Prince can't even seem to stick with the set list he wrote earlier that day. If he was walking into a show knowing people specifically wanted to hear the following ten songs, I bet he would immediately want to do ANYTHING BUT those ten songs.

Stevie's show WAS fantastic, I don't disagree with that. But he's able to do things like, schedule dates months in advance and stick to the schedule, which Prince no longer can. Can you imagine that Songs In The Key of Life band sitting around a Louisville hotel for two weeks waiting to find out when their next show is gonna be?

bobzilla77 said:

Stevie's show WAS fantastic, I don't disagree with that. But he's able to do things like, schedule dates months in advance and stick to the schedule, which Prince no longer can. Can you imagine that Songs In The Key of Life band sitting around a Louisville hotel for two weeks waiting to find out when their next show is gonna be?

I'm glad that you appreciated the show like I did. There were no props, no dancing, etc. It was just a living legend and a extraordinarily good band set to a historic album. Prince is not Stevie, but he is the only person that comes close. I like the idea of Dirty Mind/Controversy. I would even be o.k. with an expanded version of Purple Rain that included B sides and songs that never made it to the album. SOTT makes the most sense, but he already did a concert movie for that, so perhaps the original 3 disc Crystal Ball would be better?

I've seen quite a few complete-album shows and Stevie's was probably the very best ever, maybe tied with Brian Wilson's SMiLE show at Disney Hall.

They're especially good when it's someone I have seen several times and not sure if I'm gonna go back for the usual career-overview set list. It's kind of nice KNOWING they will play some songs I want to hear that haven't been done live for a while.

No.

I'm actually against the entire concept of ANY artist playing ANY album in its entire and proper running order. Yep, even if The Beatles were around and they were going to tour Sgt. Pepper with an orchestra, I still wouldn't want it. To me one of the major gearshifts in a live performance when compared to a studio performance is the energy and spontenaeity.

When I go to a concert, part of the thrill for me is that you never know what's going to come next and how it's going to play out. There's a certain magic in that which no studio can capture. So, when an album is played in full, some of that charisma goes out the window because you do know what's coming next.

I went to see Weezer on their memories tour where they were playing either the BLUE or PINKERTON albums (depending which night you attended) in full. The set would consist of two acts. Act 1 is a career retrospective from throughout their catalogue excluding tracks from the feature album of the evening. Act 2 was the full album. Honestly, as brilliant as the entire night was, I still prefer Act 1 because, to me, that's when Weezer were playing like a band. Act 2 was nicely played, but it was a band merely playing through a list to appease the expectations of the crowd. That is, the antithesis of what Prince is about both as an artist and live performer.

i would like prince to do the sign of the times album in its entirety in concert

bobzilla77 said:

Stevie's show WAS fantastic, I don't disagree with that. But he's able to do things like, schedule dates months in advance and stick to the schedule, which Prince no longer can. Can you imagine that Songs In The Key of Life band sitting around a Louisville hotel for two weeks waiting to find out when their next show is gonna be?

lol...yeah,Prince doesn't seem to have the patience to do a well-planned out,organized tour where the dates are announced long in advance.He doesn't realize that most of his fans are now older with other responsibilites.It's not always easy to run around at a moment's notice to attend one of his shows.

ONLY if it applies to his latest album(s)....

bobzilla77 said:

An evening with Prince: 'Sign O The Times' performed in its entirely

special guest: drummer Sheila E.

2freaky4church1 said:

Goldnigga.

Well, it's a lot better than Stone...

Ahum: "like Stevie Wonder"? I hope you do know this "full album" concept has been around for years. Pixies for instance were playing Doolittle from start to finish back in 2009. The Cure were doing Trilogy gigs back in 2002.

databank said:

donnyenglish said:

I saw Stevie Wonder's live performance of Songs in the Key of Life yesterday and I was blown away. It is difficult for artists like Prince and Stevie to satisfy an audience because they have so many hits and can't play them all and hard core fans want to hear other songs. Playing an album from start to finish is a good compromise because people know what they are getting.

What are some of the album candidates for Prince? He already did SOTT. Dirty Mind is my choice but probably too dirty for him now. Purple Rain is probably the popular choice, but I seriously doubt that he would want to go back to that period. Perhaps, he would do his next new CD, which would be fine with me but wouldn't be good for the masses. Parade, TRC, 1999 and Lovesexy come to mind for me.

Another observation from the Stevie concert is that Stevie used first class musicians and background singers in his band and it made a huge difference. Prince generally likes to take average musicians and lead them to another level, but Stevie clearly demands quality. I hate comparing the two, but I can see why people consider Stevie to be the gold standard.

Excuse me???

yeah - I said 'excuse me' as well. That's a seriously uninformed opinion.

SquirrelMeat said:

Its probably no coincidence that some of my favourite tours were ones where the current album got the full live treatment. Even now, I would rather Prince play all of AOA than drag out Take Mr With U and Raspberry Beret. If he were to promote the remasters, I would like him to approach live shows like Gary Numan or A-ha, where the first half could be the whole classic album, and the second half of the hits.

I thought what he done with the Act I tour was great and so simple. First half played virtually all the Symbol album and the second half the hits.

.

He should do that with all his tours, that would appease both the hardcore and casual fans.

[Edited 4/16/15 7:19am]

[Edited 4/16/15 7:24am]

BartVanHemelen said:

Ahum: "like Stevie Wonder"? I hope you do know this "full album" concept has been around for years. Pixies for instance were playing Doolittle from start to finish back in 2009. The Cure were doing Trilogy gigs back in 2002.

Before that even. Pink Floyd alone did Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were and Animals. There was Tommy (The Who), Thick as a Brick (Jethro Tull), Ziggy Stardust (Bowie), Welcome to My Nightmare (Alice Cooper), Dr, Feelgood Motley Crue), The Downward Spiral (NIN) and Operation Mindcrime (Queensryche). Those are off the top of my head.

I think Springsteen and Van Morrison have done it also.

I think SOTT would be the best choice for Prince if he were going to do it but, man, would I love a whole 1999 show.

Doesn't matter cause it'll never happen but it's fun to talk about.

SoulAlive said:

Yes, please.

No one here would be satisfied unless it was the original line-up plus Sheila E to do "Erotic City" original lyrics, and all 1984 associate albums as the opening act.