Just wanted to add my 2 cents about my experiences during Prince concerts:

Parade tour, Rotterdam:

The audience went TOTALLY nuts when he appeared on stage. Right in front of me was this guy who didn't make any sound during the entire evening. He just stood there, holding his arms in the air ALL night. He looked completely hypnotized.

Somewhere halfway the show, Prince ordered the band to stop playing because people in front of the stage were fighting. Prince was pissed and the audience didn't make a sound during that moment. Great show! Prince's first big performance in the Netherlands.

Sign O' The Times, Utrecht:

I had a seat way back in the stadium but a good overall view over the stage. The performance began during daylight, so lighting of the stage was poor at that moment. Performance itself was 100%. Prince on top of his game.

Lovesexy Rotterdam, fist night:

I was all the way up front, right in front of the stage. Speaking of being hypnotized

When he did his guitar solo during Let's Go Crazy, that's exactly what I did..... No piano interludes that night. This was also the opening of the European part of this tour.

Lovesexy Rotterdam, second night: I had a seat way back on the second balcony, so vision was poor because of the distance. The gig was magnificent and that night, he played the piano.

The atmosphere was breathtaking: the whole stadium lit up in red because of the Bengal lights people brought with them.

Lovesexy Dortmund: just watch the tape or listen to the cd's. This one speaks for itself. And Sheila E looked so damn sexy!

One of the best concerts I've ever witnessed.

Nude Tour Rotterdam, first night:

It started out so well, when suddenly after 45 minutes a huge thunderstorm broke loose over our heads. Prince was behind the piano at that moment when suddenly all the water on top of the tarpaulin was lifted by the wind and dropped on Prince's head. He was soaked.

He stood up and left backstage. While everyone in the stadium (who were all soaked as well, but didn't mind) was thinking he was changing clothes, he was already on his way to the hotel.

50,000 people started booing. I hope Prince didn't hear this....This was again the opening of the European part of this tour.

This is probably one of the shortest Prince gigs ever. If it ever has been bootlegged, this should be an interesting one.

Nude Tour Rotterdam, second night:

Because Prince left early the night before due to the rain, he got very poor reviews in the papers. The second night, rain was still falling so a lot of people probably didn't want to go thru the trouble of going to the gig although it was offcially sold out. That second night, maybe 25,000 people were in the stadium which has a capacity of 50,000.....oops!

But overall a wonderful show which was played all the way thru the end.

Nude Tour Dortmund:

Again, I was right in front of the stage. Great show and just like in 1988, the larger part of the audience was Dutch.

Nude Tour Heerenveen:

Great show, but very poor sound (way too loud). I was standing right in front of the speaker towers, so I had a noise in my ears afterwards, that lasted for 3 days.

During the encore, he wore a T-shirt of Lois Lane (Dutch band) who opened for him that night.

In front of me stood this young girl (16 years old, maybe younger) who had a camera and was taking pics. Suddenly, this huge bodyguard came over and ordered the girl to hand over the camera. She said she didnt have a camera (she was holding it behind her back). He told her again to hand over the camera. And again, she said she didn't have any while still holding the camera behind her back.

I was about to take the camera out of her hand to help her out, when the bodyguard lifted her over the fence and took her backstage. I didn't see the girl back again that night. They probably removed the film and kicked her out of the venue... This was the first time I started having my doubts about Prince's staff...

Diamonds & Pearls Tour, Maastricht:

Although I don't remember that much from this one, it was a good gig. The venue wasn't my taste, though. But that's something Prince can't help.

[Edited 10/14/11 1:35am]

[Edited 10/14/11 1:54am]

Nice to read and bring back some memories....

but for the record: Lovesexy didn't start in Rotterdam

http://princevault.com/index.php/Lovesexy_Tour

Okay, thansk for helping me out of the dark here. I always thought it was Rotterdam.

rob1965 said:

Okay, thansk for helping me out of the dark here. I always thought it was Rotterdam.

We got that great start of the Nude tour

did you stop seeing prince after these concerts?

[Edited 10/14/11 1:59am]

Great stories! I would have loved to see one of his aftershows, but unfortunately I haven't up to this day. I remember Prince driving away after one of the Lovesexy shows and the buzz was going around about the aftershow in The Hague (but we didn't know where exactly). We ran to our car and drove like crazy to catch up with his black, blinded limo. But we couldn't keep up with him in our small Subaru, so we lost him on the highway, halfway to The Hague.

rob1965 said:

remko said:

rob1965 said:

Okay, thansk for helping me out of the dark here. I always thought it was Rotterdam.

We got that great start of the Nude tour

did you stop seeing prince after these concerts?

[Edited 10/14/11 1:59am]

Yes, I saw Prince in 1992 for the last time live. But I hope to go see him once more next time he comes over. His gigs belong to the best. As long as it doesn't rain, the reviews of his shows are always 100%.

Prince has always been in my system even though I listened to lots of other artists over the years.

Just recently, I got this book/cd 21 Nights for my bd, so it came all back again!

rob1965 said:

remko said:

We got that great start of the Nude tour

did you stop seeing prince after these concerts?

[Edited 10/14/11 1:59am]

Yes, I saw Prince in 1992 for the last time live. But I hope to go see him once more next time he comes over. His gigs belong to the best. As long as it doesn't rain, the reviews of his shows are always 100%.

Prince has always been in my system even though I listened to lots of other artists over the years.

Just recently, I got this book/cd 21 Nights for my bd, so it came all back again!

You've missed out some good gigs in the meanwhile.

ad as you can read here on the org: the cd of 21 nights is nothing compared to the real shows/afterpshows at the O2.

Prince has just been over here (NL) al lot lately, so who knows when he returns?

Yeah, it might take a while, but i'll be there when he comes.

purpledoveuk said:

I had a couple of memorable/funny experiences....a selection Diamonds & Pearls - Earls Court London. I was absolutely petrified if heights around this time and was unfortunate enough to turn the corner to my seat to find it was in the nosebleeds VERY high up...spent the first 2 songs gripping my seat but soon got over it.Very Loud Act II - Wembley stadium. Absolutely terrible view for fanclub seats but hey....the woman next to me, during an arm waving session, kept grabbing my t-shirt as if she was trying to steal it. My friend at the time was in hysterics as I was trying to fight of this crazy grabby wench. Gold Experience - Birmingham - ticket in hand, walking forward, forward, forward...this can't be right ....centre stage 2nd row close enough to see the slap on his face 3rd Aug (?) 2007 - worst Prince gig I'd been to...very short and he spent so much time messing about on his lift that he spent a good proportion of the show out of sight...I had a horrible gut feeling my love for Princes music had crossed a line because I always thought he found do no wrong live.the bridge in Minneapolis collapsed the day before so MAYBE he had stuff on his mind 21st September 2007 - O2 final night - an adventure - weeks of dangling for a ticket, aftershow ticket got through the goodwill of fellow orger drove down to London early on my own, spent day shopping for baby things, fantastic show except for the guy next to me who insisted on chatting all the way through the main show non stop...about Any Winehouse, hope he played When Daves Cry etc...and when he played Doves the guy screamed and punched me. Then the aftershow where I nearly pissed myself because I refused to go to the toilet incase I missed anything...Amy Winehouse, Beverly Knight, "naw yall don't understand...Giles play the baseline...I got that un my behind" ....and all this tine I couldn't sing along because id lost my voice from the Main show.Aftershow finished about 5am and after nearly 9/10 hrs of Prince I Drove the 150 miles back home buzzing after being up all night. Best Prince show I'd ever been to and up there in top 5 days of my life [Edited 10/14/11 2:24am]

I too was at the 02 main show and aftershow on 21st Sept 2007 - unbelievable. That was my first ever aftershow, and a treat it was! Have seen him twice since, Arras last year and Dublin a few months ago. I have to say the Dublin concert back in July was amazing, maybe coz we were so close too and got to see him... mmmm!!!! Great memories!!

Nothing really exciting to report about the Prince shows I have been to, apart from the fact they were all great apart from Edinburgh '93.

D&P were probably the most spectacular shows imo, but the best for me were the ULE gigs in '95 and ONA in London.

2002 was the last time I attended a Prince gig, I missed all the 21 Nights hoopla.

bobbyperu said:

Yeah, great stories! The Nude Tour in Rotterdam was my first one and what I remember about it was the rain... not much else. But what's the deal, Rob? You stopped going after the Diamonds & Pearls tour? Anyway, I'm not going to make anyone jealous by telllng you how the Melkweg gig (2nd night) was the best ever. If you want to know, it's on the concerts forum. Whattanite...

Yeah,, Melkweg gig was FUNKY!! He opened with What's my name!! I was like: ....this can't be happening...

But those people right in front of me were more like this: ... I could smell the weed all night.. ugh...

bobbyperu said:

Yeah, great stories! The Nude Tour in Rotterdam was my first one and what I remember about it was the rain... not much else. But what's the deal, Rob? You stopped going after the Diamonds & Pearls tour? Anyway, I'm not going to make anyone jealous by telllng you how the Melkweg gig (2nd night) was the best ever. If you want to know, it's on the concerts forum. Whattanite...

You don't want to make anyone jealous, huh?

Well, you just did....

all my prince shows have been exhillerating and crazy experiences!! they have usually involved a whirlwind of chaos throwing a sickie from work, getting last minute fights to foreign lands, trying to negotiate foreign roads, the drama of getting a good spot at the show, no sleep, living only on water & thrills!!!

Forgot to mention that I saw Wendy & Lise live (w/o Prince of course) during Veronica's Rock Night in Rotterdam in I believe 1989.

I'm soooooo jelous!!! Never seen him in concert (I'm a newbie), but I'm desperate!!!!! I think I would just cry and pee my pants with excitement!!

[Edited 10/15/11 13:50pm]

My last was 3121. He rocked the VanAndel Area & it ain't been the same since.

I have seen Prince only once live: his third concert in Rotterdam during the Lovesexy tour, in an open air stadium.

I had a bad seat far up on the tribunes and unfortunately it was extremely windy that day, so the sound was shit. And the sight also..lol.. i remember having to use binoculars to follow what was happening on stage.

Because of the wind and the many medley's that were played it was hard to focus on what happening on stage. So i don't remember a lot from that particular show. But what i remember was that it was Candy Dulfer's first guest spot with Prince. She played with him on Blues In C (If I had a harem). I also remember the audience singing along on Purple Rain.

A few weeks later i saw the live-viewing of the Lovesexy show in Dortmund. It wasn't untill then that i realised what a tremendous show it actually was. But judging on my own experience, it didn't really work in the environment of a way too big, windy stadium.

[Edited 10/17/11 4:16am]

i experienced this uncontrolable urge to......... when i saw him live

Riverman37 said:

I have seen Prince only once live: his third concert in Rotterdam during the Lovesexy tour, in an open air stadium.

I had a bad seat far up on the tribunes and unfortunately it was extremely windy that day, so the sound was shit. And the sight also..lol.. i remember having to use binoculars to follow what was happening on stage.

Because of the wind and the many medley's that were played it was hard to focus on what happening on stage. So i don't remember a lot from that particular show. But what i remember was that it was Candy Dulfer's first guest spot with Prince. She played with him on Blues In C (If I had a harem). I also remember the audience singing along on Purple Rain.

A few weeks later i saw the live-viewing of the Lovesexy show in Dortmund. It wasn't untill then that i realised what a tremendous show it actually was. But judging on my own experience, it didn't really work in the environment of a way too big, windy stadium.

[Edited 10/17/11 4:16am]

Yes, the two open air shows I attended were not a patch on the indoor gigs, despite most of them being in rather soulless venues they were miles ahead in terms of sound, atmosphere etc.

I'm not saying outdoor gigs are shit full stop, i'm just saying the ones I have been to (and not just Prince shows) have been rather lackluster affairs.

[Edited 10/17/11 4:50am]

rob1965 said:

Parade tour, Rotterdam:

Right in front of me was this guy who didn't make any sound during the entire evening. He just stood there, holding his arms in the air ALL night. He looked completely hypnotized.

That was probably a taper. I was next to someone like that at the diamonds & pearls tour and he had taped a small microphone to both hands with the threads running in his sleeves to the recorder he had on his back. Before the show he very politely asked everyone surrounding him not to make too much noise during the show. I was impressed by the fact that he kept his hands in the air for over two hours. Sounds simple, but try it for a while: your shoulders will ache!

Back during the One night Alone Tour, if you were a member of NPGMC you could get tickets to see the soundcheck and get front row seats.

I was a member, but was missing one factor...credit-card. My brother in law had got me membership but I was reluctant to ask him for tickets as well (I would have paid him back but a part of my character is that I hate been in debt or owing people favours)

So I didn't get to the soundchecK.

But I did get tickets through the old fashion way of queuing at the local Wrecka-Stow.

My ticket was for half way down the ground floor seating in The Point Dublin.

That night I arrived in to see NPGMC members up at the front having a great time ...some even seemed to be quietly gloating as most audience membrs probably didn't know about this open soundcheck . I was very disappointed that I haf missed it

Then the lights slowly went down but right beside me, I saw some very serious looking security....I looked around to see if it my man Prince was HERE, but alas no!!

But nearly as good, Maceo Parker was standing right next to me. I called his name, ala the boots I heard with him playing with Prince. He looked quietly stunned and shook my hand.

Then the beat started up and he did his opening solo as he walked up the aisle to the stage.

Then I sat through the best prince concert I've ever been too...if only we had had more room to dance!

But I met Maceo

hjd said:

rob1965 said:

Parade tour, Rotterdam:

Right in front of me was this guy who didn't make any sound during the entire evening. He just stood there, holding his arms in the air ALL night. He looked completely hypnotized.

That was probably a taper. I was next to someone like that at the diamonds & pearls tour and he had taped a small microphone to both hands with the threads running in his sleeves to the recorder he had on his back. Before the show he very politely asked everyone surrounding him not to make too much noise during the show. I was impressed by the fact that he kept his hands in the air for over two hours. Sounds simple, but try it for a while: your shoulders will ache!

No, not this guy: the one I was talking about wasn't a taper. He looked like he was high on whatever stuff he used. His lips were pressed together, his eyes popping out of their sockets and he just stood there with his arms in the air, being completely hypnotized. It was as if he saw God, the moment Prince took the stage.