O.K. I admit it, I came late to the party... My true appreciation for Prince didn't come until TGE, and I missed all the "heydey" tours. I have only recently been able to see and hear those shows via my friends in the fan community.
What really struck me was that while the shows then were more elaborate, the musicians sometimes better, and the crowds larger, I feel like Prince is a much better singer and guitar player today, and he seems much more real onstage. His live music lately seems much more expressive - with more subtlety. I think the ONA tour showed us a mature artist, comfortable with his old and new material, and for example, I don't think things like the stunning piano performances we saw this year would have been possible before.
And for all the attacks Prince has received recently for medleys and cutting songs short, it seems that this has always been Prince's way. I was actually surprised to see how many abbreviated songs he played on the Lovesexy Tour, for example.
I'm guess I'm curious to hear opinions from long-timers on the difference and comparison of Prince live in the 80's and early 90's, to his recent tours,and whether or not they were appreciably better, or are we just rewriting history.
Thanks y'all...Jpav

I just 2 C Prince: alive, healthy & FUNKIN IT UP on the stage!
Thank U Prince, U jewel!!

well I became a fan in the 90's too so I feel the same way you do. yes I do love his work in the 80's, but I also love his later work as well.

I actually have pix and ticket stubs from that period that I don't know how to upload (lol) but anyway, Prince (the group) back then was to me amazing. Starting with opening for Rick James through the "1999 tour. The amazing thing was during that period he usually only had 5 other people on stage with him. You could distinguish which instrument and person was doing what. The vocal(S) were amazingly clear and for 6 people, they had one of the biggest, complete sounds that I have ever heard.
One key thing that Prince use to do at his concerts was to take people back to his origin. In other words his albums came out once a year and whatever the hit on the previous album, he would usually start the concert with those series of songs and then the stuff that wasn't too popular on the new album then of course end with whatever the new hit song was. That way even if you had never heard of Prince, by the end of the performance you would be totally into his music. When I first brought "Dirty Mind" I thought it was a piece of junk and way below his musical standards but seeing the album performed live gave me a whole new perpective on it and even today it's one of my favorite albums. The "Controversy" tour was my favorite. It was the Times debut.The Time were excellent and when Prince came on his show wasn't neccisarily better but it was just different. The atmosphere was changed. A different energy and vibe. I heard Jimmy Jam saying that they were better than Prince during the 1999 tour. Well, by then, the Time had figured out this touring thing and they were definitely on top of THEIR game. Prince had started using a drum machine in concert then and he show was very different from previous shows. Also, I don't think that Dez Dickerson (guitarinst)was really into that tour at all. One thing that stood out was, I didn't know that he was such a prolific piano player until the 1999 tour. It's a wonder why he hadn't really played like that on any of his albums up until that point. When Prince got rappers and dancers in his group I sort of shy'd away from that because in my opinion, no matter how many people he had in the group, it wasn't comparing to what I had heard and seen during those eighties tours. I'm not saying that the newer stuff is bad just that it's not exactly to my liking which means nothing. Just an opinion. If people are getting what I got out of the earlier concerts then I really can understand their enjoyment and for that, Rock On!