I’ve been thinking a lot about the last ten years or so of Prince’s life, recently, and how his output was developing...

I think at the back of my mind I’d accepted that Prince didn't seem to care as much about his work as he used to - a decline that maybe started in the mid-00s. Sure, there’ve been some great songs - I prefer his best 21st century stuff to anything from the 90s - but I couldn't escape the sense that he was slowly giving up… music was being released less frequently; tours seemed like money-making schemes (high paying festival appearances / oligarch’s parties); just a general sense that less care was going into the work and he was settling for a lower standard than he would have earlier in career.

I think it first struck me watching the 21 Nights shows - much as i loved them I remember thinking - he’s playing it all out to one side of the arena; this looks like he’s just taken the 3121 Vegas show and not really restaged it for playing in the round. Whereas the Lovesexy shows I saw were painstakingly choreographed to ensure there was always something for you to see, wherever your seat…

And just as I’m thinking “has Prince got… lazy?” he starts up with the sampler set…

So a slow decline - something that that final Rolling Stone interview seemed to confirm, where he says he’s not really writing songs that much anymore, and he only tours because of his massive payroll. And those tours - wheeling out the same old arrangements, the same tired lines (“too many hits”) cheaper and cheaper sets (those terrible “torches" on the 3rd Eye Girl tour, which would have disgraced a suburban strip club)… culminating in Prince doing his own make-up before bashing out two short sets a night at the piano for $1000 tickets.

BUT

I can see there's a completely contrasting interpretation of the same period. Which is that the 3rdEyeGirl and P&AM tours were all part of a total creative reinvention; a major artist challenging and renewing themselves. That the 3rdEyeGirl setlist was what we’d wanted for years - a whole new sound, and look; brand new interpretations of classic songs, as well as heavily featuring new material; followed by another sharp turn with the P&AM tour; all received rapturously by fans and critics alike.

And while some tickets were far too expensive, others were dirt cheap… and so what if Prince didn’t release an album for four years, when he then released four albums in two years? When he experimented with an outside producer for the first time in his life? And when the music - which is what it’s all about - seemed to pour out of him - one off tracks on iTunes / Tidal / Spotify; the endless streams on YouTube, Facebook etc… And then those Paisley rehearsals with Mononeon just blew me away.

So I don’t know, now. I’m not sure if the decline narrative I had really holds up. Maybe he just hit a bit of a rocky patch in his mid-50s, but was now pulling out of it… And we were potentially on the cusp of a golden period…

Wondered what everyone else felt?

Nearly 40 years in a physically demanding career is exhausting, even when you love it. I imagine Prince was probably feeling it in his bones on a physical level. I'm not sure he was precisely LAZY, per se, but maybe he started to want to slow down and didn't know how to contain it. I always go back to this: I've been working with animals since I was 25, and I'm 40 now. That's 15 years, and OMG I am so. Freaking. Tired. I still love my job, but I am definitely slower than I used to be, and I sometimes will turn down walking assignments just because I don't bloody feel like doing it. I can imagine that there were times when Prince just didn't feel like doing all that. The man never really took a break, never really rested. You can't keep going like you're twenty years old when you're not twenty years old.

Yours is an interesting question. Other than seeing him twice (1985 and 2005), I sure don't have the data to form my own conclusion. However, I was somewhat bewildered recently when I heard his 20ten concert and thought there was a certain roteness to it that wasn't there in 2005. He hardly ever sang the entire song and perhaps on over half the tracks he had his background singers or audience sing over 50% of the song. While he and other superstars do this to some degree and to good effect, it just seemed here like it was a sign of disengagement, which is consistent with what you have proposed. Indeed, what he did more than anything else was more like a showman in Vegas trying to get the crowd to sing, clap, order the musicians and singers to do this and that without offering his usual amount of artistry. Not that the audience seemed to mind.

In contrast, the recording I heard of his recent Piano and Microphone tour was completely inspired and artistic. He was so engaged. His set lists were varied and interesting. He seemed very spontaneous and interactive rather than using over-done slogans and soundbites Again, consistent with your hypothesis that he was experiencing an artistic rejuvenation.

I realize that my small sampling doesn't prove anything, but I was already wondering about the differences among these three concerts when you made your observation that provided an aha moment for me.

Thanks