I've been listening to a lot of Piano And Microphone Shows. To me, it is Prince's musical last will and testament. The Oakland Show on the first night is most interesting to me because he talks about his childhood, his parents, how the assassination of President Kennedy symbolically affected the aspirations of his parents vision for their future. Also, how Prince mentioned Lee Harvey Oswald and how he framed his name with today's goings-on with Flint. I would love to read people's thoughts about Prince the performer relating these stories and how far he would have gotten into the tour had he lived. Even post your favorite pictures of Prince from this era. Could you just imagine if Prince took the Piano And Microphone Tour for a multiple night stand at Madison Square Garden or The Forum in Los Angeles. My favorite picture from the tour.

From the few dates he did this tour, its obvious his main point was reflection. He even kept spirtuality at bay as he talked about humanity with words like "family." He used himself as example for us to look inside ourselves and look at what is going on around us and just stand up and do our part to change it. He kept talking about self preservation. That is the part that gets me seeing what happened in the end.

[Edited 7/13/16 16:53pm]

I've seen Prince a ton of times, but this was definitely his most personal. I saw the 2 shows at Paisley Park and they were great. He must have been toying with the format he would tour with. The 1st show is my favorite. He went through songs chronologically and was telling stories or making comments about the songs throughout. Starting from his childhood through 1988. I couldn't believe how much he was talking. The 2nd show was more loose and was not chronological at all, with new and old songs. He obviously chose the 2nd show as the format. Both of these shows were professionally filmed. I would love to see them be released. He played us the first 30 minutes of the 2nd Atlanta show at the last party. He said that was the best show so far and he was going to release it after he did a few more shows and cleaned up the recording to take out the screams from the audience.

Well...not to Purple Rain on your Parade but I hate that picture and now that Ive got that out I loved everything about the Piano and a Microphone tour. I actually think that he got the idea for the tour from the Org There were threads here where orgers said all they needed was Prince, A Piano and a Mic...he stole it from us

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Love this pic so much I bought it

If he had come close to where I live I wouldve done everything to get a chance to see him on this tour I thought the piano was his strongest instrument and when he played it was heavenly so sad really that such a great tour/idea was short lived. I hope he's playing in heaven

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bashraka said:

stinasings said:

How have you been listening to them? I've been trying to find them everywhere. Where do I go?

Guitars101 website has a lot of good discussion about Prince.

nursev said:

nursev said:

balmliove said:

nursev said:

If he had come close to where I live I wouldve done everything to get a chance to see him on this tour I thought the piano was his strongest instrument and when he played it was heavenly so sad really that such a great tour/idea was short lived. I hope he's playing in heaven

I heard a podcast where Denise Matthews said loved him playing the piano...she said she had encouraged him to do an album of just him playing the piano and singing. She talked about him so fondly.

wow...that explains alot. To me it was his best instrument I would love to hear that...Denise was a fav of mine too

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this view is better

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where can I get that Prince beanie/hat?

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rogifan said:

I didn't get the chance to attend any of these shows but I've listened to all but the Canada shows. They absolutely blow me away. The definition of true artistry and genius on display. How many artists could get up on stage with just a piano and microphone and kill it for 2 hours? Even the great piano men like Elton John and Billy Joel are up there with help of a backing band. I think this is one of the most brilliant things Prince did in his career and it's sad he wasn't able to take it more places. He would've sold out in a heartbeat wherever he went. I think my favorite song is Thieves in the Temple from the first Oakland show. So much emotion and showcases his lower and upper range on vocals. The vocals on Nothing Compares 2 U at this show were fantastic as well.

Prince's P&M show sounds so wonderful, and I wish I could have witnessed it personally. He was amazing. I don't know about Billy Joel, but Elton John has done solo piano concerts before, just for the record. I'm personally more of a Prince fan, but Elton John is at his best when it's just him and the piano.

I think Prince was slowly reaching out to former musical associates and making amends behind the scenes with each Piano And Microphone show. The anecdotes Prince shared about Matt Fink, Lisa Coleman, Vanity, his parents was very endearing. His piano playing was very diverse. He could stride piano where he is riffing very hard on an uptempo number to plaintive musicality during a somber tune, he reinvented himself brilliantly for his last tour. His last studio album is certainly worthy of being among his finest of a legendary career.

teach49 said:

rogifan said:

I didn't get the chance to attend any of these shows but I've listened to all but the Canada shows. They absolutely blow me away. The definition of true artistry and genius on display. How many artists could get up on stage with just a piano and microphone and kill it for 2 hours? Even the great piano men like Elton John and Billy Joel are up there with help of a backing band. I think this is one of the most brilliant things Prince did in his career and it's sad he wasn't able to take it more places. He would've sold out in a heartbeat wherever he went. I think my favorite song is Thieves in the Temple from the first Oakland show. So much emotion and showcases his lower and upper range on vocals. The vocals on Nothing Compares 2 U at this show were fantastic as well.

Prince's P&M show sounds so wonderful, and I wish I could have witnessed it personally. He was amazing. I don't know about Billy Joel, but Elton John has done solo piano concerts before, just for the record. I'm personally more of a Prince fan, but Elton John is at his best when it's just him and the piano.

Don't forget Ben Folds. He's a lifelong favourite of mine. I grew up and formed my personality alongside his work in a similar way to Prince's. I've seen him in a few different settings over the years: with orchestra, with the Ben Folds Five, with various bands. The best shows were the solo piano ones, He doesn't have to stick to what's been rehearsed, he's free to take requests, improvise, play whatever he wants. Prince was on another level entirely - Folds would probably be the first to admit that - but the intimacy his shows reminded me of Folds at his best.

teach49 said:

MrSquiggle said:

rogifan said:

MrSquiggle said:

Don't forget Ben Folds. He's a lifelong favourite of mine. I grew up and formed my personality alongside his work in a similar way to Prince's. I've seen him in a few different settings over the years: with orchestra, with the Ben Folds Five, with various bands. The best shows were the solo piano ones, He doesn't have to stick to what's been rehearsed, he's free to take requests, improvise, play whatever he wants. Prince was on another level entirely - Folds would probably be the first to admit that - but the intimacy his shows reminded me of Folds at his best.

Something else about Prince that I think is a cut above the rest is the way he segues between songs. I think he did it better than anyone. And with the P&M shows he could go from Little Red Corvette to Dirty Mind to Linus and Lucy back to Little Red Corvette and make it sound like they were all designed to go together. Brilliant.

Good point. There was hardly a lull during the transiton of one song to the next and that is a credit to Prince's ear for arrangements. Also, whenever he would speak to the crowd, he sounded engaged and in the moment. I go back to the first Oakland show of this tour. When he begins singing "Stand" by Sly And The Family Stone and he says "there's no justice anywhere-TALK TO ME FLINT!". It only makes me miss his awareness of current events and how he would interject his remarks into his music.