Militant said:

OperatingThetan said:

Militant said: That's very sad to read. I last saw him live in Birmingham on May 19, 2014, following attending Shepherd's Bush and the Electric Ballroom and he looked great. It's obvious how much he'd declined in the short duration between mid-2014 to late 2015. Clearly, something major happened during those months. My last memories of Prince are of him shadow-boxing on stage with 3RDEYEGIRL and looking genuinely renewed - so vital, youthful, energetic and alive. Am I correct in recalling you felt something was 'off' with Prince at his Londom Autism Rocks gig in 2015? * [Edited 9/15/19 16:02pm]

Ah, I was at both the Birmingham shows as well, and Shep Bush. Those were great shows.

And yep, you have a good memory.

The Autism Rocks gig was a bit strange. What I felt at that gig was that it took him and the band maybe 4 or 5 songs to really get "into it". And that felt strange to me because literally every other show I'd ever seen, it had been on point from the second he hit the stage.

The first few songs at Autism Rocks almost felt like a rehearsal to me. There was a sort of disconnect, for lack of a better way of describing it, and I remember mentioning it directly afterwards with a friend (might have been Mobeen, the author/journalist).

That show was what? 6-8 months before he first started talking to journalist about Piano & A Mic. The first P&AM shows were supposed to be in Europe that November, I think.

The Detroit show in April '15 felt the same to me, ever so slightly off. It wasn't much -- nothing my friends (who'd never seen Prince) seemed to notice -- but it just felt like some kind of energy wasn't quite there, or was being withheld. I've heard the boot a few times, and it sounds great -- I don't think you'd tell just by listening. And I wasn't even sure if I was making it up (at the time, I remember thinking okay, well, Prince is finally getting old), but in retrospect I do wonder from time to time.

Seeing both the Paisley Park shows in January, the Larry Graham show the next night at PP, the two shows in Oakland at the Paramount in late Febraury, and the afterparty after the Oakland shows, it was clear he was not well. The first show at Paisley Park left him crying at times. Crying over the music? Crying because he knew he was near the end? Who knows. But there were tears in his eyes. He looked sickly. In spite of that, those PP shows are something else. I don't know whether I would want to see those shows honestly. I am fine hearing them. I have listened to them hundreds of times in the last three years. I hope the video is released for those who want to see it. I don't need to. Nor am I tempted to go back to PP either. Having been to PP with Prince there, I don't know whether I would want my most recent memories to be of the place without him there.

I am just curious...I have heard many times that P looked sick or frail... do you feel that something was healthwise cancer, HIV (not saying he had either, just as examples) or was it the opioid addiction that was starting to show?

macaylasdad said:

I am just curious...I have heard many times that P looked sick or frail... do you feel that something was healthwise cancer, HIV (not saying he had either, just as examples) or was it the opioid addiction that was starting to show?

If you are asking me, I don't know enough to say. My traveling buddy was convinced Prince was going to die in the near future, starting in 2015. We sat next to John Bream during the early PP P&M show and he told this to Bream. I am not sure how seriously he took my buddy. When Prince announced the Oakland shows on his way back from Australia, my friend convinced me to go to those shows saying that there weren't going to be many more shows. We weren't nearly as close to the stage in Oakland for the P&M shows, but at the afterparty in San Francisco we were close to Prince at times, and he didn't look great.

My buddy wondered about health issues. But regardless, he was convinced Prince was dependent on opiates, because at times he looked "dope sick" and then he would look better rather qiuickly. Did he look sickly and frail due to opiate over-use and intermittent withdrawal symptoms? Was there a health issue? Or some combination of both? Certainly I have nothing definite to offer. I am sure there are people close to him who know. But if a person is in chronic pain and opiate dependent, unless the use of opiates are controlled and well monitored, the situation can spiral out of control. And with a person such as Prince, attempting to get him to let someone else control his opiate use, with monitoring to verify he wasn't getting them elsewhere in addition to what was prescribed seems like it wouldn't have ever worked.

CynicKill said:

macaylasdad said:

I am just curious...I have heard many times that P looked sick or frail... do you feel that something was healthwise cancer, HIV (not saying he had either, just as examples) or was it the opioid addiction that was starting to show?

Liver trouble has been suggested and that makes a lot of sense to me since it's a main side effect of long term opioid use. One of the oddest things to me was how often the AFRO was out of sorts. Prince's hair was always on point but the late stage afro was all over the place.

herb4 said:

These shows are all the more impressive considering he shouldn't have been doing them in the first place (dealing with his health instead). Also it was just him on stage. How many other big name artists would do 90 minutes on stage with no backing band, just themselves a microphone and a piano?

I have audio of many of the shows. It's not soundboard quality but it's still good. His voice and playing were absolutely amazing. The Toronto show where he combined Dolphins and Bowie's Heros was fantastic. And Baby I'm A Star from Atlanta with the crowd so into it. There's nothing like it. The estate should pull the best versions of each song from different shows and release it. The world needs to hear it.

rogifan said:

violetcrush said:

rogifan said:

These shows are all the more impressive considering he shouldn't have been doing them in the first place (dealing with his health instead). Also it was just him on stage. How many other big name artists would do 90 minutes on stage with no backing band, just themselves a microphone and a piano?

I have audio of many of the shows. It's not soundboard quality but it's still good. His voice and playing were absolutely amazing. The Toronto show where he combined Dolphins and Bowie's Heros was fantastic. And Baby I'm A Star from Atlanta with the crowd so into it. There's nothing like it. The estate should pull the best versions of each song from different shows and release it. The world needs to hear it.

Agreed. It is shockingly amazing how, in his very frail condition, he could play for as long as he did at every show. The first PP show was so beautifully done. The Auckland show was also fantastic, and of course, the last show. I loved his mix of IIWYG and Waiting In Vain. Also the Peanuts theme with Dirty Mind

The Heroes/Dolphin is such a perfect match. Auckland - I Feel For U / Controversy / Ruff Enuff / Condition of the Heart / Noon Rendezvous is also amazing. Purple Music, and The Love We Make intertwined with Pink Cashmere from Oakland were also great.

violetcrush said:

rogifan said:

These shows are all the more impressive considering he shouldn't have been doing them in the first place (dealing with his health instead). Also it was just him on stage. How many other big name artists would do 90 minutes on stage with no backing band, just themselves a microphone and a piano?

I have audio of many of the shows. It's not soundboard quality but it's still good. His voice and playing were absolutely amazing. The Toronto show where he combined Dolphins and Bowie's Heros was fantastic. And Baby I'm A Star from Atlanta with the crowd so into it. There's nothing like it. The estate should pull the best versions of each song from different shows and release it. The world needs to hear it.

Agreed. It is shockingly amazing how, in his very frail condition, he could play for as long as he did at every show. The first PP show was so beautifully done. The Auckland show was also fantastic, and of course, the last show. I loved his mix of IIWYG and Waiting In Vain. Also the Peanuts theme with Dirty Mind

Yes! And combining LRC with DM. So tasty. Engineer Scotty Baldwin says he thinks piano was Prince's best instrument.

rogifan said:

rogifan said:

How many other big name artists would do 90 minutes on stage with no backing band, just themselves a microphone and a piano?

"Could" or "Would"?

Because that's a really interesting question and probably a short list. Elton John, Billy Joel, Fiona Apple, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Phillip Glass...I don't know a ton of piano players tbh so there's probably more that a seriously plugged in music head could rattle off and you almost have to be famous in the first place to have the balls to even try. And the list of people that could do it with his vast catalogue of hits is really small as far as my brain can think.

Also, I can't come up with any other name besides Prince that could do P&M and ALSO an equally good acoustic guitar set the next night if he felt like it. Those Musicology interludes were legendary, positvely mesmerizing and off the chain and I know for a fact blew some minds for the casual hit listeners that went to those shows. I honestly wish his last sets had been a half and half (piano then guitar) because I LOVED watching and listening to him play that axe. He made it look easy - like it was a part of his body and soul - like all the great ones do.

Over the years and on every tour, we always got a piano ballad set designed to seduce the audience and make women scream for his falsetto but only once got what he showed us with those Musicology numbers and that's kind of a shame. Almost every tour had a piano part but the Musicology tour was the only time I ever saw what an "MTV Prince: Unplugged" might have been and it only lasted 10 or 15 minutes.

I play those Musicology sets a lot since he died. Probably more than anything else. Goosebumps every time.

herb4 said:

rogifan said:

How many other big name artists would do 90 minutes on stage with no backing band, just themselves a microphone and a piano?

"Could" or "Would"?

Because that's a really interesting question and probably a short list. Elton John, Billy Joel, Fiona Apple, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Phillip Glass...I don't know a ton of piano players tbh so there's probably more that a seriously plugged in music head could rattle off and you almost have to be famous in the first place to have the balls to even try. And the list of people that could do it with his vast catalogue of hits is really small as far as my brain can think.

Also, I can't come up with any other name besides Prince that could do P&M and ALSO an equally good acoustic guitar set the next night if he felt like it. Those Musicology interludes were legendary, positvely mesmerizing and off the chain and I know for a fact blew some minds for the casual hit listeners that went to those shows. I honestly wish his last sets had been a half and half (piano then guitar) because I LOVED watching and listening to him play that axe. He made it look easy - like it was a part of his body and soul - like all the great ones do.

Over the years and on every tour, we always got a piano ballad set designed to seduce the audience and make women scream for his falsetto but only once got what he showed us with those Musicology numbers and that's kind of a shame. Almost every tour had a piano part but the Musicology tour was the only time I ever saw what an "MTV Prince: Unplugged" might have been and it only lasted 10 or 15 minutes.

I play those Musicology sets a lot since he died. Probably more than anything else. Goosebumps every time.

I said would because it takes a certain amount of balls to do it even if someone has the chops. I love those Musicology sets. I wish he would have done that on other tours. And it doesn't even have to be just acoustic. Just him and a guitar on stage is heaven.

rogifan said:

herb4 said:

"Could" or "Would"?

Because that's a really interesting question and probably a short list. Elton John, Billy Joel, Fiona Apple, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Phillip Glass...I don't know a ton of piano players tbh so there's probably more that a seriously plugged in music head could rattle off and you almost have to be famous in the first place to have the balls to even try. And the list of people that could do it with his vast catalogue of hits is really small as far as my brain can think.

Also, I can't come up with any other name besides Prince that could do P&M and ALSO an equally good acoustic guitar set the next night if he felt like it. Those Musicology interludes were legendary, positvely mesmerizing and off the chain and I know for a fact blew some minds for the casual hit listeners that went to those shows. I honestly wish his last sets had been a half and half (piano then guitar) because I LOVED watching and listening to him play that axe. He made it look easy - like it was a part of his body and soul - like all the great ones do.

Over the years and on every tour, we always got a piano ballad set designed to seduce the audience and make women scream for his falsetto but only once got what he showed us with those Musicology numbers and that's kind of a shame. Almost every tour had a piano part but the Musicology tour was the only time I ever saw what an "MTV Prince: Unplugged" might have been and it only lasted 10 or 15 minutes.

I play those Musicology sets a lot since he died. Probably more than anything else. Goosebumps every time.

I said would because it takes a certain amount of balls to do it even if someone has the chops. I love those Musicology sets. I wish he would have done that on other tours. And it doesn't even have to be just acoustic. Just him and a guitar on stage is heaven.

Co-sign.

There was somethign about the acoustic that brought out the song writing elements to me though in ways that the blistering solos didn't. I loved watching and listening to him wail on "The Ride", "Joy in Repetition" and "The ? of U" but seeing him break down the basic essence of tracks like "Little Red Corvette", "Cream", "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" or even the Stones' "Satisfaction" (which he broke out in Philly) was a little different and more intamite than a face melter like "Purple Rain"; or even a seductive, sexy piano ballad set.

Even the simple delicacy of "Sometimes it Snows it in April" realized through a different instrument was mesmerizing to me. I could have watched him do that all night and was almost bummed when that part of those 2 shows I saw was was over. It's hard to explain but it felt more "musical" to me than the ballad sets he usually did that often felt to me like "sexy time".

I could see how he could pull off something similar with the piano now that I think about it.

Hope that made sense.

What would folks say was the most suprising or unusal song he did that took on a new shape with nothing but a piano and mic? I never heard these shows.

herb4 said:

rogifan said:

I said would because it takes a certain amount of balls to do it even if someone has the chops. I love those Musicology sets. I wish he would have done that on other tours. And it doesn't even have to be just acoustic. Just him and a guitar on stage is heaven.

Co-sign.

There was somethign about the acoustic that brought out the song writing elements to me though in ways that the blistering solos didn't. I loved watching and listening to him wail on "The Ride", "Joy in Repetition" and "The ? of U" but seeing him break down the basic essence of tracks like "Little Red Corvette", "Cream", "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" or even the Stones' "Satisfaction" (which he broke out in Philly) was a little different and more intamite than a face melter like "Purple Rain"; or even a seductive, sexy piano ballad set.

Even the simple delicacy of "Sometimes it Snows it in April" realized through a different instrument was mesmerizing to me. I could have watched him do that all night and was almost bummed when that part of those 2 shows I saw was was over. It's hard to explain but it felt more "musical" to me than the ballad sets he usually did that often felt to me like "sexy time".

I could see how he could pull off something similar with the piano now that I think about it.

Hope that made sense.

What would folks say was the most suprising or unusal song he did that took on a new shape with nothing but a piano and mic? I never heard these shows.

JOY IN REPETITION is the first one that comes to mind.

I would die to have Love Thy Will Be Done from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia! So beautifully done!

^ "The Breakdown" from Sydney Opera house 1st show was particularly impressive, as was "Black Muse" State Theartre Sydney or Oakland 1st show

posted in error

[Edited 10/10/19 2:29am]

[Edited 10/10/19 2:34am]

andrewm7 said:

^ "The Breakdown" from Sydney Opera house 1st show was particularly impressive, as was "Black Muse" State Theartre Sydney or Oakland 1st show

.

That tour was quite small, the audio has few tracks, so why not simply do a CD nice box set of these events? Videos etc optional.

macaylasdad said:

I would die to have Love Thy Will Be Done from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia! So beautifully done!

I was going to say this. Simply stunning.

.

Other highlights from the tour for me:

Purple Music

Free Urself

Partyman

When She Comes

Big City

Ruff Enuff

Thieves In The Temple / It

Militant said:

Madhouse6 said:

The video is alsoready to go but is not being released for whatever reason.

Two possible reasons:

1) It's been shown repeatedly at Celebration. Both 2017 and 2018, but not 2019. I saw a large chunk of it in 2018. So, maybe Paisley Park want to keep it to only be shown there or have an agreement for that.

2) It's heartbreaking to watch. I suspect even more so than when it happened. The pro-shot close up videos make it damn obvious how frail he was. His eyes were glazed in parts. There was just no light left in him, except for the odd moments when the spark came back as he reminisced on certain songs.

Musically, it's brilliant to hear. Watching it is tough, much like the Michael Jackson "This Is It" film, which was heavily edited to try and hide the fact that he was gaunt.

.

I'm with you on #2... I have resisted watching any of this stuff, and it's actually nauseating when you see Women on FB, etc., saying how "fine" he still was. I just don't need to see that tragic ending... I've seen all of the death photos, and I don't need to see the dramamtic downhill slide previous.

Giovanni777 said:

Giovanni777 said:

jdcxc said:

Giovanni777 said:

.

I'm with you on #2... I have resisted watching any of this stuff, and it's actually nauseating when you see Women on FB, etc., saying how "fine" he still was. I just don't need to see that tragic ending... I've seen all of the death photos, and I don't need to see the dramamtic downhill slide previous.

I understand all the sentiments expressed in this thread regarding our collective sadness, but I believe P$M is an important document of his everlasting art and transcendent talent. It should be released in some form or used in the documentary. The parts I have seen of the tour have been extremely touching for his artistic introspection and musical expression. He was going to personal spaces. I was more bothered by Montreux 2013, where I thought he was out of it musically, not necessarily physically/cosmetically.

If that's the same show I just watched recently I agree. Pretty sure it was.

It was good but I swear to God I'd never seen Prince do LESS on stage in my life.

The show I watched - I think it was titled "Night One" or something like that - the band was tight and they sounded great but Prince barely even touched an instrument all night. I think he did a touch of percussion (or maybe keys) but that guitar never came out at all which was astonishing to me. His entire role was bandleader and MC. It was weird.

I'm not asking for splits and jumps off a riser at this age but it was odd just watching him move and sing. It was like when I saw James Brown about 10 years ago but even at his age he had more energy. I kept fast forwarding waiting for a guitar solo that never came.

Towards the end, I think there was more going on with him than just painkiller addiction.