I couldn't agree more with this.

vitriol said:

Attending a concert and being there comprises much more aspects apart from the music that actually comes out from the PA.

I was just listening to this recording and, honestly, when I managed to finish listening to cd1 I was very afraid I won't be bothered listening to cd2.

Had I been at the concert, I would've probably had a good time but because of those all other aspects that help shaping 'the full concert experience'.

Back home, listening strictly to what came off the PA, I would probably think the same: load o'crap.

Actually attending a concert and just listening to a recording of it are uncomparable things.

But... when I listen to boots of concerts from his best eras I can have the time of my life listening to gigs that I unfortunately couldn't attend (the first time I was able to see Prince live at last was in 90).

So, there's definitely a big difference between old concerts and recent ones: the former are sheer joy to listen to even if you weren't there and the new ones can be only enjoyed whilst being there and not because of the music strictly, but because all those 'satellite aspects' of the concert (the preparatives, the journey, the friends, the people you will meet, the nerves of thinking it might be his best concert ever, the atmosphere...).

So whilst I appreciate the effort and the aim of your thread I can only say that if he keeps on making lame records or playing lame concerts I don't even care if he's here or not.

i can understand what you are saying to a point vitriol...but listening to the boot can never give you the true concert experience...i watch old concerts from time to time and..in my view...he is a better live performer now than he was in the 80s...he is a better musician and his voice has gotten better...i agree that his recorded work isnt as good as the 80s but i dont agree with you that its all crap now...he still produces great work...just not as frequently as his heyday but...come on...what artist does keep up classic albums for 30 odd years ?...no one...stevie wonder is one of the greats but hasnt made a really good album in over 30 years...

.

all the greats have their run of creative growth and prince had an amazing run of classic albums...he has nothing left to prove to anyone...

He will be appreciated more when he's gone.

^Otherwise, he'll sue those who tell him off from his grave.

vitriol said:

In a word, and before dodging the stones that will surely be thrown at me I can conclude that the post-ONA Prince is a totally different musician and performer to the one he was until then.

A musician I'm not at all interested in. Neither live nor on wax.

Hell, his post-ONA gigs even make the 96-2001 tours sound acceptable, when they used to rank amongst the worst of his career!!

so you enjoyed his one nite alone tour shows ?...surely that is down to the fact that he didnt play many hits on those shows...they were a bit more free and open...it sounds to me like you are just jaded hearing the hits all the time more than how he is playing ?...as i have said on here before...i LOVED the one nite alone tour...the best concert i have ever seen but i can understand why he plays the hits on these big tours so thats fine...not all his fans are as hardcore as me or others on this website...hopefully he will play another small venue tour and delve into that amazing back catalogue of his a bit more and maybe i will see you there

.

.

Great thread.

I had the same revelation with his 21 Night Stand shows in L.A. I saw him four times and that was only because the first of the four shows blew me away and the following shows just got better. I also noticed, for the first time really, the audience around me and how thrilled they all seemed. People from all walks of life were grooving to the funk. This past 12 months have been a doozy for me in reference to live shows. I've been to tons of concerts, club gigs, etc. from various artists and not one of them could come close to the energy Prince has on stage (Robyn's gigs come close in reference to high-energy but that's about it.). I made the decision to quit dissing Prince. To quit being pissed off because of his religion, his internet antics, his politics etc. Basically, I gave up wanting Prince to live up the image of him I created, or that he created back in the 80s.

I have a new found respect and appreciation for the man who's been providing the soundtrack to my life since I was ten years old.

vitriol said:

In a word, and before dodging the stones that will surely be thrown at me I can conclude that the post-ONA Prince is a totally different musician and performer to the one he was until then.

I agree with you on the recordings, but live, I think he's a more solid musician, and entertainer than the 80's. Nothing replaces the energy of hearing the classics live in the era they came out, but between you and me, Prince didn't always look like he wanted to be on stage. It could get boring watching him kick the mic stand, then swing it around his leg during every damn song. The scenes where he bolts off stage seemingly mid song during Purple Rain...? A little more reality based than you can tell when listening back to boots. So while I'm a sucker for the nostalgia, it's really hitting me that he's at the top of his craft now. Maybe not composing, but performing. Watch his 80's new wave dancing in the original music video performances where he's just hopping up and down without any skill, and it's sort of mind blowing to see him today.

Great thread

It's good that we can understand how much he means to each one of us while he's still here. I know people often compare his "glorious years", like "Purple Rain" tour and others to nowaday's Prince tours. Time has changed, so did we, the fans and Prince. We need to learn how to appreciate him the way he is.

blackbob said:

i was at the hop farm festival gig in a kentish field in england which was amazing...i dont know how he continues to play those songs and always make them sound so fresh and uplifting...he definately converted lots of music followers on sunday...you need to see prince live before you fully understand his appeal...he does have off nights but they are few and far between...

.

during the gig ...he played a bit of michael jackson's 'dont stop til you get enough'...which he is obviously doing as a small tribute to him....i was never a big mj fan but i..of course..appeciated his undoubted talents and he was a great star in his own right..mj was one of the great artists of the 80s as prince was .....it got me thinking that we really should be appeciating the fact that this fantastic artist prince is still with us and still putting on amazing live shows...i really dont think there is anyone around like him...he is one of the last music greats from the 20th century still doing his stuff to a high standard and anyone who hasnt seen him live really should try and catch him before he hangs up his high heels for the last time...that might be a long time away but you can never be sure how long he will continue for..

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i sometimes moan on here about his behavior and daft interview quotes but i always keep in mind what he has added to my life...his music is the soundtrack to my life and he will always be a very important figure to me and i am glad i and many others can still enjoy prince while he is still on this earth..

Great comments Bob and you're right, let's appreciate things while we have them, for sure!

vitriol said:

In a word, and before dodging the stones that will surely be thrown at me I can conclude that the post-ONA Prince is a totally different musician and performer to the one he was until then.

A musician I'm not at all interested in. Neither live nor on wax.

Hell, his post-ONA gigs even make the 96-2001 tours sound acceptable, when they used to rank amongst the worst of his career!!

Can I ask what are you waiting around for specifically then? You seem to have not cared for any output since ONA and yet you still collect it for some reason? I've asked this of other orgers and always got some lame one liner back as a response but never a honest answer. What are you hoping will happen for you as a fan if you keep up with his current output?

I think Prince's fanbase is too jaded to admit that they'll miss him when he does retire or passes away. I'm sure MJ fans wish he's got it together sooner so they could've had those O2 shows to cherish. Prince doing thw W2A shows reminded me thathe hadn't played NYC in 6 years(Musicology) and then 6 years before that(NewPowerSoul). I hope he doesn't stop anytime soon because I love the music old and new and enjoy the shows and the people I meet as a result. Prince's music has given me such great memories and hell it got me laid in high school several dozen times. I even met 2 future girlfriends after the D&P show at Radio City in the Subway buying bootleg t-shirts from a friend. Such great memories and fun times can't be replaced.

When it comes to his music and what he's brought in the 33 years since he emerged, I'll always respect and love him for that. Even with his personal opinions, it doesn't really faze me even if I do criticize him on how he uses it in a public forum but nonetheless I do appreciate him while he's still alive. He's a legend, can't take that away from him.

Totally agree...I think I wrote something on FB or here when I got home after the Hop Farm, about that we are so lucky that we have had such a genius in our life time, I know my life would be very different...not directly because of Prince music, but that he got me to open my mind to other things and try not to be part of a mass...if he didnt exist

Thanks for posting this. Very nice.

Ahh this thread is making me all misty eyed y'all....

I just wanna say, the way I feel about Prince is simply sumed up in his own immortal line..

'Those kind of cars don't pass you every day..'

And I think, in the case of Prince.. that is absolutely true, and we should treasure him...

TheResistor said:

Great thread.

I had the same revelation with his 21 Night Stand shows in L.A. I saw him four times and that was only because the first of the four shows blew me away and the following shows just got better. I also noticed, for the first time really, the audience around me and how thrilled they all seemed. People from all walks of life were grooving to the funk. This past 12 months have been a doozy for me in reference to live shows. I've been to tons of concerts, club gigs, etc. from various artists and not one of them could come close to the energy Prince has on stage (Robyn's gigs come close in reference to high-energy but that's about it.). I made the decision to quit dissing Prince. To quit being pissed off because of his religion, his internet antics, his politics etc. Basically, I gave up wanting Prince to live up the image of him I created, or that he created back in the 80s.

I have a new found respect and appreciation for the man who's been providing the soundtrack to my life since I was ten years old.

What a great post!

He is and always will be an important factor in my life and even though I know everyone must die when its their turn; I won't dwell on what the world would be like without the man or his music. Prince....Keep on bringin the Funky Music and yes, at times, the drama.

vitriol said:

Attending a concert and being there comprises much more aspects apart from the music that actually comes out from the PA.

I was just listening to this recording and, honestly, when I managed to finish listening to cd1 I was very afraid I won't be bothered listening to cd2.

Had I been at the concert, I would've probably had a good time but because of those all other aspects that help shaping 'the full concert experience'.

Back home, listening strictly to what came off the PA, I would probably think the same: load o'crap.

Actually attending a concert and just listening to a recording of it are uncomparable things.

But... when I listen to boots of concerts from his best eras I can have the time of my life listening to gigs that I unfortunately couldn't attend (the first time I was able to see Prince live at last was in 90).

So, there's definitely a big difference between old concerts and recent ones: the former are sheer joy to listen to even if you weren't there and the new ones can be only enjoyed whilst being there and not because of the music strictly, but because all those 'satellite aspects' of the concert (the preparatives, the journey, the friends, the people you will meet, the nerves of thinking it might be his best concert ever, the atmosphere...).

So whilst I appreciate the effort and the aim of your thread I can only say that if he keeps on making lame records or playing lame concerts I don't even care if he's here or not.

All hail King Vitriol!! I agree with you a thousand times, dude, and I've been saying exact same thing. You can feel the energy and emotion in what Prince was playing in his old concerts, and now, it's like there's a lifeless body up on stage doing a bad impression of Prince...at it shows.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

vitriol said:

Attending a concert and being there comprises much more aspects apart from the music that actually comes out from the PA.

I was just listening to this recording and, honestly, when I managed to finish listening to cd1 I was very afraid I won't be bothered listening to cd2.

Had I been at the concert, I would've probably had a good time but because of those all other aspects that help shaping 'the full concert experience'.

Back home, listening strictly to what came off the PA, I would probably think the same: load o'crap.

Actually attending a concert and just listening to a recording of it are uncomparable things.

But... when I listen to boots of concerts from his best eras I can have the time of my life listening to gigs that I unfortunately couldn't attend (the first time I was able to see Prince live at last was in 90).

So, there's definitely a big difference between old concerts and recent ones: the former are sheer joy to listen to even if you weren't there and the new ones can be only enjoyed whilst being there and not because of the music strictly, but because all those 'satellite aspects' of the concert (the preparatives, the journey, the friends, the people you will meet, the nerves of thinking it might be his best concert ever, the atmosphere...).

So whilst I appreciate the effort and the aim of your thread I can only say that if he keeps on making lame records or playing lame concerts I don't even care if he's here or not.

All hail King Vitriol!! I agree with you a thousand times, dude, and I've been saying exact same thing. You can feel the energy and emotion in what Prince was playing in his old concerts, and now, it's like there's a lifeless body up on stage doing a bad impression of Prince...at it shows.

i can appreciate from the boots that a tour like parade or purple rain, shows i never attended, were better than diamonds and pearls or act 2, of which i was at loads. he needs some fire back in his belly, to stop playing it safe. his music (you know the shit i mean) means too much to me to go and see prince murder it live.

Enough with the death talk live life!

ItsGonnaBLonely said: