Saw this at the new Imax in Sydney - totally worth it

JorisE73 said:

June 14 and 15 Paris shows are circulating on video and both of them or at least one of them was planned to be released 6 or 7 years ago by some bootleggers so they are in more hands since then.

flaton said:

JorisE73 said:

June 14 and 15 Paris shows are circulating on video and both of them or at least one of them was planned to be released 6 or 7 years ago by some bootleggers so they are in more hands since then.

Pro shot multi cam? And why are two german companies have billboards inside bercy?

Kanterbraü is French, my friend.

As for AGFA, well, it was already a globalized, monoculture world by 1987.

What, was there a mandatory rule that would have prevented foreign companies to advertise at French venues?
Are you some kinda nationalist or sumethin'?

Kares said:

rap said:

I believe LeRoy Bennett said in an interview there is a pro shot SOTT concert in the vault.

.
There are also 2" multitracks of a couple of SOTT shows so they could be remixed into Atmos or whatever.

Yup, it's very likely from this picture that Susan Rogers is working the board from a (possibly mobile recording) truck.

The picture legend states it's taken from the Rotterdam concerts, but it wouldn't be the first time we get erroneous info.

[Edited 9/5/25 13:08pm]

Im SO GLAD the Org is BACK!

I took a friend who isn't a big P fan and he LOVED it and has been listening to the SOTT SDE non stop ever since..

And there were SO MANY PEOPLE at the screening in SF on Thursday night

The atmosphere was great, people seemed so happy and of course =

The movie looked and sounded so good.

I've seen this movie so many times but it felt fresh in this theater.

So glad they did this

and I guess it wasn't a total bomb and made some $

Probably more than it did when it came out in 87!

DotsofU said:

Im SO GLAD the Org is BACK!

I took a friend who isn't a big P fan and he LOVED it and has been listening to the SOTT SDE non stop ever since..

And there were SO MANY PEOPLE at the screening in SF on Thursday night

The atmosphere was great, people seemed so happy and of course =

The movie looked and sounded so good.

I've seen this movie so many times but it felt fresh in this theater.

So glad they did this

and I guess it wasn't a total bomb and made some $

Probably more than it did when it came out in 87!

It made 3 million bucks, which is 8 million and a half adjusted for inflation.

Wikipedia says it bombed, but by this measure, it certainly made a profit given it may have cost way less to produce. I don't know how many days of shooting in PP it took, but we know how fast he worked, and PP was his turf. Sets and lightings were already paid for by the European tour.

I highly doubt it cost a million (of 1987 dollars) to produce, probably half of that.

[Edited 9/5/25 18:40pm]

[Edited 9/5/25 18:41pm]

BonnieC said:

Kares said:

.
There are also 2" multitracks of a couple of SOTT shows so they could be remixed into Atmos or whatever.

Yup, it's very likely from this picture that Susan Rogers is working the board from a (possibly mobile recording) truck.

The picture legend states it's taken from the Rotterdam concerts, but it wouldn't be the first time we get erroneous info.

[Edited 9/5/25 13:08pm]

.

How do you think they recorded the Rotterdam and Antwerp concerts? Do you think the venues had multi-track recording hardware present? It is well known that when Prince had the brainfart to record these concerts local companies had to scramble to round up enough hardware, plus they had to ask people to come back from vacation. IIRC audio recording hardware came from NOS, the national broadcaster who supplied hardware to various Dutch broadcasters.

I had actually seen SOTT in a local cinema years ago as a one-off, but seeing it on IMAX was definitely a big treat. I brought the kids, because I always wanted to bring them to see Prince when they were old enough but of course not possible now. We had a brilliant time, loved it!
I really hope we see more Prince concerts get little cinematic releases like this.

I had kinda forgotten how weird the SOTT video was tho... the mix of the story bits, the U Got The Look video, the Paisley Park footage cut alongside Rotterdam footage, the overdubs etc. It's honestly not the best Prince live video, it's a bit of a mess and too edited. But still awesome - would love more concerts in the cinema.

pdiddy2011 said:

They should have pulled the You've Got the Look section. That section looked HORRIBLE in IMAX. It would have been cool if it got replaced with some interview/making-of footage or a short doc that led back into the concert. Overall, still an incredible concert movie.

I believe U got the look is a dream sequence as that's why it looks grainy. Prince falls asleep before the song and wakes up after the song is finished

I absolutely loved this in IMAX! I watched it probably 30 times on VHS back in the day, circa 1989/1990. Seeing it in IMAX was like a dream come true. I only got to see Prince 3 times live, but now I feel like it's 4 times. The sound and the bass were incredible. My wife came with me (she's not a big Prince fan and had never seen the movie) and she was very impressed. A friend and his husband also joined us - he's a casual fan who also had never seen the film and he was blown away. I've been giddy for a week since seeing it.

Been a Prince fan forever...this was my 1st time seeing SOTT in the theaters. Saw it at an IMAX in MPLS and it was sold out. The crowd was hyped. So fun. I could hold this film up to any other concert film and Prince would outshine everyone.
-
Sorry if this was discussed, I wish the other songs from the tour (Let's go Crazy, When Doves Cry, Kiss, etc) were included. Any chance they shot them but omitted these songs?

felixcat67 said:

skywalker said:

Been a Prince fan forever...this was my 1st time seeing SOTT in the theaters. Saw it at an IMAX in MPLS and it was sold out. The crowd was hyped. So fun. I could hold this film up to any other concert film and Prince would outshine everyone.
-
Sorry if this was discussed, I wish the other songs from the tour (Let's go Crazy, When Doves Cry, Kiss, etc) were included. Any chance they shot them but omitted these songs?

I would say there is little chance the fulll set was reshot in PP, judging by the rushes of the movie that leaked a few years ago.

From the rushes alone it doesn't seem like the original set list was reshot in real time, it looks like the songs were played back and played back again to get the best scenic performance (it's unclear if anything was overdubbed in real time: after all, the PP soundstage could be wired to one of the studio soundboards, A or B).

Having said that, the short fades that appear during the intro of the "U Got The Look video" clearly look like pro edited shots, so the aforementioned "little chance" is nonetheless real.

felixcat67 said:

pdiddy2011 said:

They should have pulled the You've Got the Look section. That section looked HORRIBLE in IMAX. It would have been cool if it got replaced with some interview/making-of footage or a short doc that led back into the concert. Overall, still an incredible concert movie.

I believe U got the look is a dream sequence as that's why it looks grainy. Prince falls asleep before the song and wakes up after the song is finished

.

It looks shit because it is from a video source, and not film.

FragileUndertow said:

felixcat67 said:

I believe U got the look is a dream sequence as that's why it looks grainy. Prince falls asleep before the song and wakes up after the song is finished

My guess is. You got the look was filmed on video, while the rest of the movie was on film

.

IIRC it was filmed on film, but edited on video.

bizzie said:

How do you think they recorded the Rotterdam and Antwerp concerts? Do you think the venues had multi-track recording hardware present? It is well known that when Prince had the brainfart to record these concerts local companies had to scramble to round up enough hardware, plus they had to ask people to come back from vacation. IIRC audio recording hardware came from NOS, the national broadcaster who supplied hardware to various Dutch broadcasters.

Not to me it wasn't, but thanks for the clarification.

The SOTT Tour was a big production, one of the biggest at the time, with lots of trucks.
I assumed one of them was a mobile studio, since it seems like the Paris concerts were pro shots.

Judging by the screenshots of the Bercy panoramic I posted above, where I pushed the gamma curve way high, there isn't too much video noise, at least way less that the "U Got The Look video", which would suggest it doesn't come from a 1987 camcorder.

There is also a compilation of soundboard recordings of the SOTT Tour circulating out there, made of different venues, and it sounds too good to be just the usual "I plugged a tape recorder on the main mix bus".

Of course, there is a difference between recording audio only, and a full crew with cameras and SMPTE synchronisation.

bizzie said:

FragileUndertow said:

felixcat67 said: My guess is. You got the look was filmed on video, while the rest of the movie was on film

.

IIRC it was filmed on film, but edited on video.

So since it was filmed on film, this would reinforce the theory of a video crew present at the Paris concerts, but then again, this is pure speculation on my side: the crew could as well have been freelanced for that purpose only.

I recall reading on the Org the "U Got The Look" video was presumably shot in a studio on the 16th (concerts were June 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th), but who would go to all the trouble moving the entire stage set for a couple hours of shooting, and then rush back to the arena to rebuild it?
This is clearly the stage as it was, and so the video was shot on the Bercy stage.

JorisE73 said:

June 14 and 15 Paris shows are circulating on video and both of them or at least one of them was planned to be released 6 or 7 years ago by some bootleggers so they are in more hands since then.

This thing about the Paris concerts videos existing somewhere on earth is really tickling me.
They could be a fixed cam only, like a lot of other fan-made concert videos.
Surely some happy few know what they're all about.

I still don't understand why Prince would go to all the trouble of going through rushes to extract only one second of the Bercy crowd dancing, just to include it in the movie at the end of IGBABN.

[Edited 9/7/25 23:44pm]

bizzie said:

AND, let's keep in mind the final Paris show on the 17th it's been circulating in EX soundboard quality (and bootlegged ad nauseam) since at least 1990.

BonnieC said:

bizzie said:

So since it was filmed on film, this would reinforce the theory of a video crew present at the Paris concerts, but then again, this is pure speculation on my side: the crew could as well have been freelanced for that purpose only.

I recall reading on the Org the "U Got The Look" video was presumably shot in a studio on the 16th (concerts were June 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th), but who would go to all the trouble moving the entire stage set for a couple hours of shooting, and then rush back to the arena to rebuild it?
This is clearly the stage as it was, and so the video was shot on the Bercy stage.

JorisE73 said:

June 14 and 15 Paris shows are circulating on video and both of them or at least one of them was planned to be released 6 or 7 years ago by some bootleggers so they are in more hands since then.

This thing about the Paris concerts videos existing somewhere on earth is really tickling me.
They could be a fixed cam only, like a lot of other fan-made concert videos.
Surely some happy few know what they're all about.

I still don't understand why Prince would go to all the trouble of going through rushes to extract only one second of the Bercy crowd dancing, just to include it in the movie at the end of IGBABN.

[Edited 9/7/25 23:44pm]

The real shame is that we'll likely never get beyond speculation since the people involved have not talked about this in almost 40 years, and the estate is doing the dumbass "oooh let's be mysterious" nonsense to such a degree that they don't include credits or liner notes with their digital releases and we have to puzzle together details via social media posts of those involved.

From what I unde rstood was that Al Magnoli's crew filmed the video and after that the show like the night before (the 14th which was shot with multiple camera and not just a single cam shot for Prince to review the show afterwwards from teh soundbooth like all those other circualting one cam shows)
It seems rough video edits for review from all Rotterdam shows, the antwerp show and 3 Paris shows are in the vault. Tehse were all multicam shot by NOS (Rotterdam and Antwerp) and Al Magnoli (unknown how many shows were shot) and was told that the NOS shot fooatge was grainy but not unusable and much better than what Magnoli shot for Paris (NOS had much used more cameras than Magnoli) difference is that Magnoli shot a lot of footage backstage for potenetial docs or whatever Prince wanted tio use them for.

BonnieC said:

bizzie said:

So since it was filmed on film, this would reinforce the theory of a video crew present at the Paris concerts, but then again, this is pure speculation on my side: the crew could as well have been freelanced for that purpose only.

I recall reading on the Org the "U Got The Look" video was presumably shot in a studio on the 16th (concerts were June 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th), but who would go to all the trouble moving the entire stage set for a couple hours of shooting, and then rush back to the arena to rebuild it?
This is clearly the stage as it was, and so the video was shot on the Bercy stage.

JorisE73 said:

June 14 and 15 Paris shows are circulating on video and both of them or at least one of them was planned to be released 6 or 7 years ago by some bootleggers so they are in more hands since then.

This thing about the Paris concerts videos existing somewhere on earth is really tickling me.
They could be a fixed cam only, like a lot of other fan-made concert videos.
Surely some happy few know what they're all about.

I still don't understand why Prince would go to all the trouble of going through rushes to extract only one second of the Bercy crowd dancing, just to include it in the movie at the end of IGBABN.

[Edited 9/7/25 23:44pm]

[Edited 9/9/25 9:04am]

bizzie said:

The real shame is that we'll likely never get beyond speculation since the people involved have not talked about this in almost 40 years, and the estate is doing the dumbass "oooh let's be mysterious" nonsense to such a degree that they don't include credits or liner notes with their digital releases and we have to puzzle together details via social media posts of those involved.

True.

I feel so sorry, among the dumbass moves Prince made (zealots, thank for not misunderstanding. I love The Man just like any other KCOOLMUZIQ does), firing Susan Rogers was one of the worst.

He should have kept her on a calmer payroll and put her exclusively on The Vault curation, while she was still in the game and her memory of the events still fresh.

She is sweet to the point she excuses herself, in the 1985/86 Sessions Book by Tudahl, for not having taken enough notes of what was happening, but who can blame her? The poor girl had to keep up with Prince's insane rhythm, take care of the travelling gear, booking the studios, manage the tapes, and get a little sleep on the plane whenever possible.

We owe this woman big time, and I can't stand any comment that belittle her contribution to The Work, much less from Prince himself. I think she, with Owen Husney and Chris Moon, have been very gracious in their interviews, given the nasty, gratuitous remarks they got from him (from "You think Susan Rogers knows my music?" to "My manager at the time, I don't remember his name"), but let's leave it at that.


It would be interesting to know what Al Magnoli recalls about 1987 Paris: the Bercy panoramic shot from the 14th, the EX Sabotage soundboard recording from the 17th, the "U Got The Look" video from the 16th, they all point to a pro multicam shooting of at least one of the concerts (June 13th, 14th, 15th or 17th).


Anyway, I'm happy for the ones that have experienced SOTT on the big screen.
I had the chance to see it at Le Grand Rex in Paris (very close to the "Rex Club" joint, probably same ownership) when it came out. At the time that cinema boasted the largest screen in Paris, with THX sound.

So yeah, I kinda know what the experience is like. And for the very lucky ones like me who had the chance to witness the Grandest Concert Of Them All from the first row, it looked exactly how the movie looks, no embellishments were made.

Of course experiencing in real life the masterpiece Leroy Bennett created was even crazier, something out of this world, and seeing Prince at the peak of his powers doing a split or swooshing from one side of the stage to the other right in front of you, so close you can count the drops of sweat on his forehead, is a gift I'll always treasure.

Talk about a dopamine rush.

[Edited 9/9/25 1:48am]