FunkiestOne said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

There have been shows where he has had a cold/flu/whatever and probably not been up to par vocally. The '93 DNA lounge gig is a prime example of this. Edinburgh '93 was plagued with tech problems, and the number 34 bus could be seen driving past in the background every ten minutes.... I'm sure there are others.

'93 DNA Lounge show is a prime example off one of his best shows ever....at least among those circulating out there among fans, which includes hundreds.

There are hundreds of shows out there?

ludwig said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I recently saw footage from Rotterdam or one of the Montreaux

Montreux, without an "a".

I was trying to be fancy. LOL

NorthC said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I recently saw footage from Rotterdam or one of the Montreaux shows, where he comes out, playing "Controversy" forevah. He is constantly telling the sound guys to turn up the voice on stage, needs more guitar, etc. etc. They kind of just grooved on "Controversy" for a long while, until it was fixed.

That was the first night of the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam in 2011. I remember that very well, it's true, the sound was bad and he kept shouting at the sound and light people to get it right. The first half of the show was one big soundcheck. Things got better later on, but yeah, this was a concert where things didn't go down well. Thankfully, he made up for it the next two nights.

Except for Seal singing Mountains!

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Holy shitballs. Holy wow.

I wouldnt say this is necessarily a bad show but when he came to Brisbane for the W2 Australia in 2012 the first night he was so angry because everyone had their phones out filming and the entertainment staff were not enforcing the no camera rule - he was so mad, also the sound in the centre was really bad that night. But I loved the show still and I myself was happy & floating on purple clouds none the less - but when I compared that to the second show in Brisbane - where the sound was amazing and the camera rules was strictly enforced (people with phones being escorted out) I realised by comparision how the first show suffered and that it was like two completely different shows. In fact they were totally different to be honest, more horns the second night and Prince was really happy - but that first show I could tell he was not impressed. The second show was one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen in my life - (and the Piano & Mic show also of course)

[Edited 5/20/16 17:18pm]

And I'll add my token post about the only time I ever got to see Prince, unfortunately.

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Essence Fest 2014 was not an amazing Prince concert. One reason was that for most of the first few songs he was not singing, just holding the mic over the crowd and conducting. It was so much that it was kind of distracting/karaoke-like. Then the sampler set just is not my jam..

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Overall he just was not feeling it. Didn't play guitar much at all the whole night-- if any except to reinforce on the slowed down Let's Go Crazy.

BanishedBrian said:

TrivialPursuit said:

2freaky4church1 said:

That whole 1990 tour was shitty. Any bar band could have played better than they did. Probably why they dropped Dr. Fink.

That's uninformed and misguided. Prince was still in control. He didn't drop Fink. Fink left. It had been a long stretch, and he was off to do other things with his life, career, and family. He had also suffered the loss of a child, like Prince & Mayte had.

.

The biggest issue with that time, for me, was the inclusion of rap. I don't hate rap, but Prince seemed pointed on trying to make it a thing in his music. He could have had anyone in there, but we all know the sad state that Tony M. brought to the thing. I hated the 3 guy dancers in general. (I didn't even like Wally, Greg, & Jerome.)

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I also think Sonny was better on bass, and Miko leaving as quite welcomed by me. Levi's great on bass & guitar, but he fit better on the latter, and Sonny on bass. This earlier version of NPG was almost a perfunctory band, compared to the tigther and better version with Morris, Sonny, Tommy, & Michael.

i doubt fink's playing caused any problem, he was the best musician in the revolution arguably. I did read that he wasn't aging very well and that was the reason but i wouldn't necessarily believe what i read.

i know people think prince was superman but everyone has a bad day whether we're talking great athletes, top scientists, ceo's or rockstars. Anyway, i've heard that P's first live show post-contract, in 78-79 was a disaster. I also didn't go see him the last time he was here but from what i heard, the tacoma dome wasn't nearly full and Prince left after a short set. People surmised it was because of all the videoing and some idiots were actually running around under the stage.

oh, i just remembered the very last time he played seattle, it was a small venue with $250 tickets, i didn't know about it until the day after, I believe it was his first real show with third eye girl, by all accounts that show was phenomenal.

[Edited 5/20/16 17:47pm]

I missed him here in Austin at a little spot for South by Southwest just a few years ago. Crazy man, crazy.

I saw him in Sydney in 2012 on the Welcome 2 Australia tour. The second night. I found it pretty underwhelming on the whole, felt a bit Greatest Hits, Radio Edit... He kept messing with the lights, I remember the band awkwardly playing "Days of Wild" with all the house lights up. At one point he said "People say 'U're not funky anymore', yeah, well, eye used 2 b..." Wtf?? It felt like that, too. It felt like he was turning into a nostalgia act. It just didn't have a lot of heart in it and I think the giant venue didn't help. I was disappointed later to find out this was the only one of three shows where he didn't open with "Gold." I actually wonder if my state of mind was bad that night or something, I'd like to hear a bootleg of this show back, because the setlist looks amazing on paper: http://www.setlist.fm/set...fa497.html

That same night I got into the aftershow. That was unforgettable. One of the greatest experiences of my life. Partyman, Jam of the Year, She's Always in My Hair, the new blues version of I could never take the place of your man. Seal showed up and sang "Brown Skin." Flava Flav showed up and did "911's a Joke." All of this in a venue with 400 capacity. He closed with "Dreamer"-- footage of it surfaced recently. He looks like a god. Unbelievable. The same night. So you never knew with him.

MrSquiggle said:

I'm sure in his eyes he probably had quite a few , but most of us probably couldnt tell. and thats with all great performers.

[Edited 5/20/16 22:41pm]

Yes, that quickly put together performace he done to promote the EP and AOA cds. The audience was about as lifeless as I ever seen during an Prince performance. However the one bright spot was Kendrick Lamar's performce with Prince during "What's My Name."

jazzz said:

I saw Prince live about 10 times, starting with SOTT (2x) and Lovesexy (front row in the press area). These concerts were (of course) highlights in my life. My last shows were two concerts, including soundchecks, in 2002 in Antwerp and Rotterdam. Again fantastic! But to come to the question: I think the 1990 Nude tour concert I attended in Rotterdam was not so strong. I remember long waiting for the show to start, a terrible opening act, and when Prince finally appeared it started raining really hard... the show was rushed and not really long...

Yeah, I was at that Gig, opening night of the Nude tour, hung around all day queuing at the stadium and it was sunny, in the evening the heavens opened with rain and lightening, travelled all the way from England on a coach with the Revolution fan club.

soladeo1 said:

Grog said:

thx185 said:

I missed him here in Austin at a little spot for South by Southwest just a few years ago. Crazy man, crazy.

I think that was a closed/weird show. Only certain people could go? I can't remember exactly but I live in East Texas and I was so mad I couldn't go. The last time he was in Texas before that was in 2006 with Tamar on her tour(I wasn't going to that) and 2004 on the Musicology tour. He was never down here when I was old enough or had the money to go.

TrivialPursuit said:

I saw 3 shows of Jam of the Year, and the pace and energy of the Austin one was better than both Houston ones.

People, the two Nude tours pro shots (and Rock in Rio) are my favorite concerts to watch. It was the peak of his dancing and visual look, in my opinion. It's weird to hear som many accounts of bad shows during this era, when the 3 boots seem so cool to me. He was like a superhero in those videos.

kapo74 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I recently saw footage from Rotterdam or one of the Montreaux shows, where he comes out, playing "Controversy" forevah. He is constantly telling the sound guys to turn up the voice on stage, needs more guitar, etc. etc. They kind of just grooved on "Controversy" for a long while, until it was fixed.

That was the first North Sea Jazz show. The sound was aweful, he apologized the next show, which sounded excellent.

North Sea. Thank you!

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Yeah, the video was in 2 or 3 parts on YouTube. I only watched the first. He looked a bit pissy throughout, and with good reason.

thx185 said:

And I'll add my token post about the only time I ever got to see Prince, unfortunately.

.

Essence Fest 2014 was not an amazing Prince concert. One reason was that for most of the first few songs he was not singing, just holding the mic over the crowd and conducting. It was so much that it was kind of distracting/karaoke-like. Then the sampler set just is not my jam..

.

Overall he just was not feeling it. Didn't play guitar much at all the whole night-- if any except to reinforce on the slowed down Let's Go Crazy.

I was at this show as well. It was not at the level of other Prince shows that I've been to, but for me, it was not the worst either.

ufoclub said:

People, the two Nude tours pro shots (and Rock in Rio) are my favorite concerts to watch. It was the peak of his dancing and visual look, in my opinion. It's weird to hear som many accounts of bad shows during this era, when the 3 boots seem so cool to me. He was like a superhero in those videos.

My exact thoughts!

I had such trouble back in the day w/ RIR show, i used to think of it as terrible cause he was struggling so hard to connect with the festival audience, it was his first time playing here in Brazil and south america so sometimes it came across as prince trying TOO HARD to impress, mannerisms all over it, et al.. The 200 towels debauchery did paint him as prissy/pretentious w/ the press and some audience folks, but its a damn funky show (Game Boyz aside ) In my list, RIR went from 'avoidable' to essential. Also Nudity is one of the all time great rehearsals; La Coruna show is mind blowing w/ artistry prowess, should def be more appreciated!

[Edited 5/22/16 11:48am]

[Edited 5/22/16 11:51am]

[Edited 5/22/16 11:53am]

BanishedBrian said:

ufoclub said:

There have been shows where technical problems affected the sound quality and ticked off Prince, resulting in a not-great show. And some shows were cut short, which caused the crowd to boo. The second Melbourne show earlier this year was one of them, cut short after just 80 minutes.