Play the bass live in concert? If so, what song did he perform and how good was he?

Days O Wild at Paisley Park....he did that a lot during the JOTY TOUR actually

Yes, i did see it. He played the bass on stage a lot during the One Night Alone Tour. At the soundcheck in Frankfurt in 2002 for example, he played "Cool" and "777 9311", him on the bass and Blackwell on the drums. That was great.
Whenever "Days of wild" was played during that tour, he would also some bass. Oh i remember another fantastic gig that i went to : the Ahoy,Rotterdam in August 1998. He played some bass during Larry`s songs.

I`d like to say that in my view, what Stevie Wonder and Prince have in common, is that whatever instrument they play, it`s like their own timing and phrasing is there immediately. It`s like: boom! And then the groove starts.
Remember how Stevie Wonder moves his body as soon as the music starts?
Have you seen Prince play the guitar? Well, when he plays the bass, it looks so much the same. Let`s just say it`s not that super virtuoso style he has on the guitar. But still, it`s his timing. The Prince timing. Just irresistable.

Somebody posted a great great picture of him playing the bass during a Purple Rain soundcheck/gig. I think you can also see bits and pieces of him playing the bass in the "I wanna be your lover" video. Oh, and check out the song "What`s my name" on Chrystall ball.

When he toured just after Crystal Ball was released he opened with Days of Wild and played bass along with Larry Graham and a female bassist who must have been Rhonda (yes three bass players). T'was a great opening. Later I was disappointed because after doing DOW he didn't play any other songs from the 90's!

TonyWilliams said:

Sounds pretty amazing, Tony!

there was a time when he would tear up 'facedown' on a regular basis.
but alas, no more

and there was a time when he he would go buckwild on 'get wild'
but alas, no more

Saw him at the Capitol Ballroom (It was a small club in DC )back in '98. At the beginnining of the show( the song was " Come On") Larry Graham, Rhonda , and Prince all came out playing the bass! Of course the crowd lost it!
The Cool thing was that while they were alll tradin' licks ,they didn't play over each other: Rhonda was keeping the groove , Graham was melodic an Prince was adding these funky, percussive runs. Someone once said that Funk is more about the space between the notes, and I think that sums up Prince's approach: he's not trying to be Jaco or Stanley Clarke, but he's got this really greasy, funky approach to the Bass...

On the "rave un2 the year 2000" vid, him and larry on bass for the start of kiss.

i love tht version of kiss !!!!



keeno

HiinEnkelte said:

Yes. He certainly played bass on Get Wild at one of the London dates of the Gold tour.

One of the "Love 4 1 Another" shows way back when (Sept 5 or 12..can't remember) at Paisley Park. He did Days of Wild, Get Wild, Return of the Bump Squad, and more that I just can't think of at this moment. Too funky, tho!