One of the most discussed topics on the org has been the merits of TGE. It seems that it polarizes people, but I get the impression that it is probably one of the favorite 1990s release of many Prince fans who followed him during that decade. Moreover,the songs seemed suited to concerts given that they tened to have great catchy choruses that would play well in large arenas. I finally heard the concert and indeed the Gold songs were great. It puzzles me why he didn't play more of them later in his career instead of relying so much on his 1980s material. At least it would have mixed it up.

On an org thread from 2009, there was mention of early walk outs from TGE tour due to Prince's refusal to play the older hits. I also read someone reference that it relied on a lot of technology (perhaps some of it recorded like some of Prince's overlaid vocals on 7?).

All of the above has left me curious about the experiences of orgers who saw a concert during TGE tour, as well as those who have heard one of the boots. To me, it seems like it would have been a really good concert that had a unique blend of TGE, , Emancipation, and even Batman. Also curious about your thoughts of why he ignored most of the material during subsequent materials outside of Shhh and TMBGITW.

[Edited 12/3/16 10:58am]

Much of it is live in the studio.

was a great tour. the lack of hits was a fuck you to WB with the slave on the cheek and name change.

gandorb said:

One of the most discussed topics on the org has been the merits of TGE. It seems that it polarizes people, but I get the impression that it is probably one of the favorite 1990s release of many Prince fans who followed him during that decade. Moreover,the songs seemed suited to concerts given that they tened to have great catchy choruses that would play well in large arenas. I finally heard the concert and indeed the Gold songs were great. It puzzles me why he didn't play more of them later in his career instead of relying so much on his 1980s material. At least it would have mixed it up.

On an org thread from 2009, there was mention of early walk outs from TGE tour due to Prince's refusal to play the older hits. I also read someone reference that it relied on a lot of technology (perhaps some of it recorded like some of Prince's overlaid vocals on 7?).

All of the above has left me curious about the experiences of orgers who saw a concert during TGE tour, as well as those who have heard one of the boots. To me, it seems like it would have been a really good concert that had a unique blend of TGE, , and even Batman. Also curious about your thoughts of why he ignored most of the material during subsequent materials outside of Shhh and TMBGITW.

I didn't attend any 94-96 show but I had all the bootlegs as soon as they were released back then and loved them madly. Up until 1996 save for the Nude Tour Prince would always focus on the latest album, then except for the ONA tour and a few selected shows he would keep playing old hits. While I never lost interest in P's studio work, I lost interest in his live shows the minute he began playing greatest hits tours in 97. I wanted to hear Emancipation live in 97 and I was super pissed I couldn't and so on after that. As a fan who knew Let's Go Crazy, Kiss and PR by heart, the 94-96 shows were da bomb because I had only new jams to groove on (that and several other reasons that made this era unique).

My first Prince gig was Wembley Arena in London in 1995, I went with three or four friends for my birthday.

I had gotten into Prince with the album in 92, so this was really the first tour he did in the UK since my becoming interested enough in him to want to see him.

Everybody was pissing and moaning at the time because he wasn't playing any old material. My friends were less into him than I was, so for them to hear almost NO music they knew was a little weird and disconcerting for them, but I have to say I loved the show, and still remember it well 20+ yers later.

The gold and red fallopian tube stage set, the amazingly tight and funky band... it was amazing. I didn't care that he didn't play any old stuff, I just wanted to hear what it was he wanted to play, and these songs seemed incredible to me... and I remember, with the videos playing before the show, of Empty Room and (I think) Dolphin, the music sounded mysterious and esoteric, and hinted at a whole new world of music and style to be discovered, and I couldn't wait to dive in.

I was thrilled when The Most Beautiful Girl In The World became his first UK number 1. I also remember that it seemed like the teasing of the Gold Experience - that it was never going to be released - seemed very real and frustrating to me... I remember grabbing The Beautiful Experience, Exodus, Come, whatever I could get my hands on as it came out, and it was all so varied, exciting, and again, mysterious. Thje wait for the album proper seemed to be an age! And then when the Gold Experience was finally released, I thought it was an incredible record. A lot of people talk about it being overproduced (particularly compared to the demos), but I never found that. It was incredibly fresh, energetic, even cathartic.

I had no idea where this guy was going to take us next. Again, many of my friends thought Prince was a crackpot for writing SLAVE on his face and changing hs name to an unpronouncable symbol... for me, it was incredibly unique and refreshing... while they were all listening to dull indie bands who wore trainers and check shirts and jeans on stage, here was a guy who understood the theatrics, of putting a show, of having a PERSONA.... I thought it was bold and amazing.

God, those were exciting times. When Emancipation came out, I bathed in it for weeks. It wasn't as good as The Gold Experience, and I wished he had given more time over to that incredible band who still featured on a few tracks, but anyway... what a time. I loved the show I saw in 95. It was thrilling and full of promise and wonder and excitement...

[Edited 12/3/16 11:25am]

[Edited 12/3/16 11:26am]

I went to two shows in that tour and really enjoyed the shows. My only gripe was the unnecessary use of samples during the show which took you out of the performance a bit. And Prince seem to be going abit heavy on the white makeup that made him look a little ill. But the Get Wild jam was great fun, .And Gold sounds so good live.

Rimshottbob said:

My first Prince gig was Wembley Arena in London in 1995, I went with three or four friends for my birthday.

I had gotten into Prince with the album in 92, so this was really the first tour he did in the UK since my becoming interested enough in him to want to see him.

Everybody was pissing and moaning at the time because he wasn't playing any old material. My friends were less into him than I was, so for them to hear almost NO music they knew was a little weird and disconcerting for them, but I have to say I loved the show, and still remember it well 20+ yers later.

The gold and red fallopian tube stage set, the amazingly tight and funky band... it was amazing. I didn't care that he didn't play any old stuff, I just wanted to hear what it was he wanted to play, and these songs seemed incredible to me... and I remember, with the videos playing before the show, of Empty Room and (I think) Dolphin, the music sounded mysterious and esoteric, and hinted at a whole new world of music and style to be discovered, and I couldn't wait to dive in.

I was thrilled when The Most Beautiful Girl In The World became his first UK number 1. I also remember that it seemed like the teasing of the Gold Experience - that it was never going to be released - seemed very real and frustrating to me... I remember grabbing The Beautiful Experience, Exodus, Come, whatever I could get my hands on as it came out, and it was all so varied, exciting, and again, mysterious. Thje wait for the album proper seemed to be an age! And then when the Gold Experience was finally released, I thought it was an incredible record. A lot of people talk about it being overproduced (particularly compared to the demos), but I never found that. It was incredibly fresh, energetic, even cathartic.

I had no idea where this guy was going to take us next. Again, many of my friends thought Prince was a crackpot for writing SLAVE on his face and changing hs name to an unpronouncable symbol... for me, it was incredibly unique and refreshing... while they were all listening to dull indie bands who wore trainers and check shirts and jeans on stage, here was a guy who understood the theatrics, of putting a show, of having a PERSONA.... I thought it was bold and amazing.

God, those were exciting times. When Emancipation came out, I bathed in it for weeks. It wasn't as good as The Gold Experience, and I wished he had given more time over to that incredible band who still featured on a few tracks, but anyway... what a time. I loved the show I saw in 95. It was thrilling and full of promise and wonder and excitement...

[Edited 12/3/16 11:25am]

[Edited 12/3/16 11:26am]

That was a really interesting read. I didn't become a fan until '96, so just missed out on that era, but it was a great insight, and your enthusiasm and passion for it really shone through.

databank said:

gandorb said:

One of the most discussed topics on the org has been the merits of TGE. It seems that it polarizes people, but I get the impression that it is probably one of the favorite 1990s release of many Prince fans who followed him during that decade. Moreover,the songs seemed suited to concerts given that they tened to have great catchy choruses that would play well in large arenas. I finally heard the concert and indeed the Gold songs were great. It puzzles me why he didn't play more of them later in his career instead of relying so much on his 1980s material. At least it would have mixed it up.

On an org thread from 2009, there was mention of early walk outs from TGE tour due to Prince's refusal to play the older hits. I also read someone reference that it relied on a lot of technology (perhaps some of it recorded like some of Prince's overlaid vocals on 7?).

All of the above has left me curious about the experiences of orgers who saw a concert during TGE tour, as well as those who have heard one of the boots. To me, it seems like it would have been a really good concert that had a unique blend of TGE, , and even Batman. Also curious about your thoughts of why he ignored most of the material during subsequent materials outside of Shhh and TMBGITW.

I didn't attend any 94-96 show but I had all the bootlegs as soon as they were released back then and loved them madly. Up until 1996 save for the Nude Tour Prince would always focus on the latest album, then except for the ONA tour and a few selected shows he would keep playing old hits. While I never lost interest in P's studio work, I lost interest in his live shows the minute he began playing greatest hits tours in 97. I wanted to hear Emancipation live in 97 and I was super pissed I couldn't and so on after that. As a fan who knew Let's Go Crazy, Kiss and PR by heart, the 94-96 shows were da bomb because I had only new jams to groove on (that and several other reasons that made this era unique).

*

I can't say that I lost interest in his live shows since I never stopped attending them, but I was always disappointed when a show didn't feature the new material. As much as I loved the Musicology Tour, I still wanted more new songs played. In 96/97 loved hearing "Jam of the Year" and "Face Down" live, but hated that so much of those shows were also filled with hits rather than new material. As for The Gold Experience Shows, I always felt that they worked better in small theatres than in stadiums. Maybe it is the rock, plug in the guitar and play as loud as possible, feel that a lot of the songs have, but the tour felt a bit cold in stadiums and more warm and electric in smaller places. But, I'm probably just being more subjective about that. Ultimately, I like TGE performances because he concentrated on new music and because they are great!

I attended four of the UK shows in '95. I think the talk of people walking out of the gigs has always been exaggerated somewhat, not saying it didn't happen but I didn't see it. I guess I was too busy having a good time.

The shows weren't perfect, reports of technical hiccups to the use of samples and lack of hits for arena size shows didn't instil confidence in many I suppose.

I love this era so much - 94 to 95 was pure class!.

.

Luckily I had the opportunity to go to a few shows and even aftershows!

.

The aftershow at the London Emporium was an experience of a lifetime.

.

To witness I Love U In Me was a dream come true.

.

I can still remember Gold as the finale and all of the gold paper falling from the ceiling!

.

darkroman said:

I love this era so much - 94 to 95 was pure class!.

.

Luckily I had the opportunity to go to a few shows and even aftershows!

.

The aftershow at the London Emporium was an experience of a lifetime.

.

To witness I Love U In Me was a dream come true.

.

I can still remember Gold as the finale and all of the gold paper falling from the ceiling!

.

I went to some TGE aftershows but not to the Emporium, but some friends of mine went there and one became a Prince fan for life. I have the Emporium aftershows on CD.

Great concerts, great setlist, and his tightest band ever.

I went to several TGE (actually billed as "Ultimate Live Experience") shows and aftershows back then, and the atmosphere and setlist were great. However, I never understood why he wouldn´t play I Hate U in its entirety. Most of the time it was just a truncated medley version, but great nevertheless.

Check out the Amsterdam Paradiso aftershows, especially the first one. He played an incredible live version of 18&Over with some great keyboard parts by Morris Hayes that night.

I´m not a big fan of the song 18&Over but that live version is really incredible.

The NPG back then was his tightest, best band ever and I loved the live versions of TGE songs....they sounded so much more powerful live compared to the weaker sounding album versions but all those triggered samples during the liveshows were a tad too much for my taste.

KoolEaze said:

gandorb said:

One of the most discussed topics on the org has been the merits of TGE. It seems that it polarizes people, but I get the impression that it is probably one of the favorite 1990s release of many Prince fans who followed him during that decade. Moreover,the songs seemed suited to concerts given that they tened to have great catchy choruses that would play well in large arenas. I finally heard the concert and indeed the Gold songs were great. It puzzles me why he didn't play more of them later in his career instead of relying so much on his 1980s material. At least it would have mixed it up.

On an org thread from 2009, there was mention of early walk outs from TGE tour due to Prince's refusal to play the older hits. I also read someone reference that it relied on a lot of technology (perhaps some of it recorded like some of Prince's overlaid vocals on 7?).

All of the above has left me curious about the experiences of orgers who saw a concert during TGE tour, as well as those who have heard one of the boots. To me, it seems like it would have been a really good concert that had a unique blend of TGE, , Emancipation, and even Batman. Also curious about your thoughts of why he ignored most of the material during subsequent materials outside of Shhh and TMBGITW.

I often wondered the same thing.

When he was launching the 3EG project I kind of expected to see songs like "Live4Love", "Gold" "3Chains" to make their return, but they got no love at all.

Even during the sampler set he'd ignore hit songs like "Gett Off", "SexyMF", "MNIP" - songs that would have got a pop from the audience even if he was just teasing them.

Perhaps the music reminded him of those times. Kevin Smith said he asked Prince if he was going to play "Morning Papers" at the Celebration he was recording. Prince said he didn't want to play it since Mayte wasn't there to dance.

[Edited 12/3/16 14:21pm]

Boydie said:

The Ultimate Live Experience in'95 at Wembley arena was my first real experience of Prince My sister and my then girlfriend (now wife) were huge Prince fans so I got tickets for the Wembley shows and went along as company but not particularly keen on seeing Prince They were quite annoyed he didn't play any of the old hits... ...but I was just blown away I had heard the talk about Prince playing all the instruments on his previous albums but as a guitarist myself I could tell the guitar playing on his albums wasn't someone that "just played a bit of guitar" but was a proper guitarist somhad assumed it was a session player... ...until I saw him rip it up on his symbol shaped guitar, throw it across the stage and then pick up a jazz guitar and play a 5 minute improvised jazz guitar solo - it was THE moment I had to listen to everything he had done Due to the WB issues TGE was not released for ages so I was forced to track down bootlegs to hear this new material - I even remember hanging around the NPG store in Camden to hear some tracks The other stand out moment from this gig was the dancing on the travelator strip in the floor, which was really effective There is a video of the concert on YouTube and it is well worth a watch

Interesting story! I imagine that you being a musician without expectations of the hits kept you open to his brilliance. Even listening to my poor audio quality boot still is so enjoyable that I can't even imagine a person who loves Prince music not to be able to let go of their expectations and truly jam to his music herre.

[Edited 12/3/16 18:12pm]

It was real great that Prince didnt play the hits, mostly fresh stuff, with my fave band. If I had to choose ANY tour to watch, it would have been this one.

I didn't realize when I first posted this that the European Ultimate tour was about 6 months before the release of TGE. So, it was even that much more daring to play so much of it because it was completely unfamiliar to fans. That's bolder than just chosing album cuts over the hits, as you would expect true fans to know at least some of the album cuts. Interesting, the boot I have was from the much later Japan tour of TGE, about 4 to 5 months after TGE was released. The audience welcomed many of TGE expereince with some familiarity (e.g., cheering at the first notes). The biggest cheer like this was when he introduced Pussy Control, he said the "the next song is about control" with the opening notes of the song (cheers), "Pussy Control" (place goes wild). I think he could have had this everywhere had he release the CD prior to the tour.

I love these stories. Makes me jealous but I love the fact that he kept Shhh in his setlists. It gave and still gives me chills. Esp with Blackwell on drums.

[Edited 12/4/16 6:56am]

This tour was one of the best. When he came to Dublin, they were releasing NPG Exodus album also, so he was playing Get Wild in the encore. My Girlfriend (still wife now) arrived from a couple of days b4 and she loved the show. She was not into Prince like me but thought this was the best show she ever attended. In terms of Album promotion shows, this and ONA tour were tops. He did some great TV shows with NPG in UK at the time also.

anangellooksdown said:

I learn so much from all of you. I was "absent" during those years. What I thought of immediately is that: 1) he didn't like reliving the past unless it was for certain songs he must've felt were really timeless or that he wanted to do more with 2)he said he didn't want to sing "7" again because Mayte wasn't there to dance to it, and this whole era might've brought up feelings for him he didn't necessarily want to revisit. Today I think he was at his very best during these years. His creativity and imagination were incredible, especially in videos and live. Totally fearless and completely pushing boundaries.

Well, he did play some songs from that era in later years, such as Strays of the World in Montreux (though it was actually just the band and the singers, not Prince), and he´d play Days of Wild very often over the years but it was of course the censored lyrics version, and he also played Gold during some of the Welcome 2....tours.

And even though Empty Room is a song from the mid 80s, I´d still consider it as part of the TGE era because of the video that he played on the big screen before concerts, and he did play that one too during later tours, so that´s three or four songs from the TGE era that he sometimes went back to.

But you are right, he probably didn´t feel like going back to that era.

As much as I liked it, I found some of the excess cussing and "Play that motherfucking bass....." chants a bit too much after a while, so I understand why he censored Days of Wild.

I thought it was great at the time - sounds silly, but because of all the unreleased music and Prince vs WB stuff it felt about as underground as a global megastar could get on an arena tour. I remember a lot of people around being really disappointed and sitting there stoney faced because they weren't getting the hits I guess. I had pretty bad seats though, I'm sure the first few rows were singing along to every line, I know I was, even if I was the only one around me! Even the friend I went with, who got me into Prince, wasn't that in to it because she wasn't really along for the ride post-93.

Hearing the Gold Experience stuff, Pink Cashmere, Vicki Waiting live - this was great for me, terrible for the casuals! Same goes for ONA - I appreciate artists have to pay the bills, but the selfish fan side of me would much rather hear tracks that aren't played year in year out.

Went to Wembley Arena in London in 1995.. the dancing on the travelator was really effective ..I think Gold was the finale which was amazing

I saw 2 shows in Manchester and loved them as a 'hardcore' but there was some reports on local news of people walking out. I remember before the concert started standing in awe watching videos for then unreleased tracks likes Empty Room, Zannalee, 18 & Over, The Same December and spotting Tony M in some Madhouse videos.

mattj said:

Went to Wembley Arena in London in 1995.. the dancing on the travelator was really effective ..I think Gold was the finale which was amazing

Yes, the Gold finale of the Japan concert was outstanding as well.

dodger said:

I saw 2 shows in Manchester and loved them as a 'hardcore' but there was some reports on local news of people walking out. I remember before the concert started standing in awe watching videos for then unreleased tracks likes Empty Room, Zannalee, 18 & Over, The Same December and spotting Tony M in some Madhouse videos.

I wonder if this type of publicity regarding the concert walkouts was really what motivated Prince to include at least some hits in most of his subsequent tours. He reportedly liked playing in Europe better than the US because he didn't have to be so hit based, so I imagine it really surprised him that European crowds reacted this way. I don't think it would have been that way if he had released the album beforehand and promoted some singles. Then more of the corowd would have been familiar with some of the songs.