Marrk said:

Main concerts, Prince is as predictable as Michael became, no doubt about that. I don't mind knocking both. Both devoid of ideas and tied to expectations and the past catalogue. Joe public are not interested in new Prince music.

Madonna is more experimental in concert, despite me not being a fan and the feeling she has less talent, she's just more daring. Good for her. Does that make her a better artist? i don't know, but maybe.

Aftershows don't save Prince either anymore. 'Viage2', i got that boot when released, all instrumentals, Shelby overdose and a bored-sounding Prince. He really sounds done to me.

Dead like Mike.

Its a shame but you got some serious points.

funkomatic said:

While listening to a recording of the concert on Dez. 18th, the thought came to my mind: Prince kills himself creatively by playing the same old songs again and again!

You might say, listen to some aftershows. Of course he does play different stuff sometimes. But still the hit medleys or the old songs are such a dominant part of his stage appearance. It's like a cage, I think he needs to free himself of on a much more regular basis.

A musician needs far more different experiences on stage in order to develop fresh ideas and develop as an artist.

It's a high price you pay, if you are in it for the big dollars.

I would agree with you funk but, Welcome 2 America is yet again, another Greatest Hits show. I do not see Prince performing his obscure jams that we know that someone would not hear on radio or XM radio.

I think it's cool he's giving the mainstream that experience but, I don't think many of the people at any of the shows would have know say ... WAR or Cause & Effect or anything between the ending of the WB years til now. There are a lot of casual fans out there that would be sitting there scratching their heads. I remember going to the Musicology shows (3 of them) and when P was doing a wardrobe change Renato and Mike Philly were playing GOD and a woman behind me asked what song was playing and I yelled out GOD to her and she answered 'what' and I retorted, the song from Purple Rain, GOD and she replied 'Oh, okay' and still had a weird look on her face ... LoL

funkomatic said:

While listening to a recording of the concert on Dez. 18th, the thought came to my mind: Prince kills himself creatively by playing the same old songs again and again!

You might say, listen to some aftershows. Of course he does play different stuff sometimes. But still the hit medleys or the old songs are such a dominant part of his stage appearance. It's like a cage, I think he needs to free himself of on a much more regular basis.

A musician needs far more different experiences on stage in order to develop fresh ideas and develop as an artist.

It's a high price you pay, if you are in it for the big dollars.

I agree with everything you said, completely!

PurpleLove7 said:

funkomatic said:

While listening to a recording of the concert on Dez. 18th, the thought came to my mind: Prince kills himself creatively by playing the same old songs again and again!

You might say, listen to some aftershows. Of course he does play different stuff sometimes. But still the hit medleys or the old songs are such a dominant part of his stage appearance. It's like a cage, I think he needs to free himself of on a much more regular basis.

A musician needs far more different experiences on stage in order to develop fresh ideas and develop as an artist.

It's a high price you pay, if you are in it for the big dollars.

I would agree with you funk but, Welcome 2 America is yet again, another Greatest Hits show. I do not see Prince performing his obscure jams that we know that someone would not hear on radio or XM radio.

I think it's cool he's giving the mainstream that experience but, I don't think many of the people at any of the shows would have know say ... WAR or Cause & Effect or anything between the ending of the WB years til now. There are a lot of casual fans out there that would be sitting there scratching their heads. I remember going to the Musicology shows (3 of them) and when P was doing a wardrobe change Renato and Mike Philly were playing GOD and a woman behind me asked what song was playing and I yelled out GOD to her and she answered 'what' and I retorted, the song from Purple Rain, GOD and she replied 'Oh, okay' and still had a weird look on her face ... LoL

Interesting ... I didn't think I'd have the opportunity to go see Prince for the W2A shows but, wifey surprised me the other morning with tickets. So, in saying that, when I go to the show, I'll let ya know if he's creatively killing himself by playing the old songs, again ... and again ...

I asked wifey if she cared if it was a 'greatest hits' show and she said she didn't care, she just wanted her 'Prince Fix' as she called it ... LoL

[Edited 2/3/11 12:11pm]

toejam said:

I've come to the conclusion that fans that complain that he's just playing the 'some old songs' are mostly too obsessed for their own good and need to branch out a bit more.

The dude is 52. Name one other artist over 50 with the level of celebrity as Prince who doesn't play their 'same old hits' at large arena shows? U2?, Springsteen?, Rolling Stones?, Billy Joel?, Cat Stevens/Yusef?, Madonna?, Michael Jackson? (the This Is It tour was basically going to be a revampled History tour, which was just a revampled Dangerous tour, which was just a revampled Bad tour ). Heck, even the generation that came after him are becoming 'hits' bands - Jamiroquai, Metallica, Foo Fighters etc. And please don't bring up Miles - the comparrisons with him are way misguided for several reasons.

The fact that he does change the arrangements, and still plays the occasional non-hits show (aftershows, Montreux 2009 etc.) is just a bonus.

(Bolded part) Good point.

I think there are four problems with Princes live set in the last 10 years, and none of them involve having to drop the hit. He has to do this for the masses.

Problem 1 - Variation. A lot of people are getting fed up with Raspberry Beret and I feel for you at the moment. He keeps telling us he has so many hits, but he rarely plays some, his biggest hit being the prime example. Why the hell does When Doves Cry not get some rotation? Let alone Sign O The Times, I wanna be your lover, Most Beautiful Girl in the World. Plus others like Pop Life, America, Batdance, New Power Generation, Uptown, I could never take the place of your man. Sure some of them have popped up on occasion, but not as a set regular. Vary the hits Prince. Bruce doesn't do Born in the USA very often, Madge drops Like a Virgin. Prince CAN drop Purple Rain.

Problem 2 - Mix in the new stuff. Prince show has become a revue. Bruce, Madge, U2 etc all squeeze in half a dozen new song. They are often the highlights for fans.

Problem 3 - Play the whole damn song! Why the hell does he think people pay good money to hear him tease with snippets?

Problem 4 - Covers - He dont need them! "So many hits, so little time"? Stop the damn covers then.

End of.

funkomatic said:

While listening to a recording of the concert on Dez. 18th, the thought came to my mind: Prince kills himself creatively by playing the same old songs again and again!

You might say, listen to some aftershows. Of course he does play different stuff sometimes. But still the hit medleys or the old songs are such a dominant part of his stage appearance. It's like a cage, I think he needs to free himself of on a much more regular basis.

A musician needs far more different experiences on stage in order to develop fresh ideas and develop as an artist.

It's a high price you pay, if you are in it for the big dollars.

... now that I've had time to allow the W2A show from Monday to sink in, P is NOT killing himself creatively. Considering the fact that I wasn't a fan of P in his Purple Rain or 1999 days I have to saw the W2A show was one of the BEST shows I've seen him do. He was all over that stage playing a lot of music that I didnt' expect to hear and the after-show which I didn't go to but read and heard what went down was a GREAT show as well.

I repeat, P is not killing himself creatively. The show was AWESOME and I am looking forward to seeing him again, perhaps next time it will be a Minneapolis show at Paisley Park or First Ave again.

Marrk said:

Main concerts, Prince is as predictable as Michael became, no doubt about that. I don't mind knocking both. Both devoid of ideas and tied to expectations and the past catalogue. Joe public are not interested in new Prince music.

Madonna is more experimental in concert, despite me not being a fan and the feeling she has less talent, she's just more daring. Good for her. Does that make her a better artist? i don't know, but maybe.

Aftershows don't save Prince either anymore. 'Viage2', i got that boot when released, all instrumentals, Shelby overdose and a bored-sounding Prince. He really sounds done to me.

Dead like Mike.

Agreed. The only difference is Madonna's cds have continually gone multi platinum and that ended with Prince a long time ago, so much of her concert audience's know her new material where as Prince's don't.

As far as aftershows, I'd much rather go to a main show now considering what the aftershows have become.

SquirrelMeat said:

I think there are four problems with Princes live set in the last 10 years, and none of them involve having to drop the hit. He has to do this for the masses.

Problem 1 - Variation. A lot of people are getting fed up with Raspberry Beret and I feel for you at the moment. He keeps telling us he has so many hits, but he rarely plays some, his biggest hit being the prime example. Why the hell does When Doves Cry not get some rotation? Let alone Sign O The Times, I wanna be your lover, Most Beautiful Girl in the World. Plus others like Pop Life, America, Batdance, New Power Generation, Uptown, I could never take the place of your man. Sure some of them have popped up on occasion, but not as a set regular. Vary the hits Prince. Bruce doesn't do Born in the USA very often, Madge drops Like a Virgin. Prince CAN drop Purple Rain.

Problem 2 - Mix in the new stuff. Prince show has become a revue. Bruce, Madge, U2 etc all squeeze in half a dozen new song. They are often the highlights for fans.

Problem 3 - Play the whole damn song! Why the hell does he think people pay good money to hear him tease with snippets?

Problem 4 - Covers - He dont need them! "So many hits, so little time"? Stop the damn covers then.

End of.

I can get with this. EVERYBODY knows When Doves Cry, why not throw that into a setlist? America too.. the damn "tour" is called WELCOME TO AMERICA FFS and the lyrics are still relevant. Sign O The Times got a little play on Monday, but again, just like you said the snippets and medleys kill me, and it's not just Prince, I hate medleys at ANY concert I go to.

He's got a little (HUGE?) ego tho, so he knows that no matter WHAT he plays, folks will eat it up. But you do make some really excellent points here. Disco Heat? I mean I like Sylvester as much as the next person, but this ain't 1978 boo boo. You're dating yourself. And if you wanna pull out songs from 78 why don't you pull out I'm Yours for the TRULY old school P fan.

And yes, please. Drop Purple Rain.

I could complain, but I won't because I understand sort of the nature of Prince. He just does what he feels like doing. I had a grand old time at the shows I went to and boring setlist or not, I'd consider seein him again if this tour returns to NYC.

[Edited 2/10/11 18:43pm]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, these gigs are Prince's day job. He's got bills to pay too!

motherfunka said:

Agreed. The only difference is Madonna's cds have continually gone multi platinum and that ended with Prince a long time ago, so much of her concert audience's know her new material where as Prince's don't.

True but, keep in mind that Madonna's music is still 'commercial' P's music, not so much.

P's an independent artist now and has been since he left WB.

Shows like W2A will give him more commercial appeal but, then you have 20Ten out now and people in the U.S. like me cannot get it unless you go to eBay or know someone over-seas (I have the album, btw). That's what makes his music get lost with the 'casual fans' or Purple Rain Fans. Not 'us' ...

Being at the last show in NYC on the 7th I noticed something. When Prince went into 'Dreamer' most of the audience settled down and just listened because they didn't know it. I was the only person in my section singing along. When he played the songs everyfan says he play the audience went wild and were singing and dancing along. He's has to play the hits at a venue that large to please the audience. If it was a smaller club gig he's going to be more eclectic with his song choices. You can't please the hardcore fanbase at a large venue like MSG without having about 65-75% of the audience totally lost on what song is being played. Also nobody in my section knew what 'Laydown' was either.

PurpleDiamond2009 said:

Other old skool artists such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springteen even Micheal Jackson when he was still alive, all these artirts have played their old hits while performing and not one fan has made a complaint about it.

Huh???? The Beatles???

The werent on tour for the last 40 years... And when did the Beatles-Greatest-Hits Tour happen, that you are talking about?????