It's in German though :

https://www.rollingstone.de/leroy-bennett-im-interview-prince-2022545/

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here's a quick translation :

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LeRoy Bennett is a lighting and production designer, worked with Prince between 1980 and 1994, he designed the legendary stage shows for "Sign O 'The Times" and "Lovesexy" with him. A conversation about deadly plasma lamps, subtle Prince facial expressions and "Squirrel Meat"

LeRoy Bennett was responsible for the production and lighting design of the Prince tours between 1980 and 1994, including the live milestones of the “Sign O‘ The Times ”and“ Lovesexy ”concert tours. He is considered a master of his trade and has supervised, among other things, over the past 40 years Appearances by Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Beyonce, Rammstein, David Bowie, George Michael, Slayer as well as the implementation of the MTV Video Music Awards and the halftime shows of the Super Bowl.

Mr. Bennett, how did the live concept for “Sign O‘ The Times ”come about - the Las Vegas stage, the plasma balls, the billboards, the drums on the hood?

Prince ‘ideas and descriptions were often abstract. In the case of “Sign O‘ The Times ”he suggested something that he did not do or could not do on previous tours, such as“ Parade ”and“ Purple Rain ”: to use the album cover as a stage. So much was already there before the conception began. The cover background was not created on the computer, it was set up in Minneapolis at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater, an event hall. I think the record cover and the stage were like a security blanket for Prince.

What do you mean by that?

He built in ideas that had accumulated over the years and were good for him. He already had the Pierrot at the “Purple Rain” shows, so now the Pontiac was added, on which the drum set was enthroned.

There was a dim light at the beginning of the concert. There were only Prince, his dancer Cat and keyboardist Dr. Fink on the stage. At the end of the “Sign O‘ The Times ”song, all the other musicians joined in with their drums strapped on. How did this idea come about?

Prince and I always knew we wanted to create a dynamic. Creating momentum, not showing everything right away. No front lights. Show the audience just a little bit, then a little more. The live era of the late 1980s actually went in a different direction: The bigger the better. We weren't interested in that. We knew it was enough for people to see Prince. To be with him. Only from song two, “Play In The Sunshine”, should the full show, the stage, be in view.

Was it a challenge to create those wow effects?

No not at all. In such cases, one speaks of restraint (laughs). You have to learn to control this dynamic, of course. It is completely normal for a different feeling to prevail at first: that the first moment of the show must leave a gigantic impression. But we saw it differently.

What fascinated Prince about the plasma balls, the “crystal balls” that shoot lightning?

They were just in vogue back then. They were basically the new lava lamp for children of the 1980s. Prince and I liked this technology, it was nice to put in the bedroom. Or the club. You know that Prince originally wanted to name his album "Crystal Ball". I designed a plasma ball with a much larger scope.

Oh!

No more clairvoyant bullets. No more 25 centimeters in diameter - but two and a half meters! However, that could not be implemented. Put simply: the discharges from this plasma lamp, i.e. the current, would have been so strong that all technology - and by that I mean all technology within the concert hall - would have come to a standstill. Nothing would have withstood the high-frequency voltage. It is a displacement current looking for a conductive object. That is, when you put your hand on the sphere, the current will find your hand and you will ground the current. Hence the nice effect that the lightning bolts are bundled within the balls in your placed hand. With a giant ball, the tension would simply have been too great. We should have put Prince on a rubber mat so that he doesn't instantly turn into a pile of dust. Electrocuted.

But are you already aware that you have tricked Prince fans who bought the plasma lamps afterwards? The electricity makes no noise at all!

(laughs). Yes. The stage magic!

Were there any other ideas that could not be implemented.

Not that I know. Prince asked me to implement ideas on his cover, and it worked. I liked the neon lighting of the stage signs best, but also the ones that were attached to the small windows of the house facades. For me it was a tour in which the stage elements were used like a very special, lively show character. The glass heart on which Prince and his dancer Cat bed for “If I Was Your Girlfriend” was also a suggestion from him that I was happy to implement.

There were also the cages under the drums and the stage - they were only used for the dance sequence in “Hot Thing”, right?

They can be seen quite clearly in the “Sign O‘ The Times ”movie, but we found that they are not optimally visible to large parts of the audience, even in good lighting. Most likely from the people in the first few rows. Unfortunately, this stage area made less sense for concert situations.

Fans of the movie rave about the organ light in "Hot Thing", which only came on when Prince hit the keys.

Oh, that was just a midi connection. The instrument was connected to the light. There are very simple technical causes for every effect (laughs)!

The billboards on stage promised a Las Vegas world of joy. Some of the labels were mine, others like "Love" and "Sex" and "Squirrel Meat" by Prince. "Squirrel Meat" -

"Squirrel Meat". What fascinated him so much about this word that he called out to his musicians as a kind of command during his concerts? It was probably purely about the speech sound. He just enjoyed it. Let me say: "When a Squirrel gets hit by the car on the street - that's squirrel meat."

Do you know where the Prince stages are stored today?

No, I never asked the estate administrators, the Prince Estate, about it. The individual elements are safely stored in halls, or what is left of them. As far as I know, some things were destroyed because the warehouse rent would have been too high.

Did Prince ever say which of his stage shows he liked best?

No, at least not to me. I only know that he worked on the concepts until he liked the production one hundred percent. So he never went on tour with the feeling that something could have gone better. The “Lovesexy” tour even went one better: a round stage, unusual for 1988. It was one of the first of its kind, and very, very difficult to do.

The concert from Dortmund was published later, on the net you can find from Atlanta, Toronto or Pittsburgh, which show the round stage from different angles. Nevertheless, the lighting worked as intended from every point of view, so every viewer saw the same colors, lightness and darkness.

How do you create this 3D effect in round stage shows?

As a rule, silhouettes and background lighting are not required as soon as a stage can be seen from all sides. At least silhouettes cannot be made for all musicians at the same time. In addition, there was practically no area behind the stage. This area, in which most of the technology is stowed, was now in the center of the stage. So everything went out from the center in all directions.

I saw the second concert in Hamburg. The stage in the Millerntor Stadium was, as unfortunately with some “Lovesexy” gigs, not in the middle of the lawn, but at the edge. Did you have to rearrange the stage for such cases?

No, we actually used the same stage. Of course, this had an impact on the movements of Prince and his musicians, who had to rehearse a different choreography than at a concert that was completely surrounded by the audience. Otherwise, for example, Prince as a dancer or his guitarist or saxophonist would have played into the backstage area. Everything looked and played in one direction.

Many elements, such as the applications on the “Lovesexy” stage roof or sketches on the stage floor, were never captured, not even in the legendary “Live in Dortmund” video.

Well, the problem with a lot of TV recordings is that those responsible want to work with their own people. They bring their own director, who is naturally less familiar with the details of a show. The directors are always only interested in one thing: close-ups. Close-ups of the faces. Always just beauty shots. That's fine at award shows or music appearances on television. But in a concert video everything has to be shown, every element and above all the audience. TV people just don't understand.

The "Nude Tour" from 1990 was visibly slimmed down. Smaller band and, as the title suggests, more economical stage equipment.

“Lovesexy” was expensive, an extravagant production. To date I haven't seen a show of this magnitude. She was financially challenging. Did well in Europe, not so well in the US. The circular stage was so large that fewer spectators could fit into the arenas. I think that “Lovesexy” didn't go so well in America because Prince didn't tour there with “Sign O‘ The Times ”. I thought that was regrettable. With “Lovesexy” he returned to the stages of the states after a long abstinence. "Purple Rain" was 1984 to 1985, and the 1986 "Parade" tour was rather narrow in the USA. Many Americans did not understand even the “Lovesexy” cover, on which Prince is depicted naked, and was a turn-off for them. “Nude Tour” was therefore back to basic. Less theater, more music. Of course, it also had budget reasons.

The VHS video “Live in Syracuse”, which showed the “Purple Rain” tour, has a rather dubious reputation among fans. In some settings nothing can be seen at all.

The problem started with the location. We didn't perform in a hall, but in a stadium. That was not what the stage was made for. So we suddenly had to think about enlargements. We also had to set up more cameras, television cameras for use as home video. The devices were of course not as good then as they are today. We needed a lot more highlights to capture and illuminate Prince and the band. Anyone who goes to concerts that are recorded knows that, they are much brighter than normal appearances.

On the “Diamonds and Pearls” tour of 1992, Prince was probably one of the first artists to set up video screens in smaller halls that showed what was happening on stage. He didn't know any compromises. We also set up the canvases in the smallest halls. I think many viewers were just happy to see him up close for the first time. It should not be forgotten that a large part of his performance consisted in showing special facial expressions on certain songs. They were first visible to many. Subtle things were easier to see now.

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Thank you!
Now we know "squirrel meat" just sounded cool and was meaningless....and how P's facial expressions were important to the show's viewers.
Roy gives the best interviews.

laytonian said:

Thank you!
Now we know "squirrel meat" just sounded cool and was meaningless....and how P's facial expressions were important to the show's viewers.
Roy gives the best interviews.

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Yeah.

And I was not aware that of this too :

"On the “Diamonds and Pearls” tour of 1992, Prince was probably one of the first artists to set up video screens in smaller halls that showed what was happening on stage."

But I'm not a 100% sure if this is true...

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Vannormal said:

laytonian said:

Thank you!
Now we know "squirrel meat" just sounded cool and was meaningless....and how P's facial expressions were important to the show's viewers.
Roy gives the best interviews.

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Yeah.

And I was not aware that of this too :

"On the “Diamonds and Pearls” tour of 1992, Prince was probably one of the first artists to set up video screens in smaller halls that showed what was happening on stage."

But I'm not a 100% sure if this is true...

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Yep. I know what you mean. I remember that at one time I was thinking "why he did not have this already" as I saw it at others before.

Al this information coming in from all kind persons/channels is so magnificent and paints quite a interesting picture of an era.

[Edited 9/7/20 3:59am]

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Love the professionalism and insight of Roy Bennett when he commented on filming of a stage show ;

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"Many elements, such as the applications on the “Lovesexy” stage roof or sketches on the stage floor, were never captured, not even in the legendary “Live in Dortmund” video.

Well, the problem with a lot of TV recordings is that those responsible want to work with their own people.

They bring their own director, who is naturally less familiar with the details of a show. The directors are always only interested in one thing: close-ups. Close-ups of the faces. Always just beauty shots. That's fine at award shows or music appearances on television. But in a concert video everything has to be shown, every element and above all the audience. TV people just don't understand."

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