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I'm not expecting much of the W2A Bluray as well.

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rlittler81 said:

OperatingThetan said:

rlittler81 said:

I saw the 2 Manchester Academy shows and the 2 Manchester Arena shows. The arena shows lacked the energy or focus of the Academy shows and he brought back the cheap sounding synths and keyboards that had marred his live shows since '97. Even the band didn't seem as interested at the arena shows. Suffice to say they were all amazing shows, but night and day in terms of atmosphere. Also, I remember thinking he didn't look well during the arena shows, I was in the first few rows and noticed he looked very thin and tired. Even on the C2C video, he doesn't look right.

I think he missed a trick by not releasing Plectrumelectrum in between the two tours. By the time it was released, the excitment of those initial Hit & Run shows in the UK was completely gone.

[Edited 5/12/21 6:58am]

I saw him twice in London during the first leg of the tour when Prince and 3RDEYEGIRL were playing smaller venues with all-rock material and it was incendiary. One of the finest performances I've ever seen by Prince or any other artist (I attended over 20 Prince concerts over the years) was February 9th, 2014 at Shepherd's Bush, which was transcendent. When he returned with a modified 3RDEYEGIRL with extra keys and vocalists for the second leg, some of the energy and passion was gone and with the larger venues the setlist again became much more predictable, which I think also dampened Prince's enthusiasm. Even considering that, the CRAZY2COOL excerpt doesn't even show Prince and that incarnation of 3RDEYEGIRL at their best and was a puzzling choice when it first received a limited release on Tidal several years ago.

I agree. My aunt and uncle went to the first Manchester Arena show and told me afterwards they were a bit disappointed, I think they even left a bit early, which I found surprising at the time, but now I realise he just wasn't at his best during the second tour, maybe because he was playing to the general public rather than the more serious fans that went to the guerilla shows earlier in the year. The two Academy shows in Manchester were two of the best concerts I ever saw, especially the second show which felt like it was never-ending.

Vannormal said:

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Like i said, it seems that he just does a routine, and i can't see much pleasure in what he does.
As if he has no 'fun' in the sense of the word.
The music is tight and cool, ok.
But still, no smiles, no real 'party-fun', as if he doesn't get down with his fellow musicians or the public, and just performes the payed-entertainement routine.
I can't enjoy this.
...and he never seems to smile anymore during his last tours. Or at least very little.
Don't you all notice that ?

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[Edited 5/12/21 5:22am]

I can see this and think it's fair.

He was getting older, letting the younger kids take over more and more and quite likely was in pretty deep with the painkiller problem. Still really like when he plays that guitar though so hard for me to hate on it.

Vannormal said:

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I'm not expecting much of the W2A Bluray as well.

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Same, unfortunately. I'm sure it's a fine show but it's way over priced and too laden with hits to get me hyped on it.

Let's Go Crazy is ok, but after that Take Me With U, Raspberry Beret and U Got The Look are not so good - something is missing.

I'm glad to see that, wasn't sure why my last Prince-concert (Vienna 2014) was a difficult one for me. It was much too loud too.

herb4 said:

Vannormal said:

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I'm not expecting much of the W2A Bluray as well.

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Same, unfortunately. I'm sure it's a fine show but it's way over priced and too laden with hits to get me hyped on it.

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The live shows... as if it was a job needed to be done to cash in fast.

Even those hits were... i don't know... too much rehearsed, cut off, quickly done, without spirit.

Where was the unexpected fun and heartfelt kindness expressed in Prince's laughter, that use to make every concert unique, embracing and fun ?

No i don't expect or wanted him to do the splits dn spins and runnings around again, that's not it.

He just yelled for party-party-party but forgot along the way of his live shows what it really meant (imho).

The typical arrangements and tricks to stir up the house didn't work anymore.

As if he was no longer able to come up with original ideas.

He just should've been more open to work with younger and others imho. Ayways.

The DJ sets were the worse to me.

The best songs were quickly grinded through a cheap synth, as if they were to difficult to play live.

For me it was also that band, it lacked warmth and spontanious fun.

It all seems like 'work' that needed to be done quickly cause the boss felt irritated.

Prince's face to me seemd with a constant level of irritation it seems.

If he just wanted to look cool, he wasn't (to me).

And that annoying bright smile of Hannah, the crampy style of Donna, Ida was by far the coolest on the side.

Then those three female singers. All good singers, not that.

But as if they were working way to hard to get the 'party' up and going. Theyr sound was to much mixed to the front imho. I love these singers, but they seemd out of place (imho). Too much, to loud, to hard.

The gimmick to ask people on stage to dance resulted barely in an interaction with Prince or the band.

It was like a cover up, some stage time filler, to amuse the audience, with Prince hiding behind a DJ keyboard.

It hurts to see these later shows. Compare any of his later live work with whatever he did pre-2005 or so.

And prove me wrong.

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There's tons of material like this.

Why don't they release it?

It 's too low-res to make a good Blu-Ray anyway....

udo said:

Vannormal said:

Vannormal said:

tab32792 said:

Vannormal said:

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The live shows... as if it was a job needed to be done to cash in fast.

Even those hits were... i don't know... too much rehearsed, cut off, quickly done, without spirit.

Where was the unexpected fun and heartfelt kindness expressed in Prince's laughter, that use to make every concert unique, embracing and fun ?

No i don't expect or wanted him to do the splits dn spins and runnings around again, that's not it.

He just yelled for party-party-party but forgot along the way of his live shows what it really meant (imho).

The typical arrangements and tricks to stir up the house didn't work anymore.

As if he was no longer able to come up with original ideas.

He just should've been more open to work with younger and others imho. Ayways.

The DJ sets were the worse to me.

The best songs were quickly grinded through a cheap synth, as if they were to difficult to play live.

For me it was also that band, it lacked warmth and spontanious fun.

It all seems like 'work' that needed to be done quickly cause the boss felt irritated.

Prince's face to me seemd with a constant level of irritation it seems.

If he just wanted to look cool, he wasn't (to me).

And that annoying bright smile of Hannah, the crampy style of Donna, Ida was by far the coolest on the side.

Then those three female singers. All good singers, not that.

But as if they were working way to hard to get the 'party' up and going. Theyr sound was to much mixed to the front imho. I love these singers, but they seemd out of place (imho). Too much, to loud, to hard.

The gimmick to ask people on stage to dance resulted barely in an interaction with Prince or the band.

It was like a cover up, some stage time filler, to amuse the audience, with Prince hiding behind a DJ keyboard.

It hurts to see these later shows. Compare any of his later live work with whatever he did pre-2005 or so.

And prove me wrong.

-

Majority of the people that went to the shows think and feel otherwise. And thank God

No, that's wrong. The majority of people I talked after the concert was (very) disappointed, die-hard fans like me. The concerts in 2011 were much better (Budapest was great), Montreux 2013 wasn't as good as expected but still ok, but in 2014 something was clearly missing. Vannormal is right with every word.

Take Me With U is really, really bad - one of his best live pop-songs. Compare this to the version played on the Nude-Tour or One-Nite-Alone-Tour.

Some songs worked better (Crimson And Clover), What's My Name was quite a surprise, but it was the only Prince-concert, where i was glad that it was over.

Prince seemed lost to me (artistically). It was no surprise, that he changed the live-format drastically for his next tour.

[Edited 5/14/21 15:18pm]

.

[Edited 5/14/21 15:15pm]

OperatingThetan said:

Vannormal said:

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The live shows... as if it was a job needed to be done to cash in fast.

Even those hits were... i don't know... too much rehearsed, cut off, quickly done, without spirit.

Where was the unexpected fun and heartfelt kindness expressed in Prince's laughter, that use to make every concert unique, embracing and fun ?

No i don't expect or wanted him to do the splits dn spins and runnings around again, that's not it.

He just yelled for party-party-party but forgot along the way of his live shows what it really meant (imho).

The typical arrangements and tricks to stir up the house didn't work anymore.

As if he was no longer able to come up with original ideas.

He just should've been more open to work with younger and others imho. Ayways.

The DJ sets were the worse to me.

The best songs were quickly grinded through a cheap synth, as if they were to difficult to play live.

For me it was also that band, it lacked warmth and spontanious fun.

It all seems like 'work' that needed to be done quickly cause the boss felt irritated.

Prince's face to me seemd with a constant level of irritation it seems.

If he just wanted to look cool, he wasn't (to me).

And that annoying bright smile of Hannah, the crampy style of Donna, Ida was by far the coolest on the side.

Then those three female singers. All good singers, not that.

But as if they were working way to hard to get the 'party' up and going. Theyr sound was to much mixed to the front imho. I love these singers, but they seemd out of place (imho). Too much, to loud, to hard.

The gimmick to ask people on stage to dance resulted barely in an interaction with Prince or the band.

It was like a cover up, some stage time filler, to amuse the audience, with Prince hiding behind a DJ keyboard.

It hurts to see these later shows. Compare any of his later live work with whatever he did pre-2005 or so.

And prove me wrong.

-

As I mentioned earlier, the first leg of that tour in small clubs with all-rock material was truly 'hit and run' and more spontaneous and passionate with less predictable setlists. I'd seen Prince some twenty times over the years and he was on his finest form and looked the happiest at those London gigs early 2014. When an augmented 3RDEYEGIRL returned for the second leg in arenas later that same year, some of the magic had been lost and their sound was diluted with extra keys and vocalists and a return to more familar material and arrangements. Even so, the CRAZY2COOL clip doesn't capture even that incarnation of 3RDEYEGIRL at their best and there were far superior shows and performances in that second leg of the tour. I was puzzled when Prince chose this clip to be featured on Tidal before his passing, but then again so many of Prince's offically released concert recordings fail to capture the genius and strength of his live performances. * [Edited 5/14/21 8:07am]

He always held back with that to add to the mystique and make it feel real special when you got to see him. Towards the end, as good as he still was, I think having to go on the road and play the hits as most aging rock stars need to do probably made it feel less fun for him and more like an obligation. He needed money to maintain his lifestyle and it sure wasn't coming from album sales and shit.

Teenagers and young adults drive the music industry and I don't think Prince enjoyed the idea of getting old. No one does.

herb4 said:

OperatingThetan said:

Vannormal said: As I mentioned earlier, the first leg of that tour in small clubs with all-rock material was truly 'hit and run' and more spontaneous and passionate with less predictable setlists. I'd seen Prince some twenty times over the years and he was on his finest form and looked the happiest at those London gigs early 2014. When an augmented 3RDEYEGIRL returned for the second leg in arenas later that same year, some of the magic had been lost and their sound was diluted with extra keys and vocalists and a return to more familar material and arrangements. Even so, the CRAZY2COOL clip doesn't capture even that incarnation of 3RDEYEGIRL at their best and there were far superior shows and performances in that second leg of the tour. I was puzzled when Prince chose this clip to be featured on Tidal before his passing, but then again so many of Prince's offically released concert recordings fail to capture the genius and strength of his live performances. * [Edited 5/14/21 8:07am]

He always held back with that to add to the mystique and make it feel real special when you got to see him. Towards the end, as good as he still was, I think having to go on the road and play the hits as most aging rock stars need to do probably made it feel less fun for him and more like an obligation. He needed money to maintain his lifestyle and it sure wasn't coming from album sales and shit.

Teenagers and young adults drive the music industry and I don't think Prince enjoyed the idea of getting old. No one does.

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Prince notoriously known for never adjusting to what's asked or demanded...

Prince hated 'obligations'... it is not so much that i believe.

Yes he did it for the cash - obviously. But he could've made more out of it.

Is seemed as if he dried out from new thoughts, creative ideas.

I believe even most of the fans were tired of the long medleys of short played hits.

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