This evening, I stumbled across the band Styx performing live with a 41 piece orchestra. There was a total of 71 musicians including the background singer and band. They performed Styx hit songs. It was part Bach, Beethoven and part rock opera. My first thought was "I wonder if Prince has done or should do something similiar to this. He would be perfect." What's your thoughts? Also, this concert will be rebroadcast on PBS.
[Edited 9/16/09 18:01pm]

No.....besides,who's going to pay for all of them?It's not worth the visual

He's done similar things before with Billboards and the Kamasutra. Actually playing with an orchestra would be a sight but wouldn't feel fresh after these two ventures into that field.

imagine prince conducting a band

I'd love to see prince perform When Doves Cry at the piano with just chamber strings as an accompaniment. That would be incredible.

This would be nice.

When it comes to expense...This is where several bands could work with an Orchestra and it could be a televised event.

Why would Prince need that?

The Styx concert was absolutely HORRIBLE!

Metallica's was marginally better. You could NOT hear the orchestra like you should have been able to. But with four egos like the guys in Metallica, it didn't surprise me about them mixing OUT the orchestra.

However, KISS Symphony is spot on. I'm not a big KISS fan per se, but the way they did it was perfect. 1st set was just KISS, 2nd set was them and the Ensemble in an acoustic type setting. Then the 3rd set was the full on orchestra. You could hear the orchestra just as much as you heard KISS. It gave their music a whole new dimension. Go find the KISS DVD and watch it. THAT one is how that type of situation should be done.

As far as Prince, I'd love to hear it. The Classical Metropolitan Orchestra did an album of Prince music. And Prince himself later sampled one of the songs in his own song (He sampled their version of "1999" in "The New Master"). Prince has the songs that would lend well to an orchestra. "Do Me Baby", "international lover", "1999", "She's Always In My Hair", "The Arms of Orion", "Forever In My Life", "Strange Relationship", a ton more, and of course, "Purple Rain". It'd be spectacular. Get someone in there from AEG or a real professional that could keep Prince on track, and get that shit done. Let it run on Showtime, then a year later on CBS (CBS owns Showtime), promote the DVD and double CD.

Prince And The Band...and The London Symphony Orchestra. I can see it now....

NONSENSE said:

Simple answer:

I like steak.

I like sushi.

I wouldn't eat a mixture of steak and sushi though.

I think it would be a good idea.

MJ had some songs with clear classical music "soft sounding disney" stuff and it made the music absolutely beautiful. Prince has a different style voice, don't know if it would have the same effect but would be nice to hear.Classical music is sometimes a beautiful change from a clang of undistinguishable sounds. It is more harmonious as well in comparison with an overload of sounds which are used to have more effect but sometimes detract from the wave of music itself.