Best- Lovesexy Chicago

Worst- Summerfest Milwaukee, 2001. Prince was great but we had horrible bleacher seats next to drunks who kept yelling, "Play Purple Rain."

Best is hard to pick out (so, many, so, good) Lovesexy 88, One nite Alone tour 2002, Live Out Loud tour Seattle 2013.

Worst: By far Tacoma, WA. Welcome to America tour 2011. I think it was about 1hr 35mins long (it wasn't 2 hours for sure!) Prince wasn't in a good mood partly because ever yahoo in the crowd were filming him with their phones (and not enjoying the "party") and a female fan got under the stage with Prince during a break or costume change. (hashtage security alert.)

Caught him three times: '04 Musicology tour in Toronto, '11 Welcome 2 America (Canada) in London, Ontario, and P&M Aftershow in Montreal '16.

As a concert, Musicology was the best - amazing band, sweet selection of huge and lesser hits and deep cuts, acoustic set. Insanely entertaining, one of the best shows I've ever seen, period.

Welcome 2 America didn't have the same energy. The arena was smaller, the stage wasn't in the round like on Musicology, no John Blackwell or Maceo Parker. The setlist was kind of a mess - Shelby etc. as "openers," ballad after ballad after ballad up front, Sarah McLaghlan covers, and closing with a medley of covers from MJ and the Time that left me thinking there had to be more. But those aren't my big complaints - if this had been my first Prince show, I'm sure I'd be saying that like Musicology, it was one of my best concert experiences. The problem was some dude sitting behind me who didn't realize that people like to stand up and dance at concerts. He provoked a physical fight and I'm a pretty non-confrontational person. Security relocated me (to way better seats!) where everyone was partying and having a good time, I gave the guy the finger as I left, but this really colored the night. I've never understood why people go to concerts to sit on their asses unless they have problems with standing for long periods of time. I've had this experience over and over again whenever I watch older artists from the cheap seats. I promise if I'm ever too old and tired to stand I won't be a dick to younger people dancing and enjoying themselves in front of me.

As an experience, seeing Prince in a small club, being a few feet away from the guy, having the informal experience of Prince come say hi to the audience before starting the show, opening with DMSR and being the first person in the club to scream in excitement when he hit that hook, seeing him play the floor tom with his hands and take his glasses off when he closed with Forever in My Life - so what if the set was similar to the sampler set on Welcome 2 America and the whole thing lasted half an hour? You take that to the grave.

I think the best show was One Nite Alone, which I also went to the soundcheck.

Worst: Musicology (had horrible seats, despite being an NPGMC member) and maybe the Jam Of The Year tour (which was awesome at the time because it was my first concert).

Another favorite: seeing him perform on the Tonight Show in 2004. We were super-close in the audience and it was fun seeing him ham it up a bit.

jdcxc said:

Best- Lovesexy Chicago

Worst- Summerfest Milwaukee, 2001. Prince was great but we had horrible bleacher seats next to drunks who kept yelling, "Play Purple Rain."

So what you're saying is, you saw a concert in Milwaukee. Because this happens to everyone at every concert in Milwaukee - no matter who the artist is.

i saw him live 20 or so times; living in Minneapolis and then L.A. gave me access to many shows.

Coolest most intimate shows had to be the very late-night Gold-era shows when would perform upstairs at Glam Slam; I think they called it Erotic City?

Highlights; Purple Rain shows at Civic Center; seeing Sign O The Times at Ruperts, Lovesexy first row, Musicology at Staples; one of the 21 Nights in LA at Forum. etc. etc.

Shows I came away disapponted:

Nude Tour at Civic Center? Nude Tour at Paisley, one of the 21 Nights in L.A. at the Forum.

3121 Vegas (the very night after the King of Pop was there).

KoolEaze said:

peer1973 said:

worst, if that is the correct word to choose, as they are all great to me.

Would be 24 march 1995 in Den Bosch.

I took a group of my friends with me, to witness the wonder of Prince in Concert.

But somehow, it was not the best experience.

Half the stage was missing.

And he barely touched his guitar, he seemed annoyed the whole show.

I remember, just moving to the back, to hang out at the bar.

Maybe it was me who was annoyed, can't remember.

Best for me was the show in Tivoli in 98

Standing just inches away from the keyboard, where he was playing.

Lenny, Larry, and both Dulfers in what seemd to me a show of force in Sax performance.

Just great.

Wow, I´m surprised that you didn´t like that show. I went to both Den Bosch concerts and absolutely loved both of them but I could tell that many in the audience weren´t too happy that night, many left early and seemed disappointed because he wouldn´t play his hits but that was to be expected.

That half of the stage was missing was indeed a letdown but only if you knew that half of it was missing.

i might have made it worse in my head in the years, but i had seen so many great shows before. That is was just not as good as the others....the shows after, were also great.

It was not the hits he didn't play. I also felt bad, as it was not the showcase i promised my friends.

i did buy my favorite t-shirt before the show

"Best and worse" are very subjective concepts, particularly thinking of live gigs. A fantastic show could have been ruined by your personal experience being next to a jerk, or a pretty standard gig by numbers could have turned out to be an unforgettable experience because of your personal circumstances at the time.

I have very fond memories of most if not all the Prince shows I've attended over 25 years. Personal highlights could be the One Nite Alone gigs in London, the Septimo TV show in Madrid, or the 3121 ones in Las Vegas.

The most awkward one, without a doubt, could have been a gig in Luxembourg on the 2011 tour when Prince seemed more concerned about Andy Allo than anything else going on that night. I even thought at some point it was something staged and I was missing the point of the show, but I guess he was just so mad about Allo at that time his stage pressence just went out of the window.

[Edited 2/3/21 0:02am]

psyche2 said:

"Best and worse" are very subjective concepts, particularly thinking of live gigs. A fantastic show could have been ruined by your personal experience being next to a jerk, or a pretty standard gig by numbers could have turned out to be an unforgettable experience because of your personal circumstances at the time.

I have very fond memories of most if not all the Prince shows I've attended over 25 years. Personal highlights could be the One Nite Alone gigs in London, the Septimo TV show in Madrid, or the 3121 ones in Las Vegas.

The most awkward one, without a doubt, could have been a gig in Luxembourg on the 2011 tour when Prince seemed more concerned about Andy Allo than anything else going on that night. I even thought at some point it was something staged and I was missing the point of the show, but I guess he was just so mad about Allo at that time his stage pressence just went out of the window.

[Edited 2/3/21 0:02am]

no doubt, having an attractive woman into you who is also 2-3 decades younger than you will distract most men.

The first time is often a dissapointment, right?

It probably had something to do with my massive expectations, but 20TEN in Werchter wasn't too good. Major adrenaline dump halfway when Angel/Nothing Compares followed Purple Rain, the autopilot Sly covers, and four encores which were more like 10minute waiting times between songs.

Mere months later he was back and the shows in Brussels and Antwerp were fantastic. All 9 shows I saw in the years after were much better than Wechter, but the pre-show in the Viage club takes the cake for being the best concert I've seen in my life. What a night:

http://www.princevault.com/index.php?title=07_November_2010-am

The first 2011 NSJ show was the worst I've ever seen and heard. But the second night he corrected that with an amazing show.
The best shows I've seen are the Dutch SOTT shows I went to.

To be honest, out of the 57-odd shows I saw, there wasn't one that isn't less than spectacular.

But, I probably attended one too many of the 21 Nights in London shows (15), and I think I was pretty exhausted at the penultimate show - definitely didn't feel the adrenalin on that one. Not his fault though. Then the last night's show and aftershow were spectacular.

Genesia said:

jdcxc said:

Best- Lovesexy Chicago

Worst- Summerfest Milwaukee, 2001. Prince was great but we had horrible bleacher seats next to drunks who kept yelling, "Play Purple Rain."

So what you're saying is, you saw a concert in Milwaukee. Because this happens to everyone at every concert in Milwaukee - no matter who the artist is.

Summerfest = Drunkenfest

Best - Lovesexy 88 in Minneapolis. First Prince show, and Lovesexy was the album that turned me into a superfan. It was everything my 12 year old self could have ever wanted. Close second - Xenophobia Celebration, the entire experience. The shows, his mood, it was all a real treat. And it was a rare moment when you truly felt Prince giving the love back to us. I mean come on, he took us all out to a movie!

Worst - Welcome 2 Chicago 2012, first night. Other than the botched ending where it seemed like he was going to do an encore and then an hour went by (I had left by then), there were other issues. I remember he did the NAACP medley at the beginning, and it just fell flat. Big medleys during a concert kinda suck in my opinion, though I loved it as one-off on the NAACP awards. There were sound issues, and he seemed displeased. I remember walking out, hearing some girl on her phone telling her friend how bad it was, like it was her first Prince concert, and she couldn't wait to shit on it. It made me sad.

I went back the third night and it was much better. However, at one point Shelby's mic was turned completely off. Some Shelby haters might have appreciated that, but it was weird becuase then you're missing a part of the 3 part harmony the girls created. And looking at Shelby's face when it was happening, and the dynamic between her and Prince, it almost seemed intentional. It felt strange. I don't know if something went down between them or what, but they didn't work together much after that.

[Edited 2/3/21 5:42am]

Poplife88 said:

Genesia said:

So what you're saying is, you saw a concert in Milwaukee. Because this happens to everyone at every concert in Milwaukee - no matter who the artist is.

Summerfest = Drunkenfest

Truth.

BEST:

(tie)

2010 in Berlin

2002 in Berlin

worst:

1997 in Dallas

PS.

best (and only) aftershow:

1997 in OKC at a country bar

Genesia said:

Se7en said:

Best: 2014: Shepherd's Bush guerilla gig. Heard about it from my sister at via phone while shopping in Ikea in Wembley that morning. Raced round the north circular to queue up and had a great afternoon talking to fans, then seeing a terrific perfromance from the very front – like one metre from him. Amazing! George Clinton in the crowd, too.

Worst: 1991(!): Blenheim Palace. It was like he wasn't even there.

JayCrawford said:

I only saw him once unfortunately which was in 1988 so I can't really comment but I know many org users have seen him so many times. Just curious to those who have seen him more than once.

Wow. So old and you only saw him once??? How pathetic. You missed out. Saw him 14 times between 1998 and 2014 and there never was a dull show. My favourite would have been the aftershow at the Indigo on Sept. 7th 2007. The aftershow was longer than the main show at the O2.

[Edited 2/3/21 16:46pm]

JayCrawford said:

Loefie said:

Everytime I read or hear about these shows in the Melkweg, my heart hurts. I could have gone to the second one, but had to work and thought I would never be on time in amsterdam and the line would be too long for me to enter. I was checking the internet and read the line still was small at about 17:00, and still it didn't trigger me to jump in my car and take that one hour drive out there, because I still was going to be "too late to enter". And that happened every hour when I checked the net for news about the show, up untill the start of the show and the last messages said there still were a few tickets left, according to the latest attendends.............................. I have the bootleg......... What a great show....... The show I could have witnessed......... Should have witnessed.......... Man oh man.

Luckily I have seen him quite a lot since '92 in a few different countries, so I am not complaining at all. Every show of Prince is part of the best things I witnessed in my life. The only show that didn't move me as much as all the others, was the show at Werchter Boutique in 2010. Don't even know what the reason was.

Oh, well. I have a story like this too. Just worse, in '08 I was in New York (from Europe) to see a couple of Janet Jackson concerts. On my 4th and last night before renting a car and driving to Uncasville, I checked Prince.org, but went straight to the Music: non Prince section, as usual. The next day I checked Prince.org again (I had time, as that Janet concert got cancelled that morning) and saw on the title page the notice that was about to play in a suite at the Gansefort Hotel the night before and that apparently there were some tickets available for 300 $. AARGH. I was on the site at the right time. I could have just jumped in a cab, driven over there and tried to get a ticket. And even if I didn't get one, I at least would have known that I tried. But no, I slept on it. That was hard to get over. Still hurts.

psyche2 said:

when Prince seemed more concerned about Andy Allo than anything else going on that night.

Thank heavens he brought her along. She got us on stage at his show in Zurich in '11. That was priceless.

[Edited 2/3/21 16:46pm]

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

JayCrawford said:

I only saw him once unfortunately which was in 1988 so I can't really comment but I know many org users have seen him so many times. Just curious to those who have seen him more than once.

Wtf You mean you didnt see him at Sam's in 1980? SMH

LMAO.

Hmmmm so many to choose from.

BEST

1992 Paris Omnisport Berci. My first Prince concert. Blew my mind!

Hop Farm Festival - just wow. To see him in a festival was unbelievable.

The last night and after show on the 21 Nights in London

The Gold Experience Tour in 1995. The Manchester show was phenomenal with all new music!

WORST

The Newpowersoul concert Wembley Arena 1998. It felt cliched and a bit of a tribute act when he wheeled out Chaka and Larry. Plus Doug E Fresh was given mic time.....

I remember one of the 21 nights concerts being a bit disappointing but for the life of me I can't remember which as I ended up going to 9 of them

Harps said:

Hmmmm so many to choose from.

BEST

Hop Farm Festival - just wow. To see him in a festival was unbelievable.

Yeah. I ditched the third Janet concert at Royal Albert Hall for that. The only time I could take videos at the show. So lucky that show got added at a time when me and 6 other people from Austria were in London (to see other shows actually... I was there to see Janet, they were there to see Take That) anyway. Saw him in Zurich later that summer, which was pretty great too.

SchlomoThaHomo said:

Best - Lovesexy 88 in Minneapolis. First Prince show, and Lovesexy was the album that turned me into a superfan. It was everything my 12 year old self could have ever wanted. Close second - Xenophobia Celebration, the entire experience. The shows, his mood, it was all a real treat. And it was a rare moment when you truly felt Prince giving the love back to us. I mean come on, he took us all out to a movie!

Worst - Welcome 2 Chicago 2012, first night. Other than the botched ending where it seemed like he was going to do an encore and then an hour went by (I had left by then), there were other issues. I remember he did the NAACP medley at the beginning, and it just fell flat. Big medleys during a concert kinda suck in my opinion, though I loved it as one-off on the NAACP awards. There were sound issues, and he seemed displeased. I remember walking out, hearing some girl on her phone telling her friend how bad it was, like it was her first Prince concert, and she couldn't wait to shit on it. It made me sad.

I went back the third night and it was much better. However, at one point Shelby's mic was turned completely off. Some Shelby haters might have appreciated that, but it was weird becuase then you're missing a part of the 3 part harmony the girls created. And looking at Shelby's face when it was happening, and the dynamic between her and Prince, it almost seemed intentional. It felt strange. I don't know if something went down between them or what, but they didn't work together much after that.

I remember that so well. People started leaving in droves and my guy said, "Well, I guess we should get out of here." I said, "Nope. He's coming back." He said, "How do you know?" I said, "Look - all his stuff is still set up. You never leave until his guitar tech takes away the guitars and they start unplugging his set-up. Let's move closer."

Sure enough - he came back.

And I don't know what happened with Shelby on Night 3 (I wasnt there), but she did an interminable number on Night 1. The way that thing dragged on (I left, went to the bathroom and came back - and she was still going), I could only guess that she was filling while Prince was off somewhere yelling at the sound guy. If I never hear that Sarah McLachlan song "Angel" again, it'll be too soon.

I've only been to 4 Prince concerts, but my favorite will be Lovesexy '88 in Maryland. That was my first Prince concert, and also my first concert overall. A close 2nd would be his show at Warner Theatre in DC in 93. I got to sit 8 rows away from the stage and Mayte sat 2 seats behind me in her Egyptian outfit as the show began.

Genesia said:

[...]

And I don't know what happened with Shelby on Night 3 (I wasnt there), but she did an interminable number on Night 1. The way that thing dragged on (I left, went to the bathroom and came back - and she was still going), I could only guess that she was filling while Prince was off somewhere yelling at the sound guy. If I never hear that Sarah McLachlan song "Angel" again, it'll be too soon.

LOL ... "Angel" was indeed a snoozefest that dragged on for too long