Prince opened with it last night in Amsterdam. Just saw the video of it. so, so cool.

Hopefully more obscure jams find their way into the setlist

Oh, he played "Chocolate" last night too, and "Mutiny".

So much for him playing the same old songs, eh?

Militant said:

Prince opened with it last night in Amsterdam. Just saw the video of it. so, so cool.

Hopefully more obscure jams find their way into the setlist

Oh, he played "Chocolate" last night too, and "Mutiny".

So much for him playing the same old songs, eh?

Yup, one show changes the countless others over that past few years that have had nearly identical setlists.

TwiliteKid said:

Militant said:

Prince opened with it last night in Amsterdam. Just saw the video of it. so, so cool.

Hopefully more obscure jams find their way into the setlist

Oh, he played "Chocolate" last night too, and "Mutiny".

So much for him playing the same old songs, eh?

Yup, one show changes the countless others over that past few years that have had nearly identical setlists.

Make that two shows, because at the other Amsterdam performance he played "Gold" and "Chocolate"

Actually, make that three shows. In Luxembourg he played "Calhoun Square", "I Like It There", "Something In The Water" and "When Will We B Paid?". "Endorphinmachine" has made appearances recently too.

add the three Rotterdam shows, where "I Like It There", "The Love We Make", "Dear Mr Man", "When We're Dancing Close & Slow", "Colonized Mind", "Bambi", "The ? Of U", "The One", "Empty Room", "Girl", and "Future Soul Song" all made appearances.

None of these songs mentioned are set regulars and have all been played recently.

Obviously he plays hits at stadium shows, that's what casual fans pay to hear. But it's simply not true to say he plays the same songs over and over.

I love those songs

Militant said:

TwiliteKid said:

Yup, one show changes the countless others over that past few years that have had nearly identical setlists.

Make that two shows, because at the other Amsterdam performance he played "Gold" and "Chocolate"

Actually, make that three shows. In Luxembourg he played "Calhoun Square", "I Like It There", "Something In The Water" and "When Will We B Paid?". "Endorphinmachine" has made appearances recently too.

add the three Rotterdam shows, where "I Like It There", "The Love We Make", "Dear Mr Man", "When We're Dancing Close & Slow", "Colonized Mind", "Bambi", "The ? Of U", "The One", "Empty Room", "Girl", and "Future Soul Song" all made appearances.

None of these songs mentioned are set regulars and have all been played recently.

Obviously he plays hits at stadium shows, that's what casual fans pay to hear. But it's simply not true to say he plays the same songs over and over.

waaaat gold? can't ask for more.. it's cool he did that

Militant said:

TwiliteKid said:

Yup, one show changes the countless others over that past few years that have had nearly identical setlists.

Make that two shows, because at the other Amsterdam performance he played "Gold" and "Chocolate"

Actually, make that three shows. In Luxembourg he played "Calhoun Square", "I Like It There", "Something In The Water" and "When Will We B Paid?". "Endorphinmachine" has made appearances recently too.

add the three Rotterdam shows, where "I Like It There", "The Love We Make", "Dear Mr Man", "When We're Dancing Close & Slow", "Colonized Mind", "Bambi", "The ? Of U", "The One", "Empty Room", "Girl", and "Future Soul Song" all made appearances.

None of these songs mentioned are set regulars and have all been played recently.

Obviously he plays hits at stadium shows, that's what casual fans pay to hear. But it's simply not true to say he plays the same songs over and over.

Except that it is. A handful of surprises at a handful of shows don't cancel out the patterns of the last few years. The Welcome 2 America shows were particualrly bad for following nearly identical setlists.

When the rarely heard songs outweigh the old tired shit, get back to me.

Edit: I just checked the Amsterdam setlist. You're overlooking a whole lot of same old, same old there, dude. It's cool that he played "Gold" and "Chocolate", but the rest of the set is nearly identical to other shows he's played recently.

This "we don't have a setlist" claim of Prince's is CLEARLY bullshit.

[Edited 7/26/11 15:21pm]

TwiliteKid said:

Militant said:

Make that two shows, because at the other Amsterdam performance he played "Gold" and "Chocolate"

Actually, make that three shows. In Luxembourg he played "Calhoun Square", "I Like It There", "Something In The Water" and "When Will We B Paid?". "Endorphinmachine" has made appearances recently too.

add the three Rotterdam shows, where "I Like It There", "The Love We Make", "Dear Mr Man", "When We're Dancing Close & Slow", "Colonized Mind", "Bambi", "The ? Of U", "The One", "Empty Room", "Girl", and "Future Soul Song" all made appearances.

None of these songs mentioned are set regulars and have all been played recently.

Obviously he plays hits at stadium shows, that's what casual fans pay to hear. But it's simply not true to say he plays the same songs over and over.

Except that it is. A handful of surprises at a handful of shows don't cancel out the patterns of the last few years. The Welcome 2 America shows were particualrly bad for following nearly identical setlists.

When the rarely heard songs outweigh the old tired shit, get back to me.

Edit: I just checked the Amsterdam setlist. You're overlooking a whole lot of same old, same old there, dude. It's cool that he played "Gold" and "Chocolate", but the rest of the set is nearly identical to other shows he's played recently.

This "we don't have a setlist" claim of Prince's is CLEARLY bullshit.

[Edited 7/26/11 15:21pm]

WetDream said:

TwiliteKid said:

Except that it is. A handful of surprises at a handful of shows don't cancel out the patterns of the last few years. The Welcome 2 America shows were particualrly bad for following nearly identical setlists.

When the rarely heard songs outweigh the old tired shit, get back to me.

Edit: I just checked the Amsterdam setlist. You're overlooking a whole lot of same old, same old there, dude. It's cool that he played "Gold" and "Chocolate", but the rest of the set is nearly identical to other shows he's played recently.

This "we don't have a setlist" claim of Prince's is CLEARLY bullshit.

[Edited 7/26/11 15:21pm]

Mate, you just got completely owned by Militant, letitgo, eh?

Lol. Look at the sad little Prince-apologist, coming to his Internet buddy's aid. Is the truth really so hard for you fams to accept?

There really is no room for debate here: I'm not going to waste my time pulling together list, but head over to PrinceVault and scroll through the setlists from the last couple years. What do you see? The same batch of 12 or 14 songs played over and over and over again, often in the exact same order. The W2A shows specifically were so templated that it got to the point that I only needed to look at the first few songs played to know what the rest of the show was like.

It's great that Prince has dug a little deeper recently (I honestly thought we'd never see "Gold" played again), and I hope he continues down that path, but a handful of songs at a handful of shows doesn't make up for years of shows with nearly identical sets. Nor does a couple of huge surprises at the Amsterdam show ("Gold", "Chocolate") change the fact that the rest of the set was Prince and the band on autopilot.

I know you fammies hate it when anyone says anything remotely negative about Prince, but you can't deny that its been years now since Prince regularly broke free from the same small core of songs. Trying to use a smattering of examples to argue otherwise is some seriously faulty math.

Edit: And before you go that route, let me just say that I understand completely why he plays the same stuff: it's alll about the money, and you gotta play what people want to hear. I get that. It's also true that I don't feel the need to listen to each and every bootleg, so I'm not even that bugged by the repetition personally. But to use every little deviation from the standard set to argue that Prince doesn't play the same songs repeatedly smacks of desperation.

[Edited 7/26/11 16:29pm]

This is actually an interesting piece of work. Maybe one idea too little, but still worth it.

TwiliteKid said:

WetDream said:

Mate, you just got completely owned by Militant, letitgo, eh?

Lol. Look at the sad little Prince-apologist, coming to his Internet buddy's aid. Is the truth really so hard for you fams to accept?

There really is no room for debate here: I'm not going to waste my time pulling together list, but head over to PrinceVault and scroll through the setlists from the last couple years. What do you see? The same batch of 12 or 14 songs played over and over and over again, often in the exact same order. The W2A shows specifically were so templated that it got to the point that I only needed to look at the first few songs played to know what the rest of the show was like.

It's great that Prince has dug a little deeper recently (I honestly thought we'd never see "Gold" played again), and I hope he continues down that path, but a handful of songs at a handful of shows doesn't make up for years of shows with nearly identical sets. Nor does a couple of huge surprises at the Amsterdam show ("Gold", "Chocolate") change the fact that the rest of the set was Prince and the band on autopilot.

I know you fammies hate it when anyone says anything remotely negative about Prince, but you can't deny that its been years now since Prince regularly broke free from the same small core of songs. Trying to use a smattering of examples to argue otherwise is some seriously faulty math.

Edit: And before you go that route, let me just say that I understand completely why he plays the same stuff: it's alll about the money, and you gotta play what people want to hear. I get that. It's also true that I don't feel the need to listen to each and every bootleg, so I'm not even that bugged by the repetition personally. But to use every little deviation from the standard set to argue that Prince doesn't play the same songs repeatedly smacks of desperation.

[Edited 7/26/11 16:29pm]

Can you name another artist as succesful as Prince (ie, ones that still fill out arenas and stadiums etc) that has more varied setlists?

The point is that if Prince and the band were "on autopilot", you'd only ever hear hits. I just named 18 songs in the post above that only hardcore fans would even know, and ALL of them have been played in the last month.

Hell, at one of the London shows I was at in '07, he played "A 1000 Hugs and Kisses", unreleased from '94. In the main show. To 25,000 people. I mean, most people here on the org probably don't even know that song, let alone at that show. Who else does stuff like that?

Militant said:

TwiliteKid said:

Lol. Look at the sad little Prince-apologist, coming to his Internet buddy's aid. Is the truth really so hard for you fams to accept?

There really is no room for debate here: I'm not going to waste my time pulling together list, but head over to PrinceVault and scroll through the setlists from the last couple years. What do you see? The same batch of 12 or 14 songs played over and over and over again, often in the exact same order. The W2A shows specifically were so templated that it got to the point that I only needed to look at the first few songs played to know what the rest of the show was like.

It's great that Prince has dug a little deeper recently (I honestly thought we'd never see "Gold" played again), and I hope he continues down that path, but a handful of songs at a handful of shows doesn't make up for years of shows with nearly identical sets. Nor does a couple of huge surprises at the Amsterdam show ("Gold", "Chocolate") change the fact that the rest of the set was Prince and the band on autopilot.

I know you fammies hate it when anyone says anything remotely negative about Prince, but you can't deny that its been years now since Prince regularly broke free from the same small core of songs. Trying to use a smattering of examples to argue otherwise is some seriously faulty math.

Edit: And before you go that route, let me just say that I understand completely why he plays the same stuff: it's alll about the money, and you gotta play what people want to hear. I get that. It's also true that I don't feel the need to listen to each and every bootleg, so I'm not even that bugged by the repetition personally. But to use every little deviation from the standard set to argue that Prince doesn't play the same songs repeatedly smacks of desperation.

[Edited 7/26/11 16:29pm]

Can you name another artist as succesful as Prince (ie, ones that still fill out arenas and stadiums etc) that has more varied setlists?

i agree with this. all the pop acts do the same setlists over and over again. prince is one of the few switching it up!

Militant said:

TwiliteKid said:

Lol. Look at the sad little Prince-apologist, coming to his Internet buddy's aid. Is the truth really so hard for you fams to accept?

There really is no room for debate here: I'm not going to waste my time pulling together list, but head over to PrinceVault and scroll through the setlists from the last couple years. What do you see? The same batch of 12 or 14 songs played over and over and over again, often in the exact same order. The W2A shows specifically were so templated that it got to the point that I only needed to look at the first few songs played to know what the rest of the show was like.

It's great that Prince has dug a little deeper recently (I honestly thought we'd never see "Gold" played again), and I hope he continues down that path, but a handful of songs at a handful of shows doesn't make up for years of shows with nearly identical sets. Nor does a couple of huge surprises at the Amsterdam show ("Gold", "Chocolate") change the fact that the rest of the set was Prince and the band on autopilot.

I know you fammies hate it when anyone says anything remotely negative about Prince, but you can't deny that its been years now since Prince regularly broke free from the same small core of songs. Trying to use a smattering of examples to argue otherwise is some seriously faulty math.

Edit: And before you go that route, let me just say that I understand completely why he plays the same stuff: it's alll about the money, and you gotta play what people want to hear. I get that. It's also true that I don't feel the need to listen to each and every bootleg, so I'm not even that bugged by the repetition personally. But to use every little deviation from the standard set to argue that Prince doesn't play the same songs repeatedly smacks of desperation.

[Edited 7/26/11 16:29pm]

Can you name another artist as succesful as Prince (ie, ones that still fill out arenas and stadiums etc) that has more varied setlists?

The point is that if Prince and the band were "on autopilot", you'd only ever hear hits. I just named 18 songs in the post above that only hardcore fans would even know, and ALL of them have been played in the last month.

Hell, at one of the London shows I was at in '07, he played "A 1000 Hugs and Kisses", unreleased from '94. In the main show. To 25,000 people. I mean, most people here on the org probably don't even know that song, let alone at that show. Who else does stuff like that?

Springsteen instantly leaps to mind. He's got a core batch of songs that he plays all the time too, but a) it's a smaller group b) it's offset but a much wider range of surprises from night to night c) Bruce still reguarly plays 3 hours shows (Prince's typical set has been much closer to 2 hours for a while now), so the percentage of each show taken up by the core is smaller.

I'm thrilled to see each and every one of those 18 songs show up, but (and I'm repeating myself here) surrounding 1 or 2 surprises a night with the same set, in the same order, sure seems like autopilot to me. There are exceptions, to be sure, like the recent Melkweg shows, but the proof is out there: Go to see Prince in 2011 and you can likely predict what you'll hear before the show begins.

TwiliteKid said:

Militant said:

[...]

Springsteen instantly leaps to mind. He's got a core batch of songs that he plays all the time too, but a) it's a smaller group b) it's offset but a much wider range of surprises from night to night c) Bruce still reguarly plays 3 hours shows (Prince's typical set has been much closer to 2 hours for a while now), so the percentage of each show taken up by the core is smaller.

I'm thrilled to see each and every one of those 18 songs show up, but (and I'm repeating myself here) surrounding 1 or 2 surprises a night with the same set, in the same order, sure seems like autopilot to me. There are exceptions, to be sure, like the recent Melkweg shows, but the proof is out there: Go to see Prince in 2011 and you can likely predict what you'll hear before the show begins.

Well... tonight was my 6th concert of Prince in 17 (or 18) days (a musical trip of a lifetime) and after the 3 North Sea Jazz concerts and 2 'De Melkweg' concerts I thought I could predict tonights show pretty fairly. But the first song (Gold) blew my predictions straight in the wind.

Of course the set Let's Go Crazy/Delirious/1999/Little Red Corvette/Take Me With U is well known to all people who frequently attend concerts of Prince - especially in the last couple of years. But tonight he threw in Chocolate, Let's Work (full with all lyrics), Jungle Love, The Bird and U Got The Look as small surprises. Never thought the would do that in a regular show targeted at the main audience (who don't come to see Prince doing material only known on bootlegs - they don't even know the word bootleg! - or tracks recorded by The Time (who??? they don't even know The Time was the challanging band in the movie Purple Rain) or unknown (to them) songs from the pre-1999 period).

I understand your point of view about repeating the same songs over and over - especially recently at the American tour. Yesterday I made a statement here that if you take the effort to attend the special concerts you're in for a nice surprise. But tonight showed a regular concert can be surprising just as much... For the count of the variety I experienced in the 6 shows mentioned above, well... he played 110 songs in full length (without the first hour of Sunday's concert at De Melkweg and all so called interpolations), comprised of 80 different tracks and in total 31 songs I never heard live by Prince before.

Of course I realize I am spoiled with the concerts I mentioned above and understand you didn't get that in LA, North Carolina or New York. But your complaints about predictbale setlists I cannot subscribe. Were there repeats? Of course. But I challenge you: go and see any other artist 6 times in 17 (or 18) days and report back how many different songs you heard. If that tops 80 songs... I salut them and you. Until then all I can say is... have fun at the next tour of Bruce Springsteen

Militant said:

TwiliteKid said:

Yup, one show changes the countless others over that past few years that have had nearly identical setlists.

Make that two shows, because at the other Amsterdam performance he played "Gold" and "Chocolate"

Actually, make that three shows. In Luxembourg he played "Calhoun Square", "I Like It There", "Something In The Water" and "When Will We B Paid?". "Endorphinmachine" has made appearances recently too.

add the three Rotterdam shows, where "I Like It There", "The Love We Make", "Dear Mr Man", "When We're Dancing Close & Slow", "Colonized Mind", "Bambi", "The ? Of U", "The One", "Empty Room", "Girl", and "Future Soul Song" all made appearances.

None of these songs mentioned are set regulars and have all been played recently.

Obviously he plays hits at stadium shows, that's what casual fans pay to hear. But it's simply not true to say he plays the same songs over and over.

ohhh my god.

i cant.. i dont even, like.. idk. im so jealous of the people that were at those shows.

He opened with 'What's My Name'?

I've got to see this with my own eyes.

TwiliteKid said:

Yup, one show changes the countless others over that past few years that have had nearly identical setlists.

Absolutely spot on. Nothing else to add. This thread could be closed any time now.

Oh, but yes: Prince's arsehole must taste delicious!

Militant said:

So much for him playing the same old songs, eh?

I realise you do love to debate, so I guess this might be a bit of a wasted post, but just in case, wanted to suggest that you consider switching your topic audience to those who are interested in hearing the updates, rather than debating the same thing over and over with people who aren't going to change their opinions until Prince is consistently doing substantially different setlists. And even then, you might be pushing the proverbial stuff uphill.

The point is that last line provokes debate. It is highly unlikely that anyone who's previously debated that he uses the same setlist was going to see this post and go, "Oh, wow. You know what? You're right." It served no other purpose than to add fuel to the fire (unless of course, that's what you wanted).

Personally though, I love the surprises and was absolutely thrilled to see that he played Gold last night!

But then, I had an absolute ball in LA last month too because it was my second time seeing him and I loved the setlist, regardless of how 'regular' it would have been judged as being.

I just feel that, rather than trying to prove people wrong and convince them that you're right, you might as well just target threads like these to those who are actually interested. I wonder how many wouldn't have even bothered debating the point if there was no bait to take?

In any case, thanks for the updates. I knew of some of them, but that's a great list

Militant said:

"Chocolate"

................ .........

Ok. Could anybody download all the recordings from the recent shows (let's say from 2010-11), extract the songs that have only been played once or a couple of times, and make a compilation? That would save me a lot of time. I haven't bothered to download anything from the recent years, because, you know, the setlists look boring.

Chiquetet said:

Militant said:

So much for him playing the same old songs, eh?

I realise you do love to debate, so I guess this might be a bit of a wasted post, but just in case, wanted to suggest that you consider switching your topic audience to those who are interested in hearing the updates, rather than debating the same thing over and over with people who aren't going to change their opinions until Prince is consistently doing substantially different setlists. And even then, you might be pushing the proverbial stuff uphill.

The point is that last line provokes debate. It is highly unlikely that anyone who's previously debated that he uses the same setlist was going to see this post and go, "Oh, wow. You know what? You're right." It served no other purpose than to add fuel to the fire (unless of course, that's what you wanted).

Personally though, I love the surprises and was absolutely thrilled to see that he played Gold last night!

But then, I had an absolute ball in LA last month too because it was my second time seeing him and I loved the setlist, regardless of how 'regular' it would have been judged as being.

I just feel that, rather than trying to prove people wrong and convince them that you're right, you might as well just target threads like these to those who are actually interested. I wonder how many wouldn't have even bothered debating the point if there was no bait to take?

In any case, thanks for the updates. I knew of some of them, but that's a great list

Yeah, you're right.

it doesn't matter about the song choice. him and his lounge band will butcher them free of their original greatness.

NouveauDance said:

Militant said:

"Chocolate"

................ .........

If he did that one in that ol nasty bob george style. Then we're talking