21 June 2002, Paisley Park was the first time i saw the ONA show with the new band, excellent sound and the encore with a "Joy In Repetition" version i still hear in my head today. Amazing! It was the first day of the 2002 "Xenophobia" Celebration, the rest was just sublime to witness!!!

The ONA experience was kinda nice indeed.

The Lovesexy show was better.

udo said:

The ONA experience was kinda nice indeed.

The Lovesexy show was better.

The Lovesexy show was better if you experienced it with the round stage in a concert hall like in the Dortmund video.
My Lovesexy show was in Frankfurt in a football stadium with a normal stage. It still was a great show but the view i had and the sound quality was not very good.

The ONA Oberhausen Show was a much better experience for me.

ONA was a special concert series, and represented a new maturity with Prince and his music.

I`m going to be contentious and suggest that the 2003 Australian tour was the best tour ever

-The main shows were like a fresh, no frills version of the Musicology tour with good sound, with the shows beginning with an awesome version of "lets go crazy" with the intro to" the Bird".

-Same excellent touring band as on the One night alone tour.

-Open soundchecks for the fans like the ONA tour where lots of unusual material was showcased.

-Opportunity for seating on stage and a Prince meet and greet if you were rich enough.

-opportunity to banter with him and the band during the soundchecks if you were too poor for the meet and greet like me.

-Excellent aftershows and one-offs at Metro, the Basement and Indie Temple.

-Every show on that tour was a winner.

The European leg of the Welcome To tour when he didn't have that so very cool, but ultimately detached, cold, and concert-vibe killing symbol stage, were his best 00s live stuff. Save for shows with technical difficulty and what not.

One of my biggest regrets, as a fan, was not getting to see ONA live and in person. Every boot I've listened to is fantastic, and the official release is one of my favorites. Such a great tour. I really regret not getting to see it live.

It's odd, reading that Austrailian set list and thiking about how much more I tend to prefer a show that's light on the hits, but ONA, while fun, didn't entirely land for me. The aftershow I saw was much better. Shit, any aftershow I saw was always better because it was loose and there was just jamming. Felt like anything could happen.

For as much credit as Prince gets for supposedly changing his set list every night, I never found that to really be the case. I saw ONA back to back nights in ATL and got the same experience for the most part. I don't know where that idea came from that Prince was always changing shit up on a tour, at least during the main show.

I saw 2 Musicology shows (my favorite tour) a couple months apart and most of it was the same. Most PR, SoTT and Lovesexy shows I've heard were largely the same set. I saw 2 H&R 2000 shows. Same set list mostly.

Where did he get this reputation for surprising everyone every night?

herb4 said:

It's odd, reading that Austrailian set list and thiking about how much more I tend to prefer a show that's light on the hits, but ONA, while fun, didn't entirely land for me. The aftershow I saw was much better. Shit, any aftershow I saw was always better because it was loose and there was just jamming. Felt like anything could happen.

For as much credit as Prince gets for supposedly changing his set list every night, I never found that to really be the case. I saw ONA back to back nights in ATL and got the same experience for the most part. I don't know where that idea came from that Prince was always changing shit up on a tour, at least during the main show.

I saw 2 Musicology shows (my favorite tour) a couple months apart and most of it was the same. Most PR, SoTT and Lovesexy shows I've heard were largely the same set. I saw 2 H&R 2000 shows. Same set list mostly.

Where did he get this reputation for surprising everyone every night?

Yeah I don't think he dramatically changed the setlist from show to show...Over the course of the main shows he just phased a couple songs in and out. I think the most notable differences in main show setlists are by comparing the North America/European/Japanese legs. For example, if you compare the setlist of an early tour show in Chicago, to a late tour show in Osaka, there is about a 10 song difference. As you noted, the aftershows (and soundchecks too I think) was where the big differences in setlist could occur. He also played a lot of different songs during the 2002 Paisley Park shows in June.

No way. ONA was meh. I think Parade was Prince at his artistic and performing peak.Prince was 27/28 and was doing shit he didn't really afterwards. The band was tigher than a frog's ass in water.

I certainly have no qualms for those who prefer the Lovesexy Tour over ONA. In fact, I probably had the same preference 5 years ago...but Lovesexy is still def up there for me. I suppose my tour tastes have changed over the years. Oh, and two more incredible ONA aftershows I'd like to note are Nighttown and the London show. The Nighttown instrumental Jam is really amazing.

I also am very fond of the parade tour with the expanded version of the revolution

Prince(r.i.p.) giving his fans first pick of concert tickets on his groundbreaking website NPGMC without dealing with scalpers or ticket agencies. Plus a chance at seeing his soundcheck up close and personal with a Q&A was worth the price of admission alone and made this tour stand out more than his others.

Kodak Theater-night 2