I didn't get to see Prince perform live in his 80s/90s heyday...though I badly wanted to. I was young, he didn't come near where I lived, and I was too poor. Not to mention that we didn't have the kind of concert notifications that we do now via the internet.My best memory of TWO live Prince performances were my dream small club performances announced (as he often did!) on Instagram with very short notice at a club within walking distance from my home. It was a benefit for a local charity in 2014, I believe. He was still at the top of his game, played two BACK TO BACK concerts with no break. Took my son to both shows and it was amazing! Flawless on guitar, piano, and vocals. He looked very healthy at that time and I was right next to the stage. And I finally heard "Something In The Water" performed live! A dream come true--and he didn't disappoint. A tried and true professional musician and vocalist until the end. So glad I had that "small club" experience...and was able to share that with my son. What was your best memory of seeing Prince live? Probably beats mine, if you were there at his majesty's baddest...

The second show of the Sign O THe Times tour in Rotterdam. High energy, great crowd (mainly also becuase we knew it was being filmed) but the best was the second Act II show in Den Bosch in 1993.
Great day and great show!

I guess the Q is not 'what was his best concert' but '[read title once again]'.

To me it's perhaps the very pleasant surprise of the opening of the Lovesexy concert being (well, almost being) Erotic City, that was stunning and unexpected. And that he played out of the Black Album.

[Edited 5/27/19 4:32am]

sheffield arena, gold tour. second night. The arena was just over half full but this seemed to spur him on. It was a better show than the 1st sold out show. And my first and only aftershow. London 21 nights tour, the famous power trio show. With prince playing the guitar hard!

getting a 'five' from him... I guess....

Piano and Mic at PP

Piano and Mic in Oakland at the Paramount

LOL in Seattle when he played Dolphin and Colonized Mind.


Both pairs of P&M shows were amazing because of him meandering back and forth between songs. The Dirty Mind/Little Red Corvette combination was amazing. But it would be hard to top The Love We Make/Pink Cashmere in Oakland.

I saw Hit N Run in Las Vegas with Najee. For the longest time that was my favorite show. But more recently, experiencing the guitar heavy LOL shows and then the piano only shows made me appreciate Prince so much more.

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Lovesexy !

then

Sign O The Times

Without a doubt !

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Music and concertwise? Performance?

Or just memorable moments during a concert?

Too many to mention as far as concerts go.

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Some highlights were the ActII tour were he´d play great , full length songs, or the Ultimate Live Experience and the wonderful Paradiso aftershow the first night after Den Bosch, or the show after the MTV Music Awards, or basically any night during the 2002 celebration at Paisley Park.

But, of all the concerts I saw, the most memorable moments I saw happened during the 2002 Celebration.

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I loved those moments when he´d speak to his fans and thanked us for sticking with him through the thick and the thin, especially after those tumultous 90s, and that he took us to the movies when the AC stopped working one night, or the jokes and anecdotes he´d tell .

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About that ugly belt that Miles Davis gifted him, or how his dad told him that change was good, so he changed and so on.

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I miss his presence on this planet a lot.

Saw Prince in the Point Depot (now 3 Arena) in Dublin, Ireland in October 2002. About 50 of us as part of the NPGMC fan club got in to the soundcheck for free and we were all seated in the first 2 rows with nobody else there. They played for about an hour and after the sound-check Prince came down off the stage and started to talk to us (without any security if I remember correctly) and he sat in the 10th row back with the microphone and was chatting and answering some questions for about 10 mins. Nobody dared go back to him in case they were evicted.

Then the main show was on a little after that and he played for about 2 hours.

After the main show was over they announced that he was playing an aftershow in Spirit nightclub and anybody that had the wristband got into that show for free also. Only about 100 people there on the ground floor and Prince was literally about 2 feet away from us on the small stage. He played again for about an hour at least.

So had 3 Prince concerts in one day. Unreal

After missing out on the Rotterdam concerts in 1986 (I wasn't allowed to go by my parents) which was hard for me, I got what I wanted one year later in 1987 during the SOTT tour. Some friends of my parents were going and I was allowed to go with them. I will never forget the opening song SOTT hearing that searing guitar intro. There was a lot of smoke on stage and only after a while you could suddenly see Prince standing there in the middle of the stage with his guitar. It was the coolest thing I had ever witnessed!

It looked something like this:

[Edited 5/27/19 14:51pm]

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I saw the Lovesexy concert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia in 1988.

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I got their super early, as 6 or 7 hours before the concert started -- that was due to a combination of excitment and convenient timing for the person who drove me.

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At one point my friend and I could hear the band rehearsing. They were playing I Wish U Heaven Parts 2 & 3, but at the time we didn't recognize the song (talking amongst ourselves we refered to it as "The Funky Warm Up Music" until we eventually got our hands on the I Wisu U Heaven maxisingle and figured out what it was). We found a door along the side of the building tht was open a crack, and through that crack we could see the band warming up. We were quite a distance away, but it was still a good view. My friend got really excited and yelled to all the people around us that we were watching Prince warm up. Of course a mob of people flooded us and pushed us out of the way so that we could no longer see. I still haven't forgiven my friend for that.

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Later, once we were lined up to go in, Miko came out and spoke to those of us at the front of the line. I can't remember the conversation at all these years, but I remember him being very friendly and down-to-earth.

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16 years later I saw him for the second time for the Musicology tour at the MCI Area in Washington, DC. That was fun, but I don't have any interesting anacdotes like the ones from Philly/88.

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Rehearsing/tuning the horns from "Get On The Boat" before the Good Morning America performance went right.

I Love U In Me sung in falsetto!

A dream that finally came true!

This is a tough one, but I have 3 that stand out.

My Name is Prince 1994 and seeing him perform If I Was Your Girlfriend and A Case of You at his last performance in Toronto on March 25, 2016.

Favorite memory remains the aftershow at the 930 Club (I think that it was called the WUST back then) in DC. He wrapped up a 2 night engagement in Landover, MD for the Jam of the Year concert and all of the sudden beepers and pay phones started going off at the Howard University dormitories that Prince was coming to the "campus" to do a quick gig.

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Nothing but Howard students (or so it seemed) in the venue, we waited around for what seemed like hours, and then the show happened.

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2nd best memory- Houston '06 for the Tamar tour. That was the only time that I ever saw him perform a Michael Jackson song (Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough) and a Janet Jackson/Jam and Lewis song (What Have You Done For Me Lately).

LoveSexy '88 at the Omni in Atlanta! My date was hot and I was cool. Dayuum those were some good times!

2014, my first and last time seeing him in concert and in person, at Essence Fest in New Orleans. For some reason, I was determined to see him, because having been a Prince fan practically from around the time that the man first came on the scene, and never having seen him before in concert, ever! Someone else was on stage, one of the before acts (I forget who, lol), and I was sort of looking around the crowd, not really paying attention to the stage, when all of a sudden, I hear a roar from the crowd, so I look up at the jumbo screen, and then onstage, because I had good seats, and there he was ......and although I'm kind of ashamed to admit it, I screamed like a teenager, and my husband who was next to me, and who apparently wasn't paying attention either, said "WHAT, WHAT?" and I said "LOOK, IT'S PRINCE!" and he was as beautiful as always! .......that is my best and only memory, one that I will never forget!

1. Being blessed enough to catch one of his aftershows. 2007 at the O2 London. It was everything I hoped for and more.

2. Seeing him play Joy In Repetition and work on 1+1+1=3 Manchester 2002 NPG Music Club Soundcheck - One Night Alone Tour (My favourite tour)

3. That thing he did on the Diamonds and Pearls tour where he came back out when 3/4 of the venue had left, to play Call The Law

1998 - Collinsville, Illinois. My very first real (indoor) concert. I had seen Meatloaf in the '80s (my ex-husband's favorite band). Getting to my first Prince concert was really a challenge. It was a 2 hour drive and the car broke down on the way there. Luckily, it was not far from our exit. We ended up pushing the car for 2 miles, to the nearest gas station. They let us park it there while we went to the concert. We had to walk to the arena from there. About a 3 mile walk. We get to the arena and have to stand for about 2 hours, waiting on the venue to open. Once inside, I found out what General Admission meant - no place to sit. But, I stood 6 feet away from Prince the entire concert. It was my first time seeing him during concert. And I knew right then and there, that I needed to find more out about him.

The problem with all that standing and walking is that I have a health condition and have had numerous blood clots in my leg (by that time I'd been getting them for 15 years) and at the end of the night, my leg was extremely swollen and I ended up back in the hospital about a week later with another blood clot in my leg.

The other issue was that I didn't know to wear ear plugs. I was right in front of these really big speakers. I felt like I was hearing underwater for about a month after that.

But, I went home and did what, up until that point, I swore I would never do, I got the internet. I found p.org and then later I found Love4OneAnother and signed into The Holy River chat as "benni".

Since that concert, I have been to 6 other Prince concerts. I have gone to a Celebration at Paisley Park and seen Prince walk through a crowd of fans, completely at ease. But every concert I went to was incredible.

[Edited 5/29/19 4:31am]

I've seen him 7 times:

5/12/98 - New Power Soul Tour - that was the concert in Collinsville, Ill.

6/13/00 - Concert at Northrop in Minneapolis for the 2000 Celebration

11/16/00 - Hit N Run Concert in Charolotte, NC - this was memorable because I'd just found out that morning that I was pregnant with my second son.

4/21/04 - Columbia, SC - Musicology

3/28/11 - Greenville, SC - Welcome To America (I still have my number lithograph of the Welcome To America poster)

4/14/16 - Atlanta, GA 7 PM and 10 PM shows - These two concerts are bittersweet. I'm so grateful that I got to see his final two concerts, but I also hate that they were his final two concerts. I can still close my eyes and see him on stage, see him stomping that right leg, keeping time with one of the songs, see him clapping in time. The idea that I saw him perform those songs for the very last time - Purple Rain, Black Sweat, A Case of U, it's just ... I miss him and wish he was still here.

benni said:

I've seen him 7 times:

5/12/98 - New Power Soul Tour - that was the concert in Collinsville, Ill.

6/13/00 - Concert at Northrop in Minneapolis for the 2000 Celebration

11/16/00 - Hit N Run Concert in Charolotte, NC - this was memorable because I'd just found out that morning that I was pregnant with my second son.

4/21/04 - Columbia, SC - Musicology

3/28/11 - Greenville, SC - Welcome To America (I still have my number lithograph of the Welcome To America poster)

4/14/16 - Atlanta, GA 7 PM and 10 PM shows - These two concerts are bittersweet. I'm so grateful that I got to see his final two concerts, but I also hate that they were his final two concerts. I can still close my eyes and see him on stage, see him stomping that right leg, keeping time with one of the songs, see him clapping in time. The idea that I saw him perform those songs for the very last time - Purple Rain, Black Sweat, A Case of U, it's just ... I miss him and wish he was still here.

I feel the same way . Knowing that March 25, 2016 was and is the last time I will ever see him perform live is hard to even imagine. I saw Prince perform many times, but the last concert I saw on March 25 will stay with me forever.

2006, when he and Tamar went on Tour together. I saw him at a small club in D.C. called "Black Cat" , and was literally 5 feet from him in front of the stage. Watching him up close play guitar the whole show was something I'll never forget. It was unbelievable.

[Edited 5/29/19 8:21am]

Out of the 40+ time sof seeing him I have to say that 21 nights London, final aftershow - Amy Winehouse opens & 3 hours later we are all exhasusted & some fainting as we hit c5am!!

Far too many others - NPG Music Club pre-shows were insane!

musicology tour, cleveland, 3rd row, purple rain solo in my face. the man NEVER (well, maybe not never; but definitely not that night) faked it...brought me to tears.

2nd might be hit n run, louisville that i got to take my son to. it was his first of what i hoped would be many more prince shows...