So...

I read that mr P does the sampler set thing again in his 3rdeye girl shows in the USA.

Why would he do such a weak-ass move in smaller concert halls?

Can't the 3rdeye girl band do enough songs? Can't the 3rdeye girl band do songs well enough? Can't the 3rdeye girl band do two shows in one night? I mr P getting old? Or somethign I did not mention yet?

Please discuss.

The sampler set is the most interesting and forward looking aspect of his recent shows. He should do a sampler set tour.

paulludvig said:

The sampler set is the most interesting and forward looking aspect of his recent shows. He should do a sampler set tour.

- It shows a lack of 'real music' by 'real musicans'.

- It doesn't rock as much

- It shows his new band can't do a full show (maybe unintended..)

- It's too short a show for a sampler set

- It is getting old; he has been doing this since 2007

- etc

If he bills a tour sampler set tour I will surely go see him as the concept would be interesting, but now it just clouds the 3rd eye girl thing.

udo said:

paulludvig said:

The sampler set is the most interesting and forward looking aspect of his recent shows. He should do a sampler set tour.

- It shows a lack of 'real music' by 'real musicans'.

- It doesn't rock as much

- It shows his new band can't do a full show (maybe unintended..)

- It's too short a show for a sampler set

- It is getting old; he has been doing this since 2007

- etc

If he bills a tour sampler set tour I will surely go see him as the concept would be interesting, but now it just clouds the 3rd eye girl thing.

Agree. Suprised that he included the sampler set on the LOL tour. It kind of muddles the rock concept.

udo said:

So...

I read that mr P does the sampler set thing again in his 3rdeye girl shows in the USA.

Why would he do such a weak-ass move in smaller concert halls?

Can't the 3rdeye girl band do enough songs? Can't the 3rdeye girl band do songs well enough? Can't the 3rdeye girl band do two shows in one night? I mr P getting old? Or somethign I did not mention yet?

Please discuss.

Have you been to any shows featuring the sampler set? It's actually pretty cool.

skywalker said:

Have you been to any shows featuring the sampler set? It's actually pretty cool.

I have seen sampler sets since 2007.

(I saw 6 main shows at the O2, almost all of 20ten, about half of 2011.)

peeps, stop labelling it the sampler set. THE karaoke set from now on.

How live is the sampler set?? Is it all pre-recorded? I havent had the luxury of seeing Prince since the Musicology tour.(I know its been a while but he needs to make it to a small venue in the Indianapolis area ASAP)

i have to say that this concert experience was my all time favorite ... the show was THAT good.

with regards to the sampler set: with it seems a little counter-intuitive that he would do the sampler set of hits in the small venue... when arguably the small venues is for the rarities, etc.

it WORKED.. BIG TIME.

because it felt like a big giant club with everyone dancincg to the biggest Prince hits.

that sudden rush once he hit the button and the beat to the next song and you recognized it as either Nasty Girl, Housequake, Hot Thing, etc.

and seeing the crowd scream with each new song was so fun too.

i say KEEP THE SAMPLER.. .a surprising highlight 4 me!

..and remember back in the day he used drum machines and triggered samples during PR, SOTT tours etc. so it's not just karoake.

Prince's programming is one of my favorite things he does. But Prince fans seems to have a mental block on sampling/samplers. This set highlights some of his best Linn beats, including Vanity 6.

Dandroppedadime said:

..and remember back in the day he used drum machines and triggered samples during PR, SOTT tours etc. so it's not just karoake.

Exactly! Some of the song he includes in the sampler set have always been performed to prerecorded backing tracks.

udo said:

- It shows a lack of 'real music' by 'real musicans'.

Wow, even with Prince being the one behind the programming. If Prince can't convince you that it is "real music" by a "real musician", then no one can.

paulludvig said:

Dandroppedadime said:

..and remember back in the day he used drum machines and triggered samples during PR, SOTT tours etc. so it's not just karoake.

Exactly! Some of the song he includes in the sampler set have always been performed to prerecorded backing tracks.

Also, this.

udo said:

So Prince plays a mind blowing show in which he plays guitar, bass, keys/piano, and then people wanna run home when he plays samples and essentially dj's a bit? Um, okay.

I hate the karaoke set. He is old though and its a good way to rest and keep the show going. I give him credit for trying. Piano medley and acoustic medley is the same thing. He needs to rest. Thats also why the shows are only 80 minutes now. Its really not worth going anymore to me. I like the setlist alot though pre karaoke set. Its a shame that he does it on this tour.(at least to me)

skywalker said:

So Prince plays a mind blowing show in which he plays guitar, bass, keys/piano, and then people wanna run home when he plays samples and essentially dj's a bit? Um, okay.

great comment from you, skywalker... I agree with you, a bit strange..

.

the sampler set is a teaser, often very short samples of each song.. but I like when Prince is teasing on stage.

skywalker said:

So Prince plays a mind blowing show in which he plays guitar, bass, keys/piano, and then people wanna run home when he plays samples and essentially dj's a bit? Um, okay.

yes.

the sampler set is old.

if he still means the hits thing he should not do the 3rd eye girl thing.

as you may understand I see the 3rd eye girl concept as opposed to sampler sets, hits stuff etc.

of course a show can be somewhat balanced with both elements but in such short shows, with a new band to show off, why waste time with weak-ass samples?

it just shows he has been doing the same thing for the past 6 years w.r.t. the sampler set and even longer when it comes to the hits.

i'll have to think even more about buying tickets.

He's old, ya'll. For his age, he's doing great!

I mean, MJ's defunct 50 Shows in the UK would have been mostly a big ass sampler set anyways.


Think of Prince like Indiana Jones. Sure, he's going to give you CGI monkeys and space

aliens now, but he can still crack a whip, even though his leading lady is homely.

It's tough, I can sort of see this one from both sides.

I can see how someone would say that it dilutes the concept of the 3rd eye girl backing band, and is "sort of lazy"

The flip side is when I saw Prince year before last and he popped on "Screams of Passion" It was the highlight of the whole show for me. I don't know if that says something about me as a fan lol.

Maybe it's sort of lazy and the highlight of the show?

I agree with Nothingbutjoy that the sampler set was and was not a highlight. I went to the 8 PM Saturday show in Vegas, and going into it, I was expecting to hate hearing songs cut short. I ended up enjoying it because 1) it showcased Prince's beat-making skills and 2) as errant and callimnate said, it was an opportunity to hear the "pure" Prince sound without the filter of his current band's playing.

Also, like Nothingbutjoy pointed out, the sampler set felt like the only moment when the ENTIRE audience came alive. Whether this is because they finally recognized something, or the songs were better quality, I don't know, but there was a very obvious and slightly awkward quieting happening whenever new or new-ish songs were played. For this reason, the sampler set was a relief similar to when a friend arrives at a dinner party you've been at for the past hour with people you don't know.

That said, I appreciated that the setlist at the 8 PM show was heavy on the new material (I still really like Down/Breakdown and now like 2Y2D more) and again, to echo Nothingbutjoy, the audience's reactions might send a message about needing to shake things up when it comes to promoting new material, assuming Prince doesn't read the begging and pleading happening here. The way I see it, the sampler set is a reasonable compromise if it means we get an entire concert with Prince ALONE on vocals and Prince dividing his time between guitar and piano.

So Prince doesn't dare to estrange the hits-fans from him anymore?

He did so to a certain degree in 1994/1995. The hardcore fans loved it. The rest missed the hits.

If he's in such a small venue, at such prices, why waste time with hits?

errant said:

Only saw it at the frist Chicago show last fall. Can honestly say it was a highlight, in that it didn't rely too much on the generally shitty sound mix that plauged the rest of that show (especially his guitar), or that trainwreck of the 22-member NPG lineup, or background singers singing lead.

Lol i was there lol. And i don't know but u must not have been there 9/25 because damn it was off the hook and the sampler set was fantastic.

trax said:

I hate the karaoke set. He is old though and its a good way to rest and keep the show going. I give him credit for trying. Piano medley and acoustic medley is the same thing. He needs to rest. Thats also why the shows are only 80 minutes now. Its really not worth going anymore to me. I like the setlist alot though pre karaoke set. Its a shame that he does it on this tour.(at least to me)

Prince played for hours and hours at SXSW. He's doing 2 shows a night this time around, not just one. Old? I think of old and B.B. King comes to mind, (who still plays, by the way).