through his suit. No activity.

.
[Edited 1/1/10 17:45pm]

.
[Edited 1/1/10 17:46pm]

mzkqueen03 said:

all I can say is WTF

saafiir said:

and the gold experience tour and u got it!

sro100 said:

can the church say amen?

RexTheKid said:

i have and could notice several factors going on ..1st off TOTAL LIP SYNCHING..2ndly same routines he was doing on the victory tour and even on his other tours ..

at least prince changes arrangements of songs he's done previously

sro100 said:

I think one reason P doesn't lip-synch in his shows is because he's terrible at it. I was at P. Park when they shot the videos for Gold and Rock n' Rolls Alive. He was lip-synching both of those songs and I was cracking up cuz he kept messing up lines. There was one "whoa" in Gold where he was no where near the mic then he leaned into it and mouthed it after the fact. Looked like a Bruce Lee movie lip-synch job.

7souls said:

I was also at the "Gold" video shoot at Paisley. It was just parts of a music video; it wasn't meant to be a concert. The video turned out fine.

7souls said:

Oh so THAT'S why he doesn't lip-synch!!!
Gimme a break!

sro100 said:

sro100 said:[quote]

mzspongebob said:

If you mean because MJ is great then I don't think that is the case. MJ is mentioned so much here because he is symbolic to most people here of what frustrates them most i.e. That people seem to be blind to what is screaming at them in the face. MJ fulfils his remit and that is fine-he is an entertainer and a very visual one but I think (And an argument that will never be won) what drives Prince fans mad is that just because someone likes something more its the way they run away with saying that that artist is more talented. Even tho I am a P obsessive I actually think I am discerning about my judgement so when people go MJ or such is better it is simply not feasible-P just ticks every box. Yes people go and like what you like but dont argue that coz you like it therefore it is better.I remember whe I bought ATWIAD I didnt like it but I could tell it was better than my taste level at the time-I was 13yrs old. I didnt dismiss it-Iunderstood I just wasnt sophisticated enough-now I adore it-people need to take a step back from themselves.Prince as the best performer-most definitely. Prince is the most consumate artist, yes he is hard work,but hey no pain no gain

YES

.
[Edited 1/1/10 17:45pm]

Here wo go again... sigh

Those MJ-fanatics popping up claiming their deceased idol was best in 'everything'.

MJ might have been a great live-ENTERTAINER (lots of spectacular dancing, fireworks, figurants etc.), but he wasnt a great live-musician.
- The last 20 years of his career he has been lip-synching most of the time on stage (while has 'band' was mimicking to prerecorded tapes).
- And even when he WAS performing live, his shows were mostly 'thought out', lacking spontanity, Vegas / Disney-like entertainment trying to provoke simple sentiments.
- Something like the History tour is a plastic, soulless play-back travesty devoid of any soul.