I enjoyed myself at the Essence show Friday night.Prince grew up in da hood and he knew what black folks wanted and delivered!(minus,Act of God,Nothing compares to u,Days of wild).

My only gripe was how could he have 30,000 middle aged horny black women in new orleans and not do Adore,Scandalous,Do me baby,beautiful ones etc........

My biggest gripe is the 3rd eye girl band trying to play funk! specifically Donna on the rhythm funky guitar parts was unbearable.the kiss guitar riff was so sterile I thought it was a joke! the black guy on bass near the end was pretty good but who the hell is he?

Why is Prince's band so Inept at funk?

How does Prince's choice of bands make the band inept?

Genesia said:

How does Prince's choice of bands make the band inept?

It seems like the threadstarter is a racist. He wants prince to play "black music" to black people, and not that "white" music.

ludwig said:

Genesia said:

How does Prince's choice of bands make the band inept?

It seems like the threadstarter is a racist. He wants prince to play "black music" to black people, and not that "white" music.

The OP has been known to post such threads in the past so this one isn't a surpise.

Ida can play funk great. Andrew might possibly be a better funk bassist than her but it wouldnt be by much. And in any case Ida's greatest asset is that she's extremely versatile, there isnt any style she cant play, and she can play guitar as well whenever needed.

EyeHatechu said:

3Rdeyegirl is a rock band. They specialize in a rock sound. Funk is just not their strong point. He should have left 3 rdeyegirl at home and brought the NPG band to play the instruments. True, P could have and should have played the Beautiful Ones, Do Me, Baby, Scandalous, etc. But who knows why he didnt.

3rdEyeGirl is part of the NPG, isn't it? There is no current lineup of the NPG that doesn't have 3rdEyeGirl at its core--sure, Ida may move over to guitar and Andrew Gouche play bass, but Donna, Hannah, and Ida are still there, and Donna's playing guitar whenever Prince is in bandleader mode, and Hannah's the drums. I can't see any real reason to complain about Ida or have her move to guitar, either, since she'd been the bassist for the NPG for a few years anyway.

I'm not saying that 3rdEyeGirl are the funkiest band in the world, but I don't know what you mean by "leaving them at home," and who would play instead. As to KidMelody2012--yeah, he hatest them, but we already knew that.

Unfortunately, I wasn't there and haven't heard anything from the show--so I can't say anything about it with certainty. But "inept" is probably an exaggeration.

ludwig said:

Genesia said:

How does Prince's choice of bands make the band inept?

It seems like the threadstarter is a racist. He wants prince to play "black music" to black people, and not that "white" music.

Can't be sure the original poster is a racist. Thanks to Kool Moe Dee Musico, I have recently been branded a racist, and never knew I was, until the expert on racism, Kook Moe Dee Musico called me one.

I sort of agree with the poster. I just don't think that he expressed himself very well. The show was good, but far from great. Prince did not play to the audience. Let's just say that he went on tour with Def Leppard and Bon Jovi..(Which would never happen)...but if he did, you would expect a bunch of rock songs, with 3rd Eye Girl...

The essence festival was a 99.9% black audience with the average age over 40.

Do Me Baby, Uptown, Adore, The Beautiful Ones, Scandalous, Insatiable, I Wanna Be Your Lover,

Delirious, Baby I'm A Star...

these songs were all missing. You could make the point that Controversy was missing, since he didn't really sing the lyrics, he was just playing crowd hype with some screams more than actually singing it.

Was it a terrible show? No. Was it anywhere near the level of 5-15-14 Birmingham, England? NO!

It was an ok show that I am happy I attended.

Some great performances of : Let's Go Crazy, Take Me With U, Purple Rain, Nothing Compares 2 U, 1999 sounded great too, Cool was pretty good, and I enjoyed Act of God, and Funk N Roll, but the audience seemed bored at times. The covers and remakes of Time and Sheila E were not overly well received, and the Janet Jackson cover was just plain out of place..

So the original poster here may have worded things a little off, but they were right, some signature songs for his black audience were missing, and he could've done better.

People are uncomfortable and defensive about being branded one thing or another. Yet some these same folks have no problem outrightly asserting that a "funk/r&b tailored show" is what was called for rather than a rock-flavored one given the ethnic makeup of the majority of the audience.

As though black people are too closed-minded and musically uninformed to appreciate rock and roll - a genre our own antecedents conceptualized and, at this show, one of our own contemporaries would be performing.

But I ain't talkin' about anyone here...

[Edited 7/9/14 13:11pm]

[Edited 7/9/14 14:43pm]

[Edited 7/9/14 18:39pm]

EddieC said:

This is echoing some of my thoughts I posted over in the Essence fest thread in the Concerts forum.

The un-funky 3rdEyeGirl was part of what I was trying to express. They are great musicians & I enjoy the studio tracks Prince is doing with them, but they are extremely un-funky and un-alive on stage. Plastic-model looking women standing in 1 spot, playing expressionless.

The OP is exactly spot-on and described it very colorfully- that dome was full of some silver fox women yall and it was the PERFECT setting for Prince to lay on the oldschool R&B vibe.

Edited to add: it was also very telling that when things did get at little bit funky at one point, Prince had a different guy on bass. That says it all.

[Edited 7/9/14 14:02pm]

Most Prince bands over the years, if there is a struggle, it's with funk. People said that about The Revolution too. I pretty much don't care about that anymore. Though I haven't heard 3EG at all, so maybe there is a problem? IDK

[Edited 7/9/14 14:47pm]

thx185 said:

I thought the band played well, and I especially liked the drummer. When Prince asked the crowd, "do you like my band".....I didn't hear any boos, only cheers.

So who is this Andrew Gouche guy and how come he played bass with Prince at Essence ? Is he a new addition ? Is this the first he has popped up in the lineup ?

EyeHatechu said:

EddieC said:

3rdEyeGirl is part of the NPG, isn't it? There is no current lineup of the NPG that doesn't have 3rdEyeGirl at its core--sure, Ida may move over to guitar and Andrew Gouche play bass, but Donna, Hannah, and Ida are still there, and Donna's playing guitar whenever Prince is in bandleader mode, and Hannah's the drums. I can't see any real reason to complain about Ida or have her move to guitar, either, since she'd been the bassist for the NPG for a few years anyway.

I'm not saying that 3rdEyeGirl are the funkiest band in the world, but I don't know what you mean by "leaving them at home," and who would play instead. As to KidMelody2012--yeah, he hatest them, but we already knew that.

Unfortunately, I wasn't there and haven't heard anything from the show--so I can't say anything about it with certainty. But "inept" is probably an exaggeration.

What im saying is that 3rdeyegirl is a rock based band meaning they are not the funkiest. Even though the band is part of NPG, they are not the only band members in the NPG who play guitar, drums, and bass. Keep Ida, I like her, but it would be nice to have John Blackwell on drums and someone funkier on guitar. Anyway, John is in the hospital but it would be nice to have some funkier players on that stage during the performances like the ones they did at the Essence fest. 3rdeyegirl is an awesome rock band but they are not funky. I see your point though, i dont recall there being a current lineup of other musicians in the NPG. But once again, this is not a knock to 3rdeyegirl or the members in it.

Yeah, they're primarily a rock-oriented band--but they're what he has now. I'm not big on the idea of pulling in someone (even if Blackwell were available--which at the moment he clearly isn't) just for one of these shows. It leaves him open to things not being as tight playing with an ad hoc band he's not playing with all the time (and that doesn't play together all the time). And then that's just something else for people to complain about. Admittedly, there might be a bit more of a demand for a more R&B or funk approach at Essence--but I doubt they really tanked, and a thrown together group might have.

beatz01 said:

So who is this Andrew Gouche guy and how come he played bass with Prince at Essence ? Is he a new addition ? Is this the first he has popped up in the lineup ?

He tends to pop up with the huge band lineup (often more R&B or funk-based) "NPG" versus the stripped down lineup rock "3rdEyeGirl" gigs the last year or so. He first played with the band I think during the series of Dakota shows in early 2013, when Prince divided it even more starkly by genre/band. The horns and the backing vocalists get added to 3rdEyeGirl, they play some uninspiring funk grooves... but I don't think the problems the band (well, I'm not entirely sure about that--there seems to be so many people they're tripping over themselves literally in some of these venues). I think, for whatever reason, Prince just ain't into that right now. He drags them out for festivals or whatever, but I just don't see that as being his focus musically or as a showman. Not right now, though I'm sure it will be again.

not racist.....i heard people in my section saying "he better not play that rock shit tonight"

ludwig said:

Genesia said:

How does Prince's choice of bands make the band inept?

It seems like the threadstarter is a racist. He wants prince to play "black music" to black people, and not that "white" music.

kidmelody2012 said:

not racist.....i heard people in my section saying "he better not play that rock shit tonight"

ludwig said:

It seems like the threadstarter is a racist. He wants prince to play "black music" to black people, and not that "white" music.

Not surprising. It is the south afterall.

kidmelody2012 said:

not racist.....i heard people in my section saying "he better not play that rock shit tonight"

Well maybe they should take their asses on the stage and play their own shit! I HATE when people bitch about what he plays! FFS, it's HIS show to play HIS songs the way HE wants.

.

As far as your opening comment.. what the hell does race have to do with it? I'm not black and the songs you listed that he omitted are some of my favorites. Furthermore, the girls are doing thier best and I think they do a damn good job keeping up with Prince (can you imagine working for him?!) Can you do better?

[Edited 7/10/14 10:18am]

kidmelody2012 said:

not racist.....i heard people in my section saying "he better not play that rock shit tonight"

ludwig said:

It seems like the threadstarter is a racist. He wants prince to play "black music" to black people, and not that "white" music.

Those people need to open their minds so.


As for the original post, for starters the Kiss riff has never sounded especially good live except when he plays a sample of it. Secondly you're always starting threads complaining about how rubbish prince and everyone related to prince is musically so really I don't think anyone should be trying to answer your questions, you ain't interested in any opinion but your own.

[Edited 7/10/14 0:53am]

NikkiAndTheRevolution said:

EyeHatechu said:

EddieC said:

What im saying is that 3rdeyegirl is a rock based band meaning they are not the funkiest. Even though the band is part of NPG, they are not the only band members in the NPG who play guitar, drums, and bass. Keep Ida, I like her, but it would be nice to have John Blackwell on drums and someone funkier on guitar. Anyway, John is in the hospital but it would be nice to have some funkier players on that stage during the performances like the ones they did at the Essence fest. 3rdeyegirl is an awesome rock band but they are not funky. I see your point though, i dont recall there being a current lineup of other musicians in the NPG. But once again, this is not a knock to 3rdeyegirl or the members in it.

.

.

3rd Eye Girl could play funk im sure, Ida is quite good at it, Donna, wasnt her previous project funk rock? Its just that they were missing NPG Horns wthat wuold have added an element of funk, the fact is, thats not what Prince is currently about and the more he goes back to that, the more people expect it.

NikkiAndTheRevolution said:

Prince didn't grow up in da hood

EddieC said:

EyeHatechu said:

3Rdeyegirl is a rock band. They specialize in a rock sound. Funk is just not their strong point. He should have left 3 rdeyegirl at home and brought the NPG band to play the instruments. True, P could have and should have played the Beautiful Ones, Do Me, Baby, Scandalous, etc. But who knows why he didnt.

3rdEyeGirl is part of the NPG, isn't it? There is no current lineup of the NPG that doesn't have 3rdEyeGirl at its core--sure, Ida may move over to guitar and Andrew Gouche play bass, but Donna, Hannah, and Ida are still there, and Donna's playing guitar whenever Prince is in bandleader mode, and Hannah's the drums. I can't see any real reason to complain about Ida or have her move to guitar, either, since she'd been the bassist for the NPG for a few years anyway.

I'm not saying that 3rdEyeGirl are the funkiest band in the world, but I don't know what you mean by "leaving them at home," and who would play instead. As to KidMelody2012--yeah, he hatest them, but we already knew that.

Unfortunately, I wasn't there and haven't heard anything from the show--so I can't say anything about it with certainty. But "inept" is probably an exaggeration.

I agree, and I'm glad Prince didn't pander to race

'African -American' fans love Prince's music from Let's Go Crazy-Black Swet

fnksoul said:

EyeHatechu said:

EddieC said: What im saying is that 3rdeyegirl is a rock based band meaning they are not the funkiest. Even though the band is part of NPG, they are not the only band members in the NPG who play guitar, drums, and bass. Keep Ida, I like her, but it would be nice to have John Blackwell on drums and someone funkier on guitar. Anyway, John is in the hospital but it would be nice to have some funkier players on that stage during the performances like the ones they did at the Essence fest. 3rdeyegirl is an awesome rock band but they are not funky. I see your point though, i dont recall there being a current lineup of other musicians in the NPG. But once again, this is not a knock to 3rdeyegirl or the members in it.

.

.

3rd Eye Girl could play funk im sure, Ida is quite good at it, Donna, wasnt her previous project funk rock? Its just that they were missing NPG Horns wthat wuold have added an element of funk, the fact is, thats not what Prince is currently about and the more he goes back to that, the more people expect it.

You don't need horns for funk. Listen to prince's early work. The classic mpls funk was fantastic, without any horns at all.