Could some1 kindly explain what exactly happened with the UK leg of the SOTT tour? I've never found out the full story.

I don't know the full story, I only know that whatever happened made him scrap a US tour of the "Sign O The Times" show, but made up for it by touring "Lovesexy" in the US the following year

nuthinbuttamuffin said:

It rained!!!

The Utrecht performances on 21 and 22 June were affected by rain. With 2 scheduled performances outdoor at Wembley Arena (25 and 26), and completely sold out (40,000 at each), Prince cancelled hoping to organise 4 nights at Earls Court (July 1-4). If this had proceeded it would have resulted in at least one of the concerts in Italy being resceduled or cancelled Despite organisational difficulties, all was proceeding with tickets being reprinted, but the local council objected because the statutory 28 days notice of a public performance had not been given, so the licence to perform could not be granted!

The two remaining open air concerts were then cancelled in Italy (Rome, 2nd and Turin, 5th), leaving a prospective tour gap from 29 June in Belgium until the remaining planned dates at the Birmingham NEC - indoor (July 7 & 8) - so these latter concerts were also cancelled!

dnaplaya said:

He didn't tour the US with the show either?!!! This tour was one of his most highly acclaimed and conceptual. Every1 raves about it but it seems it didn't travel to many places?

I hope some1 can shed some light.

langebleu said:

It was 2 scheduled performances at Wembley Stadium. Wembley Stadium can hold more than 70,000 for a gig. Maybe only 40,000 were released for each night so you may be right.

The rumour was poor ticket sales. If he only sold 40,000 for each night out of a capacity of 70,000+ then maybe that was the reason it was cancelled. But I doubt it.

I read that Sir Richard Attenbrough tried to get the local council to grant a license for Prince to play 4 nights at Earls Court but as you said it was too late.

dnaplaya said:

The cancellation of the European dates was not connected with the decision not to tour US. Whilst, ticket sales and both audience and press reaction in Europe had resulted in a highly succesful leg of the tour (despite the cancellations), Prince believed the US sales of SOTT and IIWYG did not augur well for the prospective American leg. At the last moment he unexpectedly decided to film the concert in Rotterdam for future release in place of an American tour.

ConsciousContact said:

Yep, normally it would hold up to 75,000 for a concert - but they planned to provide raked seating at Wembley stadium for the show - as they had in Utrecht - which reduced tickets from 75,000 to 40,000. It is believed that both shows had sold out.

It should be noted however, that this would have amounted to 80,000 people. The replacement 4 nights at Earls Court could only have catered for 60,000 of the 80,000 Wembley maximum. It is unclear how they would have handled the exchange in the event that everyone who (apparently) had purchased a ticket to Wembley demanded a replacement. Exchange centres had been arranged awaiting the ticket reprint (which was underway) before the red tape got in the way. naturally, you wouldn't expect everybody to be able to make rearranged dates at such short notice but this does suggest they would have had a prospective 10-20,000 (assuming some people had tickets for both dates)dissatisfied ticket holders. So, despite apparently selling out, the seating arrangement argument doesn't totally quell the 'poor ticket sales' rumour.

BTW much info here garnered from UPTOWN publications.
.
[This message was edited Mon Mar 17 5:02:34 PST 2003 by langebleu]

langebleu said:

Cool - never knew that.

grrr

had front row seats for Wembley

grrr

Gav said:

Yeah - my girlfriend (now wife) and I had invested in a top of the range peach and black clothing as requested on the tickets!!! I still haven't had a clothing refund.

langebleu said:

I have a video tape of a MTV review of the lovesexy tour in Paris from '88. It was done by Kurt Loader.
It was during that review (which raved about the Lovesexy tour) that Kurt pointed out that due to the fuck up in the UK, the Sign O The Times tour never made it to the US.
He then pointed out that (at that time) the Lovesxy tour was already booked in the US for that coming fall and that US audiences would "fall in love" with Prince all over again.
Just passing on what Loader reported

dnaplaya said:[quote]

langebleu said:

Thanks. I was unaware of the Loder review. I remember seeing a UK Channel 4 preview of the tour from the first night in Paris, when he performed Sister - I might even have it on tape somewhere. I guess we'll never know for sure why the US leg was cancelled, but I can see that the early termination of the European leg may have added to the disappointment Prince was said to be feeling about the reception of SOTT in the US, and therefore the UK fiasco could have been the final straw leading him to choose to produce a film of the tour instead of continue on with it.