I think it's a good rule of thumb for Prince to play lesser known material in smaller venues and "the hits" at larger venues.

I am a hardcore Prince fan. I am not dying to see "Raspberry Beret" played live again. My favorite live Prince moments are intimate jams at Paisley Park when he grinds out one of his more obscure songs for 20 plus minutes.

However, since Prince is doing an arena tour most people there will be casual fans and probably want (what could be) their one and only Prince concert to include "Purple Rain", etc.
Example: My fiance has never seen Prince live she will be glad that she gets to hear/see him play "Kiss".

If you've never seen Prince live in a venue with 10,000 people it is quite magical , especially if it's your first Prince show.

I think this speaks volumes of how good Prince is-the fact that he can turn it out with an arena full of fans or a room of a few hundred.

im taking my younger brother, he knows i have been in love with prince for years and years, he (my brother) is in a band, and enjoys many different types of music. im so glad this will be his first time and that i get to be there to see that happen for him
i guess in the long run, that means im glad hes doing the old stuff, although, i did get TRC for him for Christmas, he really enjoyed that music, oh well, im gonna have a blast

Hearing the hits will be something special if Prince does play them differently as he said he would. THe reason that a hits show will always be great from Prince is, first of all, great classic songs that don't get old. Another reason is that Prince is the consumate musician with great arranging and compositional skills. If you hear the live arrangements of Dorothy Parker on the last tour, you would know what I am talking about. It was like a new - and even better - song that we first heard almost 20 years ago. You have to have vision and skills to do this and not be stale. When you pay your money to see him, that is what Prince brings to the stage every time.

You're absolutely right. I plan on taking my 14 year old daughter, and maybe a few friends who are indifferent to P.

i hear wot ur sayin...

ive seen p in concert bout 20 times inc aftershows etc, i saw him at wembley london 72,000 sell out stadium gig , yes 72,000 !!!

my fave gigs outwith the aftershows were "lovesexy 88" and "ona 02" ive seen the hits many times it doesnt bother me at all wot he plays as he's always been awsome live every time ive seen him, xcept 1 poor gig manchester early 90's well documented poor gig !

finally my point is i saw him ona tour twice london with my girlfriend it was her 1st p gig she thought he was awsome ! and at the atershow on guitar !!! , but she was still dissapointed he didnt play the hits !!!

ps my other p gig on the ona tour was manchester with my cuz neil ansd u kno wot he played the hits !!! purple rain , nothing compares 2 u , etc etc

both gigs were fantastic !

so i'll b happy 2 take the girlfriend 2 c the hits/musicology tour it'll b her 1st hits tour

Having 500 people out of 5 thousand in an opera house singing Sado-Masochistic Groove is one thing.

Hearing all 40,000 in the arena sing Purple Rain gives people hard-ons.


U decide

Hey... I'd love to her about all of your live Prince concert experiences.... tell us about them on this thread http://www.prince.org/msg/12/81419