Of course he could (and has). But he knows the crowd is a little louder and a little bigger when he does his hits.

Plus, even a non-hits show by Clapton is fairly by-the-book. When prince gets unconventional, he really does lose people.

Good thread...Prince keeps telling us were not ready!....baby were more than qualified!

He would fill arenas but not as many. The hits have an obvious place in his setlist but I also think he should include more songs that were not hits. There are a lot of songs that he never plays and his core fanbase would appreciate if he played some of those.

i saw duran duran the other day & i wanted to hear the hits & couldn't care less about their new stuff!! i wanted girls on film & rio!

when i see paul weller i want going undergroud & pretty greens! when i saw blondie i wanted atomic & rapture!!

but prince is the exception. he's played his hits to death, i would prefer all his new stuff, sod purple rain & take me with u, little red shitting corvette

Prince played a no hits tour in Europe in 95. A few people were walking out.

Casual fans and concert goers need to know that they're not going to be bored for 2 hours because they didn't hear the songs they know - not saying it's a good thing, just how it is.

I think post-2004 Prince has rebuilt the trust with this audience that he isn't going to go all psychobabble on them or play a show on unreleased/unknown stuff.

NouveauDance said:

I think post-2004 Prince has rebuilt the trust with this audience that he isn't going to go all psychobabble on them or play a show on unreleased/unknown stuff.

I think you are right--but it is about the trust of his very casual audience, not his die hards.

But an image is a difficult thing to change, and slowly he is doing it. Not that it is the direction that I particularly want him to go, but it is working for him.

We ask why he keeps doing his hits. Because that is where the money is at the moment, and he obviously likes playing to an excited crowd (not to mention he has ALWAYS played his hits, with very few exceptions)

Fact is, Prince's last few albums have been designed to promote his tours, not the other way around.

The guy has so many hits that if he plays just enough, the crowd will be happy whenever he goes off to covers and deep cuts. Sure the fans want to hear the deep cuts more than the casual audience, but that's the same case with the fanbase of every other artist/musician. Personally I think Mr. P strikes a nice balance between the two, and you'll never know what to expect if you go to a show.

(In contrast another music legend who I also happen to like, Paul McCartney, his shows are so regimented there is really no fun to them. 95% of the songs he plays are his hits, and mostly Beatles-era tracks. Maybe a few juggernaut Wings hits thrown in for good mixture. But you almost never get deep cuts with him in concert. "Stranglehold" is such obvious concert fodder, and "Daytime Nighttime Suffering" is one his greatest compositions. Yet to my knowledge he's ever done them.)

RRA said:

Fact is, Prince's last few albums have been designed to promote his tours, not the other way around.

The guy has so many hits that if he plays just enough, the crowd will be happy whenever he goes off to covers and deep cuts. Sure the fans want to hear the deep cuts more than the casual audience, but that's the same case with the fanbase of every other artist/musician. Personally I think Mr. P strikes a nice balance between the two, and you'll never know what to expect if you go to a show.

(In contrast another music legend who I also happen to like, Paul McCartney, his shows are so regimented there is really no fun to them. 95% of the songs he plays are his hits, and mostly Beatles-era tracks. Maybe a few juggernaut Wings hits thrown in for good mixture. But you almost never get deep cuts with him in concert. "Stranglehold" is such obvious concert fodder, and "Daytime Nighttime Suffering" is one his greatest compositions. Yet to my knowledge he's ever done them.)

I agree, and Paul is also very strict in his interpretation. When you hear Can't Buy Me Love, it's going to be as close to the record as possible. At least Prince changes the arrangements a little.

ConsciousContact said:

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[Edited 1/25/17 13:42pm]

lopez568 said:

NDRU said:

I think you are right--but it is about the trust of his very casual audience, not his die hards.

But an image is a difficult thing to change, and slowly he is doing it. Not that it is the direction that I particularly want him to go, but it is working for him.

We ask why he keeps doing his hits. Because that is where the money is at the moment, and he obviously likes playing to an excited crowd (not to mention he has ALWAYS played his hits, with very few exceptions)

Agreed. Even when he reached his 'peak' in 84, he was playing 'hits' from his past. I think we often hear complaints about an artist always playing the same hits, but fans fail to realise that they probably really enjoy playing these songs. Prince must have lost count how many times he's played Purple Rain, but yet a rendition such as the one in Milan 2010 proves how inspiring he still finds the song and think of the people who may have found him through this performance.

p.s. you have the funniest sig on this board

During that Musicology tour, there was a rumour going around that Prince was bored to death of the tour setlist 3/4 in.

You can imagine that a musician of Prince's caliber is always looking to find new grooves, new songs, new sounds, new scales, new melodies, etc. These are the things that intrigue musicians - if you play music, you'll understand that thirst. Sounds ignite something in us when we play.

The guy is very likely bored with having to play the hits but I imagine the cash strapped side of Prince is simply going through the motions on this Welcome 2 Canada tour. The first night in Toronto was pathetic - the lighting and videographers didn't have a clue as to what was happening during that show. Was the band rehearsed? Absolutely. Was the show ready for a public audience? No way!

This dude is grabbing cash right now for all of those court cases he's been embroidelled in.

J

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[Edited 1/25/17 13:43pm]

funkmunki said:

Good thread...Prince keeps telling us were not ready!....baby were more than qualified!

Some of us are. Not a single orger mentioned 'Shockadelica' in the sampler set at the show on the 13th. They didn't know it otherwise it would 've stood out from the other tracks.

lopez568 said:

jayARDAHB said:

During that Musicology tour, there was a rumour going around that Prince was bored to death of the tour setlist 3/4 in.

You can imagine that a musician of Prince's caliber is always looking to find new grooves, new songs, new sounds, new scales, new melodies, etc. These are the things that intrigue musicians - if you play music, you'll understand that thirst. Sounds ignite something in us when we play.

The guy is very likely bored with having to play the hits but I imagine the cash strapped side of Prince is simply going through the motions on this Welcome 2 Canada tour. The first night in Toronto was pathetic - the lighting and videographers didn't have a clue as to what was happening during that show. Was the band rehearsed? Absolutely. Was the show ready for a public audience? No way!

This dude is grabbing cash right now for all of those court cases he's been embroidelled in.

J

Not a single person on this board knows Prince's accounts. My guess is only as good as yours, but I'm guessing he's not cash strapped and he's playing the hits for the love of music. Considering the Musicology tour made him the highest earner in one year, I can't imagine he blew all that money since then (not to mention the 21 dates at o2 and so on...)

I understand what you're saying about musicians having the thirst for new sounds. But also, there aren't many musicians out there with heaven sent songs that can get tens of thousands of people to sing along and put their lighters in the air. They are the moments that live musicians dream about. Prince would never stop playing these hits because there is also a thirst for atmosphere.

I don't know... hope you're right.

We had a great time at the shows but certainly felt ripped off for the 75.00 per ticket cost for the two after concert shows/parties in Toronto.