DarkKnight1 said:

Best Show i have ever seen. Row 3, on the floor, in the round. It was absolutely amazing. The setlist was perfect as well.

i'd have to say lovesexy was better, he still had the physicality then, however, his musicianship and vocals got better with age, as well as picking better and better musicians.

I attended three. Incredibly memorable for these reasons:

1. San Antonio, June 9th - My daughter and I sat in 2nd row by band, daughter got onstage and sang "Life O' the Party" chorus for Prince. She danced with Prince, Candy and Maceo for about 20 minutes. She got an autographed tambourine from Candy and autographed drumsticks from John Blackwell. She also got one of Prince's guitar picks from security. Full story here: http://prince.org/msg/12/97732

2. Dallas, June 11th - I sat on tenth row in front, daughter and wife sat on 2nd row by band. Daughter got more drumsticks but were stolen, so John gave her his biggest cymbol and autographed it. She got another tambourine, too. Full story here: http://prince.org/msg/12/98052

3. Houston, August 6th - Sat on first row in front, wife and daughter sat on second row by band. Candy had daughter brought onstage and she sang "Life O' the Party" chorus again. She danced with the band and Prince for 20 minutes, then she and Prince sat down at the end of the stage and dueted on the bridge of "Take Me With U". Full story here: http://prince.org/msg/12/105587?pr

My wife and I, and one of our friends, also attended the tour premiere movie event at our local theater. That felt like being there!

DarkKnight1 said:

Best Show i have ever seen. Row 3, on the floor, in the round. It was absolutely amazing. The setlist was perfect as well.

Same. That acoustic set alone absolutely blew me away. I knew a lot of friends who'd never seen him before that went to this tour and came away fans who wanted to know more.

PeteSilas said:

DarkKnight1 said:

Best Show i have ever seen. Row 3, on the floor, in the round. It was absolutely amazing. The setlist was perfect as well.

i'd have to say lovesexy was better, he still had the physicality then, however, his musicianship and vocals got better with age, as well as picking better and better musicians.

Disagree. There was something pre-packaged, synthetic and over rehearsed about Lovesexy. It was great but was missing a certian organic quality that I tend to prefer in my live music experiences. I got the feeeling with Lovesexy that I was gonna see the same show ever single night but Musicology was a little different somehow.

I think the musicians on stage were given way more room to shine and the pace of it was a little better somehow. It's hard to put my finger on but I think at that point Prince had really really surrounded himself with a genuinely tight band and had learned when to lay off the glitz and theatrics as much. The music on the 2004 tour seemed to have a little more room to breathe, was a tad more diverse in its setlist, was really well paced and felt a little more about the music than the message or the spectacle.

A lot of the stuff he played on Lovesexy was performed WAY too fast. "Sister" comes to mind. I like to think Blackwell was partly responsible because he's so fucking good. Lastly, again, I can't say enough about that acoustic set.

herb4 said:

PeteSilas said:

i'd have to say lovesexy was better, he still had the physicality then, however, his musicianship and vocals got better with age, as well as picking better and better musicians.

Disagree. There was something pre-packaged, synthetic and over rehearsed about Lovesexy. It was great but was missing a certian organic quality that I tend to prefer in my live music experiences. I got the feeeling with Lovesexy that I was gonna see the same show ever single night but Musicology was a little different somehow.

I think the musicians on stage were given way more room to shine and the pace of it was a little better somehow. It's hard to put my finger on but I think at that point Prince had really really surrounded himself with a genuinely tight band and had learned when to lay off the glitz and theatrics as much. The music on the 2004 tour seemed to have a little more room to breathe, was a tad more diverse in its setlist, was really well paced and felt a little more about the music than the message or the spectacle.

A lot of the stuff he played on Lovesexy was performed WAY too fast. "Sister" comes to mind. I like to think Blackwell was partly responsible because he's so fucking good. Lastly, again, I can't say enough about that acoustic set.

you got a point, his shows at that time were usually like that, even going to purple rain/1999. According to Dez Prince's words were "more like a play", that entails some sort of theme which needs to be repeated. However, I'm looking at all around stuff. I've always said, i've seen some greats, vocally, i'd have to say Stevie Wonder was the best I ever saw, terence Trent Darby was fantastic as well in the vocal dept. and the dancing. Prince, however, not as great vocally as those two, still bested everyone I've ever seen on Lovesexy. He had an elaborate stage set, the car, which, i don't think was real, a basketball hoop. the clothing changes, even the songs from the black album which, since none or few of us had heard it, gave us a little taste of what the fuss was about. By the time of Musicology, he was better as a musician, probably more in rapport with the audience, still excellent, with world class musicians, but there just wasn't as much going on.

RodeoSchro said:

2. Dallas, June 11th - I sat on tenth row in front, daughter and wife sat on 2nd row by band. Daughter got more drumsticks but were stolen, so John gave her his biggest cymbol and autographed it. She got another tambourine, too. Full story here: http://prince.org/msg/12/98052

No way! I am still bummbed I had good seats for that show but there was a conflict. So i ended up selling them for face value.

What a show... Saw one Seattle show (Aug 31 - that's today, 12 years ago, unreal) - can't believe looking back I didn't spring for both the Seattle shows, but truth be told money was tight and I ALMOST skipped it altogether.

.

In fact, I bought my tix either on the day of or the day before - and snagged 4th row on the floor!

.

Of the shows I was lucky enough to attend, this was easily my favorite. My God, the acoustic set - fave section of the show... The cover of the Stones' "Satisfaction"??? Just, wow. I remember how genuinely moved he looked at the reception of the acoustic "Little Red Corvette" - he just seemed to drink in the boisterous applause.

.

One of the my most vivid memories of this show: when he started bringing people up onstage to dance, the guy in the row in front of me got picked to go up. He was kind of the "designated awkward/dorky guy" - he had the nerve to go up to Prince while Prince was doing a call-and-response thing with the audience, grabbed him by the shoulder, leaned in, and started talking in his ear. Prince played it pretty cool and managed to shake him off, the guy didn't get carted off by security or anything. But man, I want to know SO BAD what the dude felt was so important he needed to get all up on Prince to tell him!

[Edited 8/31/16 5:29am]

OnlyNDaUsa said:

RodeoSchro said:

2. Dallas, June 11th - I sat on tenth row in front, daughter and wife sat on 2nd row by band. Daughter got more drumsticks but were stolen, so John gave her his biggest cymbol and autographed it. She got another tambourine, too. Full story here: http://prince.org/msg/12/98052

No way! I am still bummbed I had good seats for that show but there was a conflict. So i ended up selling them for face value.

It was great. Prince played "Motherless Child" and "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)" in the acoustic portion of the show.