I was reading through the archive and came across a post about the setlist for Prince's shows with the NPG in Holland in July 2011. "In total he played 142 tracks, 102 different ones."

There seems to be a lot less variation with the 3rd Eye Girl shows. They tend to be more or less the same, night after night. Same setlist. Still there isn't as much criticism of the setlist when he plays with the 3rd Eye Girl, as when he plays with the NPG. Why is that?

http://prince.org/msg/7/364089

Here's another list.

The W2A Song Survey (151/300 songs)

http://prince.org/msg/12/...?&pg=1

there's a lot less complaining about the girl band because the setlist

he made for these new shows with them is actually pretty great.

for the npg shows we've been seeing pretty much the same setlist

for 10 years now with little changes here and there. lots of medleys

lots and lots of covers and few surprises or catalogue tracks.

well, there are exceptions because he has done some stellar cool

aftershows or one off concerts with them so it's all relative. and he

did change things up quite a bit for a lot of the O2 concerts.

.

but mainly the girl band is new, their show concept and setlist is a

bit of a breath of fresh air and the song choice is excellent with a

few minor tweaks every few weeks.

.

if he keeps playing this setlist for 5 years though people will bitch

about it just as much as they do about the same old npg hits show.

paulludvig said:

Even those Dutch shows were an anomaly. The truth is that Prince has never switched it up that much from night to night. Take a look at the sets from any given tour and you'll see a pattern emerge.

I think the reason folks were so vocal about the NPG shows in the last few years is because he used essentially the same set for several years: the 21 Nights shows, 20ten tour and the various Welcome 2 tours all used the same map, down to identical 6 or 7 track sequences.

The 3rd Eye Girl shows are similar, but at this point they're also novel. If we're still seeing the same basic shows 5 years from now, I'm sure people will bitch just as much.

EDIT: I see Istenzek put his thoughts together much quicker than I did!
[Edited 8/26/13 17:20pm]

On the Eye records release, check out the rare Prince feat 3rdEyeGirl performance of WHY U WANNA TREAT ME SO BAD? It took me by surprise today, revisiting this bootleg, because there are these kinds of gems scattered throughout. Whilst we may be more familiar with the following inclusions now, I still think these are quite unique, too: So Far, So Pleased, Electric Chair and The Max

IstenSzek said:

there's a lot less complaining about the girl band because the setlist

he made for these new shows with them is actually pretty great.

for the npg shows we've been seeing pretty much the same setlist

for 10 years now with little changes here and there. lots of medleys

lots and lots of covers and few surprises or catalogue tracks.

well, there are exceptions because he has done some stellar cool

aftershows or one off concerts with them so it's all relative. and he

did change things up quite a bit for a lot of the O2 concerts.

.

but mainly the girl band is new, their show concept and setlist is a

bit of a breath of fresh air and the song choice is excellent with a

few minor tweaks every few weeks.

.

if he keeps playing this setlist for 5 years though people will bitch

about it just as much as they do about the same old npg hits show.

But is this correct? 150 or so songs?! Unless he played 150 songs every night, there must have been a lot of variation.

TwiliteKid said:

Even those Dutch shows were an anomaly. The truth is that Prince has never switched it up that much from night to night. Take a look at the sets from any given tour and you'll see a pattern emerge.

I think the reason folks were so vocal about the NPG shows in the last few years is because he used essentially the same set for several years: the 21 Nights shows, 20ten tour and the various Welcome 2 tours all used the same map, down to identical 6 or 7 track sequences.

The 3rd Eye Girl shows are similar, but at this point they're also novel. If we're still seeing the same basic shows 5 years from now, I'm sure people will bitch just as much.

EDIT: I see Istenzek put his thoughts together much quicker than I did! [Edited 8/26/13 17:20pm]

He may have used the same map, but the songs played changed a lot. Now, with the 3rd Eye Girl, both the map, track sequences and the songs are the same.

[Edited 8/26/13 22:36pm]

WTF is a Prince setlist variation!!!???

.

callimnate said:

WTF is a Prince setlist variation!!!???

.

How often and how much he changes the setlist. I could probably call it something else. Suggestions?

paulludvig said:

paulludvig said:

IstenSzek said:

there's a lot less complaining about the girl band because the setlist

he made for these new shows with them is actually pretty great.

for the npg shows we've been seeing pretty much the same setlist

for 10 years now with little changes here and there. lots of medleys

lots and lots of covers and few surprises or catalogue tracks.

well, there are exceptions because he has done some stellar cool

aftershows or one off concerts with them so it's all relative. and he

did change things up quite a bit for a lot of the O2 concerts.

.

but mainly the girl band is new, their show concept and setlist is a

bit of a breath of fresh air and the song choice is excellent with a

few minor tweaks every few weeks.

.

if he keeps playing this setlist for 5 years though people will bitch

about it just as much as they do about the same old npg hits show.

But is this correct? 150 or so songs?! Unless he played 150 songs every night, there must have been a lot of variation.

probably not correct but the same basic setlist does pop up

a whole lot of times.

I'm guessing the 150 songs comes from snippets that are played in the sampler set, rather than 150 different full length songs played.

Here's something to remember:

Most of the people at any given Prince concert were not at the immediate past Prince concert, nor will they be at the very next Prince concert.

In other words, the setlist is new to the vast majority of the audience.

And that is ALL that matters.

This is not correct, the variation in 3rdeye gigs is pretty impressive taking into account they are a new band.

Obviously there's a backbone to the setlists, They hardly ever missed LGC --> Endorphinemachine --->Screwdriver and ICNTTPOYM, She's always in my hair, and a bunch of others.

However if you count the total amount of titles played during these gigs you'll get at least 60 songs, (that's without the sampler sets), either classic prince played in fresh versions, New songs, or obscurities.

EG: Crimson & Clover, I Like it there, Dolphin, Dreamer, How come u dont call me anymore, Breakdown, 2 young 2 Dare, U got the Look, When we're dancing close and slow, Something in the water (does not compute), The love we make, BoomStratus, FunknRoll, Why u wanna treat me so bad, Liathatch, Let's work, Colonized mind, forever in my life, Joy in repetition (Reggae version!), Let's Go, The Question of U, Etc Etc Etc.

The idea of a concept show with strong numbers occuring almost every night in the same order is not new for prince, but most of prince's previous tours including the classic SOTT, Parade or Lovesexy tours were much more FIXED than these shows, at least when looking at the setlists...IMHO.

[Edited 8/27/13 15:21pm]

tab32792 said:

That's what I never understand. His 80's tours setlists weren't that varied either. The 3rdeyegirl shows are way more varied that those & people complain about medleys when the 1st hour of the lovesexy tour was a giant medley

I think prince took extra care in the 3rd eye gigs to make hardcore fans happy as well as casual fans.

Gems like "when we're dancing close and slow" are pulled from the freezer, Essential songs like Purple Rain/Lets go crazy, if played, get alternate renditions, And there are hardly any medleys (except for the smapler/pinao sets)

I think the setlists are terrific, and compliment prince's repertoire; No wonder Rolling stone mag gave this specific tour the deserved props

http://www.drfunkenberry....right-now/

Now only if he played london. Or Tel Aviv.

[Edited 8/27/13 17:10pm]

[Edited 8/27/13 19:10pm]

theblueangel said:

I'm guessing the 150 songs comes from snippets that are played in the sampler set, rather than 150 different full length songs played.

No. Sampler set was not included.

nirforward said:

This is not correct, the variation in 3rdeye gigs is pretty impressive taking into account they are a new band.

Obviously there's a backbone to the setlists, They hardly ever missed LGC --> Endorphinemachine --->Screwdriver and ICNTTPOYM, She's always in my hair, and a bunch of others.

However if you count the total amount of titles played during these gigs you'll get at least 60 songs, (that's without the sampler sets), either classic prince played in fresh versions, New songs, or obscurities.

EG: Crimson & Clover, I Like it there, Dolphin, Dreamer, How come u dont call me anymore, Breakdown, 2 young 2 Dare, U got the Look, When we're dancing close and slow, Something in the water (does not compute), The love we make, BoomStratus, FunknRoll, Why u wanna treat me so bad, Liathatch, Let's work, Colonized mind, forever in my life, Joy in repetition (Reggae version!), Let's Go, The Question of U, Etc Etc Etc.

The idea of a concept show with strong numbers occuring almost every night in the same order is not new for prince, but most of prince's previous tours including the classic SOTT, Parade or Lovesexy tours were much more FIXED than these shows, at least when looking at the setlists...IMHO.

[Edited 8/27/13 15:21pm]

My point is that the setlist was even more varied with the NPG, but people complained that they always played the same song. Why have people stopped complaining now that there is comparatively less variation?

It's true that the 80's tours were not so varied in content by comparison to the 2000's tours, but most of the music was brand new every year, and the band's sound evolved pretty quickly.

And it's also true that, honestly, Prince has been playing dozens if not hundreds of different songs these last 10 years.

So y are we bored?

In my opinion it's because we've been fans for so many years (most of us). The problem for me is that it's been almost 25 years. I just can't stand to hear 1999, Purple Rain, Kiss, Let's Go Crazy or Controversy (and many others) live anymore: I've heard dozens of renditions of these songs, I know them by heart, and in the end I hadly appreciate them anymore save for the original, album versions. I want something fresh, I want something new. It's what I get on the new albums and I haven't been able to get it live for the last 15 years (save the ONA tour).

The new tour is indeed "new", not in the sense that most of the material is new, but it's a third of totally reinvented classics ("reloaded"), a third of obscure tracks that weren't played too often, and a third of relatively recent material (2007-2013). Onviously I'm much less tired of hearing Guitar live than I am of Let's Go Crazy. This being said the reloaded version makes it tolerable for me to have LGC in the setlist again.

My real frustration since 1997 (except for the ONA tour) has been that Prince doesn't tour so much of recent material. I know many here dislike the post WB material but nonetheless I'm sure there would be much less complaining about the shows if every year or so we'd have a setlist that's comprised of 2 third of tracks from the last album and one third of old tracks (classic and obscure altogether). Playing the new tracks live would probably even give them a dimentiion and dynamic that would make many unsatisfied fans start appreciate them in the absolute, and eventually go back to the studio versions and start appreciating them as well.

And also I think that except for every once in a while, we're all pissed by the covers: most of us don't go to a Prince concert to listen to Sly Stone songs. The covers were a lot of fun in the late 90's, because it was new, but after 15 years I'm just as disgusted of most of them as I am of the classic Prince material.

So Prince says that he mostly plays the classics because the bulk of his live audience isn't made of fans, and that these people want to listen to what they know, and I can understand that, but I'm quite convinced that in order to really satisfy his fanbase, Prince would need to play the new songs, despite the rejection many of these same fans show for this material in its studio incarnation.

Well said Databank. Hearing new songs live usually made me get into the album cut as well, if I hadn't been already.