Wembley Arena, London March 3rd 1995

This was the first concert of ‘The Ultimate Live Experience’ tour.

Despite many fans were disappointed to hear a setlist mainly comprised of new tunes they were unfamiliar with, time has proven it was a wise choice: to this day, the Gold Era remains a fan favourite.

It's just been released!

If you descend to the hells you'll find it...

way too much TDK on thattour.

vitriol said:

If you descend to the hells you'll find it...

It's a great show and another fine release.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/4DF_WembleyArena3395_iTunes.jpg[/img:$uid]

^Well, I was unsure whether we could post covers or not...

vitriol said:

Despite many fans were disappointed to hear a setlist mainly comprised of new tunes they were unfamiliar with, time has proven it was a wise choice: to this day, the Gold Era remains a fan favourite.

This pissed off so many people at the time. I remember seeing a lot of people walking out of shows on this tour. On top of the name change and WB debacle, it might've been the last straw for some.

Not me though, I knew the stuff from boots, and I remember bopping along to 'Now!' and loving it!

That, I'll never understand.

How can people leave a concert before it's over (and some even ask to get their money back!) on one of Prince's most beloved eras and certainly his best in the 90s.

I could understand people walking out of the 20Ten and W2A tours, asking to have their money back and even demanding to be paid for the horror they've partially witnessed...

I went to see Prince at the Gmex in Manchester during his gold era, it was the first time I was seeing him in concert, and I was at the peak of my fandom at the time. I was expecting lovesexy and SOTT style performance quality having seen and obsessed about those videos, I got drum loops and samples and some pretty crap tunes. To say I was dissapointed was an understatement.

I've only had the chance to see him once since then, at the O2 during his 21 nights, conversly I'd describe that as the best concert I've ever been to.

I was at this show. Probably my favourite tour, although not the best night.

I already had the bootleg of the Gold album, so for me, it was a dream come true. Prince playing all the latest stuff and not hits. Days of wild, Now and Gold were off the scale. I love U in me was a highlight too.

The show worked best in the smaller venues. The Dublin Point was the best I witnessed and probab ly my favourite regular Prince show in the 150 or so I have seen.

The aftershows at the London Emproium later that month were my favourite aftershow gigs too.

The whole Come / Gold / Exodus thing was off the chain. Loved it. The last great era.

If I could wave a magic wand now, I would have Prince only perform his new material today. He gives a much more energised performance because he is so into the message he is trying to send out. 20Ten could be much more of an event if he got fully behind it.

vitriol said:

That, I'll never understand.

How can people leave a concert before it's over (and some even ask to get their money back!) on one of Prince's most beloved eras and certainly his best in the 90s.

I could understand people walking out of the 20Ten and W2A tours, asking to have their money back and even demanding to be paid for the horror they've partially witnessed...

LMAO!!! So true, my man. So true!

But I also don't understand why people would leave BEFORE the damn thing is over. How would they know he wasn't going to play one of the "hits" (though we knew he wasn't) towards the end, unless they stuck around for all of it??! Simpletons.

Bewdy said:

I went to see Prince at the Gmex in Manchester during his gold era, it was the first time I was seeing him in concert, and I was at the peak of my fandom at the time. I was expecting lovesexy and SOTT style performance quality having seen and obsessed about those videos, I got drum loops and samples and some pretty crap tunes. To say I was dissapointed was an understatement.

This, to me, was the biggest fall back of the Gold tour. All of the damn samples and loops being triggered. With the band that he had at the time, there was almost nothing that needed to have been "sampled" save for a backing vox or two. This is why when people say that the 93-95 NPG is their favorite band of his, I just can't get down with it. I'll always think the SOTT/Lovesexy band is his greatest, but I won't even entertain that thought because of what the NPG ultimately became during that era.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Bewdy said:

I went to see Prince at the Gmex in Manchester during his gold era, it was the first time I was seeing him in concert, and I was at the peak of my fandom at the time. I was expecting lovesexy and SOTT style performance quality having seen and obsessed about those videos, I got drum loops and samples and some pretty crap tunes. To say I was dissapointed was an understatement.

This, to me, was the biggest fall back of the Gold tour. All of the damn samples and loops being triggered. With the band that he had at the time, there was almost nothing that needed to have been "sampled" save for a backing vox or two. This is why when people say that the 93-95 NPG is their favorite band of his, I just can't get down with it. I'll always think the SOTT/Lovesexy band is his greatest, but I won't even entertain that thought because of what the NPG ultimately became during that era.

I have to kind of agree. I wasn't a fan of Prince at that time so I didn't see him live but seeing video and hearing live performances of this era it can be very disappointing to hear so many prerecorded tracks being used. Sometimes it seems like only the lead vocals and guitar are actually live. Some of the prerecorded backing vocals can be a bit distracting and overpowering. It kind of makes him look a bit hypocritical when he starts going on about "real music by real musicians."

I went to two shows on this tour, and while I agree with some of what has been said in the posts above, I personally had an excellent time. It's easy to look back now and pick out little faults and things that could or should not have been with these shows, but on the whole the music was and is top fucking drawer imo.

A thread about the pros and cons of this tour could go on forever, but let's not get too distracted with all that.

This thread is about another great release from 4DF, and for them we should be grateful that this show now exists in this quality, I know I am.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Bewdy said:

I went to see Prince at the Gmex in Manchester during his gold era, it was the first time I was seeing him in concert, and I was at the peak of my fandom at the time. I was expecting lovesexy and SOTT style performance quality having seen and obsessed about those videos, I got drum loops and samples and some pretty crap tunes. To say I was dissapointed was an understatement.

This, to me, was the biggest fall back of the Gold tour. All of the damn samples and loops being triggered. With the band that he had at the time, there was almost nothing that needed to have been "sampled" save for a backing vox or two. This is why when people say that the 93-95 NPG is their favorite band of his, I just can't get down with it. I'll always think the SOTT/Lovesexy band is his greatest, but I won't even entertain that thought because of what the NPG ultimately became during that era.

I'm guessing that the 87-88 tours had quite a lot of prerecorded stuff as well (especially Lovesexy).

TheDigitalGardener said:

I went to two shows on this tour, and while I agree with some of what has been said in the posts above, I personally had an excellent time. It's easy to look back now and pick out little faults and things that could or should not have been with these shows, but on the whole the music was and is top fucking drawer imo.

A thread about the pros and cons of this tour could go on forever, but let's not get too distracted with all that.

This thread is about another great release from 4DF, and for them we should be grateful that this show now exists in this quality, I know I am.

Sorry, but I still think this was one of his worst tours ever.

Good that it is on some quality release by now tho.

Not that prince would bother.

But I won't be chasing it

^^

IstenSzek said:

Oh how times have changed. From people walking out of shows because there were too many new songs, to right now, where most setlists look like carbon copies of the last. Admitting, there are positive signs on the setlists from the last 4 shows.

Thank you, Isten! This probably needs a new thread, but look at the recent setlists: Beginning Endlessly, Laydown, Endorphinmachine (!), She's Always in my Hair, When Eye Lay My Hands, 17 Days, Joy In Repetition....now we're talking! Maybe it took him a while to warm up, but the setlists are looking bettter and more varied than previously. A good sign.

MartyMcFly said:

I'm guessing that the 87-88 tours had quite a lot of prerecorded stuff as well (especially Lovesexy).

There is a difference between miming to backing tracks and samples etc and filling in studio parts that no one on stage is playing. Watching Prince perfrom 319 listening to a guitar he or on one else was playing is not a great sight. He could have killed the guitar on that song live.