That front page headline is a little harsh, doncha think?

Militant said:

That front page headline is a little harsh, doncha think?

Right. People always assume the worst when it comes to Prince cancelling concerts. Why is everybody always picking on him?

foreign said:

go2theMax said:

No explanation was given except an email that says "he could not be there that day", which is saturday. The Show was part of a festival Black2Black that's gonna happen in Rio de Janeiro this weekend...

http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/prince+cancela+show+no+rio+de+janeiro/n1597173740851.html

Any official news?

[Edited 8/23/11 18:37pm]

[Edited 8/23/11 18:38pm]

as 4 now, there's nothing new. But some web pages with credibilty has reported that the organization sent them a statement sayin' that it's not gonna happen and thursday they will let people know how get their refunds. Prince doens't have that much fans in Brazil..well it's been 20 years since he has been here..the one and only time he ever made a concert here. Most of his recent albums were not even released here (mostly becuz of the way he chose 2 distribute them)...but he sure has enough hard core and casual fans 2 get maximum audience in at least one big concert.

802 said:

How many fans does he have in Brazil, anyway?

- Not that many. This concert would be a chance to have new fans, maybe. Anyway, why did he agree to participate (probably signed a CONtract), even knowing he didnt have so many fans as in Europe?

HonestMan13 said:

If Prince was the sole performer at the 'festival' and there's no other performers then they'll issue refunds. If there's other artists performing then there's still a show to be seen.

- Well, but lots of people bought tickets for him only (and he would have an exclusive big stage only for him. The other concerts of the festival will happen in different places).

There is no denying that sometimes an artist has to cancel a show for a myriad of reasons. Legitimate or not. But doesn't it just seem like this kind of stuff always happens when Prince is involved? Maybe it's common among other artists too? I follow Prince closely so do I just notice him more than others? Although I do follow quite a few other artists and don't seem to see strange things happen like this.

My point is...how many times do you have to be disappointed before you stop making excuses for the man? After a while it just gets old. As that great speaker George W. Bush once said: "Fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again". Pure poetry.

Bosco said:

I am not hating Prince because I dont know the reasons of the cancelling. Maybe the event organizers didnt provide him the stuff he asked for. I am just sad because it´s been 20 years since he performed here (and I missed it).

GustavoRibas said:

I am not hating Prince because I dont know the reasons of the cancelling. Maybe the event organizers didnt provide him the stuff he asked for. I am just sad because it´s been 20 years since he performed here (and I missed it).

Dublin 2008

Dallas 2010

Now this 5 days out.

I believe all of these were with very little notice and after most fans had already bought plane tickets and booked hotel rooms, etc.

imago said:

Dublin 2008

Dallas 2010

Now this 5 days out.

I believe all of these were with very little notice and after most fans had already bought plane tickets and booked hotel rooms, etc.

One thing Prince might consider if he hypothetically cared about what fans think is that this doesn't just lose him possible revenue from those cancelled shows. I seriously considered going to LA for the 21 Night Stand or whatever it was, but I was sufficiently burned by having the Dallas concert cancelled that I couldn't justify buying plane tickets and renting a hotel room. Sure, I could have gotten a partial refund or whatever but it's not worth the risk in this economy. I can confirm that the ticket holders in Dallas didn't get notice that the concert was cancelled until it was already supposed to have started, by which point it would have been impossible to get a hotel refund. In fact, the notice came from an orger who happened to be there, not from the official organizers, let alone Prince's people.

If Prince is ambivalent about playing at certain venues, he shouldn't book them in the first place. He doesn't seem to care about much these days other than making money, but these cancellations are bad for business.

[Edited 8/23/11 21:40pm]

(Soon to be read on Dr. Funkenberry's website)

"Prince said his last tour would be the Act II tour in 1993. So anything after 1993 is just a bonus!"

Has anyone ever made a thread about all of Prince's non-truths?

Free the music!

electricberet said:

One thing Prince might consider if he hypothetically cared about what fans think is that this doesn't just lose him possible revenue from those cancelled shows. I seriously considered going to LA for the 21 Night Stand or whatever it was, but I was sufficiently burned by having the Dallas concert cancelled that I couldn't justify buying plane tickets and renting a hotel room. Sure, I could have gotten a partial refund or whatever but it's not worth the risk in this economy. I can confirm that the ticket holders in Dallas didn't get notice that the concert was cancelled until it was already supposed to have started, by which point it would have been impossible to get a hotel refund. In fact, the notice came from an orger who happened to be there, not from the official organizers, let alone Prince's people.

If Prince is ambivalent about playing at certain venues, he shouldn't book them in the first place. He doesn't seem to care about much these days other than making money, but these cancellations are bad for business.

That's the #1 reason I didn't fly down for any of the L.A. shows.

#1. Fear that the shows might be canceled.

#2. The Forum is a dump.

#3. Little interest in hearing the same material again... and again... and again...

And besides, the good stuff showed up on the internet, saving me $$$ in flight/hotel costs. If he wants to put out a DVD, I'll buy it. I might watch it once though. I never made it through a single viewing of the Rave Tour DVD, and watched the horrible video quality Aladdin DVD (maybe) once.

A shame, considering this is the guy that gave us the SOTT film. Sucks that an artist of his caliber blew his wad on a concert film when he was only 29. He may have become a better musician since then, but does anyone really believe that he'll ever put out a concert DVD better than the SOTT film?

Pretty sad. Even though the 1993 Sacrifice of Victor had some great moments (Peach, The Ride, the guitar solo from "Call The Law"), it had an unfortunate amount of cringeworthy moments as well...

So disappointing...

suomynona said:

electricberet said:

One thing Prince might consider if he hypothetically cared about what fans think is that this doesn't just lose him possible revenue from those cancelled shows. I seriously considered going to LA for the 21 Night Stand or whatever it was, but I was sufficiently burned by having the Dallas concert cancelled that I couldn't justify buying plane tickets and renting a hotel room. Sure, I could have gotten a partial refund or whatever but it's not worth the risk in this economy. I can confirm that the ticket holders in Dallas didn't get notice that the concert was cancelled until it was already supposed to have started, by which point it would have been impossible to get a hotel refund. In fact, the notice came from an orger who happened to be there, not from the official organizers, let alone Prince's people.

If Prince is ambivalent about playing at certain venues, he shouldn't book them in the first place. He doesn't seem to care about much these days other than making money, but these cancellations are bad for business.

That's the #1 reason I didn't fly down for any of the L.A. shows.

#1. Fear that the shows might be canceled.

#2. The Forum is a dump.

#3. Little interest in hearing the same material again... and again... and again...

And besides, the good stuff showed up on the internet, saving me $$$ in flight/hotel costs. If he wants to put out a DVD, I'll buy it. I might watch it once though. I never made it through a single viewing of the Rave Tour DVD, and watched the horrible video quality Aladdin DVD (maybe) once.

A shame, considering this is the guy that gave us the SOTT film. Sucks that an artist of his caliber blew his wad on a concert film when he was only 29. He may have become a better musician since then, but does anyone really believe that he'll ever put out a concert DVD better than the SOTT film?

Pretty sad. Even though the 1993 Sacrifice of Victor had some great moments (Peach, The Ride, the guitar solo from "Call The Law"), it had an unfortunate amount of cringeworthy moments as well...

So disappointing...

I will go see another Prince concert if he comes to my town (or a town I'm in for some other reason), if the tickets are sold through a reputable outfit like Ticketmaster that will refund the full amount if it's cancelled, and if I have no other pressing obligations that night.

A far cry from 1988 when I begged and pleaded and went on a diet for months to get my dad to drive me 8 hours to Denver to see the Lovesexy tour (the closest he came to my small town). He did, and it was worth it.

I'm not expecting any sympathy, though, from fans in places like Brazil that he hasn't visited in decades. Exactly what the heck is going on with this dude? How is this sustainable as a business model? Sigh... nothing ever changes in Prince world. What else is new?

imago said:

Dublin 2008

Dallas 2010

udo said:

imago said:

Dublin 2008

Dallas 2010

Helsinki 2010
Geneva 2010 (twice, and yes he chose the local promotor/producer)

Holy shit.

Prince really doesn't give a toss about his fans, does he?

electricberet said:

How is this sustainable as a business model? Sigh... nothing ever changes in Prince world. What else is new?

LOL. There is no business model. Prince isn't trying to keep fans, or make new ones at this point. He plays for himself, Larry, Tina and Jehovah. If he cared about his fans, he would tour like normal bands do. He would work with Warner on remasters. He would let his fans know via a website he didn't charge $77 to be a member of, that he isn't going to be playing in Dallas or Rio after all -- and that he's sincerely sorry for the inconvenience he caused. He could give a Fuck about those fans that flew in to those cities to see him.

Most of us have the ORG on a news feed that occasionally *blips* with news that has nothing to do with why we became fans in the first place. We hope that an actual tour is announced. Or remasters. Everything else is kind of pointless at this stage of his career.

Even last year when 20Ten came out. He claims that he doesn't want us to steal his music, yet he won't put it on iTunes for us to buy -- giving us no other alternative but to download his album for free off the internet?

Said it before, and someone else will say it again. Prince leaving Warner was the worst decision that he made (in a very long list of shitty decisions). Once he severed ties with the only people that had the power to say, "No" to Prince, things just went downhill.

Again, I don't visit this site on a regular basis. I have it on a newsfeed -- and this is the only kind of crap that ever comes up. Where he has once again done something not positive to another part of his fanbase. At this point it is only about the music. Either he'll perform in the city I live in or he won't. I really don't care one way or the other. Remasters? That's about all I am hoping for anymore.

However, the only thing Prince seems to enjoy remastering since Larry & Tina came into his life is varying levels of disappointment. Can I get a Kirky J. remix of that?

I think we need to be fair to Prince, though.

Nobody warned him that brazil was a place that didn't enforce a burqa rule.

Maybe someone might be bothered doing some stats on what percentage of shows artists cancel on average.

Prince has had to cancel a number of concerts, yes, but he also tours a heck of a lot - possibly moreso than most acts that would be subject to the same level of fan scrutiny.

I'm not saying there isn't a problem here - some of those cancellations did seem a little fishy, I know - but since he tends not to release any info about his side of the story, in many cases we'll never know. Just like we currently don't know what's prompted this cancellation and, perhaps if we knew, most people would have a different attitude towards it all.

Absolutely none of this changes the fact that it is obviously terribly sad for those who planned to see him in Rio, particularly those with travel plans in order to do so, but I don't see why this should be another reason for people completely unaffected by this news to go another round of Prince-bashing.

I also find it interesting that the fact that he was doing a concert in Brazil was never considered important enough to be a news item on the homepage, but within hours (if not less) of this thread being created, it hit the front page - a pattern for all the bad news stories and so rarely true for the good ones.

Chiquetet said:

Maybe someone might be bothered doing some stats on what percentage of shows artists cancel on average.

Prince has had to cancel a number of concerts, yes, but he also tours a heck of a lot - possibly moreso than most acts that would be subject to the same level of fan scrutiny.

I'm not saying there isn't a problem here - some of those cancellations did seem a little fishy, I know - but since he tends not to release any info about his side of the story, in many cases we'll never know. Just like we currently don't know what's prompted this cancellation and, perhaps if we knew, most people would have a different attitude towards it all.

Absolutely none of this changes the fact that it is obviously terribly sad for those who planned to see him in Rio, particularly those with travel plans in order to do so, but I don't see why this should be another reason for people completely unaffected by this news to go another round of Prince-bashing.

I also find it interesting that the fact that he was doing a concert in Brazil was never considered important enough to be a news item on the homepage, but within hours (if not less) of this thread being created, it hit the front page - a pattern for all the bad news stories and so rarely true for the good ones.

Because it reminds us of the various occasions when we've been jerked around in the past? Thus offering a chance to reminisce about those fond memories.

udo said:

Hmmm.
See http://www.nypost.com/p/n...VHnQQ3sWON for an old article mentioning cancellations by others hurting company performance.
No wonder he loves Europe if $69 was too expensive for the general ticket buyer.

That's another whole angle to this. Whenever Prince cancels a concert, that adds to the risk that promoters have to take into account in negotiating with him. Nobody likes to make a contract with someone who is likely to breach it.

Chiquetet said:

Maybe someone might be bothered doing some stats on what percentage of shows artists cancel on average.

Prince has had to cancel a number of concerts, yes, but he also tours a heck of a lot - possibly moreso than most acts that would be subject to the same level of fan scrutiny.

I'm not saying there isn't a problem here - some of those cancellations did seem a little fishy, I know - but since he tends not to release any info about his side of the story, in many cases we'll never know. Just like we currently don't know what's prompted this cancellation and, perhaps if we knew, most people would have a different attitude towards it all.

Absolutely none of this changes the fact that it is obviously terribly sad for those who planned to see him in Rio, particularly those with travel plans in order to do so, but I don't see why this should be another reason for people completely unaffected by this news to go another round of Prince-bashing.

I also find it interesting that the fact that he was doing a concert in Brazil was never considered important enough to be a news item on the homepage, but within hours (if not less) of this thread being created, it hit the front page - a pattern for all the bad news stories and so rarely true for the good ones.

1. Prince doesn't tour like an average band does anymore. Not since Musicology (?) has he toured on a regular basis. Why? Because it's more about the money. If Prince can make more money playing 50 nights in a row at a Holiday Inn in Wyoming -- instead of hitting 50 different cities to play to as many fans as possible, then that's what he's going to do.

2. Prince is the *ONLY* artist that I can think of that doesn't stay in touch with fans on tour information. Most artists have a Facebook page, or an official Twitter account -- or even an official website. That sword cuts both ways when it comes to Prince. 95% of what comes out of Prince's mouth, I could do without -- so I am pretty happy about the lack of social networking that Prince does. I miss the pre-internet days where we would get a interview when a new album came out -- and that's it. When it was about the music -- and fuck warner for not putting out a 3 disc version of SOTT. Instead, everytime Prince opens his trap, we end up on the ORG saying, "WTF did Prince say?" Ugh. So yeah, an official site would be nice, but none of us are ignorant enough to think that he would use it to say, "Hey -- I'm sorry, can't make it to Rio -- so and so had chlamydia, and now I do. Thus, my vocal chords are screwed up. And you don't have to tell me. Nobody wants to hear Shelby sing anymore than she already is at concerts, so I'm canceling. I'm sorry, please forgive me." That would never happen. No version of it. The only time you'd hear something is that it's time to re-up at $77777 for 7 more months.

3. People bash Prince because that's the environment that Prince has created for fans of his music. If he didn't say, "Fuck YOU" at every turn, then people wouldn't be this way. Fans are just as guilty. Took me a while to learn that. So I added the ORG for news stories in case there was a tour, or news of remasters -- but again -- the only news that ever comes up is a different remix of Prince's version of 3 girls and a cup.

4. Are you serious? The only reason this made the front page is because otherwise fans in Rio (and those unfortunate fans that flew in for Rio) would not hear about it otherwise. Nobody visits Dr. Funkenberry's website on a regular basis hoping for Prince news. They go there when it is linked to from the ORG. The only way Prince fans are told anything of value is through the ORG. It's been that way since Ben started this website, and unfortunately Prince never learns from mistakes (thedawn.com, love4oneanother.com, lotusflow3r.com, npgmc.com), so this will remain the only website to get the truth about what is going on musically with Prince. That is why this news story made the front page.

Lastly, kudos to whoever made this a front page news story. If you saved anyone that long-ass flight -- made it possible for them to get their money back for their hotel room, etc, then you deserve to be applauded in my book.

electricberet said:

Because it reminds us of the various occasions when we've been jerked around in the past? Thus offering a chance to reminisce about those fond memories.

Fair enough.

I guess I just offer the counter-balance then, as someone who booked flights, hotels, etc... before that coming weekend's LA tickets were even confirmed on a hope and a prayer and managed to book them minutes before racing out to the airport bus the mornning of my trip when they were finally released.

There are good news stories like mine, which I realise I'm very blessed to have, and there are bad news stories like yours and this latest one which are truly awful.

I guess, at the end of the day, I just don't like this constant portrayal of Prince as this cold, money-grubbing business man who doesn't care about his fans and isn't even good at doing the business he's said to be so focused on, etc... I'm not saying there aren't problems, but I just don't think he's as cold-hearted or uncaring as some people here seem to think.

The ones who truly feel screwed over by him, ok. But it becomes infectious, and suddenly people who have never had a bad experience start slamming him for not caring and being greedy, etc... based soley on the wounded words of others.

So I'm just adding my unwounded words to the discussion, I suppose.

electricberet said:

That's another whole angle to this. Whenever Prince cancels a concert, that adds to the risk that promoters have to take into account in negotiating with him. Nobody likes to make a contract with someone who is likely to breach it.

Haha. It's Prince. Seriously. He can do whatever he wants. If one company won't work with him, another will. Prince doesn't give a fuck who it is as long as he gets paid. He'll retire long before he burns every bridge.

suomynona said:

3. People bash Prince because that's the environment that Prince has created for fans of his music. If he didn't say, "Fuck YOU" at every turn, then people wouldn't be this way. Fans are just as guilty. Took me a while to learn that. So I added the ORG for news stories in case there was a tour, or news of remasters -- but again -- the only news that ever comes up is a different remix of Prince's version of 3 girls and a cup.

Agreed.

4. Are you serious? The only reason this made the front page is because otherwise fans in Rio (and those unfortunate fans that flew in for Rio) would not hear about it otherwise.

This has validity, but then surely, if that's the case (and that's of course an unreasonable level of responsibility for a fan site, despite the fact that there's certainly truth to it), then why are the concerts not announced there too?

Why is there little to no info about the 30 or so shows he's just done all across Europe?

What about the awesome show he did at Malahide in Ireland, where he apologised, effectively for Croke Park ("Sorry it took so long to come to you")?

Not a squeak about the rave reviews for many of his gigs, but the moment things went wrong with the sound in Cologne, straight to the front page.

Brazil didn't rate a mention on the homepage until there was a scandal about him cancelling - and suddenly, Ireland gets a passing mention. Pity it wasn't for the great show at Malahide.

I try not to whinge about things on this site, particuarly things like the news, as I know the mods are so thin on the ground atm, trying their best to keep the place afloat, but when I see the bad news posted so quickly after such long good news droughts, it makes me sad.

But of course none of this helps the poor sods who are missing out this weekend.

I accept the whole "Prince gets the fans that he deserves" philosophy - I guess I'm just playing my part

Chiquetet said:

electricberet said:

Because it reminds us of the various occasions when we've been jerked around in the past? Thus offering a chance to reminisce about those fond memories.

Fair enough.

I guess I just offer the counter-balance then, as someone who booked flights, hotels, etc... before that coming weekend's LA tickets were even confirmed on a hope and a prayer and managed to book them minutes before racing out to the airport bus the mornning of my trip when they were finally released.

There are good news stories like mine, which I realise I'm very blessed to have, and there are bad news stories like yours and this latest one which are truly awful.

I guess, at the end of the day, I just don't like this constant portrayal of Prince as this cold, money-grubbing business man who doesn't care about his fans and isn't even good at doing the business he's said to be so focused on, etc... I'm not saying there aren't problems, but I just don't think he's as cold-hearted or uncaring as some people here seem to think.

The ones who truly feel screwed over by him, ok. But it becomes infectious, and suddenly people who have never had a bad experience start slamming him for not caring and being greedy, etc... based soley on the wounded words of others.

So I'm just adding my unwounded words to the discussion, I suppose.

I just posted this in another thread but might as well post it here:

I don't know what everybody else thinks, but I don't think of Prince as a cold, money-grubbing business man. I think of him more as a freaky guy who's obsessed with religion and sex and happens to be terrible at making business decisions. He obviously doesn't care much about his fans unless they're young, nubile females, which I am not. But it doesn't get me down. On the other hand, people certainly have the right to bitch when he pulls his latest stunt. If he doesn't like the bitching he can have Dr. Funkenberry release a news bulletin or release a song about it. Or not. I learned my lesson after the Dallas non-concert and don't need to be taught it again.

suomynona said:

electricberet said:

That's another whole angle to this. Whenever Prince cancels a concert, that adds to the risk that promoters have to take into account in negotiating with him. Nobody likes to make a contract with someone who is likely to breach it.

Haha. It's Prince. Seriously. He can do whatever he wants. If one company won't work with him, another will. Prince doesn't give a fuck who it is as long as he gets paid. He'll retire long before he burns every bridge.

Chiquetet said:

4. Are you serious? The only reason this made the front page is because otherwise fans in Rio (and those unfortunate fans that flew in for Rio) would not hear about it otherwise.

This has validity, but then surely, if that's the case (and that's of course an unreasonable level of responsibility for a fan site, despite the fact that there's certainly truth to it), then why are the concerts not announced there too?

Why is there little to no info about the 30 or so shows he's just done all across Europe?

What about the awesome show he did at Malahide in Ireland, where he apologised, effectively for Croke Park ("Sorry it took so long to come to you")?

Not a squeak about the rave reviews for many of his gigs, but the moment things went wrong with the sound in Cologne, straight to the front page.

Brazil didn't rate a mention on the homepage until there was a scandal about him cancelling - and suddenly, Ireland gets a passing mention. Pity it wasn't for the great show at Malahide.

I try not to whinge about things on this site, particuarly things like the news, as I know the mods are so thin on the ground atm, trying their best to keep the place afloat, but when I see the bad news posted so quickly after such long good news droughts, it makes me sad.

But of course none of this helps the poor sods who are missing out this weekend.

I accept the whole "Prince gets the fans that he deserves" philosophy - I guess I'm just playing my part

Exactly my thoughts (in bold)! Such a great European tour with all enthusiastic reviews and lots of fantastic concerts ... no mention on the front page! But Cologne got a headline, and now the cancelled Rio concert!! What a shame!!!

Why not mention that he made up for previous Helsinki, Dublin and Switzerland cancellations on this tour?? It really is sad.

And I know that has nothing to do with the Brazilian fans being disappointed now, and I understand their feelings about it. But since it has been mentioned about the news that are being put on first page on this site, I had to share these thoughts as well.