What are some of Prince's worst live performances you can think of?

First one comes to mind is Emancipation at the 1997 Brit Awards...

I didn't care for TMBGITW at the World Music Awards '94 because I don't like when he lip syncs! There are exceptions, though (such as the '95 AMA's)

Any during the Andy Allo era. Andy's fantastic but not with Prince.

Bambi82 said:

I didn't care for TMBGITW at the World Music Awards '94 because I don't like when he lip syncs! There are exceptions, though (such as the '95 AMA's)

Bingo & that ridiculous outfit he was wearing . It looked like he was wearing a kite.

The Christ at the 1998 Essence Awards ceremony. I hated the lyrics change, and the presence of Larry Graham. And Chaka Khan's "singing" was horrible.

Indigo nights cd

ludwig said:

The Christ at the 1998 Essence Awards ceremony. I hated the lyrics change, and the presence of Larry Graham. And Chaka Khan's "singing" was horrible.

Yes,


to change the lyrics to the wonderful "The Cross", oh dear that was criminal....

FragileUndertow said:

Indigo nights cd

That cd is rubbish indeed.

thedance said:

FragileUndertow said:

Indigo nights cd

That cd is rubbish indeed.

Im glad you agree

^

What's that one bootleg where Prince performed with walking pneumonia? His voice was off, his timing was off and it took him about half the show to warm up.

I guess it's also a testimate to how good of a performer he is that he was able to get on stage at all, let alone turn it around.

The small set on the Paisely Park live stream and the recent SNL performance. I honestly never thought I could think 'wow that was just totally average' when it comes to Prince in a live setting.

I'm also intersted to hear what bootleg P is sick on. Never heard about that.

Strive said:

feeluupp said:

What are some of Prince's worst live performances you can think of?

First one comes to mind is Emancipation at the 1997 Brit Awards...

I honestly really enjoyed that performance. It was the reason I decided to sink £30 on Emancipation (then I got to HMV and found it was only a tenner)

His worst ever performance was Lolita on American Idol. Terrible song, Terrible setting, Singing live over a backing tape with those awful vegas-like ad-libs, Prince looked terrible, and the Twins were all over the place. After all the talk about live music and real music, this was a horrible way to sell himself out.

He should have walked out with a guitar and played a 4 minute intrumental then left.

Noodled24 said:

feeluupp said:

What are some of Prince's worst live performances you can think of?

First one comes to mind is Emancipation at the 1997 Brit Awards...

I honestly really enjoyed that performance. It was the reason I decided to sink £30 on Emancipation (then I got to HMV and found it was only a tenner)

He was lip-syncing. The whole music was pre-recorded. And that from mister "real music by real musicians".

Farfunknugin said:

Bambi82 said:

I didn't care for TMBGITW at the World Music Awards '94 because I don't like when he lip syncs! There are exceptions, though (such as the '95 AMA's)

Bingo & that ridiculous outfit he was wearing . It looked like he was wearing a kite.

the craziest thing was the amount of foundation he was wearing....I remember thinking while watching it, "damn P, you look like a ghost!" It was a highly cringeworty performance.

The first night at the Paladium in NYC in 1994 was dreadful. I brought a bunch of non-prince friends who waited till midnight and it was a lame performance.

conversely, the next night, I went with another big princeophile and it was a great show. The first time I heard GOLD was pretty magical.

[Edited 12/11/14 14:05pm]

ludwig said:

Noodled24 said:

I honestly really enjoyed that performance. It was the reason I decided to sink £30 on Emancipation (then I got to HMV and found it was only a tenner)

He was lip-syncing. The whole music was pre-recorded. And that from mister "real music by real musicians".

He was lip syncing yes, he only spoke a few lines. I still thought it was entertaining.

In general, Prince gives great performances.
I can't think of many bad ones.


Here is a short list:

1. James Brown & MJ together on stage with him.... not a stellar moment

2. American Bandstand 'gold pants' performance, and cringe worthy followup interview.

3. American Idol 'Lolita' performance

4. Baby Knows on Good Morning America...it was a so-so performance, and he was actually out of breath for the short talk afterwords.

5. All the performances on his 2014 Arsenio appearance, and the homophobic q&a that took place after.

Strive said:

What's that one bootleg where Prince performed with walking pneumonia? His voice was off, his timing was off and it took him about half the show to warm up.

I guess it's also a testimate to how good of a performer he is that he was able to get on stage at all, let alone turn it around.

DNA San Francisco

07/28/11, the complete Welcome-2-America-concert in Cologne at Lanxess Arena

Cologne 2011 was by far the worst live performance I'd witnessed by any artist.

Plain awful.

nonesuch said:

Cologne 2011 was by far the worst live performance I'd witnessed by any artist.

Plain awful.

I know nothing about this.

Can you give some details? I'm dying to know!

Blixical said:

nonesuch said:

Cologne 2011 was by far the worst live performance I'd witnessed by any artist.

Plain awful.

I know nothing about this.

Can you give some details? I'm dying to know!

this was the one where he fired his entire crew after the show right? He was playing Ireland the next day and personally did a very long soundcheck. some info on the problems in the show are in the notes - http://www.princevault.co...July,_2011

It sometimes makes me wonder if people don't like a certain performance he does with someone, say a protege, because they see it as that protege standing between them and their dream lover, Prince.

The legendary Cologne/Germany show in 2011. Or was it 2010? I don´t even WANT to remember.

So bad that it was almost good. Almost.

But...there are superstars who have done far worse. He still made the best of it but he easily could´ve won the audience´s hearts if he had just played a little longer despite all the problems.

It was bad but in hindsight, it was still an interesting thing to witness as a fan.

KoolEaze said:

The legendary Cologne/Germany show in 2011. Or was it 2010? I don´t even WANT to remember.

So bad that it was almost good. Almost.

But...there are superstars who have done far worse. He still made the best of it but he easily could´ve won the audience´s hearts if he had just played a little longer despite all the problems.

It was bad but in hindsight, it was still an interesting thing to witness as a fan.

I'm just now hearing about this concert. Was the sound crew just there to get a paycheck?

Essence Festival 2014 was quite bad. The SNL performance was fine by comparison.