Back in the day I used to think Prince was the better musician, but MJ was a better performer. Then I saw this early 80's vid of Prince in concert doing flips off a platform. I thought 'maybe Prince is just all-around better' (well, we gotta give MJ voice). Still, the only time I saw a more athletic live performance was at an NBA game. Prince just killed it.

Anyway, now I'm living in Vietnam teaching university, and I have this student who is training to be a professional dancer, and he idolizes MJ to the point that he chose Jackson as his English name. I asked him what he thought of Prince, and he had never heard of him. I wanted to introduce him to Prince with something that would make his jaw drop. That video came to mind, but now I can't find it. I can't rememebr the song or city or the exact year, so it's hard to search for it.

If anyone knows the show I'm talking about, please share. If not, and you know of another show or video where Prince does some sick-ass moves, please share those too.

Pwinth said:

Back in the day I used to think Prince was the better musician, but MJ was a better performer. Then I saw this early 80's vid of Prince in concert doing flips off a platform. I thought 'maybe Prince is just all-around better' (well, we gotta give MJ voice). Still, the only time I saw a more athletic live performance was at an NBA game. Prince just killed it.

Anyway, now I'm living in Vietnam teaching university, and I have this student who is training to be a professional dancer, and he idolizes MJ to the point that he chose Jackson as his English name. I asked him what he thought of Prince, and he had never heard of him. I wanted to introduce him to Prince with something that would make his jaw drop. That video came to mind, but now I can't find it. I can't rememebr the song or city or the exact year, so it's hard to search for it.

If anyone knows the show I'm talking about, please share. If not, and you know of another show or video where Prince does some sick-ass moves, please share those too.

I don't know if I've personally seen Prince doing "flips" off a platform, but I have seen him doing jumps from platforms, pianos, speakers . . . sometimes directly into doing the splits.

Did it add excitement to the performances? Of course. Did it directly/indirectly contribute to his early demise? Yes. I would have rather skipped the jumps and splits and kept him around longer.

I never saw MJ live. I don't even know if I've ever seen adult MJ sing live (in videos). I've only ever seen him lip-syncing, and even in his comeback tour documentary This Is It, I'm pretty sure that tour would have been mostly lip-syncing.

Prince, on the other hand, I've seen about a dozen times live. No lip-syncing. Live music, not pre-canned. Amazing every time.

Never seen flips, I did see him bite it once off a platform jump in 92' or 93' Symbol album tour in Detroit, played it off like nothing, amazing performer.

By the LoveSexy tour Prince was better than MJ at singing, dancing, choreography, playing numerous instrutments, and creating a theme for his tour.

[Edited 3/8/24 13:11pm]

I love Michael Jackson's music, but he has been severely overrated as a live perormer, many calling him the greatest ever. His live singing was great at a certain point (and even later on for some songs), but we all know he relied heavily on lip synching for decades. That automatically disqualifies him as the greatest.
He sounded terrible performing some of the songs he would do live, as well. On Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' he would sound out of breath and pronounce words sloppily, right at teh start of the show too.
His dancing was the thing to see him for, but once you've seen it a few times, it gets old.

We all know how good Prince was. No need to elaborate.

[Edited 3/14/24 9:13am]

Prince could have been a better dancer than MJ if he wanted to. He just chose to focus on other things.

boomshaka said:

MJ did the same set of moves to pure perfection. His set choreography and music videos are rightfully iconic and did a lot for dance community and culture. That can never be argued. . Prince changed up and offered a more raw in the moment performance that could change depending on the song and mood. It was and wasn't for everybody and that's what made him stand out. As far as dancing is considered, Prince takes the cake in pure athleticism and overall versatility. The switch up in tours from PR, Parade, SOTT to Lovesexy in just four years is crazy.

Yeah, this is the main difference for me. I’m not a huge MJ fan, but he was clearly a great dancer. The issue for me was that his performances were so tightly choreographed and formulaic that they lacked the sense of fun and soul of Prince’s approach. Prince was looser, funkier and he wasn’t afraid to make a fool of himself. You can never overstate the importance of humour in Prince's performances... Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Charlie Chaplin as Miles astutely said. I see Prince as being closer to James Brown in that his dancing and stagecraft was an organic extension of the music, often directing it in an improvisational way. Not that Prince couldn’t do tight choreography too, I think the Nude tour was probably his peak in this regard – there’s a gif floating around of him throwing around a mic stand and doing the splits - the move is a pure work of art. Stunning athleticism. I never really saw MJ as "funky" in the same way, and their different approaches to stagecraft is a big part of that for me.

fen said:

boomshaka said:

MJ did the same set of moves to pure perfection. His set choreography and music videos are rightfully iconic and did a lot for dance community and culture. That can never be argued. . Prince changed up and offered a more raw in the moment performance that could change depending on the song and mood. It was and wasn't for everybody and that's what made him stand out. As far as dancing is considered, Prince takes the cake in pure athleticism and overall versatility. The switch up in tours from PR, Parade, SOTT to Lovesexy in just four years is crazy.

Yeah, this is the main difference for me. I’m not a huge MJ fan, but he was clearly a great dancer. The issue for me was that his performances were so tightly choreographed and formulaic that they lacked the sense of fun and soul of Prince’s approach. Prince was looser, funkier and he wasn’t afraid to make a fool of himself. You can never overstate the importance of humour in Prince's performances... Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Charlie Chaplin as Miles astutely said. I see Prince as being closer to James Brown in that his dancing and stagecraft was an organic extension of the music, often directing it in an improvisational way. Not that Prince couldn’t do tight choreography too, I think the Nude tour was probably his peak in this regard – there’s a gif floating around of him throwing around a mic stand and doing the splits - the move is a pure work of art. Stunning athleticism. I never really saw MJ as "funky" in the same way, and their different approaches to stagecraft is a big part of that for me.