The 5 channel simulcast of the Webster Hall acoustic set showed the nation (and MTV) what the rest of us have already witnessed on the tour about how amazing and how much potential an MTV Unplugged show could have. I've seen him do this several times live, but was impressed by how good it came across on TV. His musicianship and charisma was great!

I cannot overemphasize how amazing a total Unplugged set could be on MTV. Just him on his stool with his guitar surrounded by the fans singing along while he jokes, tells stories about the songs, etc.. Maybe even add a piano that he can move to for certain songs.

This would certainly showcase his talent to the world and continue to push his career back into the world's spotlight. Almost like Elvis' '68 Comeback Special. What would be even better is to have one of the major networks pick it up.....but that will never happen..I can dream.

It just seems like such a logical, natural move for him and MTV. Guess that's why it won't happen, huh?

I agree, this would be great. I've wanted to see an 'Unplugged' or 'Storytellers' for some time now. Why'd you have to mention the '68 comeback special? I have a friend that always reminds me that the '68 comeback special was the "first Unplugged" . Anyway, I'd love to see a show like this. Have P give some background on some of the tunes, how they came about, where he was, etc. I love that stuff.
The hardest part would be coming up with a setlist. So many of his tunes sound great acoustically. "Little Red Corvette" at the Staples show floored me. I'd never heard it that way before, and it was so stripped down and real.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 30 7:45:12 2004 by OdysseyMiles]

Did anyone ever see Prince doing incredilbe things with a acoustic? I mean, Prince is much better than jimmy page on lead guitar, but page for example is a wonder acoustic player, just hear to black dog acoustic, i mean it would be interesting for me to see what prince does on acoustic,

While we know Prince really hasn't been anywhere (it's not like he went into seclusion and baked bread and changed diapers for years like John Lennon) to the general masses this does indeed seem like a "comeback" to them because he's been under the media radar for so long.

While an Unplugged show would have a lot similarities to Elvis' '68 show in that it would be acoustic, the main similarity would be in that it would be his first high profile event in a long, long time and would re-define himself to generations old and young. For me, it would just be the smartest career move he could make. An Unplugged show would showcase his *talent* and musicianship and help shed the "weird" image and persona that so many people have of him.

MrGoldstruck said:

BUT WEIRD PART WHAT MOST OF US LIKE

I could be wrong...but wasn't there an unplugged special that never aired or was that a rumor? I suppose it'd be booted by now. Or was it he had been asked before but turned it down? Not sure ...but I think he has been approached about this before.

I think it's interesting how the piano medleys didn't work...at least not for me...but I think that was due to him truncating them so much you never fully got to enjoy the entire song or a good portion of it.

OdysseyMiles said:

I agree. I'd love to see him do an "Unplugged" set like that, but this time, I'd like Prince to sing the majority, if not ALL, of the damn lyrics. I hate it when he lets the crowd be on vocals too long. If I wanted to hear them bitches sing, I'd visit a hair salon or some shit!

Also, it WAS lovely to hear LRC on acoustic guitar, wasn't it?! That was mad hot, and as tired as I am of hearing that song since it's an overplayed "hit", that performance truly moved me and made me want to hear him do the whole thing that way. So tight!!! Damn! When are the boot folks gonna release that LA concert on DVD or something?? You know someone had to have intercepted that satellite signal, dammit!!

superspaceboy said:

I remember him say he dreamed he did Willing & Able on Unplugged
When asked why didn't he, he said "I want to, I will," but I don't think it ever happened.

The TV special was great, but as often noted, he should do the whole damn song.
Popular videos have come from Unplugged (Clapton's Layla, Nirvana's All Apologies), and Prince could have done the same (he has had live videos like Endorphinmachine, ICNTTPOYM, Take Me With U), but they're not going to play 30 seconds of the audience singing Cream.

i got a list of songs i'd love 2 hear him rock acoustically....

when u were mine
whole lotta love
shy
7
alphabet st.
she's always in my hair/she lives in my lap (could be a cool curveball like he did goin in2 chaka's sweet thing.... and what if he brought out andre 3000 as a suprise?...)
why u wanna treat me so bad?
let's go crazy (remember the scene in "purple rain" when lisa & wendy were runnin thru a sketch of what would become purple rain, but when they saw prince wendy went in2 lets go crazy ? i see potential there....)
money don't matter 2night
dinner with delores
she loves me 4 me
manic monday
i wanna be your lover
pop life
big yellow taxi (he's always mentioned joni mitchell as his favortie writer...)
all along the watchtower (he's never covered anything by jimi so that'd be a nice suprise...)
uptown
adore (a beautiful finish i would say...)

Alex Coletti, an MTV executive producer, has wanted to do a Prince Unplugged for years. The owner of our company has designed the sets for all of the MTV Unpluggeds. Alex was listed as a producer on the recent Musicology airing. I'm hoping that he was able to put a little bug in Prince's ear about doing an Unplugged. After hearing his acoustic guitar work on "TheTruth" (one of his best albums, although, often overlooked by people here on the org) and during his recent tour, I believe that it would be an amazing show and an even more amazing album.

Do they still do Unplugged on MTV? I thought they didn't play much music anymore...

I tell you I almost came in my pants when he did Sweet Thing, even though (and especially because) the audience sang it. The mesh was beautiful, like the voices' and the guitar's aura were meeting in the air...

starkitty said:

his guitar playing during that song was sooooo pretty

alexnvrmnd said:

I know, right?