If we dont count improvised 1998 utrecht version Prince never

performed this song after 1985.

He performed Purple Rain album multiple times on his tours after

1985 but no Computer Blue.

Only fathers song segment was played.

So why he didnt play it?

too lazy to rehearse it? maybe

he thought it dont translate well to a live setting?

or there is some lyric contant that was against what he believed latter in life?

A signature part of that live performance was Wndy's simulated oral sex during the first guitar solo. After the Revolution was disbanded, which guitarist could you see doing that to Prince onstage?

Miko? Sonny T? Mike Scott?

My guess is that Prince thought, "That song will forever be linked to an onstage oral episode, so without Wendy there's no way to pull this off".

But that's just my guess. "Computer Blue" is one of my favorites and the "Father's Song" solo is in my top 5 all-time favorite solos. I would love to have seen Prince do it again.

he never did Darling Nikki as well as in 1985/84 nor Erotic City I feel

I'm glad Computer Blue was not done live again... unless it was with them.

My live and all the studio takes give me joy
I don't think he did America either, and not Mountains until 2011 in a little piece

It isn't strictly correct that this 'Computer Blue' was never performed again after 1985. This song was performed live on multiple occasions in 1998 and 2006. I believe the former was close to a full interpretation of the album track.

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[Edited 12/20/16 10:20am]

Erotic City was performed many times on the Nude Tour; he used looping and sampling, so it was basically controlled playback of the studio tracks with live vocals and a little extra live instrumentation. It was done more intelligently and tastefully than other artists at the time, and certainly anyone today, would use prerecorded backing, however.

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EC was performed several times on the Lovesexy Tour, as well, although not as compellingly as his 1984 Birthday Party and the Sheila E PR Tour opening versions.

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[Edited 12/20/16 10:25am]

imprimis said:

Erotic City was performed many times on the Nude Tour. It was performed several times on the Lovesexy Tour, as well.

.

I know, he also did Darling Nikki on a Rave year tour
I said "he never did them as well ...I feel"

OldFriends4Sale said:

imprimis said:

Erotic City was performed many times on the Nude Tour. It was performed several times on the Lovesexy Tour, as well.

.

I know, he also did Darling Nikki on a Rave year tour
I said "he never did them as well ...I feel"

Well, the Nude Tour version was the best, but it was cheating.

.

imprimis said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I know, he also did Darling Nikki on a Rave year tour
I said "he never did them as well ...I feel"

Well, the Nude Tour version was the best, but it was cheating.

.

First Avenue 6.7.1985 golden electric funk: Erotic City

Maybe he associated it with The Revolution, as a song connected to that band, moreso than the other songs from that period?

thebanishedone said:

If we dont count improvised 1998 utrecht version Prince never

performed this song after 1985.

He performed Purple Rain album multiple times on his tours after

1985 but no Computer Blue.

Only fathers song segment was played.

So why he didnt play it?

too lazy to rehearse it? maybe

he thought it dont translate well to a live setting?

or there is some lyric contant that was against what he believed latter in life?

He played it last year at the DC show he also played Darling Nikki. During the concert in between songs he asked the crowd what song we wanted to hear. Me an my buddy started chanting Darling Nikki....and he actually played it....What an awesome experience!!!!!

[Edited 12/21/16 9:34am]

The reason is very simple. Once Purple Rain was over, he worked very hard to not be seen as "Mr. Purple Rain" so he had to move beyond them. The songs had their place, but the PR tour was largely a stage version of the movie with practically every song getting into the set at some point. After the 1984/85 tour, Prince basically shelved most of the Purple Rain era songs from his live performances for years: ‘Take Me With U’—5 years before it was back in the regular setlist, ‘Baby I’m A Star’—5 years, ‘The Beautiful Ones’—8 years, ‘Darling Nikki’ -12 years, ‘I Would Die 4 U’—12 years, and ‘Computer Blue’—15 years although it was never done as a full-blown song again after 1985. It was reduced to a coda in ‘When Doves Cry’ when he toured in 2000/2001.

I think he really wanted to give himself distance from the Purple Rain era as much as possible.

Also, Prince is always someone who loved performing his newest music (which he saw as a reflection of where he was at that moment). By the time of his next tour in 86, he was in a new place with new music to reflect his life and his artistic vision.

OldFriends4Sale said:

he never did Darling Nikki as well as in 1985/84 nor Erotic City I feel

I'm glad Computer Blue was not done live again... unless it was with them.

My live and all the studio takes give me joy
I don't think he did America either, and not Mountains until 2011 in a little piece

He played Mountains a lot on and around the 20ten tour, he'd segue into Shake your Body (down to the ground) but not before playing almost the entire thing, it wasn't just a tease or anything.

D'ye think any of his later bands learned the full 13 or so mins of computer blue and then never got to play it??

[Edited 12/21/16 12:49pm]

he wanted to distance from Purple Rain yet he performed full album numerous times. he did full versions of Darling Nikki up until 2001

thebanishedone said:

he wanted to distance from Purple Rain yet he performed full album numerous times. he did full versions of Darling Nikki up until 2001

Which tours after 1984/85 did he do full versions of Darling Nikki? I thought he took a 12 year break with that song after the Purple Rain tour until 1997 or so (Jam of The Year tour). He played it after that, but it was a dozen years before it was brought back into the regular set list as I recall.

When did he do the full album AFTER the PR tour? I don't remember that one either.

jaawwnn said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

he never did Darling Nikki as well as in 1985/84 nor Erotic City I feel

I'm glad Computer Blue was not done live again... unless it was with them.

My live and all the studio takes give me joy
I don't think he did America either, and not Mountains until 2011 in a little piece

He played Mountains a lot on and around the 20ten tour, he'd segue into Shake your Body (down to the ground) but not before playing almost the entire thing, it wasn't just a tease or anything.

D'ye think any of his later bands learned the full 13 or so mins of computer blue and then never got to play it??

[Edited 12/21/16 12:49pm]

In Oakland in February 2011 I think it was the first show he did (on a Thursday) he busted out with "Mountains" on the 2nd scong of the evening, if I recall correctly. Totally blew my mind. I could NOT beleive he was playing that shit! This was the night he closed the last enore with "Bambi."

madhouseman said:

The reason is very simple. Once Purple Rain was over, he worked very hard to not be seen as "Mr. Purple Rain" so he had to move beyond them. The songs had their place, but the PR tour was largely a stage version of the movie with practically every song getting into the set at some point. After the 1984/85 tour, Prince basically shelved most of the Purple Rain era songs from his live performances for years: ‘Take Me With U’—5 years before it was back in the regular setlist, ‘Baby I’m A Star’—5 years, ‘The Beautiful Ones’—8 years, ‘Darling Nikki’ -12 years, ‘I Would Die 4 U’—12 years, and ‘Computer Blue’—15 years although it was never done as a full-blown song again after 1985. It was reduced to a coda in ‘When Doves Cry’ when he toured in 2000/2001.

I think he really wanted to give himself distance from the Purple Rain era as much as possible.

Also, Prince is always someone who loved performing his newest music (which he saw as a reflection of where he was at that moment). By the time of his next tour in 86, he was in a new place with new music to reflect his life and his artistic vision.

But Purple Rain was always in the set list (maybe not in the early-Gold experience years?
When Doves Cry continued into 1988. Was there a break period when this wasn't done? or was it rarely every done again?

datdude said:

There are dozens upon dozens of songs that he didnt play beyond the era or album they were associated with. Yes CB is well known, being on his most commercially successful album and in the movie but it wasnt a single or a 'hit' in the traditional sense so i didnt/wouldn't expect to have heard it anymore than say Partyup or Private Joy. No deep reasoning needed here IMO, his catalog is just that deep and rich, our personal faves notwithstanding

Lovesexy was 98% never performed again except for some Annestasia and a different rendition of Alphabet St...

thebanishedone said:

too lazy to rehearse it? maybe

Seriously?!

OldFriends4Sale said:

imprimis said:

Erotic City was performed many times on the Nude Tour. It was performed several times on the Lovesexy Tour, as well.

.

I know, he also did Darling Nikki on a Rave year tour
I said "he never did them as well ...I feel"

Erotic City was never played during the Nude Tour as far as I can remember. It was however played as the opening song of the Lovesexy tour every date (Escape/Erotic city).

pray4rain said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I know, he also did Darling Nikki on a Rave year tour
I said "he never did them as well ...I feel"

Erotic City was never played during the Nude Tour as far as I can remember. It was however played as the opening song of the Lovesexy tour every date (Escape/Erotic city).

.

You're correct. I misremembered. He extensively rehearsed this (along with 'Sex') on at least three or four separate soundcheck and rehearsal occasions, but ultimately did not incorporate it into the actual Nude Tour live set.

.

[Edited 12/23/16 8:50am]

I have this question > i wonder why Prince has never played the Guitar parts of When Doves Cry Live....this wish will never see the light of day unfortunately !!??

thebanishedone said:

He did full album every night on hit n run 2000/2001 tour.he played Darling Nikki full version with floor humping.Computer Blue was only done as a sax fathers theme

I don't think he did the full album every night on the 2000/2001 tour (the set lists can be found on Princevault.com), but this sort of proves the original point which was that he moved away from Purple Rain after the 84/85 tour. He'd continue to play WDC, Let's Go Crazy and Purple Rain, but he really put many of the songs on the shelf for years after that tour.

He'd dust some of them off years later, but from what I've been told he wanted to distance himself from Purple Rain as much as possible so he didn't end up becoming Mr. Purple Rain. It is also the reason he came out with a new album so quickly after the tour ended. He could have milked PR for another year, but chose to move on.

the tape in the studio was reversed to record the lead guitar intro to the song.

love2thenines2003 said:

I have this question > i wonder why Prince has never played the Guitar parts of When Doves Cry Live....this wish will never see the light of day unfortunately !!??

[Edited 12/25/16 7:09am]

its amazing how you all have to come up with such deep theories about everything. theres a number of songs that never got played after a certain point. its more likely that after he had a large number of songs certain ones just got left behind because of the sheer volume of his work.

OldFriends4Sale said:

he never did Darling Nikki as well as in 1985/84 nor Erotic City I feel

I'm glad Computer Blue was not done live again... unless it was with them.

My live and all the studio takes give me joy
I don't think he did America either, and not Mountains until 2011 in a little piece

.

He performed most or all of those longs after the 80s.