The full story behind Prince’s Perth concert and the purple piano

Luke Hede, vice-president of Live Nation, revealed the musical genius personally requested to perform in WA as part of his Piano & A Microphone Tour.

“He wanted to go to Perth as he’d never been there,” Mr Hede said.

“We announced it on February 11 for a show on February 25.

“It was on sale for literally less than two weeks. That’s the fastest turnaround I’ve ever worked on.”

Prince’s purple piano on stage.

There was just one problem: the to-Prince’s-exact-specifications piano, that had been found in Melbourne and flown to Sydney and Auckland, couldn’t make it to Perth within the 24-hour turnaround.

“Prince could make the show on a private jet, he flew straight to Perth after the show in Auckland, but they couldn’t fit the piano on the jet,” Mr Hede said.

“So they got his purple piano from his studio at Paisley Park (in the US state of Minnesota) and sent it to Perth for that one show.”

Prince's purple piano was in Perth.

The solo show at Perth Arena was lauded by critics and music-lovers.

There was no sign of the 57-year-old’s rumoured hip issues.

“Prince was jumping around onstage and literally dancing on the piano,” Mr Hede said.

“After the concert, we got a call to take his piano to Crown Perth ... He’s renowned for doing these late-night shows/afterparties. At around 1am he got up onstage, got the venue to turn all the lights off and did remixes of his songs on the keyboard. It was incredible.

“That was technically his last Australian performance.”

Prince returned to the US for a string of solo shows – his concert in Atlanta on April 14 would be his last.

Just one week later he was found dead at Paisley Park after an accidental overdose of the opiod fentanyl.