thebanishedone said:

He had really taken his guitar playing to another level around that time.

I think he was always regarded as being a great emotional player, but he started doing things nobody knew he had in him and earning a different level of respect. Of course that performance was game over. That put him in the conversation for greatest living guitar player, or greatest of our generation.

A lot amazing high profile performances in the 2000's. The One Night Alone tour, Coachella, RRHF, Super Bowl, Musicology, SNL

He was on another level in the 2000's. Amazing performances and looking cool as hell doing it.

The 80's era is my favorite for all it's creativity, but the 2000's rivals it in sheer badassery.

lavendardrummachine said:

He had really taken his guitar playing to another level around that time.

I think he was always regarded as being a great emotional player, but he started doing things nobody knew he had in him and earning a different level of respect. Of course that performance was game over. That put him in the conversation for greatest living guitar player, or greatest of our generation.

It helped that he was onstage with other legends making you forget they're even there, playing a solo that will make you say "Eric Clapton is who?," doing what a lot of people think impossible and beating the Fab Four at their own game (see also Stevie Wonder, "We Can Work It Out").

mtlfan said:

It helped that he was onstage with other legends making you forget they're even there, playing a solo that will make you say "Eric Clapton is who?," doing what a lot of people think impossible and beating the Fab Four at their own game (see also Stevie Wonder, "We Can Work It Out").

Absolutely, they handed him the crown and let him ball out.

It wasn't really a battle of the guitars or anything, but that was the one performance you were going to talk about going home that night. He was there to do that solo. He doesn't even have a microphone, he's in the corner outside of the spotlight until then, and it's not just the guitar work, he understands the song and takes a lead vocal with the guitar where it actually belongs.

So yeah, a big part of it was he just got better, but even Prince fans that knew he'd stepped up his game were blown away by what happened.

Bridging from the Splits thread, when he started de-emphasizing the more high octane dance moves he began to emphasize his guitar moves/dominance, which was always present, but more part of the myriad of flavors opposed to the main/primary focus.

v10letblues said:

The reason why the RRHOF performance is so "well remembered" is because it was the only Prince related thing on YouTube for years. When he died and people went to search him that's all they found and accordingly what was posted on social media and included in the immediate tributes.

I certainly don't remember it being a career defining moment or anything at the time - the Superbowl performance that happened a few years later was far, far more of a milestone for his life and career. The 2004 renaissance was just the effect of him finally becoming more accessible and not thumbing his nose at the mainstream. It didn't take long for people to re-remember his genius once he cracked open the door.

[Edited 4/6/20 0:07am]

Yeah, a lot of people discovered it after the Superbowl performance. For one thing, youtube wasn't around in 2004. Unless you were an avid follower of the RRHOF i'd say it passed 99% of people by in 2004.

Mikado said:

Mikado said:

The reason why the RRHOF performance is so "well remembered" is because it was the only Prince related thing on YouTube for years. When he died and people went to search him that's all they found and accordingly what was posted on social media and included in the immediate tributes.

I certainly don't remember it being a career defining moment or anything at the time - the Superbowl performance that happened a few years later was far, far more of a milestone for his life and career. The 2004 renaissance was just the effect of him finally becoming more accessible and not thumbing his nose at the mainstream. It didn't take long for people to re-remember his genius once he cracked open the door.

[Edited 4/6/20 0:07am]

I found some things on YouYube (mostly fan recordings from live shows) that I downloaded before the estate could remove them. I wish they were still there because some of them showed fantastic guitar playing from Prince. IMO his live playing was always better than his records. It's a shame more of that isn't available to the public.

His success in 2004 was due to his increased visibility as he actually tried to promote himself. Nothing more.

rogifan said:

I found some things on YouYube (mostly fan recordings from live shows) that I downloaded before the estate could remove them. I wish they were still there because some of them showed fantastic guitar playing from Prince. IMO his live playing was always better than his records. It's a shame more of that isn't available to the public.

yes, I remember watching a lot of those videos, and also noticed when the estate started taking them down. That's great that you downloaded them then. Later on I was able to find many of them elsewhere, but not all. I wish I had downloaded some of those that I still haven't been able to find anywhere. There's a lot of good stuff out there.

steakfinger said:

His success in 2004 was due to his increased visibility as he actually tried to promote himself. Nothing more.

Could be. I was always a fan but Lord knows if it wasn't right in front of my face back then I certainly wouldn't have known about it and wasn't going out of my way for Prince stuff. He was such an enigma; for all he cared, and I do believe he cared a lot about his art, he also couldn't have cared less!

Mikado said:

When he died and people went to search him that's all they found

There was a lot of Prince material on Youtube by then. He'd started using social media, fans were posting things under creative names, and in general, it wasn't that it didn't get posted, it just would get taken down eventually.

Plus people started uploading clips almost immediately, there was a flood of material. Same day, I can remember watching the benefit show in quality I'd never seen.

bsprout said:

rogifan said:

I found some things on YouYube (mostly fan recordings from live shows) that I downloaded before the estate could remove them. I wish they were still there because some of them showed fantastic guitar playing from Prince. IMO his live playing was always better than his records. It's a shame more of that isn't available to the public.

yes, I remember watching a lot of those videos, and also noticed when the estate started taking them down. That's great that you downloaded them then. Later on I was able to find many of them elsewhere, but not all. I wish I had downloaded some of those that I still haven't been able to find anywhere. There's a lot of good stuff out there.

the two I got before they were removed that I love the most are Montreux 2009 and North Sea Jazz 2011 (all three nights). I also found a bunch of live 3EG stuff. One video of I Like It There would completely put to rest any idea that Prince couldn't rock. That performance rocked as hard as any grunge or rock band could.

thebanishedone said:

Do you think While My Guitar performsnce was the reason Prince regain his status ?everybody started recognising zprince as a great guitar player.Before that lots of people didn't even know he plays guitar.so it was tock guitar god status and not Musicokogy album that made Prince being praised again?

Ive been a Prince die hard find since '87...

and that performance blew me away!

Word of mouth got around about the Musicology Tour fast!

Fantastic follow-up.

Giving out his cds at his concerts was genius.

I saw his Las Vegas HitnRun show at the Hard Rock that was like a dry rehearsal of the Musicology Tour...

maybe the best show I've ever been to...

and I saw him in Montreux...

It's a shame the Vegas Hard Rock aftershow isn't circulating.

I feel back in love with the P's music after Hard Rock and RnRHof performances!

jaawwnn said:

Yeah, a lot of people discovered it after the Superbowl performance. For one thing, youtube wasn't around in 2004. Unless you were an avid follower of the RRHOF i'd say it passed 99% of people by in 2004.

I disagree. I was a teenager in heavy multiple online rock circles at the time, and it made the rounds substaintally.... stuff still went "viral" before "YouTube" and before we had terms like "viral".

The Superbowl performance is the one that got its legacy reframed in later years--at the time I remember people only commenting on that horribly out-of-tune guitar at the climax, now it's like we pretend that didn't even happen and it was a flawless life-encapsulating performance.

[Edited 4/7/20 19:47pm]

steakfinger said:

Nvncible1 said:

steakfinger said:

His success in 2004 was due to his increased visibility as he actually tried to promote himself. Nothing more.

If that was true then the RAVE era would’ve Liked to have a word with you lol

I think it was definately a calculated, shrewd and successful P.R. move.

Farfunknugin said:

The Melkweg gigs have great guitar footage as well, just sayin'

WhisperingDandelions said:

jaawwnn said:

Yeah, a lot of people discovered it after the Superbowl performance. For one thing, youtube wasn't around in 2004. Unless you were an avid follower of the RRHOF i'd say it passed 99% of people by in 2004.

I disagree. I was a teenager in heavy multiple online rock circles at the time, and it made the rounds substaintally.... stuff still went "viral" before "YouTube" and before we had terms like "viral".

The Superbowl performance is the one that got its legacy reframed in later years--at the time I remember people only commenting on that horribly out-of-tune guitar at the climax, now it's like we pretend that didn't even happen and it was a flawless life-encapsulating performance.

[Edited 4/7/20 19:47pm]

Fair enough, I can see that happening in the right circles.

I wasn't into Prince at the time but I was aware of Musicology as a song and the general "comeback" thing that was happening at the time, and it wasn't a comeback based on his guitar playing.

rogifan said:

bsprout said:

yes, I remember watching a lot of those videos, and also noticed when the estate started taking them down. That's great that you downloaded them then. Later on I was able to find many of them elsewhere, but not all. I wish I had downloaded some of those that I still haven't been able to find anywhere. There's a lot of good stuff out there.

the two I got before they were removed that I love the most are Montreux 2009 and North Sea Jazz 2011 (all three nights). I also found a bunch of live 3EG stuff. One video of I Like It There would completely put to rest any idea that Prince couldn't rock. That performance rocked as hard as any grunge or rock band could.

ooh, I remember! those are all good ones. They took down his show at the Inglewood Forum (Welcome 2 America tour, May 28, 2011). I'm able to find the May 29th show but the May 28th show that used to be on YouTube is nowhere to be found anymore I'm happy to have some audio clips of it but that's it. Incidentally, it's the tour that Dave Grohl just mentioned jamming with Prince on (in Bart Van H's other thread on this page).

When biopics or documentaries get made, I really think the 2000's era would make a spectacular movie.

.

So many AMAZING high profile performances. It was the triumphant return of Prince as the quintessential ROCK STAR.

.

How many artists come back a decade later and leave at the top of their game. He was the epitome of badass all the way to the end.

.

In a three arc story, with the 80's being it's own arc, the 90's being the fall from grace, and the 2000's as a spectacular an artistic comeback anyone could imagine. Especially as a live music performer. He was at once the rock star, and also the serious jazz/fusion musician.

[Edited 4/8/20 16:03pm]

v10letblues said:

When biopics or documentaries get made, I really think the 2000's era would make a spectacular movie.

.

So many AMAZING high profile performances. It was the triumphant return of Prince as the quintessential ROCK STAR.

.

How many artists come back a decade later and leave at the top of their game. He was the epitome of badass all the way to the end.

.

In a three arc story, with the 80's being it's own arc, the 90's being the fall from grace, and the 2000's as a spectacular an artistic comeback anyone could imagine. Especially as a live music performer. He was at once the rock star, and also the serious jazz/fusion musician.

[Edited 4/8/20 16:03pm]

It is interesting that some of his music that rocked the hardest was recorded in the 90s.

bsprout said:

rogifan said:

the two I got before they were removed that I love the most are Montreux 2009 and North Sea Jazz 2011 (all three nights). I also found a bunch of live 3EG stuff. One video of I Like It There would completely put to rest any idea that Prince couldn't rock. That performance rocked as hard as any grunge or rock band could.

ooh, I remember! those are all good ones. They took down his show at the Inglewood Forum (Welcome 2 America tour, May 28, 2011). I'm able to find the May 29th show but the May 28th show that used to be on YouTube is nowhere to be found anymore I'm happy to have some audio clips of it but that's it. Incidentally, it's the tour that Dave Grohl just mentioned jamming with Prince on (in Bart Van H's other thread on this page).

I forgot to mention I have all the 2013 Montreux shows too. The one with 3EG was amazing. Listen to Endorphinmachine from that show...as good as anything Aerosmith has ever done.