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Thread started 09/12/16 7:34pm

gandorb

Questions about the concert versions of "Kiss"??

I have finally been getting exposure to a lot of Prince's wonderful live music, but one thing I have noticed is that I have yet to hear a version of Kiss that equaled or improved upon the studio version. He seems so perfunctory on that song, and in my admittedly limited sampling he rarely sings much of it, relying on the audience. I know he did this with a lot of other songs, but with better results. I would understand this as perhaps if it could be attributed to just his tiring of a hit, trying to please the masses ( lol ), or perhaps that it was a song he never was fully comfortable with (per Thorne). However, this wouldn't explain all the shows that he performed it when he didn't do hardly any of the hits. I just heard a concert recording from the series in 2002 he did from PP, and right after doing several songs from TRC accompanied by much preaching, he then breaks into another lackluster performance of "Kiss".

My questions are: (1) Have you ever heard an outstanding version of Kiss in concert, and if so where and what made it so. (2) Why do you think he performed the song so much given the observations above?

[Edited 9/12/16 19:34pm]

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Reply #1 posted 09/12/16 7:42pm

DoItAllNight4U

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I think because the actual song is so minimalist, that he may have felt it wouldn't sound strong enough or energetic enough for him and the audience to dance to???

I dont really know tbh, but I have always wondered the exact same thing. Also, he almost never performed When Doves Cry (isn't that his biggest hit?). I swear I don't remember ever seeing a performance for that song recently eek

"I was here in the beginning and I'll be here forever more"
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Reply #2 posted 09/12/16 7:59pm

jaawwnn

Try and find a recording from the 20ten /2011 tours, he had a great version going for that, including an extended piece at the end where he danced. A fair amount was pre-recorded I think but it really worked live.

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Reply #3 posted 09/12/16 8:30pm

TrivialPursuit

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If memory serves, I almost remember him talking about "Kiss", and how he was always changing it in concert. He made a comment that it never sounded right live, but he'd keep changing it and maybe one day it would sound right. I do agree that it's so minimalist, and the techniques that David Z used might be hard to duplicate live, that doing it live would prove to be a constant challenge.

He did start to use the audience more in the 90s for that song, when he did perform it. It's a good song to get audience participation.

Replying to the "When Doves Cry" comment: Princevault mentions it was only performed during the sampler set from 2011 (Welcome 2 America) - 2015. Otherwise, it was on Purple Rain, Parade, SOTT, Lovesexy, Nude, Act II, Celebration, Hit N' Run,World Tour 2003, Musicology.

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #4 posted 09/12/16 8:54pm

gandorb

jaawwnn said:

Try and find a recording from the 20ten /2011 tours, he had a great version going for that, including an extended piece at the end where he danced. A fair amount was pre-recorded I think but it really worked live.

Thanks, i'll investigate.

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Reply #5 posted 09/12/16 8:58pm

gandorb

A good point about the song being so minimalist. Ithink that's would set it apart on the radio at the time. To rework it in lush orchestration or other embellishments would change it's very essence.

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Reply #6 posted 09/13/16 9:05am

Wlcm2thdwn3

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Who cares. Haven't you seen that VIDEO? Awxiest thing i've seen him do.

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Reply #7 posted 11/07/16 5:17am

gandorb

Since my original post I have heard several more versions. Perhaps my favorite is the Sydney Opera House - early show. Perhaps doing it with just the Piano and Mic reinvigorated the song for him. He sang almost the whole song full heartedly, hit the notes just right (about the only song he ever struggled to do this with), and jammed on the
piano.
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Reply #8 posted 11/07/16 5:24am

gandorb

I have listened to several more versions since my post. My favorite has been the Sydney Opera House performance. It seems that doing the song with just a piano and Mic reinvigorated the song for him. He sang almost the entire song rather than relying on the audience to do it, hit the notes (the only song he ever struggled to do this with), and jammed on the piano. Fun!
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Reply #9 posted 11/07/16 6:32am

Cthulhu

Already mentioned, the 20TEN European tour had an ekectro funk styled version that was pretty good.
I think the earlier versions especially were kick ass (Arras and Werchter Boutique for example).
Later that year i saw him again in Arnhem when he played Kiss again but it was slightly less good i.m.o. (Less electronic).
Ia Ia Cthulhu Fthagn!
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Reply #10 posted 11/07/16 7:39am

rogifan

This is how I feel about Let's go Crazy. Nothing can top the studio version. I didn't like the When Doves Cry version on the Musicology tour and I think on the Welcome 2 tours (and anything after) it was just part of the sampler set. Did he even perform When Doves Cry on the P&M tour? I know he played I Would Die 4 U which sounded really good stripped down on the piano.
Paisley Park is in your heart
#PrinceForever 💜
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Reply #11 posted 11/07/16 8:07am

paulludvig

I like the version he played at the Melkweg in 2011. Prince played guitar and that really made the song work imo.
The wooh is on the one!
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Reply #12 posted 11/09/16 10:31am

Telecaster5

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He performed Kiss on both shows in Rock'n'Rio (18 and 24th Jan 1991) . I was there both nights and will never forget...I was hoping he would sing When Doves Cry as well, but it didn´t happen.

Someone posted the show on youtube (kiss starts at 13 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM9FMD3HPN8&t=166s

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Reply #13 posted 11/10/16 12:16am

misslisa1979

This is my personal favourite live version of Kiss - because he stopped playing to pull my 9yr old son up to dance on stage to it at the Sydney State Theatre 6.30pm P & M show and changed the lyrics to "I think he wants to dance"!

https://soundcloud.com/misslisa1979/08-kiss

We will never forget this moment and listen to it every day.

[Edited 11/10/16 0:17am]

[Edited 11/10/16 0:17am]

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Reply #14 posted 11/10/16 1:18am

FunkiestOne

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I agree that is one that maybe never sounds as good as the studio version.

When Doves Cry is another one and best version of that I can think of is Tokyo 1990 from the broadcast video.

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Reply #15 posted 11/10/16 3:04am

callimnate

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FunkiestOne said:

I agree that is one that maybe never sounds as good as the studio version.



When Doves Cry is another one and best version of that I can think of is Tokyo 1990 from the broadcast video.


Yep. Neither song replicated well livr on stage.
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Reply #16 posted 11/10/16 3:26am

Dimitri10

misslisa1979 said:

This is my personal favourite live version of Kiss - because he stopped playing to pull my 9yr old son up to dance on stage to it at the Sydney State Theatre 6.30pm P & M show and changed the lyrics to "I think he wants to dance"!

https://soundcloud.com/misslisa1979/08-kiss

We will never forget this moment and listen to it every day.

[Edited 11/10/16 0:17am]

[Edited 11/10/16 0:17am]

I was there up close, got goose bumps when this happened, the crowd went nuts....would love to see it on video if anyone managed to grab it.

"Prince don't know how many hits he got"
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Reply #17 posted 11/10/16 3:42am

68686

The main thing I never was satisfied with was the main guitar riff before Kiss.
It always sounded lacking and not the right groove as well as the recording.
Like it was over-practiced. Live versions often have him putting flange over it to perhaps take it elsewhere as a distraction for it.
Whatever it was, I'm basically agreeing that it seems less interesting of a song live than studio.
Also, I think the deep bass sound pulse underneath needed some experiementation and much more practice for the live performances to pull it off.
[Edited 11/10/16 3:43am]
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Reply #18 posted 11/10/16 4:15am

novabrkr

jaawwnn said:

Try and find a recording from the 20ten /2011 tours, he had a great version going for that, including an extended piece at the end where he danced. A fair amount was pre-recorded I think but it really worked live.


I share this view. I think he finally found the right live arrangement for it on this tour. I attended a show in 2011 and thought "Kiss" was the highlight. I can't claim to have been able to predict how much I liked it and would not have originally minded the song not even being played that night (the "big" song he left out that night in Helsinki was LGC, btw).

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Reply #19 posted 11/10/16 4:59am

gandorb

novabrkr said:



jaawwnn said:


Try and find a recording from the 20ten /2011 tours, he had a great version going for that, including an extended piece at the end where he danced. A fair amount was pre-recorded I think but it really worked live.




I share this view. I think he finally found the right live arrangement for it on this tour. I attended a show in 2011 and thought "Kiss" was the highlight. I can't claim to have been able to predict how much I liked it and would not have originally minded the song not even being played that night (the "big" song he left out that night in Helsinki was LGC, btw).



Thanks. I will look for this.
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Reply #20 posted 11/10/16 8:27am

rob1965

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gandorb said:

I have finally been getting exposure to a lot of Prince's wonderful live music, but one thing I have noticed is that I have yet to hear a version of Kiss that equaled or improved upon the studio version. He seems so perfunctory on that song, and in my admittedly limited sampling he rarely sings much of it, relying on the audience. I know he did this with a lot of other songs, but with better results. I would understand this as perhaps if it could be attributed to just his tiring of a hit, trying to please the masses ( lol ), or perhaps that it was a song he never was fully comfortable with (per Thorne). However, this wouldn't explain all the shows that he performed it when he didn't do hardly any of the hits. I just heard a concert recording from the series in 2002 he did from PP, and right after doing several songs from TRC accompanied by much preaching, he then breaks into another lackluster performance of "Kiss".



My questions are: (1) Have you ever heard an outstanding version of Kiss in concert, and if so where and what made it so. (2) Why do you think he performed the song so much given the observations above?

[Edited 9/12/16 19:34pm]



The best live version imo was during the Detroit 1986 birthday gig. To me, that's the best version. There was never really an outstanding live version during the concerts I've attended though. When I listen to live gigs and Kiss is started, I usually press fast forward to the next. Lots of times he had to stretch his voice during the end of the song and that didn't really work for me. Or one could barely hear him over the music. From SOTT tour on, the song was played too fast imo, which didn't do it any good either. The reason why he used to have the audience participate so much on that song, was imo because his voice was tired. During the Parade, SOTT, Lovesexy tour he played the song somewhere at the end, after having performed for at least an hour or longer. I can understand that the song took a lot of breath singing it. Instrumentally, I think the version on the Parade tour was the best and comes closest to the album version.
'Liberate My Mind'
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Reply #21 posted 11/10/16 12:20pm

misslisa1979

Dimitri10 said:

misslisa1979 said:

This is my personal favourite live version of Kiss - because he stopped playing to pull my 9yr old son up to dance on stage to it at the Sydney State Theatre 6.30pm P & M show and changed the lyrics to "I think he wants to dance"!

https://soundcloud.com/misslisa1979/08-kiss

We will never forget this moment and listen to it every day.

[Edited 11/10/16 0:17am]

[Edited 11/10/16 0:17am]

I was there up close, got goose bumps when this happened, the crowd went nuts....would love to see it on video if anyone managed to grab it.

Anzac lives for the day he can get it on video! Been searching since the night it happened.

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Reply #22 posted 11/10/16 12:27pm

NorthC

paulludvig said:

I like the version he played at the Melkweg in 2011. Prince played guitar and that really made the song work imo.

That one was awesome! He played it in a way we've never heard before! Greatest version of the song I ever witnessed.
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Reply #23 posted 11/10/16 1:55pm

RaspBerryGirlF
riend

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Thanks to the multiple people recommending the 2010/2011 version of Kiss in this thread, I'd never heard it before and it is indeed very cool, I love that he incorporates a bit of the extended version into it at the end.

Heavenly wine and roses seems to whisper to me when you smile...
Always cry for love, never cry for pain...
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Reply #24 posted 11/10/16 2:00pm

Champagne

I agree; the 2011 version with Cassandra O' Neal's electro-clav sound was amazing. I remember seeing him in Malahide and thinking that Kiss sounded incredible.

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