Gold was simply "put out" in the U.S.; designed for commercial failure.

But, I know he promoted and toured overseas with the album.

How did the CD and singles (apart from "Most Beautiful Girl in the World) do in those countries?

And was the tour successful in both commercial/artistic ways?

The Gold Experience wasn't really promoted anywhere.

Prince didn't tour the album when it was released, except for 7 dates in Japan.

He did do a short tour in Europe about 6 months BEFORE the album was released,
at a time when it looked like it wasn't going to be released at all! It was an
incredible show and a great artistic success. But I would think that it was a
commercial failure, as he didn't play any "Prince" songs or hits, and aside
from The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, most casual fans wouldn't have known
any of the songs he played.

I remember seeing lots of people walking out of the shows for this reason.
However, most of the hardcore fans had a lot of the new material on bootlegs,
so were familiar with a lot of them.

The setlist on the opening night looked like this...

(Intro Video: Purple Medley)
Endorphinmachine
The Jam (incl. The Exodus Has Begun)
Shhh
Days Of Wild (incl. Hair)
Now (incl. Babies Makin' Babies)
Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine
Johnny
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
P. Control
Letitgo
Pink Cashmere
(Lemme See That Body) Get Loose!
I Love U In Me
Proud Mary
7
Dolphin

Get Wild
Race
Super Hero
Billy Jack Bitch
Eye Hate U / 319
Gold

.

BorisFishpaw said:

Exactly my experience.

Singing along to 'Endorphinmachine' and the person next to me looking confused about how some of the people around knew all the words ... and they had never heard the song before.

Then, as the show closes, people moaning on the way out saying - "Why didn't he play anything we'd ever heard before?" and Where was 'Purple Rain?'.

BorisFishpaw said:

I read that the elaborate stage set had to be scaled back several times due to the expense and the fact that he wasn't making any money off of the tour.

I would imagine it was probably a terrific show in the beginning. I love TGE album and that period.

langebleu said:

Were they impressed at all by the performances of the new material?
Or was it basically perceived as a flat performance by these folks?

Brilliant show (I saw one of the shows in Holland). The critical response wasn't that good though. No hits (except for TMBGITW), the music was overshadowed by his business troubles. The album got positive reviews but didn't sell well.

I seen this tour when it reached the UK. For Prince fans it was the usual feast.
For the casual concert goer it must have been a bit of a downer.
The album reached number 4 in the uk if i remember correctly, but dropped rapidly.
I think the general feeling about Prince in the UK at this time was quite negative. He was seen as a bit of a nutter who changed his name to a silly symbol and who did not play his hits anymore.
But despite all that and some fairly bad tour reviews the tour WAS greeted with the usual UK enthusiasm that happens every time he plays on these shores.

i saw him both nights in glasgow and i gotta say the crowd AND the press went ballistic

plus he sneeked off to play the garage nightclub too

but yeah.....WB and indeed prince himslef killed that album

that should have been huge

my girlfriend at the time(allison-damn she was hot!) loved it despite not knowing any songs cept 7 and the most

i loved it on the 2nd night the encore was love...thy will be done

best review EVER

daily record-a scottish newspaper headlines.....

WEE MAN GIE IT LALDY!!!

jonylawson said:

Haha, only Scots will get that headline. I saw him in Glasgow too.....good times. They were better than the Edinburgh Meadowbank gig in 93.

TheVoid said:

I don't think the performances were flat. And I sensed that people were impressed with the peformance - stagecraft, musicianship etc..But the experience was probably not the same for those audience members seeing Prince for the first time,and who half-expected something more interactive.

In my view, what it lacked was a certain connectivity with the audience as a result of many unable to recognise and consequently respond to most of the material. Their role was therefore far more passive. Whereas part of the thrill of Prince performing live is his engagement with the audience, and some of this plays off most concert-goers identifying at some level with a good part of the set-list (at least for an arena-sized performance).

Compare it to the ONA tour where Prince was touring on the back of material which, though released, was not overly familiar to non-NPGMC members. However, he struck a much more even balance between new material and standards in a more intimate setting which meant he connected better with audience members, whether they were die-hards or first-timers, in a way that I didn't sense back in 1995.

.
[Edited 5/16/10 16:19pm]

I find it funny that people don't think it was promoted well. I guess compared to past albums, that is true (baring maybe "Come"). I remember the VH1 special (forget what it was called but it was a mini movie...one of many things that should be commercially available) and that looked like good promotion to me. There was some talk about it and I read a review in Entertainment Weekly. Then again, I don't exactly remember a video for "I Hate U" or hearing it on radio (the fact that it didn't totally tank on the single charts is impressive). I only saw it in stores like Media Play.