People are remembering Michael as the consumate live performer. But, after I just saw the Dangerous Bucharest DVD, it made me remember when I saw Michael live during the "Bad" He lip-synchs most of his performance.

Of the 15-20 times I've seen Prince live I don't ever remember a portion where he lip-synched. Don't remember one time.

I don't understand how people cannot see the difference between lip-synching and performing live. Prince, is by far, the best live performer I've seen.

I've never seen Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles or Led Zeppelin live so can't comment on them. But I have seen the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, etc. etc. etc. and none ever have compared to Prince at his best. Sure, I've seen a few not-so-hot Prince shows, but most of them have kicked ass.

???

This is a no win question

Maybe not the best ever, but surely one of the best ever. And probably the best right now.

I wouldn't touch this question with a ten foot pole.

No. I've always thought his shows could be much, much better.

He needs focus on the songs, IMHO. He has a vast backlog of amazing material and he needs to utilize it. Play 25 songs - switching them up each night - mixing well-known and lesser-known with the new material. Full songs, not snippets or medleys or long jams.

That's what I'd love to see from a Prince tour.

I dunno how he isn't. It's HIM performing and not the sensory overload of ridiculous props or a calvary of dancers following him in military-style synchronicity. All that stuff is wack to me. He dances spontaneously to grooves. He interacts with his audiences and he plays different instruments for different songs. He does it all.

gogol said:

Prince's concerts are a lot more rehearsed than you might suspect. I've seen him several times a few nights apart and while there is some spontaneity, there's a whole lot of planned spontaneity. Basically, he's very talented at making the rehearsed dance move/audience interaction look totally off the cuff.

Also he's gone through his phases of ridiculous props (lovesexy tour for one). That's why his aftershows and smaller venues are the best way to see him live. Much more spontaneous than the big crowd-pleasers, imho.

All that said he's the best I've seen live (LOVE MJ, but the lip syncing was annoying). But I'm posting on prince dot freakin org so I'm biased as hell.
[Edited 7/28/09 20:00pm]

....

nurseV said:

It's a matter of opinion.

He's my favorite performer ever and that's all that matters.

ONE of the best, but not THE best.

Y-E-S

I think the answer is pretty simple.

Yes

Prince is still one of the greatest performer in the world...



HE USED TO BE THE BEST :

Sign O The Times Tour

Lovesexy Tour

The nude Tour

Diamonds & Pearls Tour

Act I & Act II Tour

hell yeah!

based on the 17 shows I have seen since '87: yes he is the best live performer.

I mean who could compare with Prince as a live performer.....?


Imo.

TOTALLY - YES !
Saafiir - I agree that those tours you mention make him the "Best Ever" - they had it all - big stage production AND amazing musicianship, dancing, singing - the LOT!! I still feel his current live act is still the best around TODAY.

I've been lucky enough to see MJ, Springsteen, Janet, U2 amongst others and have stomached 20mins of a Madonna "live" (NOT) DVD - there is no-one to touch him. U2 with their fancy stages just got lost behind the props and you can only take so much of the Edge's jingly-jangly guitar work repeated song after song. MJ was a great show but "plastic" (no punn intended) -and he had years to plan between tours! Whereas, despite the great stage productions that were SOTT, Lovesexy and D&P - Prince was still the total focus - mesmerising !

I'm not a fan of 30 back-up dancers/troupes doing the same dance - to me that dilutes what the artist is doing. Whilst it undoubtedly takes a lot of rehearsing for so many to be in time together and they are also talented dancers, to me it's a bit "well, if all those guys can do it.....".

Whereas when you used to see Prince move (from '84 to '95) you became awe inspired that one guy could jump from a riser 20ft in the air, land in the splits, spin and then play a killer guitar solo !!! UNfrickinREAL !

Who else coild stand atop his piano ready to play a Purple Rain guitar solo, only to then realise that his tech has not turned the guitar on, so he jumps off the piano, pirouettes, then sits back down at the piano and plays the solo on the keys instead !!! Jaw on floor moment ! HE'S THE KILLER!

Freddy Mercury, after Queen had just played a great gig, used to sit the band down to watch videos of Prince live and comment to the effect " that's what we have to aspire to!"

sro100 said:

Even his classic "Bille Jean" performance at the Motown 25th anniversary was lip-synched, only the Jackson 5 segment was performed live... And yes, Prince is probably the best live performer ever in my opinion...

Most definitely. No question. No doubt.

At the current time, the only other performer that is Prince's equal imo is Springsteen. Meaning not only are they a great musician/singer...they totally keep the audience in it the entire time. Completely entertaining. Lip-synching is not even a question...they wouldn't consider it.

Also think U2 are great...and almost at Prince/Springsteen's level.
[Edited 7/29/09 8:45am]

motherfunka said:

Yes, indeed. and that is a safe answer, as well!

sro100 said:

Prince is the best. Period.

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

mzkqueen03 said:

take a world wide poll on who was the best live performer mj or prince,and we all know what the answer is gonna be and its not prince.the only place where prince would rate higher then mj is on www.prince.org

saafiir said:

1. I choose Musicology Tour to all of the above (save that for another discussion).

2. Who is "better" nowadays?
[Edited 7/29/09 11:33am]

Prince just has that natural stage presence.... He could stand still with a quitar by himself,onstage,.... He could sit down playing the piano and still kick ass... A legendary perfromer indeed.....

nurseV said:

You could say that again.

NpgSoldier said:

Yeah. I just recently realized that Motown 25, his most famous "performance," was lip-synched. Great dancing, but ---- no singing involved.

riverdean7 said:

Well maybe that's because the vast majority of the world audience had no idea whatsoever that Michael lip-synched his way through the bulk of his live concerts.

People who want real live singing and musicianship see it differently; and not just on prince.org.