Hi, I'm new here, so forgive me if this topic has been broached before.

I've watched a lot of footage from Prince live 2013 onwards, and things just seem...off. The shows are still great from a musical standpoint, I enjoy watching and listening to them, but there seems to be an edge to them that wasn't there before. Watching Prince on the Welcome2America tour, he still seems very loose and relaxed, the shows really feel like a party. His stage banter, his singing, his playing, all seem so much more charismatic and he really seems to be enjoying himself. By 2013, he has the huge afro, sunglasses, different stage attire, etc., almost as if he's hiding himself.

Those 2012 Chicago shows, where he debuted the 'fro and the new look, seem to me like the last time Prince felt like the Prince of old, the 2013-onward Prince just felt different to me. Still great, but there's something lurking there I can't put my finger on; there just seems to be a darkness underneath it all, as even the band's playing seems more aggressive at times. Obviously, in retrospect, there's probably some truth to this, but I was wondering if anyone else noticed this before he passed?

[Edited 3/20/17 12:49pm]

nothing wrong with a little edge. Plus, its harder rock than what he had been previously doing. I love the sadness he brought to "I could never take the place of ur man". I love what he did with Something IN the Water. Montreux had some bleak moments but there are certainly times when he genuinely seems like he is having some fun. Plus the P and M tour is very melancholy at times but also charming and funny. He seems mature.

67Cadillac said:

Maybe those performances are just more honest, Laura. I love a lot of the 2011 tour, but who gives a shit about a bunch of celeb's coming up on stage and the over useage of Shelby J (I love Shelby but don't we pay to see Prince?) . The 2011 tour had great moments (his dance solo's, his Beautiful One Performance) but I prefer the more intimate personal stuff in the P and M tour and rocking edge of 3rd Eye Girl live..(not as into the Plectrumelectrum album). As far as big scale U.S. Tours of Prince's, I think Musicology was better than the 2011 tour.

laurarichardson said:

67Cadillac said:

Hi, I'm new here, so forgive me if this topic has been broached before.

I've watched a lot of footage from Prince live 2013 onwards, and things just seem...off. The shows are still great from a musical standpoint, I enjoy watching and listening to them, but there seems to be an edge to them that wasn't there before. Watching Prince on the Welcome2America tour, he still seems very loose and relaxed, the shows really feel like a party. His stage banter, his singing, his playing, all seem so much more charismatic and he really seems to be enjoying himself. By 2013, he has the huge afro, sunglasses, different stage attire, etc., almost as if he's hiding himself.

Those 2012 Chicago shows, where he debuted the 'fro and the new look, seem to me like the last time Prince felt like the Prince of old, the 2013-onward Prince just felt different to me. Still great, but there's something lurking there I can't put my finger on; there just seems to be a darkness underneath it all, as even the band's playing seems more aggressive at times. Obviously, in retrospect, there's probably some truth to this, but I was wondering if anyone else noticed this before he passed?

[Edited 3/20/17 12:49pm]

Something was off with those performances.

[Edited 3/20/17 14:34pm]

I think you're projecting a little.

Uh, no. He was fine in 2014 from a few feet away.

If you search on here you'll find that before his death, A LOT of fans were complaining about his shows having lost their edge, and the setlist being the same over the past years.

Ive been to every Melbourne show here in Australia, and I must admit that when I first heard that the was touring in 2016, I sighed and said "here we go again".

Overpriced tickets and a show/performance Ive seen too many times.

Big bands and medleys, with P making the odd classic performance.
And worse... watching it from afar, because the ground floor tix were $300+ which for me was too much and not worth it.

To me, the change occured when he stopped touring his new albums releases.

And once he started touring with his Greatest Hits (plus some new songs), that was it.

His Hit'n Run/Musicolgy tour in 2003 was awesome I must admit, but the Welcome to.... in 2012 was just... meh.

BUT,,,, to this day, I thank God that I changed my mind about not seeing him (twice) on the Microphone & Piano tour last year.

Otherwise I would never have forgiven myself.

So how does P and M stack to 2012?

callimnate said:

If you search on here you'll find that before his death, A LOT of fans were complaining about his shows having lost their edge, and the setlist being the same over the past years.

Ive been to every Melbourne show here in Australia, and I must admit that when I first heard that the was touring in 2016, I sighed and said "here we go again".

Overpriced tickets and a show/performance Ive seen too many times.

Big bands and medleys, with P making the odd classic performance.
And worse... watching it from afar, because the ground floor tix were $300+ which for me was too much and not worth it.

To me, the change occured when he stopped touring his new albums releases.

And once he started touring with his Greatest Hits (plus some new songs), that was it.

His Hit'n Run/Musicolgy tour in 2003 was awesome I must admit, but the Welcome to.... in 2012 was just... meh.

BUT,,,, to this day, I thank God that I changed my mind about not seeing him (twice) on the Microphone & Piano tour last year.

Otherwise I would never have forgiven myself.

purplerabbithole said:

I seen him up close twice in 2014 and he was in great form. The 2nd night was unbelievable:

http://www.princevault.com/index.php?title=22_February_2014

.

After a few years of mainly stale sounding greatest hits tours he seemed rejuvinated with the 3EG project. Smaller venues playing new and rare songs and even the hits sounded fresh and raw.

.

dodger said:

I seen him up close twice in 2014 and he was in great form. The 2nd night was unbelievable:

http://www.princevault.com/index.php?title=22_February_2014

.

After a few years of mainly stale sounding greatest hits tours he seemed rejuvinated with the 3EG project. Smaller venues playing new and rare songs and even the hits sounded fresh and raw.

.

Yup, my experience also.

I mean how does the Piano and Microphone tour stack up (compare) to the 2011/2012 tour? In other words which one did you like better and why? Did you see the P and M tour twice just because you are loyal to P or because it was so impressive?

callimnate said:

purplerabbithole said:

So how does P and M stack to 2012?

!!??

[Edited 3/21/17 10:18am]

[Edited 3/21/17 10:18am]

callimnate said:

If you search on here you'll find that before his death, A LOT of fans were complaining about his shows having lost their edge, and the setlist being the same over the past years.

Ive been to every Melbourne show here in Australia, and I must admit that when I first heard that the was touring in 2016, I sighed and said "here we go again".

Overpriced tickets and a show/performance Ive seen too many times.

Big bands and medleys, with P making the odd classic performance.
And worse... watching it from afar, because the ground floor tix were $300+ which for me was too much and not worth it.

To me, the change occured when he stopped touring his new albums releases.

And once he started touring with his Greatest Hits (plus some new songs), that was it.

His Hit'n Run/Musicolgy tour in 2003 was awesome I must admit, but the Welcome to.... in 2012 was just... meh.

BUT,,,, to this day, I thank God that I changed my mind about not seeing him (twice) on the Microphone & Piano tour last year.

Otherwise I would never have forgiven myself.

They were similar for a few years (2004-2012?) but completely changed in 2013-14 witb 3rdEyeGirl and P&M in 2016.

Although in the 2007 shows in London there was an awful lot of variety in the sets, with maybe 4 or 5 songs surviving all 21 nights.

I respectfully, but strongly, disagree. The Live Out Loud tour was one of the most edgy tours that he has done. They were like a breath of fresh air because the revue/vegas style shows that he was doing in the Welcome To ___ tours were actually getting boring to me. He looked bored at those shows to me. Hit and Run Part II was similar to Live Out Loud with the edge. Piano & Microphone is the best tour that he has ever done and could not have had more edge. Montreux 2013 was briliant, especially the third night. That third night is in my all time top 5 of shows he has ever done because of the edge. The Dakota Jazz Club shows in 2013 were amongst his best and most edgy.

Now, I do think his appearance changed from 2013 onward. You could especially see it in late 2015 and obviously in 2016. But, his performances were just as good if not better than ever.

That is just my opinion, but I'm defensive about my Prince so I'm probably biased.

I think it was just the vibe of the setting. Since 3EG are a rock band and heavier everything needed to be re-worked and honestly he had played these songs a million times and I am sure as a performer he was getting tired of how "hits" sounded. Plus new band he got was able to get new vibes from them, for me 3EG were the best he had and it showed. Those Montreux shows are top of line and night #3 is unreal!! The playing all around those girls never got enough props for what they brought to the table.

Piano and Mic tour since it never got here to NYC I am sure it would have been near in the future but in my mind it was a tour by someone that knew time was an issue.

you guys must have been rich to go see so many shows, i was always broke when he came to town, and/or i didn't know about it until he was sold out. during 2011, he came and i just didn't feel like Prince's antics though so i just didn't even try, sure enough, he cut the show short, playing about an hour.

donnyenglish said:

Prince from 2012 onwards was absolutely awesome. He had found a new stride. He was kicking back and enjoying himself.

.

I loved how he would revisit his back catalogue and introduce new versions live and on record. His was with 3rdEyeGirl was fantastic.

.

Prince was aiming in a great direction.

.

IF it was his time to go, he should at least have been given 5 more years as he was doing great things.

.

The Nit N Run CDs were great, the Piano CD was the next planned release - it would have all been amazing.

.

But instead we are left with a family destroying his legacy and cheap rubbish being sold at his home.

.

There was definitley something flat in the TEG shows I've seen right around the time teh afor became prominent, whatever year that was. I chalked it up to old age and working the kinks out of a sort of stiff band but now I'm not so sure. As much as I loved his venture into more hard rock oriented shows, there definitely was a certain spark missing.

I agree with both.

First of all the musicality never changed...it was always on. Second, 2013 I found him more energized than he had been in awhile. I think the new girl group gave him a big joy and he looked happy cranking out music and just wanted to rock and be indie.

When I saw him at the Dakota in January 2013, (10 feet away) the afro was a style thing. He still looked like Prince and the energy and muscle tone where there. I just thought he was going through a style thing. Over 2013 and 2014 concerts same thing.

In 2015 he was starting to age more quickly and get more fragile. Concerts in the fall of 2015 at Paisley (10 feet away) he still sounded great but you coud see he looked a little tired, a little thin, and a little off. Strangly the energy was always way up. But, why was he aging so fast, when I hadn't seen him age hardly at all in the last 20.

The Piano Concert in January 2016, I was like dude...wtf. He was thiner and more frail then I'd ever seen him. Also there was a sadness, lonelyness and friendlyness that I couldn't put my finger on but it was different, like how many more years do we have to hang out at Paisley together. It seemed like this concert in some regards was more special to him, than it was to us and he was overly lavish in regards to the experience.

That being said, I was starting to burn out on Prince and the girls a little untill that show. He changed the speakers out and he changed the music and the performance was drop down incredible! That was his last concert ever at Paisley Park. I think he knew his time was short, but maybe not that short. Word was it was going to be an incredible exciting summer at the Park.

jaawwnn said:

augustwinters said:

rogifan said:

They were different but not in a bad way imo. I do think though 3EG was better in smaller Venus than arenas.

Yoo no vat dey sey aboot de smaller Venus....

ein schviner noodle

**all kidding aside, his performances got a bit more subdued through the years, that was part of the art. (2000 Hit n Run tour, sitting at piano often)..

But when I first saw him in person during the Musicology Tour, he was still very dynamic and hypnotizing the crowd....moreso during his stay here at The Forum In Inglewood during the W2A "21 Nite Stand" (playing smaller filler gigs to fill out the balance of dates not fitting the forum)

He was incredible at those shows.

I went to 11 of the initial concerts and was not let down until the set started showing repetitions (which is why he probably took a break and went up North and South to play a few more filler gigs, plus the stop ins at the Troubadour etc)

There weren't any sky rocketing jumps, but he "SnNNnnaAAakkKKkeeDDddd" himself on the floor during one opener.... had the women been SITTING.... the clean up would have proved costly!

The only time I saw him very subdued was during his Lotusflow3r performance...the first one was a bit disappointing... The real highlight was the harmonica player, because the sound was $#!+.....and I didn't have a bad seat either.

Must have been a conscientious decision to make his playing more subdued and ALSO to take in the event moreso during his own shows. Maybe he knew he was on borrowed time....

As I DO recall... when asked about Michael Jackson's passing, he stated something along the lines of "it hurts to lose someone you love."....AND...something like "I won't comment on that, I'm too close to it" [which can be interpreted various ways]

It was said that he locked himself indoors after that. As anybody would have who knew the guy. But the sense of mortality, and the notion of paranoia that Michael had might have had some bearing on it.

Everybody knows something screwy was up with Michael's death.

I'll always love the guy, I regret "snobbishly" not seeing 3rdEyeGirl... I didn't think they grooved with him right... I even got jealous of the shows being scheduled IN THE EAST **WITH** the NPG... *THAT must have been special.

[Edited 3/23/17 19:12pm]

[Edited 3/23/17 19:14pm]

purplerabbithole said:

I mean how does the Piano and Microphone tour stack up (compare) to the 2011/2012 tour? In other words which one did you like better and why? Did you see the P and M tour twice just because you are loyal to P or because it was so impressive?

callimnate said:

purplerabbithole said: !!??

Oh!

Well you cant compare the two, as they were completely different shows.

I remember standing (and dancing) during the 2011-12 shows but at the same time thinking, yep... we get it..... how about something different now.

As for the P&M shows, I sat the, hands on my chin and just loving every moment of it.
Singing songs that Id never heard before live. And just wondering, what is he going to do next!?

LIke I said, you cant compare the two, but if I had another night, it would the P&M show.
Actually, if I had another night, it would be a Controversy show. But thats another story.

And to answer your question. I always saw him more than once, because here in Australia, you just never knew if he would ever come back.

callimnate said:

purplerabbithole said:

I mean how does the Piano and Microphone tour stack up (compare) to the 2011/2012 tour? In other words which one did you like better and why? Did you see the P and M tour twice just because you are loyal to P or because it was so impressive?

Oh!

Well you cant compare the two, as they were completely different shows.

I remember standing (and dancing) during the 2011-12 shows but at the same time thinking, yep... we get it..... how about something different now.

As for the P&M shows, I sat the, hands on my chin and just loving every moment of it.
Singing songs that Id never heard before live. And just wondering, what is he going to do next!?

LIke I said, you cant compare the two, but if I had another night, it would the P&M show.
Actually, if I had another night, it would be a Controversy show. But thats another story.

And to answer your question. I always saw him more than once, because here in Australia, you just never knew if he would ever come back.

Totally agree, Piano and Mic shows were amazing. When I heard he was to tour Australia I didnt think much of it...but once it was over the emotion of it lasts till this day, where by Ive forgotton about the 2012 shows.