How did Prince's sound checks work?

Were the songs played decided on the spot? Did they always play for two, three, or four hours?

It's late 1984. Someplace like Cleveland, Ohio. I imagine the Revolution...bleary-eyed and groggy from the all night bus ride...takes a chauffeured shuttle to the "OmniDome" in the early afternoon...and after some obligatory press interviews with local rock and R&B radio stations shuffle over en-mass to their dressing rooms with small plates of cold cuts and crackers from the assorted food and drink tables

pick indifferently at their meals. "Shit, where are we again?" asks Wendy to the others in a hoarse rasp, a lit Marlboro dangling from her lip as she navigates an olive-cheese-cracker to her mouth.

"The Mistake By The Lake," deadpans Dr. Fink from nearby. The band settles into a quiet reverie of exhaustion and contemplation of how they look forward to a bit of R&R...IF he will give them any

R&R, that is...

After a few minutes, seemingly from nowhere, he appears at their door, resplendent in a purple plastic trench coat and lavender and yellow-patterned floral pants. The thick aroma of

his cologne engulfs their dressing room. 'Five minutes," he murmurs in deep baritone as he lets his fingers roll across the open door, then just as quickly disappears.

"Okay, you heard him," says Wendy. "Put on your game faces..."

The Revolution walk out and then into and through the dark, catacombed hallways deep underneath he OmniDome...and then out into the bright lights of the main cavernous stardium...where in six hours 22,000 buzzing and jubilant Clevelanders will be assembling.

The band approach the enormous stage, still in mid-construction, "take their marks" and grab their instruments. After a second of noodling and fidgeting with nobs and strings, he spins around and says, "We gonna start with 30 minutes of Do Me, Baby...then move into Cold Sweat for maybe an hour...watch the time changes...then I wanna do some Controversy and Sexy Dancer... If we have time, I got a new song I want to work on called Pop Life...

...Alright... in G... ONE, TWO, THREE!!!"

this brought a huge grin to my face ...thanks Soladeo.I am sure that is exactly what happened

except Pop Life was recorded before "When Doves Cry" was recorded...


EDIT: except for "Girl" and "She's Always in My Hair" I believe Pop Life was the first song recorded for ATWIAD...

[Edited 5/15/18 12:03pm]

OnlyNDaUsa said:

except Pop Life was recorded before "When Doves Cry" was recorded...

Good catch. Okay, what about something like... Life Can Be So Nice???

Everyone always messes with Cleveland, they do have an inferiority complex because they think they are competing with Chicago etc. Don't really mind, I was born in the Rubber City, we don't give a shit. They try to claim LeBron too. Suddenly it's all "Northeastern Ohio.

PS - Wendy would have been fired for smoking.

soladeo1 said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

except Pop Life was recorded before "When Doves Cry" was recorded...

Good catch. Okay, what about something like... Life Can Be So Nice???

that works: and some trivia on that song too: it was recorded the same day as "Sometimes it Snows in April"