funkomatic said:

Prince has no faith in his new music! Understandably, because it's just not very original anymore.

A "real" artist who has something important to say (musically or lyrically) releases and performs his art because he needs to. Don't matter if people expect or want something else.

[Edited 12/21/10 12:38pm]

I guess I'm one of the few on here that doesn't "get" why he has to play all the hits and minimal new material for the past 15 years. I hate to bring this up, but I've went to see Madonna's last 4 tours and she still has a good mix of new/old. I guess the difference is she still sells millions of cds and doesn't have to give her's away.

Remember around the time of N.E.W.S., when he was playing instrumental material and the audience was chanting "Sing! Sing! Sing!"? That'd piss me off too, if I were him.

This isn't to say that playing all the hits for the 'dinner crowd' is the answer. But I know that, as a performer, you need that audience to be with you. And if you start playing 'Wall of Berlin', and people in the audience start talking to each other and making phone calls, that can hurt your game.

eyewishuheaven said:

Remember around the time of N.E.W.S., when he was playing instrumental material and the audience was chanting "Sing! Sing! Sing!"? That'd piss me off too, if I were him.

This isn't to say that playing all the hits for the 'dinner crowd' is the answer. But I know that, as a performer, you need that audience to be with you. And if you start playing 'Wall of Berlin', and people in the audience start talking to each other and making phone calls, that can hurt your game.

I see the point, but this is Prince we're talking about. He is other artist's idol. If the majority of the people attending these shows only expected to see the hits from such a prolific artist, then they deserve to be disappointed. Sad thing is, he's appeasing them and the long time fans are getting another greatest hits show again.

motherfunka said:

I see the point, but this is Prince we're talking about. He is other artist's idol. If the majority of the people attending these shows only expected to see the hits from such a prolific artist, then they deserve to be disappointed. Sad thing is, he's appeasing them and the long time fans are getting another greatest hits show again.

Oh, I'm with you, man! If I went to a show and Prince busted out 'Tambourine', 'I Will', 'Alexa De Paris' and 'Jack U Off', I would probably completely lose my shit.

Just tryin' to see his side, is all.

I wish he would play the new music because I've seen Laydown and Future Soul Song as show openers and they sounded bad ass!!! He should definately play songs from 20Ten at least!

andykeen said:

Wildboy said:

He shouldn't have any faith in his new music. It's crap. Prince hasn't put out one good track since PE.

I think Prince should stop recording new material and only do live shows/sell cds DVDs of live shows

Not heard of Lotusflower then?

I repeat my earlier statement. The stale, over rated, santana knock off guitar playing on LotusFailur3 makes me sick. Not his worst album ever, but definitely his most over-rated among his hardcore fans

I don't think that Prince doesn't have faith in the newer songs, it's just that he probably hasn't rehersed them and that takes time to get them right especially rotating band members. He can play all his hits in a coma, so he's making it easy on himself and giving the casual Prince concert goer what they want to hear.

I'm an "oldie" and I love the classics but I look forward to the new.

I admit alot of his music didn't click for me for a while... It was alot of hit or miss with me.

And I'll admit I was exploring a whole lot of new directions in music.

But he pulled me back into the fray with Lotus Flower plastered on the front cover of the morning papers!

In the middle of my Sunday paper!

OK, the cover of Target!

It was a complete surprise!

I did a quick budget check .. then ... bright and early Tuesday morning I bought it!

I thoroughly enjoy my Jack Johnson Albums, sweet, articulate, intelligent and organic, jean/flip flops wearing surfer dude...

But PRINCE's HEAT! LAWWWD...

I had almost forgotten who taught me that Dance, Music, Sex, Romance could and DID include Religion AND POLITICS...

Ronnie talk to Russia to Colonized Mind.

To me its like getting a new book ,

just another chapter from one of my favorite Authors...

It's like just the newest thing from the same mind that has thrilled me time after time..

amberella said:

jonylawson said:

fuck them!

i guess the diffrence is he used to sell albums

but still he could have toured easily on 3121...ah well

this is not altogether true....prince...in his so called peak during the 80s....would sell around 3 to 4 million albums worldwide....artwiad...parade...sott...lovesexy...they all sold around this number....prince never sold massive amounts apart from the purple rain album....his last couple of albums...musicology...3121...lotusflower have sold between 1 and 2 million worldwide...but all artists album sales are down from the 80s so no big surprise there...its not lack of sales that are prince's problem with new material ...its the lack of airplay his new songs get...the general public dont get to hear his new stuff ...partly because of his age and all the crap in the 90s with warners ...up until he left warners...prince always had hits...then when he left....radio stopped playing him and the hits dried up ( and his material wasnt great anyway in the late 90s) so its not down to lack of sales of his albums...he is doing ok compared to other artists...

hhhhdmt said:

his "fans" including die hard ones are the ones to attack his new music.

That's only because we're the only ones listening to it.

Yeah Prince knows his new music sucks. Nobody wants to hear that shit except for a few diehards. The people coming to his shows want to hear the same 15 songs he has played for the last 6 years. He is done just face it

He could at least play his new music at aftershows but instead he plays Larry Grahams and everyone elses music. He has NO faith in his music anymore

During the two shows I saw him do this past week, the audience was in the palm of his hand the entire time. Meaning he had us all dancing, singing, moving, and loving it all. I would hate to think what all those duddy New Yorkers would have done if he'd broken into a long string of new and unknown songs. Everyone woud be sitting down and the energy of the whole place would change.

That said, I could have done without Disco Heat. I still don't know what that was doing there, and I think he could have thrown in, say, Sticky Like Glue in its place and the audience would loved it. But that's a very minor thing.

NouveauDance said:

hhhhdmt said:

his "fans" including die hard ones are the ones to attack his new music.

That's only because we're the only ones listening to it.

blackbob said:

amberella said:

this is not altogether true....prince...in his so called peak during the 80s....would sell around 3 to 4 million albums worldwide....artwiad...parade...sott...lovesexy...they all sold around this number....prince never sold massive amounts apart from the purple rain album....his last couple of albums...musicology...3121...lotusflower have sold between 1 and 2 million worldwide...but all artists album sales are down from the 80s so no big surprise there...its not lack of sales that are prince's problem with new material ...its the lack of airplay his new songs get...the general public dont get to hear his new stuff ...partly because of his age and all the crap in the 90s with warners ...up until he left warners...prince always had hits...then when he left....radio stopped playing him and the hits dried up ( and his material wasnt great anyway in the late 90s) so its not down to lack of sales of his albums...he is doing ok compared to other artists...

good point!

Hey jony, did you see him live this year?

The only rightfull complaint that can be made about the setlist is that he plays too many covers. He should trade those with some of his new songs. For the rest, it's totally normal and fine that he plays many hits. Every big artist does that. When he sells 10, 20 or 30.000 seats, he knows most people don't know a lot of his shit, so for them he plays his best known material. So they have a ood time too. He would be an ass, if he wouldn't. Besides, the man hardly tours anymore like he used to, so it's not like he is playing his hits every year over and over again.

Tremolina said:

Hey jony, did you see him live this year?

The only rightfull complaint that can be made about the setlist is that he plays too many covers. He should trade those with some of his new songs. For the rest, it's totally normal and fine that he plays many hits. Every big artist does that. When he sells 10, 20 or 30.000 seats, he knows most people don't know a lot of his shit, so for them he plays his best known material. So they have a ood time too. He would be an ass, if he wouldn't. Besides, the man hardly tours anymore like he used to, so it's not like he is playing his hits every year over and over again.

I think the problem is that with Prince you get virtually the same set every night. It's still early so maybe Welcome To America will be different but with previous tours the setlist has very little change from show to show. Prince is always bragging about having too many hits and it would be great if he gave fans some variety. If you look at someone like Bob Dylan he does not just go out there and bang out the same 15-20 songs every night. The same can be said for Pearl Jam. Prince has such a deep catalog that he could satisfy the casual fans while still keeping the shows interesting for the hardcore fan.

I'm sure Prince would enjoy more variety as much as the fans would. It must get boring playing the same basic set for months at a time. I guess that's why he does the aftershows but he could bring some of that spirit to the regular shows.

rialb said:

Tremolina said:

Hey jony, did you see him live this year?

The only rightfull complaint that can be made about the setlist is that he plays too many covers. He should trade those with some of his new songs. For the rest, it's totally normal and fine that he plays many hits. Every big artist does that. When he sells 10, 20 or 30.000 seats, he knows most people don't know a lot of his shit, so for them he plays his best known material. So they have a ood time too. He would be an ass, if he wouldn't. Besides, the man hardly tours anymore like he used to, so it's not like he is playing his hits every year over and over again.

I think the problem is that with Prince you get virtually the same set every night.

When has it not been like that? Apart from a few exceptions, virtually every tour by every artist, major or small, has a standard setlist and maybe only 3-5 songs that may change.

I totally disagree with the lie that Prince has no faith in his new music. If that's the case, then why record new music, let alone perform it? I honestly think that it has to do with money. When a regular casual fan sees one of their favorite artists, they expect the hits. If they don't get what they want, then the chance is very great that they won't spend their money to see the artist again when they come to town. To me, this is where Prince is. Prince HAS TO do the oldies because it's what people know best, unfortunately. It's a two-edged sword. Great songs but songs that have been beaten to death. I would love nothing more than to hear a bunch of new songs performed live but the only way that's gonna happen is if an aftershow takes place, and even that isn't guaranteed. We're still waiting for that here in NYC.

Also, what hasn't been stated in this thread is that Prince doesn't have a new album to push, so why would he need to do new songs? Of course, with it being Prince, it hasn't stopped him before and he has played some new or not so new but post-WB songs with the W2A shows like "I Love U, But...." but for this kind of concerts, its not super necessary. Like I said before, I hope that Prince will play more newer songs as the concerts continue, but I've accepted that I will probably continue to see him do "Kiss" at every show I attend between now and next month and after seeing him do it last week, I don't mind. Live and let live.

Tremolina said:

rialb said:

I think the problem is that with Prince you get virtually the same set every night.

When has it not been like that? Apart from a few exceptions, virtually every tour by every artist, major or small, has a standard setlist and maybe only 3-5 songs that may change.

But why can't Prince by one of the few exceptions? Shucks, even if you are conservative and say that only 1/4 of the songs he has released are worth hearing live that's still an awfully big pile of songs for him to choose from. I have no problem with him doing a tour that has the same basic set that consists of his biggest hits as long as he also does tours that mix up the setlists. We've been getting the hits since 2004, I think most fans are ready for something different.

Prince is still one of the greatest live performers, I think it's reasonable to hold him to a higher standard than most oldies acts that just churn out the hits.

I think he should have a little bit of faith in his new music. I really liked the LotusFlower cd. That was reallly good. But this 20Ten album is just Its as if he didnt even try.

purplecam said:

I totally disagree with the lie that Prince has no faith in his new music. If that's the case, then why record new music, let alone perform it? I honestly think that it has to do with money. When a regular casual fan sees one of their favorite artists, they expect the hits. If they don't get what they want, then the chance is very great that they won't spend their money to see the artist again when they come to town. To me, this is where Prince is. Prince HAS TO do the oldies because it's what people know best, unfortunately. It's a two-edged sword. Great songs but songs that have been beaten to death. I would love nothing more than to hear a bunch of new songs performed live but the only way that's gonna happen is if an aftershow takes place, and even that isn't guaranteed. We're still waiting for that here in NYC.

Also, what hasn't been stated in this thread is that Prince doesn't have a new album to push, so why would he need to do new songs? Of course, with it being Prince, it hasn't stopped him before and he has played some new or not so new but post-WB songs with the W2A shows like "I Love U, But...." but for this kind of concerts, its not super necessary. Like I said before, I hope that Prince will play more newer songs as the concerts continue, but I've accepted that I will probably continue to see him do "Kiss" at every show I attend between now and next month and after seeing him do it last week, I don't mind. Live and let live.

I think Prince can do a tour without the hits but it would have to be on a smaller scale. The One Nite Alone shows were relatively light on the hits and featured a fair bit of new material. As long as people knew going in that the hits would not be featured I think it could work.

rialb said:

purplecam said:

I totally disagree with the lie that Prince has no faith in his new music. If that's the case, then why record new music, let alone perform it? I honestly think that it has to do with money. When a regular casual fan sees one of their favorite artists, they expect the hits. If they don't get what they want, then the chance is very great that they won't spend their money to see the artist again when they come to town. To me, this is where Prince is. Prince HAS TO do the oldies because it's what people know best, unfortunately. It's a two-edged sword. Great songs but songs that have been beaten to death. I would love nothing more than to hear a bunch of new songs performed live but the only way that's gonna happen is if an aftershow takes place, and even that isn't guaranteed. We're still waiting for that here in NYC.

Also, what hasn't been stated in this thread is that Prince doesn't have a new album to push, so why would he need to do new songs? Of course, with it being Prince, it hasn't stopped him before and he has played some new or not so new but post-WB songs with the W2A shows like "I Love U, But...." but for this kind of concerts, its not super necessary. Like I said before, I hope that Prince will play more newer songs as the concerts continue, but I've accepted that I will probably continue to see him do "Kiss" at every show I attend between now and next month and after seeing him do it last week, I don't mind. Live and let live.

I think Prince can do a tour without the hits but it would have to be on a smaller scale. The One Nite Alone shows were relatively light on the hits and featured a fair bit of new material. As long as people knew going in that the hits would not be featured I think it could work.

I am with you 100% on your thread and I believe he would sell out as long as its promoted that it would be focused on whatever album or project he may be promoting. I would love another One Night Alone-type tour.

purplecam said:

I totally disagree with the lie that Prince has no faith in his new music. If that's the case, then why record new music, let alone perform it? I honestly think that it has to do with money. When a regular casual fan sees one of their favorite artists, they expect the hits. If they don't get what they want, then the chance is very great that they won't spend their money to see the artist again when they come to town. To me, this is where Prince is. Prince HAS TO do the oldies because it's what people know best, unfortunately. It's a two-edged sword. Great songs but songs that have been beaten to death. I would love nothing more than to hear a bunch of new songs performed live but the only way that's gonna happen is if an aftershow takes place, and even that isn't guaranteed. We're still waiting for that here in NYC.

Also, what hasn't been stated in this thread is that Prince doesn't have a new album to push, so why would he need to do new songs? Of course, with it being Prince, it hasn't stopped him before and he has played some new or not so new but post-WB songs with the W2A shows like "I Love U, But...." but for this kind of concerts, its not super necessary. Like I said before, I hope that Prince will play more newer songs as the concerts continue, but I've accepted that I will probably continue to see him do "Kiss" at every show I attend between now and next month and after seeing him do it last week, I don't mind. Live and let live.

I think we should wait and see what happens on the 29th and 1/18, as we never know what he may have up his sleeve. He did say in an interview that was posted here, that he does albums for the diehards/collectors of his music, which could be why he doesn't play many of the latest ones at arena shows. He did push some music from the 3121 album, when those shows were headlined as "3121" in Vegas. We shall see.

Once again though, how do we know what those people at MSG want to hear? Or at any large show for an artist, this i always feel is a false belief for a concert. Heres how it works, a show is announced, lets say its a PRINCE show, now they say its going to be at a big arena etc..tickets go on sale and the show sells out, now, U go to that show expecting to see PRINCE, and thats all he owes you! is to be there, the ticket you bought does not say WHAT SONGS he will play, now if its something billed like "greatest hits" tour and you buy it for that belief and then the artist plays thw whole new album u never heard, yeah, you should be pissed. But lets switch this up now, on the Musicology tour all those people that bought tickets as the tour was billed "the hits one LAST time" well how should they feel now that theres another tour with all that material in it start to finish?

TGE tour was a great success

i was amazed that Everyone in glasgow got down wahen i was there for both nights

the reviews were stellar

AND to my memory only ONE hit played which was 7

a VERY VERY brave tour by a major artist

jonylawson said:

hhhhdmt said:

his "fans" including die hard ones are the ones to attack his new music. So how can u expect him to have faith in his new music when majority of his die-hard fans don't?

fuck them!

i guess the diffrence is he used to sell albums

but still he could have toured easily on 3121...ah well

give me the new shit instead of shit that u have heard a thousand times b4

if they wanna hear 1999 and all the songs from the 80's, there is plenty of sources out there 2 hear it

if those that want 2 hear the classics and the causual fan people then stay away from prince live in ur time bubble but i guess time is a trick

andykeen said:

There was a recent interview in Europe, where the interviewer actually asked P why doesn't he play much of his new music live?

P's response was that, when 15,000+ people come to see him, they expect the 'hits'..........

...of course at the larger shows not everyone is gonna be a fan. But to me, this does sound like he has no faith

Imagine a tour of songs from 2000-10...it WOULD BE AWESOME!!

In 2004 P announced that the hits would be retired(I believe he said this in the 90's too)...I think its about time..

and i can expect mayte 2 ring my doorbell in 15 mins doesn't mean it's gonna happen

if any song he should be singing now is slave 2 the system because those expecting 2 hear the hits all the time have now enslaved him and this goes 2 the promoters as well that tell him 2 just stick 2 the hits. this is NOT the prince i came up with cause he would have proudly said

It's not about having/not having faith in his NEW music. It's about knowing the audience. The majority in attendance at huge arena shows aren't prince.org nerds. They want the hits, they pay for the hits, they freak out for the hits Prince knows this. In fact he spoke on this recently

From an interview earlier this year:

But still the records like Purple Rain, Sign O The Times and Parade

are the ones everybody talks about. Isn't it bothering you that all

your work from the past 15year hasn't been that famous/notorious?

No, It's all my music, I'm just as close with my new work as I was earlier on.

I'm still daily in my studio at my house and I still record a lot. There are

three albums ready to release, that mean as much to me as those old records

do to you. A new album from me maybe won't be very impressive to you,

but whose album can be that groundbreaking at the moment?

If the new work means that much to you, why do you play

evening to evening the same old work from the eighties?

Beacause that's what the public comes for. I know that my recent

work is less popular. So if there are 15.000 people here tonight in

the arena, I'm not gonna be obstinate. Do you think it's cool to come

to a party where the DJ is playing unknown music very loudly for

the entire evening? Giving concerts for such a big crowd is still the

thing I like the best. Making records is mostly for the real

collector-fans. But for enjoying my concerts, you don't need to by

my newest albums.

Can it still be fun to play those same old hits every evening?

While you compose a lot of new music?

- Prince graps his guitar and begins to play the old 'Controversy'-

"How can this ever bore me? It's beautiful, right? And I make it

different every time. All the old Prince songs sound different every

evening. Besides, I'm changing my band every few years, with

that it's still a bit exciting for me to. When I was in Belgium earlier

this year, I had a different Bass-play and a different drummer in

my band. That's why I quickly set up this European tour. Don't get

me wrong, but I love Europe. But these concerts are some sort of

rehearsels for my American tour. In fact, I just need about ten

shows before I am in perfect shape.

[Edited 12/23/10 16:55pm]