lurker316 said:

2.) According to the experts (professional marketers), casual fans simply don't care about anniversaries. This isn't merely an impression or anacdotel. They have the data (sales figures) to back it up. Releasing a media product (album, movie, book) in the anniversary year barely moves the needle.

If you dismiss that, then *you* ar the troll, not me.

This makes perfect sense.

It seems like it would only expand the generational divide. Like "oh gramps going on about how HIS pop culture was better again..." New fans don't like that. I would argue in general it turns people off when you hit them fresh out the gate about what a masterpiece 40-year-old piece of art is, because it alienates them by confronting their own limited pallette.

RODSERLING said:

Can' t you just understand they could have benefited from free buzz?

Nah, it makes younger fans recoil, he's right.

You offered zero counterpoint other than just restating your original argument, btw.

I watch the comments for YouTube reactors, when the thirsty Princehive starts lighting them up after they sorta dig "Purple Rain" or "Little Red Corvette" with all the "genius"this and "27 instruments" that and "greatest album of all time" blah blah blah you can tell they tune out and decide to never react to another Prince video again so they aren't harassed by his stanclub anymore.

We like that stuff, because we're already converted. It kinda turns off everyone else, like it comes across too extra. We know it's true, but for the uninitiated who consider Prince tantamount to Rick Astley it seems a little kooky.

Maybe MakingMillions & Spicer & co are doing a Beyoncé thing,

no any announcment(s)

just 'BANG'

here it is

an instant 'NOW' release

on the spot.

-

It's my last hope.

Jon Bream's Star Tribune review:

https://www.startribune.c...600376373/

I went GA this year, as I didn't feel the difference in price was worth it and the difference alone paid for my hotel.

I stayed at The Chambers Hotel, which was without a doubt the best position. Accross the road to the State Theatre, 2 blocks from First Avenue, 1 Block from the Shuttle and 1 block from the Street Party. The hotel served as the GA and VIP lounge accross Fri and Sat. The Hotel had cool graphics up, and there was a 'prop' room set up by the estate for photos (eg WDC bath reconstruction, giant PR photo backdrop). It was all a bit cheap.

The Positives -

The Revoution were great at First Avenue.
The panels with The Revolution, Morris and Billy Sparks were entertaining.

The screening of Purple Rain was great quality sound and vision.

The Purple Rain Tour concert footage was excellent. Better than Syracuse.
Taj Farrant was fantastic.
The GA 'seating' at First Avenue was excellent. I was able to get to within a few feet of the stage.

The GA seating at State Theatre was excellent. VIP got the front stalls, so I simply went front row Circle.
The GA tour was great. Unlimited time (went round twice over three hours) and guides helped out.
I enjoyed the Musical Preview.

Liv at PP was fun.

Sunday at Bunkers was the best.

The Negatives -

The Thursday welcome party was fun, but the bar at the W was too small.
The Revolution only played 80 minutes. Dropping the likes of DMSR, April, Visions from previous sets.

The NPG were a bit 'Caberet'. Didn't include Bland and Barbarella, who were at the Dakota the same night.

The NPG was a bit flat, as the venue was only a little over half full. Clearly didn't sell many day tickets.

Morris clearly would have preferred to have been there with his own band.

GA and VIP - Queues, queues, queues. Bad event time management throughout the weekend.

Lounge options were poor.

VIPs got screwed over on the PP tour due to poor management timing.

Too much Londell/Spicer self praise, lording it up.

The Outdoor 'music festival' at PP was very poor.

Stop cutting concert footage short! Why!?!?!

I was also concerned about the upkeep of Paisley. I'm guessing the glass in atruim is not UV filtered because award discs were drying out, with slipped labels and the Giant Musicology Frame was fading badly. Also, they have started to change the Museum set up that Prince designed. The 'Controvery' room now has a copy of Habibi sitting in it. The Lovesexy room has now become a 'general' room, with random era guitars in it.

In summary, despite the ticket prices increasing, this Celebration felt cheap. Tour guides being used as Hosts at the Theatre, cramming Morris and the NPG together rather than have a third night of music. Poor food. Poor venue management.

They gave the details of what was going on out far too late, especially for people trying to book internationally. We didn't even know how the shuttles would work until the week of the event.

The difference between this one and 2017, which also featured The Revolution, Morris and the NPG, was night and day. 2017 was far better value and far better run.

The best vibe of this weekend was all the Fans (and Morris & Billy Sparks) converging on Bunkers on the Sunday night.

Am I glad I went? Yep. I was glorious to soak up MPLS and spent time with great people. But I think its my last. Its going down hill, many Prince associated won't attend due to the manangement, and the artists aren't getting any younger.

I'm not sure where they go from here. If they were to tempt me back, they would need announce what is going on far earlier, give three quality proper musical headlines and merge GA and VIP. A lot of fans I spoke to said they won't be going back next year. Time will tell.

Fans need to start voting with their wallets and stop attending these events until something changes. Londell and Spicer have shown time and time again that they don't give a shit about any feedback or constructive criticism, no matter how politely worded it may be. Just look at Londell's response to Jon Bream's completely fair article on the highlights and flaws of the weekend - he couldn't even take take graciously and learn something from it.

They're self-serving egotists who will continue cutting as many corners as possible while squeezing every last penny they can out of the paying attendees. Don't reward them with money they havent earned.

SquirrelMeat said:

I went GA this year, as I didn't feel the difference in price was worth it and the difference alone paid for my hotel.

I stayed at The Chambers Hotel, which was without a doubt the best position. Accross the road to the State Theatre, 2 blocks from First Avenue, 1 Block from the Shuttle and 1 block from the Street Party. The hotel served as the GA and VIP lounge accross Fri and Sat. The Hotel had cool graphics up, and there was a 'prop' room set up by the estate for photos (eg WDC bath reconstruction, giant PR photo backdrop). It was all a bit cheap.

The Positives -

The Revoution were great at First Avenue.
The panels with The Revolution, Morris and Billy Sparks were entertaining.

The screening of Purple Rain was great quality sound and vision.

The Purple Rain Tour concert footage was excellent. Better than Syracuse.
Taj Farrant was fantastic.
The GA 'seating' at First Avenue was excellent. I was able to get to within a few feet of the stage.

The GA seating at State Theatre was excellent. VIP got the front stalls, so I simply went front row Circle.
The GA tour was great. Unlimited time (went round twice over three hours) and guides helped out.
I enjoyed the Musical Preview.

Liv at PP was fun.

Sunday at Bunkers was the best.

The Negatives -

The Thursday welcome party was fun, but the bar at the W was too small.
The Revolution only played 80 minutes. Dropping the likes of DMSR, April, Visions from previous sets.

The NPG were a bit 'Caberet'. Didn't include Bland and Barbarella, who were at the Dakota the same night.

The NPG was a bit flat, as the venue was only a little over half full. Clearly didn't sell many day tickets.

Morris clearly would have preferred to have been there with his own band.

GA and VIP - Queues, queues, queues. Bad event time management throughout the weekend.

Lounge options were poor.

VIPs got screwed over on the PP tour due to poor management timing.

Too much Londell/Spicer self praise, lording it up.

The Outdoor 'music festival' at PP was very poor.

Stop cutting concert footage short! Why!?!?!

I was also concerned about the upkeep of Paisley. I'm guessing the glass in atruim is not UV filtered because award discs were drying out, with slipped labels and the Giant Musicology Frame was fading badly. Also, they have started to change the Museum set up that Prince designed. The 'Controvery' room now has a copy of Habibi sitting in it. The Lovesexy room has now become a 'general' room, with random era guitars in it.

In summary, despite the ticket prices increasing, this Celebration felt cheap. Tour guides being used as Hosts at the Theatre, cramming Morris and the NPG together rather than have a third night of music. Poor food. Poor venue management.

They gave the details of what was going on out far too late, especially for people trying to book internationally. We didn't even know how the shuttles would work until the week of the event.

The difference between this one and 2017, which also featured The Revolution, Morris and the NPG, was night and day. 2017 was far better value and far better run.

The best vibe of this weekend was all the Fans (and Morris & Billy Sparks) converging on Bunkers on the Sunday night.

Am I glad I went? Yep. I was glorious to soak up MPLS and spent time with great people. But I think its my last. Its going down hill, many Prince associated won't attend due to the manangement, and the artists aren't getting any younger.

I'm not sure where they go from here. If they were to tempt me back, they would need announce what is going on far earlier, give three quality proper musical headlines and merge GA and VIP. A lot of fans I spoke to said they won't be going back next year. Time will tell.

How visible and vocal were they?

By Jon Bream about years celebration: Invisible Obamas. Barack and Michelle Obama sent a letter of condolence to Paisley Park and Prince's family after his death. However, their signatures from May 2016 on White House stationery (on display in Paisley's atrium) have already faded to the point of near invisibility. What kind of preservation is going on at Paisley Park?

[Edited 6/27/24 20:53pm]

bozojones said:

Fans need to start voting with their wallets and stop attending these events until something changes. Londell and Spicer have shown time and time again that they don't give a shit about any feedback or constructive criticism, no matter how politely worded it may be. Just look at Londell's response to Jon Bream's completely fair article on the highlights and flaws of the weekend - he couldn't even take take graciously and learn something from it.

They're self-serving egotists who will continue cutting as many corners as possible while squeezing every last penny they can out of the paying attendees. Don't reward them with money they havent earned.

Where can I read it?

rap said:

bozojones said:

Fans need to start voting with their wallets and stop attending these events until something changes. Londell and Spicer have shown time and time again that they don't give a shit about any feedback or constructive criticism, no matter how politely worded it may be. Just look at Londell's response to Jon Bream's completely fair article on the highlights and flaws of the weekend - he couldn't even take take graciously and learn something from it.

They're self-serving egotists who will continue cutting as many corners as possible while squeezing every last penny they can out of the paying attendees. Don't reward them with money they havent earned.

Where can I read it?

[Edited 6/27/24 21:04pm]

bozojones said:

[Edited 6/27/24 21:04pm]

JFC Londell is such a pathetic excuse for a human.

WhisperingDandelions said:

I watch the comments for YouTube reactors, when the thirsty Princehive starts lighting them up after they sorta dig "Purple Rain" or "Little Red Corvette" with all the "genius"this and "27 instruments" that and "greatest album of all time" blah blah blah you can tell they tune out and decide to never react to another Prince video again

.

Who gives a shit about dorks reacting to Prince videos?

SquirrelMeat said:

GA and VIP - Queues, queues, queues. Bad event time management throughout the weekend.

.

So the same complaint as last year, which they solved by... selling more tickets and boasting about that.

bozojones said:

rap said:

Where can I read it?

[Edited 6/27/24 21:04pm]

Thank you, but who's to say it is from McMillan.

rap said:

bozojones said:

[Edited 6/27/24 21:04pm]

Thank you, but who's to say it is from McMillan.

It's Londell-level cuntiness.

bluegangsta said:

rap said:

bozojones said:

[Edited 6/27/24 21:04pm]

Thank you, but who's to say it is from McMillan.

Same writing style and use of emojis on both the Paisley Park account and Londell's personal account. Plus the capitalization of random words on both accounts (though not present in this tweet).

Interesting explanation by Jerome Benton on his Instagram, about why he wasn't at the Celebration '24.

Again a serious flop from the organisation.

-

"(...) I am thankful to be invited to join the event this year.

It would have been a great weekend if Jill Jones, @jilljonesofficial , Apollonia, @apollonia_kotero, @brenda_v6_bennett , @susan.moonsie and the rest of The Time were invited to join Morris, myself & The Revolution.

I declined participation for the following reasons – Structure of travel arrangements and negotiations of performance recordings post the event.

Possibly if all the artists had been contacted last year or within the last 6 months, these issues could’ve been quickly addressed.
With 2 weeks from the event weekend, I respectfully declined participation.
You know, I value integrity & partnership when doing business.

Like many of us, we were Prince’s friend, fellow musician and conducted business with him.

The outcome of these negotiations being discussed directly to fans (with degrading commentary about those who weren’t asked to participate) gives me pause when considering there are other business affairs pending discussion.

I have the same thoughts when reviewing the character auditions for the musical interpretation of “Purple Rain” (Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, @_bjj__ Lileana Blain-Cruz @lileanablaincruzofficial @playbill with the “role” of Jerome referred to as a “flunky”. (See audition listing from @officialbroadwayworld)
For the collective legacy we created with #Prince, this gives me pause.

(...)"

-

[Edited 7/2/24 23:14pm]

bizzie said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

I watch the comments for YouTube reactors, when the thirsty Princehive starts lighting them up after they sorta dig "Purple Rain" or "Little Red Corvette" with all the "genius"this and "27 instruments" that and "greatest album of all time" blah blah blah you can tell they tune out and decide to never react to another Prince video again

.

Who gives a shit about dorks reacting to Prince videos?

You don't have to give a shit about anything you don't want to, but it's wholly indicative of why the biggest artist of 1984 now has like 3 fans under the age of 35.

I'm in my early 20's and P is my favorite of all time forever and ever, but then again I'm a pretty strange guy. Never met any other really big fans younger than 40 or so though.

I did the VIP.

Because 40 years of purple rain duh why wouldn't I......

Everything but the new music showcase was a slap in the face. They cut costs everywhere but tickets were more in price. too too many issues to describe.

gonna be my last for a while.

AZStreet said:

I did the VIP.

Because 40 years of purple rain duh why wouldn't I......

Everything but the new music showcase was a slap in the face. They cut costs everywhere but tickets were more in price. too too many issues to describe.

gonna be my last for a while.

So far, on Instagram, facebook, X, Reddit, Discord, etc...

I read more dissapointing comments about this year's Celebration, than words from pleased visitors...

This just drives home the point that nothing is going to improve until people stop paying these chucklefucks. Every single person who had an issue with Celebration this year needs to put aside their FOMO and sit it out next year. And not only that, they need to be vocal about why they're sitting it out, too. As long as people keep happily shelling out money, Londell & Spicer will continue to charge more and more for less of an experience each subsequent year. Stop rewarding them with money they haven't earned.

AZStreet said:

Past few years we got a D&P 45 vinyl, even a handkerchief (which I will still be mad about...but atleast we got something)

I'm sure someone mentioned that some "chosen" people got a gift but were basically ushered into a room for that.

AZStreet said:

Even Jerome posting that if he was given at least 6 months notice he would've gone...but Estate only got the ball rolling 2 weeks before Celebration? For the 40th anniversary of PR? Unprofessional. [Edited 7/7/24 8:11am] [Edited 7/7/24 8:13am]

Two weeks?!! WTF

Event recap with pics, setlists

Prince Celebration (Paisl...pepad.com)

jayceman said:

Event recap with pics, setlists

Prince Celebration (Paisl...pepad.com)

Less events at PP...and more in downtown MPLS is not an expansion of Celebration. They are just shifting. Which sucks....so much

jayceman said:

Event recap with pics, setlists

Prince Celebration (Paisl...pepad.com)

whatthefuck :

"... an extended Q+A session with engineer Susan Rogers under an outdoor tent..."

whatthefuck, an outdoor tent? While PP has so much space

-

"...Unfortunately, those on one of the two VIP schedule tracks had to leave early to keep to their schedule, leaving the tent just half full for Rogers' second half discussion and question-taking..."

-

"...Susan Rogers ... was honored with the event’s Legacy Award (“that’s Doctor Susan Rogers”, she quipped to McMillan when receiving)..."

'quipped' actually meant rather negative.

-

"...still, a Purple Rain 40th commemoration without viewing that important First Ave show, seemed woefully incomplete..."

-

"...Along with Farrant, Morris Day played a too-short half-hour set backed by the current lineup of the New Power Generation, The NPG..."

-

"...The final day was again light on organized activities (...) schedules and event confirmations were very last-minute (...it shouldn’t be the case for this event with so many international attendees and need to coordinate transportation and details).

...some Purple Rain-era guests that should have been present, were not able to attend (...) McMillan addressed some of the inconveniences and missteps during the weekend..."

-

"... why not partner with Nugs as Pearl Jam, Springsteen and others successfully have, to create a Live Concert series for download and purchase?"

Didn't even heard about this, and looked it up. How fantastic this sounds, and what a great idea it would be for us fans

-

"... the long-in-the-works Netflix documentary (four years and counting...), and potential upcoming deluxe edition releases (...) a 4LP edition of the Symbol album leaked- legit or not? were never really addressed..."

-

All by all such a shame, such a fantastic year for a real deep PR celebration. Coul've been unbelievable with so much more oportunities.

Little hope is left for the rest of 2024, deep in my heart.

Pitty that 'expectation' isn't a word connotated with Prince Legacy LLC anymore.

[Edited 7/10/24 4:10am]