Yeah, yeah, I know. We've had a few threads about this, but I just saw this again.

Holy shit.

THIS is why I still love him. That he can muster that kind of solo, and that kind of passion for this song over 25 years later. It's written on his face. He's hamming it up with the facial expressions in the beginning, but it overtakes him and it's like his soul is pouring out.

Blows me away every time I come across it.

"Its such a shame...its such a shame"-Purple Rain (Milan 2010)

Recently, like many of you, I've seen many many videos of Prince in concert lately. I usually just skim over them, pass them over without watching them since I've seen so much and am on overload. The video capture of The Love We make re-visit live was awesome in that "I can't believe he sang that one" feeling and it got me into watching some of the vids again. But the Milan 2010 performance of Purple Rain ? This right here...IT'S PERFECT! I teared up. Maybe I'm a sucker but whatever. During the performance, the camera angle does not move off of him. There is no panning to an adoring audience, no cuts to other band members. It's all one complete take. Director Mark Rydell, who directed one of my top ten films of all time, The Rose, mentioned in the directors commentary that when Midler sang When A Man Loves A Woman, it was rare and remarkable because the camera did not cut away from Bette Midler in the performance as many filmed live performances have previously. Arguably that performance was the showstopper of The Rose. If you get a chance to see this PR Milan performance, watch and listen to the cadence and emotion that Prince uses when he adlibs and sings the lyrics :"It's such a shame...it's such a shame..this freindship had to end" portion.

The way he sings that section is...sublime? That part made me actually made me rewind the video back to the beginning and PAY ATTENTION rather than just brush this off as just another tired (but true) warhorse/signature song live Prince performance on tube. And I am glad that I did.

And he left the usual heavy dogma that he has sometimes slipped into it this past decade out of it. Its almost as if he knew the filming of this one was going to be massed produced and needed it to be generalized for the public instead of beating them over the head as the past decade. Im floored

The emotion that he puts forth during the solo on his face which the camera captures completely? I cried to Purple Rain again. It's akin to the emotional pull of Stevie Ray Vaughn's version of Little Wing emotion-wise.

And that wasn't it. He slays the solo using the Controversy Hohner. You can even see the scratches at the top of the guitar during the solo-ing. And how he places the geetar on the ground in respect to it at the end and he bows? This was a PERFECT performance for ANY artist. Im not even going to say "in my opinion" because if you who've seen it don't agree then you are part of the underworld, have two left feet, eat only asparagus tips sans seasoning, read the endings of books first, spit, and can basically go to hell. I wonder if the audience who was privy to this performance appreciate what they were able to witness. One thing for sure and Ive said it many times --Europe inspires Prince. Some of the best performances Ive seen and heard have been from overseas.

Please please please if there is a god or superior being above, give us peace in the middle east, stop famine and pestulence(sp?..I aint got time to look it up ), make man love his fellow man (republicans calm down I dont mean gay marriage but yes that too, whatever works), but please let this be preserved somewhere and not erased so that I and others can have it for posterity and for when colored boys who have considered suicide when the rainbow isnt enough.

yeah, I remember that thread, rd.

and yeah, I cried to Purple Rain again too. even this time. and I've probably seen this clip 10 times now. but it's been awhile. but I covered my mouth, cried, and muttered "oh my god" like I'd never seen it. never heard this song before.

it's really amazing. and I agree... anyone that isn't moved by this performance can just fuck off. I don't want to know them or anything about them.

errant said:

yeah, I remember that thread, rd.

and yeah, I cried to Purple Rainin between yearly check-upd etc. again too. even this time. and I've probably seen this clip 10 times now. but it's been awhile. but I covered my mouth, cried, and muttered "oh my god" like I'd never seen it. never heard this song before.

it's really amazing. and I agree... anyone that isn't moved by this performance can just fuck off. I don't want to know them or anything about them.

See heres the thing..I dont look it up to watch hardly ever because I dont want to "get used to it" and it not have any effect on me. Same with the RnR Hall of Fame performance. Kind of weird but it keeps the feeling alive for me in memeory

rdhull said:

errant said:

yeah, I remember that thread, rd.

and yeah, I cried to Purple Rainin between yearly check-upd etc. again too. even this time. and I've probably seen this clip 10 times now. but it's been awhile. but I covered my mouth, cried, and muttered "oh my god" like I'd never seen it. never heard this song before.

it's really amazing. and I agree... anyone that isn't moved by this performance can just fuck off. I don't want to know them or anything about them.

See heres the thing..I dont look it up to watch hardly ever because I dont want to "get used to it" and it not have any effect on me. Same with the RnR Hall of Fame performance. Kind of weird but it keeps the feeling alive for me in memeory

me too. I hadn't watched it in awhile and it grabbed me all over again.

The performance is fucking phenomenal. Blows me away everytime, like rdhull mentioned I usually preserve it for special occasions. Take it out when I feel like being suprised, when I feel like being moved.

And like you said errant, if this doesn't do it for someone then dayum, I'm sorry.

MarquessMarq said:

The performance is fucking phenomenal. Blows me away everytime, like rdhull mentioned I usually preserve it for special occasions. Take it out when I feel like being suprised, when I feel like being moved.

And like you said errant, if this doesn't do it for someone then dayum, I'm sorry.

AS I ALWAYS SAY!

This performance is one of the best performances of Purple Rain. The first one, I actually cried to. Never cried to Purple Rain until this one! I remember being in New Orleans in my grandfather's 100 year duplex. As I was using my neighbors wifi at the time...

I came across this on YouTube. I was ALONE..No one home, played it from start to finish and could not manage to hold it in. JUST PURE SOUL! Prince was possessed with something..it just made the chills cover me. He lost one cufflink after this performance!

SO BEAUTIFUL! It seemed as if he cried while doing it/WELL this is one of the closest experiences I ahve ever seen him that emotional while playing...

JUST GREAT! AS you all said..if this does not do something for you. I am really SORRY!

organgrinder said:

I was lucky enough to be there and second row centre..

Probably the most blown away ive even been at a Prince gig - (excluding some after shows which are special to me for other reasons)

, totally out of this world. Ive never seen so much passion explode from anything like it did during that solo that night.

Absolutely incredible and the reason why we all love the man.

cosign, no words for that one, just tears and memories!

Yes it is amazing. One of the most touching and moving things ever in fact.

You see the real human Prince which is what he is, underneath all the media hype. People need to remember that.

errant said:

Yeah, yeah, I know. We've had a few threads about this, but I just saw this again.

Holy shit.

THIS is why I still love him. That he can muster that kind of solo, and that kind of passion for this song over 25 years later. It's written on his face. He's hamming it up with the facial expressions in the beginning, but it overtakes him and it's like his soul is pouring out.

Blows me away every time I come across it.

You all got my curiosity up, I'm going to have to check this out!!!!

Jam! You all are right!

I just saw this performance for the first time... Wow... Just WOW! Talk about a great performance!

EyeJester7 said:

MarquessMarq said:

The performance is fucking phenomenal. Blows me away everytime, like rdhull mentioned I usually preserve it for special occasions. Take it out when I feel like being suprised, when I feel like being moved.

And like you said errant, if this doesn't do it for someone then dayum, I'm sorry.

AS I ALWAYS SAY!

This performance is one of the best performances of Purple Rain. The first one, I actually cried to. Never cried to Purple Rain until this one!

Prince was possessed with something..it just made the chills cover me.

SO BEAUTIFUL!

Me too man. When he entered into that solo my eyes just started to well. Beautiful, as you mentioned. That music was coming from another place. That is the Prince I enjoy most. When he becomes a vessel to the music, and just brings that raw soul into actuality. Simply fucking, divine.

I would love to see this. I have lots of 2010 live perfs on vid, but no Milan.

Thanks for sharing.

i was there i remember he was bouncing about & in a really great mood, there was an informal feel to the show & he looked very comfortable with the fans.

i recall there was no sign of bria, i might be wrong but i got an idea she had been banished! she had been at other 2010 concerts..

so purple rain started off pretty bog standard, then he pulled his shirt aside & squeezed his nipple! HOT! boy was on a mission.

as the solo progressed, i grabbed my bloke, seriously, i could barely breathe. i told him this is special, we're seeing something very special here.. the atmostphere was electric, i actually do believe that prince shocked himself.

the amazing amateur footage is my all time favourite of prince. watching the performance back was the icing of the cake & i get thrills & chills everytime i see it. i firmly believe he was channelling godly energy during this performance

excited said:

i was there i remember he was bouncing about & in a really great mood, there was an informal feel to the show & he looked very comfortable with the fans.

i recall there was no sign of bria, i might be wrong but i got an idea she had been banished! she had been at other 2010 concerts..

so purple rain started off pretty bog standard, then he pulled his shirt aside & squeezed his nipple! HOT! boy was on a mission.

as the solo progressed, i grabbed my bloke, seriously, i could barely breathe. i told him this is special, we're seeing something very special here.. the atmostphere was electric, i actually do believe that prince shocked himself.

the amazing amateur footage is my all time favourite of prince. watching the performance back was the icing of the cake & i get thrills & chills everytime i see it. i firmly believe he was channelling godly energy during this performance

1/ squeezed his nipple? weird. maybe he was turning on a switch, like a nob, to channel the godly energy?

2/ If you watched the Elizabeth Gilbert TedTalk about "creative genius," as Prince has and which he refers to in that Australian interview, you know that people since the dawn of time have referred to this kind of "in the zone," transcendental performance as channeling the divine. The Spanish "ole, ole!" derives from "allah, allah!"

3/ perhaps he was singing about his breakup with Bria.

4/ Aside from this performance of PR, my all-time favorite is the AMA performance with Cindy Lauper losing it in the front row.

[Edited 10/13/12 0:03am]

EyeJester7 said:

MarquessMarq said:

The performance is fucking phenomenal. Blows me away everytime, like rdhull mentioned I usually preserve it for special occasions. Take it out when I feel like being suprised, when I feel like being moved.

And like you said errant, if this doesn't do it for someone then dayum, I'm sorry.

AS I ALWAYS SAY!

This performance is one of the best performances of Purple Rain. The first one, I actually cried to. Never cried to Purple Rain until this one! I remember being in New Orleans in my grandfather's 100 year duplex. As I was using my neighbors wifi at the time...

I came across this on YouTube. I was ALONE..No one home, played it from start to finish and could not manage to hold it in. JUST PURE SOUL! Prince was possessed with something..it just made the chills cover me. He lost one cufflink after this performance!

SO BEAUTIFUL! It seemed as if he cried while doing it/WELL this is one of the closest experiences I ahve ever seen him that emotional while playing...

JUST GREAT! AS you all said..if this does not do something for you. I am really SORRY!

Eyejester, you've got your eyes on his cufflinks!

rdhull said:

errant said:

yeah, I remember that thread, rd.

and yeah, I cried to Purple Rainin between yearly check-upd etc. again too. even this time. and I've probably seen this clip 10 times now. but it's been awhile. but I covered my mouth, cried, and muttered "oh my god" like I'd never seen it. never heard this song before.

it's really amazing. and I agree... anyone that isn't moved by this performance can just fuck off. I don't want to know them or anything about them.

See heres the thing..I dont look it up to watch hardly ever because I dont want to "get used to it" and it not have any effect on me. Same with the RnR Hall of Fame performance. Kind of weird but it keeps the feeling alive for me in memeory

I'm the same. I don't often listen to or watch my absolute ultimate favorite songs by him so that I can maintain the specialness of it.

That's why in some ways, I see all these threads and posts about "why doesn't he do remasters/internet/YT/more albums/interviews/etc., he's burying his legacy, etc." and I think his scarcity actually enhances his cache. I was speaking with a marketing expert last year about the luxury market - luxury branding depends on making oneself scarce, uniqueness and unusual quality (materials, design, craftmanship, history), and about being known only by those who "deserve" to be in the know to give owners a feeling of specialness. Perhaps Prince is poor at marketing himself or his product if you think of him as the average pop act, but maybe he is great at marketing himself as luxury brand?

At any rate, I consider some of his works, like this Milan Purple Rain, a luxury item.

And I really liked your description of it in the previous post, RD!

Thanks.

Everything about this performance is amazing, the passion, the execution, it really does send shivers down my spine each time I watch it.