O.K. Prince Experts. Got another question for you. When Prince plays his solo in the While My Guitar Gently Weeps tribute... which was absolutely outstanding... he throws the guitar up into the air at the end. I really don't know what happens to the guitar. I thought at first when he throws it in the air that it continued to go up. And was literally lifted up as a fantastic ending! But, I am now reading that it smashed onto the stage. Please let me know what happened.

I also want to thank this site very much! I have now driven my family nuts with Prince stuff. I love having a place that I can go and ask questions and share my thoughts!! Thank you!

His guitar tech, I believe it was Takumi, at the time, caught it and whisked it away.

rwhiting said:

O.K. Prince Experts. Got another question for you. When Prince plays his solo in the While My Guitar Gently Weeps tribute... which was absolutely outstanding... he throws the guitar up into the air at the end. I really don't know what happens to the guitar. I thought at first when he throws it in the air that it continued to go up. And was literally lifted up as a fantastic ending! But, I am now reading that it smashed onto the stage. Please let me know what happened.

I also want to thank this site very much! I have now driven my family nuts with Prince stuff. I love having a place that I can go and ask questions and share my thoughts!! Thank you!

You watched it, right. Did you see him smash his guitar? Why would you believe what you read over what you see? It's illogical that he would even do that (he's never smashed that Hohner to my knowledge, and he owned a couple of them), nor did we see it. Don't you think that if Prince smashed his guitar (over a Beatle???) that they'd show it?? Prince might be fine playing with those guys, but no way is he going to smash a guitar over George Harrison, nor take over the spotlight to that extent. It's not very RNRHOF-ish anyway. As rebellious as RNR is supposed to be, the shows are very structured and this-this-this-that-that-this-again. The HOF wants the artist to do this long of a set, and then this, and then that. (Read about Steve Miller's comments this year on it.)



But yes, a guitar tech is there to catch it on a queue. As spontaneous as Prince can be, you always gotta give it up for him that he hit his queues 99% of the time, and stuck to a plan like throwing a guitar in a certain direction at a certain time. It sure beats him just throwing it on the stage like he's done so much in the past (which gives me pains every time). He's been doing that for a long time. He even did it on the Syracuse video, I think during "Computer Blue", if memory serves. Of course at 5'2, how far did the thing have to travel anyway?

Thank you... both! I loved the idea of it just being "wisked away". Meant so much. Exactly what was needed for the tribute. When I read it was smashed... I was pissed. So, I needed more answers!

rwhiting said:

Thank you... both! I loved the idea of it just being "wisked away". Meant so much. Exactly what was needed for the tribute. When I read it was smashed... I was pissed. So, I needed more answers!

I love that video so much. And especially how much fun Dhani, George Harrison's son standing behind Prince loved that solo. You can tell by Prince's face that he saw the guitar get caught, subtle and smooth as usual.

My absolute favorite part of that video is when Prince "falls" off the stage backwards and his bodyguard stands him backup. He is facing the band making faces, killing his solo and keeling over backwards. Dhani cracks up. It's not a wide shot but it's there. I would LOVE to see a GIF of that fall and save routine. Hilarious, real showmanship. He planned it and it was amazing.

purplepoppy said:

rwhiting said:

Thank you... both! I loved the idea of it just being "wisked away". Meant so much. Exactly what was needed for the tribute. When I read it was smashed... I was pissed. So, I needed more answers!

I love that video so much. And especially how much fun Dhani, George Harrison's son standing behind Prince loved that solo. You can tell by Prince's face that he saw the guitar get caught, subtle and smooth as usual.

My absolute favorite part of that video is when Prince "falls" off the stage backwards and his bodyguard stands him backup. He is facing the band making faces, killing his solo and keeling over backwards. Dhani cracks up. It's not a wide shot but it's there. I would LOVE to see a GIF of that fall and save routine. Hilarious, real showmanship. He planned it and it was amazing.

I loved the way he was so "hidden" in the back to begin with. You really didn't even know he was there until his solo started and then WOW... Everyone else on the stage just seemed to dissapear or was in awe! It was amazing. I would have loved to have been there too.

TrivialPursuit said:

rwhiting said:

O.K. Prince Experts. Got another question for you. When Prince plays his solo in the While My Guitar Gently Weeps tribute... which was absolutely outstanding... he throws the guitar up into the air at the end. I really don't know what happens to the guitar. I thought at first when he throws it in the air that it continued to go up. And was literally lifted up as a fantastic ending! But, I am now reading that it smashed onto the stage. Please let me know what happened.

I also want to thank this site very much! I have now driven my family nuts with Prince stuff. I love having a place that I can go and ask questions and share my thoughts!! Thank you!

You watched it, right. Did you see him smash his guitar? Why would you believe what you read over what you see? It's illogical that he would even do that (he's never smashed that Hohner to my knowledge, and he owned a couple of them), nor did we see it. Don't you think that if Prince smashed his guitar (over a Beatle???) that they'd show it?? Prince might be fine playing with those guys, but no way is he going to smash a guitar over George Harrison, nor take over the spotlight to that extent. It's not very RNRHOF-ish anyway. As rebellious as RNR is supposed to be, the shows are very structured and this-this-this-that-that-this-again. The HOF wants the artist to do this long of a set, and then this, and then that. (Read about Steve Miller's comments this year on it.)



But yes, a guitar tech is there to catch it on a queue. As spontaneous as Prince can be, you always gotta give it up for him that he hit his queues 99% of the time, and stuck to a plan like throwing a guitar in a certain direction at a certain time. It sure beats him just throwing it on the stage like he's done so much in the past (which gives me pains every time). He's been doing that for a long time. He even did it on the Syracuse video, I think during "Computer Blue", if memory serves. Of course at 5'2, how far did the thing have to travel anyway?

The question was not did HE smash it, it was stated that it was read online that IT smashed to the floor. IT meaning the guitar, not P smashing the guitar. No need to get your panties up in a bunch for a QUESTION.

LBrent said:

You might enjoy this behind the scenes article with a few of the musicians involved that might and their opinions about working with P on the project. http://www.nytimes.com/20...-fame.html [Edited 9/2/16 20:27pm]

Thanks for the great read about that performance. Wish there was better footage of Prince all the way through but at least we have the audio. Notice how Prince jolts everyone out of a fairly sleepy little ride and they rise to playing their asses off at the end.

manabean84 said:

The question was not did HE smash it, it was stated that it was read online that IT smashed to the floor. IT meaning the guitar, not P smashing the guitar. No need to get your panties up in a bunch for a QUESTION.

First off, I'm a dude. I don't wear panties. In fact, I'm not wearing any underwear or otherwise as I type this.

Second, how sad that you've taken a statement and projected such a negative slant on it. I hope you find happiness in your life someday.

TrivialPursuit said:

manabean84 said:

The question was not did HE smash it, it was stated that it was read online that IT smashed to the floor. IT meaning the guitar, not P smashing the guitar. No need to get your panties up in a bunch for a QUESTION.

First off, I'm a dude. I don't wear panties. In fact, I'm not wearing any underwear or otherwise as I type this.

Second, how sad that you've taken a statement and projected such a negative slant on it. I hope you find happiness in your life someday.

I have a happy and blessed life. thank you.

manabean84 said:

I have a happy and blessed life. thank you.

OMG I DO TOO! We're the same!

oliviacamron said:

I heard he was angry but that could be false. If he was angry, I did notice that after he started his solo, them dudes kept singing and Prince gave them a look

rogifan said:

oliviacamron said:

I heard he was angry but that could be false. If he was angry, I did notice that after he started his solo, them dudes kept singing and Prince gave them a look

I've watched that performance many times. He wasn't angry at all. The only look he gave was a "can I let it rip" look to Tom Petty who smiled and gave a "go for it dude" look back. Then as he really went to town Petty shook his head like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. That performance still amazes me because it sounds like there wasn't a ton of rehearsal time because Jeff Lynne's guitar player kept stepping over Prince's part and Prince didn't want to make a stink about it.

Exactly. In fact, Prince almost didn't play because Harrison's wife wasn't sure she wanted him up there during that song. Once he started in, he got the bigger go-ahead from Petty (it's clear to see that for anyone with eyeballs) and took off. Every time Prince would finish a section, he'd look over to them to see if they wanted more, or were going to close the song. They let him go for a bit there.

What OliviaCamron is missing is that, of course, they're going to keep singing. That was the arrangement of the song. Second, Prince looked at them for reasons I just stated. He wasn't giving them the death stare or something. I'm not quite sure people always put such negative slants and gossipy angles on otherwise innocent and pure musical moments with Prince.

In reality, Prince sort of just did a lot of guitar soloing tricks. Each section he did is a rather common solo technique for rockers. However, with the really unique chord structure of WMGGW, those tricks became something pretty cool when packed together like that. And yeah, Prince was respectful of the whole gig. He knows whose company he's in, and how to maneuver through that. I'm not sure why Lynne's guitar player would even try to step over someone like Prince trying to solo in a rehearsal. I mean - who da fuq are you even?

ELO had some Princely things in their music, here and there. Just similar ideas, really. But I can see Prince doing "Hold On Tight" in a piano segment of a show.

TrivialPursuit said:

rogifan said:

Speaking of that night in general Billy Gibbons said Prince came out and set the bar so high they were worried about what they had to live up to! Prince gets so much respect from his musical peers but then you get losers on message boards and comment sections calling him overrated and pointing to some 14 year old kid on YouTube that could blow him away. Yeah I'm sure some kid on YT could outplay Van Halen on Eruption too...doesn't make them a better musician/guitar player.

Well said!

rogifan said:

oliviacamron said:

I heard he was angry but that could be false. If he was angry, I did notice that after he started his solo, them dudes kept singing and Prince gave them a look

I've watched that performance many times. He wasn't angry at all. The only look he gave was a "can I let it rip" look to Tom Petty who smiled and gave a "go for it dude" look back. Then as he really went to town Petty shook his head like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. That performance still amazes me because it sounds like there wasn't a ton of rehearsal time because Jeff Lynne's guitar player kept stepping over Prince's part and Prince didn't want to make a stink about it.

I remember reading posts on guitar forums and comments sections where people complained that Prince was too flashy and was being disrespectful to Eric Clapton. What a crock. Thank god he didn't try to mimic Clapton's solo and did his own thing. Up to that point the performance was incredibly pedestrian and quite boring with Lynne's guitar player mimicking Clapton note for note.
[Edited 9/3/16 9:29am]

TrivialPursuit said:

Don't believe them.

The Honerz has flying capabilities.

It flew right up to Prince's dressing room.

Well, some musicians throw their towels to the audience, or a piece of clothing.

I'd like to imagine that in Prince-land, he graces us with thrown guitars instead of sweaty towels.

I'd catch that guitar like a MOFO.