On March 10, 2012 in Orlando, Elton John put on a nearly 3 hour performance that was simply

astonishing. The show began with his two cello players who began going through covers of Smells Like Teen Spirit and Back In Black. This very brief moment of cover music was the closest Elton came to performing like Prince. The rest of the show was stuff of legend. He played 7 songs from "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and played a Greatest Hits show that also featured deep album cuts, and two songs from his 2010 album, "The Union." He has kept the same guitarist and drummer for the majority of his 40 plus year career. Everybody in the band was a world class musician. No Andy Allo to be found here. Everybody here can play. Elton's voice was on point but most songs were sung at different tempos and lower octaves, as the man will be 65 on March 25. Another striking thing that he pulls off better than Prince, is that he plays his piano on each and every song. There are no diva moments where he is not willing to do the work. Elton did not hold the microphone for the crowd to sing. There were no cover songs other than the brief instrumental before Elton hit the stage. There were great background singers, but none of them sang lead on multiple songs. There were no covers of multiple Sly Stone songs, although soon to be 66 year old background singer Rose Stone was part of the Family Stone, as well as Sly's sister. There also wasn't anybody chanting "Put Your Hands Up," over 200 times during the concert like it seems Shelby does. Prince has to learn that him just being there is enough for the crowd to be pumped. Elton sang lead on 30 FULL LENGTH songs without any shortcuts, and without any lyrics taken out to save his voice. Elton's voice is close to being shot, but he still sounded great for his age on multiple songs. He may be a little chubby, but appears to be healthier than somebody who hardly ever eats.

It kind of hurts to take shots at Prince like this. I know Prince can still sing full length songs, but he chooses to start songs and abort them, chooses to shorten songs, chooses to have Shelby yelling "Put Your Hands Up," and Prince chooses to play multiple shows at 2 hours or less...The Welcome 2 America tour in the Carolinas a great example, of how all 6 shows were 95 minutes to 115 minutes. Elton plays his 28 or more full length songs every single show. That's professionalism that Prince could never adhere to.

I can't imagine Prince singing 30 full length songs in any concert, but I'm sure there's been a few nights where he has. The One Nite Alone and Musicology tours show Prince can be fantastic when he wants to. Welcome 2 America had moments of brilliance, and it wasn't a bad show...but U2's 360 tour, and Elton's hits tour were both better. Elton calling this a "hits" tour is kinda funny. The show has 20 Elton standards, but 10 songs that were either small hits or not even singles at all.

When Prince is 65, I can't see him beating Elton's 2012 shows, but he can if he ever gets serious about his musicianship. Prince may not have the reputation Elton has, but Prince is the better musician, songwriter, and artist. If I had to choose to take 30 Elton John Cds or just Prince's Sign O The Times film on a remote island to live the rest of my life on, I'd choose Sign...but it is obvious to me that an Elton John fanatic goes home happier than a Prince fanatic. I can't go to a Prince show without hearing complaints about Shelby or songs being cut short. I talked to over 30 fans after Elton's show, and could not find a single compliant about the presentation...just a few complaints about his voice...Imagine a Prince concert where there were few complaints...

Two Cellos Opening Segment
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Bennie and the Jets
Grey Seal
Levon
Madman Across the Water
Holiday Inn
Tiny Dancer
Philadelphia Freedom
All The Young Girls Love Alice
Harmony
Candle in the Wind
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Rocket Man
I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
Hey Ahab
Gone to Shiloh
Monkey Suit
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
Believe
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Honky Cat
Sad Songs (Say So Much)
I'm Going to Be a Teenage Idol
Daniel
Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
I'm Still Standing
The Bitch Is Back
Crocodile Rock
Encore:
Your Song

I am not offended by this review, and I don't think any one should be. I do think it is impetuous at its core, and reflects a bit of short sided shade toward Prince. Over the course of their careers they each have had peaks and valleys. If you don't think the roof AND the stage were on fire during 1999 and Sign of The Times Tours, I have a clit and a thumb availabe for you - take your pick. And frankly there were many many many nights during Elton's career where you were more likely to see bats fly out of his ass than get a show worthy of the ticket price. Elton is on fire right now! Hell yeah for him and all of us who love him. Prince is not, for some of us. I kinda agree with you on many of your points. But it is a two way street, I mean on one night Prince was responsible to put on a Vanity 6 show, and The Time, and then his freaking amazing show. He wrote most if not all of that music, pulled most of the style together, etcetera.) But I imagine there will be more phases for Prince and his live shows. My dream is for smaller and smaller venues. (Just playin', I don't have thumbs. )

Is this an article or just the OP's opinion?

allsmutaside said:

I am not offended by this review, and I don't think any one should be. I do think it is impetuous at its core, and reflects a bit of short sided shade toward Prince. Over the course of their careers they each have had peaks and valleys. If you don't think the roof AND the stage were on fire during 1999 and Sign of The Times Tours, I have a clit and a thumb availabe for you - take your pick. And frankly there were many many many nights during Elton's career where you were more likely to see bats fly out of his ass than get a show worthy of the ticket price. Elton is on fire right now! Hell yeah for him and all of us who love him. Prince is not, for some of us. I kinda agree with you on many of your points. But it is a two way street, I mean on one night Prince was responsible to put on a Vanity 6 show, and The Time, and then his freaking amazing show. He wrote most if not all of that music, pulled most of the style together, etcetera.) But I imagine there will be more phases for Prince and his live shows. My dream is for smaller and smaller venues. (Just playin', I don't have thumbs. )

great take and agree on all that, have long since said that artists with careers and longevity have peaks and valleys, and new days to shine. Elton has been delivering stellar shows for a while now, def in the early days then when drugs and everything took their toll, despite being a hitmaker his shows were ok, but dont expect him to do 3 hours in 1980-1985 in that era, even though he had alot of hits then and stuff, he had alot of issues. I would love Prince to LOOK at that elton john setlist and use that as an idea of what to do. Im tired of jamming, i know its prince's thing, but as someone who has seen 79 prince shows, im tiring of the routine, the laundry list of hits and covers and jams and chants. Seriously, since 2004 to me his live shows have NOT been exciting at all, yes good shows, but there is a difference between a good show and exciting shows. To me Prince is bored and in a rut LIVE now, take that Elton setlist, 30+ songs of that 19 were released as singles, thats a good ratio in my opinion to satisfy someone who may have never seen Elton and the diehards who know album cuts and the latest record. Prince has had an enormous output since emanciption but he has played less than 1% of his new music live! that is crazy. And dont get me started on the band he has...time2go.

HEY YO!

I saw Elton John at Rod Laver Arena a month or so ago. His concert was amazing and he had some amazing musicians.

But please compared to Prince...umm hello.

If you want to compare a band's musicianship to Prince then I would have to say the performance Steely Dan gave at the same arena a few months back is the closest to Prince.

Nothing to take away from Elton...like I said I enjoyed the performance throughly but Prince is the master...Just look at what Prince did at Rod Laver in 2003. Those are still the best concerts I have ever seen live. Prince and his band tearing it up then doing the keys encore followed by Purple Rain..then at 2am tearing it up at Metro Nightclub in Bourke Street with his band.

Please no comparisson.

IMO I believe the review here of Eltons concert is trying to dis Prince

daddymac said:

HEY YO!

I saw Elton John at Rod Laver Arena a month or so ago. His concert was amazing and he had some amazing musicians.

But please compared to Prince...umm hello.

If you want to compare a band's musicianship to Prince then I would have to say the performance Steely Dan gave at the same arena a few months back is the closest to Prince.

Nothing to take away from Elton...like I said I enjoyed the performance throughly but Prince is the master...Just look at what Prince did at Rod Laver in 2003. Those are still the best concerts I have ever seen live. Prince and his band tearing it up then doing the keys encore followed by Purple Rain..then at 2am tearing it up at Metro Nightclub in Bourke Street with his band.

Please no comparisson.

IMO I believe the review here of Eltons concert is trying to dis Prince

Hey, some people would rather hear Shelby yell "Put Your Hands Up," than hear Prince playing a full length song. If that's your thing...fine. If you'd rather hear Play That Funky Music instead of Computer Blue or Anna Stesia...fine...but Prince is 100 times better than Elton John, but puts on a weak live show for a man of his talents.

allsmutaside said:

I am not offended by this review, and I don't think any one should be. I do think it is impetuous at its core, and reflects a bit of short sided shade toward Prince. Over the course of their careers they each have had peaks and valleys. If you don't think the roof AND the stage were on fire during 1999 and Sign of The Times Tours, I have a clit and a thumb availabe for you - take your pick. And frankly there were many many many nights during Elton's career where you were more likely to see bats fly out of his ass than get a show worthy of the ticket price. Elton is on fire right now! Hell yeah for him and all of us who love him. Prince is not, for some of us. I kinda agree with you on many of your points. But it is a two way street, I mean on one night Prince was responsible to put on a Vanity 6 show, and The Time, and then his freaking amazing show. He wrote most if not all of that music, pulled most of the style together, etcetera.) But I imagine there will be more phases for Prince and his live shows. My dream is for smaller and smaller venues. (Just playin', I don't have thumbs. )

Uh...did you read my entire post...yeah it's long...but I think you didn't notice this example:

If I had to choose to take 30 Elton John Cds or just Prince's Sign O The Times film on a remote island to live the rest of my life on, I'd choose Sign...

All of Prince's tours from 1980 to 1989 were better than Elton John live....as well as One Nite Alone and Musicology. It's just everything after 2005 has been weak with too many medleys, and too much DIVA in Prince's performance. HE makes a great guitar album like Lotus...and doesn't tour for it. He doesn't even have a guitar player in his band...unless he is playing...but of course he meets Andy Allo hitchiking at a truck stop and makes her his lead without knowing if she can play.

The point of the post was writing a review of Elton's show while making fun of Prince's hack job shows. Prince can be the best live performer if he wants to be. His reputation live is sometimes earned, but he's been getting by on hype he rarely meets these days. For the most part, I'd rather see a bad Prince show than a great show by anyone else, but I'm tired of Prince playing cover songs, and having at least one or two weak musicians in his band.

Well, Elton himself had high praise for Prince's live show.

Granted, I am sure I would enjoy a live Elton show, but I am guessing there is less spontineity and variation with his act. He probably does the songs more or less as they appear on the albums. This is what many people want, but I personally like that Prince gives us something new when we hear Little Red Corvette.

lastdecember said:

allsmutaside said:

I am not offended by this review, and I don't think any one should be. I do think it is impetuous at its core, and reflects a bit of short sided shade toward Prince. Over the course of their careers they each have had peaks and valleys. If you don't think the roof AND the stage were on fire during 1999 and Sign of The Times Tours, I have a clit and a thumb availabe for you - take your pick. And frankly there were many many many nights during Elton's career where you were more likely to see bats fly out of his ass than get a show worthy of the ticket price. Elton is on fire right now! Hell yeah for him and all of us who love him. Prince is not, for some of us. I kinda agree with you on many of your points. But it is a two way street, I mean on one night Prince was responsible to put on a Vanity 6 show, and The Time, and then his freaking amazing show. He wrote most if not all of that music, pulled most of the style together, etcetera.) But I imagine there will be more phases for Prince and his live shows. My dream is for smaller and smaller venues. (Just playin', I don't have thumbs. )

great take and agree on all that, have long since said that artists with careers and longevity have peaks and valleys, and new days to shine. Elton has been delivering stellar shows for a while now, def in the early days then when drugs and everything took their toll, despite being a hitmaker his shows were ok, but dont expect him to do 3 hours in 1980-1985 in that era, even though he had alot of hits then and stuff, he had alot of issues. I would love Prince to LOOK at that elton john setlist and use that as an idea of what to do. Im tired of jamming, i know its prince's thing, but as someone who has seen 79 prince shows, im tiring of the routine, the laundry list of hits and covers and jams and chants. Seriously, since 2004 to me his live shows have NOT been exciting at all, yes good shows, but there is a difference between a good show and exciting shows. To me Prince is bored and in a rut LIVE now, take that Elton setlist, 30+ songs of that 19 were released as singles, thats a good ratio in my opinion to satisfy someone who may have never seen Elton and the diehards who know album cuts and the latest record. Prince has had an enormous output since emanciption but he has played less than 1% of his new music live! that is crazy. And dont get me started on the band he has...time2go.

I cannot imagine seeing ANYONE (certainly not Elton John) 79 times and not being tired of the routine. Even Dead fans needed strong drugs to get them though so many versions of Eyes of the World.

stillwaiting said:

daddymac said:

HEY YO!

I saw Elton John at Rod Laver Arena a month or so ago. His concert was amazing and he had some amazing musicians.

But please compared to Prince...umm hello.

If you want to compare a band's musicianship to Prince then I would have to say the performance Steely Dan gave at the same arena a few months back is the closest to Prince.

Nothing to take away from Elton...like I said I enjoyed the performance throughly but Prince is the master...Just look at what Prince did at Rod Laver in 2003. Those are still the best concerts I have ever seen live. Prince and his band tearing it up then doing the keys encore followed by Purple Rain..then at 2am tearing it up at Metro Nightclub in Bourke Street with his band.

Please no comparisson.

IMO I believe the review here of Eltons concert is trying to dis Prince

Hey, some people would rather hear Shelby yell "Put Your Hands Up," than hear Prince playing a full length song. If that's your thing...fine. If you'd rather hear Play That Funky Music instead of Computer Blue or Anna Stesia...fine...but Prince is 100 times better than Elton John, but puts on a weak live show for a man of his talents.

HEY YO!

It depends though. People are never satisfied...Prince will put on a performance and people will critisise him and his NPG band for not being as good as the revolution. Then you have Prince go out and play a fanastic Montreux gig and some people will critisise and say ohh he is not playing the hits or he is too jazzy. Then he will go out and do a full on jam session with no hits and just laid back funk workouts and people will be critical saying that he is doing mindless funkworkouts.

The same goes for his albums, he goes out and makes such a wonderful record in The Rainbow Children with top notch production and dare I say it the best of his career and people on here critise it saying that its too religious.

Whats the beef with Andy Allo...so he got her to play in his band. He always has new musicians in his band. Its all part of what he wants to do.

When I go and watch a Prince gig or see a DVD I dont necessarily care if the whole show is great because we already know what he is capable of. I look at what he will do that is new and exciting ...but every time I do see him perform there is always that one bit that im like WOW what he just did was awesome...in the Montreux performances there were more than one bit.

Now getting back to Elton John...what did he do that was out of the ordinary. Basically I went to see Elton and I payed for a ticket... When I got there I got Elton John playing Elton songs that I have heard a number of times in the past. Groundbreaking NO. But enjoyable yes.

lastdecember said:

allsmutaside said:

I am not offended by this review, and I don't think any one should be. I do think it is impetuous at its core, and reflects a bit of short sided shade toward Prince. Over the course of their careers they each have had peaks and valleys. If you don't think the roof AND the stage were on fire during 1999 and Sign of The Times Tours, I have a clit and a thumb availabe for you - take your pick. And frankly there were many many many nights during Elton's career where you were more likely to see bats fly out of his ass than get a show worthy of the ticket price. Elton is on fire right now! Hell yeah for him and all of us who love him. Prince is not, for some of us. I kinda agree with you on many of your points. But it is a two way street, I mean on one night Prince was responsible to put on a Vanity 6 show, and The Time, and then his freaking amazing show. He wrote most if not all of that music, pulled most of the style together, etcetera.) But I imagine there will be more phases for Prince and his live shows. My dream is for smaller and smaller venues. (Just playin', I don't have thumbs. )

great take and agree on all that, have long since said that artists with careers and longevity have peaks and valleys, and new days to shine. Elton has been delivering stellar shows for a while now, def in the early days then when drugs and everything took their toll, despite being a hitmaker his shows were ok, but dont expect him to do 3 hours in 1980-1985 in that era, even though he had alot of hits then and stuff, he had alot of issues. I would love Prince to LOOK at that elton john setlist and use that as an idea of what to do. Im tired of jamming, i know its prince's thing, but as someone who has seen 79 prince shows, im tiring of the routine, the laundry list of hits and covers and jams and chants. Seriously, since 2004 to me his live shows have NOT been exciting at all, yes good shows, but there is a difference between a good show and exciting shows. To me Prince is bored and in a rut LIVE now, take that Elton setlist, 30+ songs of that 19 were released as singles, thats a good ratio in my opinion to satisfy someone who may have never seen Elton and the diehards who know album cuts and the latest record. Prince has had an enormous output since emanciption but he has played less than 1% of his new music live! that is crazy. And dont get me started on the band he has...time2go.

I think you've just seen too many Prince shows LOL. 79!!! WTF!

I've seen 0 live. He's NEVER come to New Zealand.

My friend (who's only casually interested in Prince) happened to be in LA only last year when Prince had a show on at the Forum and he managed to get a ticket and came away saying this was the most amazing concert experience ever! He's been raving ever since. And he said Prince played for 3 hours 15 minutes. This is a guy who's a pilot for a major airline and travels all over and sees lots of concerts.

I think this is all much ado about nothing. Prince more often than not plays over 2 hours whereas most major acts don't.

As someone said above, he has such a diverse knowledge of music style that he can pull out anything at any time....if you're not getting into his band jamming, then I say get up out your seat and start shaking your thing. That's the language of music, baby. That's 10 cats talking to each other in harmony intuitively without speaking. Count yourself lucky that you've had the chance to see such a legend live in cincert at all

Where was this posted? Because its written like its from someones blog (probably an orger).

stillwaiting said:

allsmutaside said:

I am not offended by this review, and I don't think any one should be. I do think it is impetuous at its core, and reflects a bit of short sided shade toward Prince. Over the course of their careers they each have had peaks and valleys. If you don't think the roof AND the stage were on fire during 1999 and Sign of The Times Tours, I have a clit and a thumb availabe for you - take your pick. And frankly there were many many many nights during Elton's career where you were more likely to see bats fly out of his ass than get a show worthy of the ticket price. Elton is on fire right now! Hell yeah for him and all of us who love him. Prince is not, for some of us. I kinda agree with you on many of your points. But it is a two way street, I mean on one night Prince was responsible to put on a Vanity 6 show, and The Time, and then his freaking amazing show. He wrote most if not all of that music, pulled most of the style together, etcetera.) But I imagine there will be more phases for Prince and his live shows. My dream is for smaller and smaller venues. (Just playin', I don't have thumbs. )

Uh...did you read my entire post...yeah it's long...but I think you didn't notice this example:

If I had to choose to take 30 Elton John Cds or just Prince's Sign O The Times film on a remote island to live the rest of my life on, I'd choose Sign...

All of Prince's tours from 1980 to 1989 were better than Elton John live....as well as One Nite Alone and Musicology. It's just everything after 2005 has been weak with too many medleys, and too much DIVA in Prince's performance. HE makes a great guitar album like Lotus...and doesn't tour for it. He doesn't even have a guitar player in his band...unless he is playing...but of course he meets Andy Allo hitchiking at a truck stop and makes her his lead without knowing if she can play.

The point of the post was writing a review of Elton's show while making fun of Prince's hack job shows. Prince can be the best live performer if he wants to be. His reputation live is sometimes earned, but he's been getting by on hype he rarely meets these days. For the most part, I'd rather see a bad Prince show than a great show by anyone else, but I'm tired of Prince playing cover songs, and having at least one or two weak musicians in his band.

Yeah, I read it. It sounds like you are suffering from PIPUS - Post Innappropriate Pedistal Use Syndrome. And now that Prince is not meeting your criteria for the height, you are trying to figure out how to move on from that. Put your left foot in front of your right and... Or even do the hokey pokey, that works too. I mean tying to compare apples and apples when you have an apple and an orange in hand doesn't always work out all that well, as you can see from some of the responses here. I think that if you had posted a concert review of Elton, and a presented your list of Prince grievances seperately you would have been well received. (Prince not meeting the height critera .)

stillwaiting said:

Two Cellos Opening Segment
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Bennie and the Jets
Grey Seal
Levon
Madman Across the Water
Holiday Inn
Tiny Dancer
Philadelphia Freedom
All The Young Girls Love Alice
Harmony
Candle in the Wind
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Rocket Man
I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
Hey Ahab
Gone to Shiloh
Monkey Suit
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
Believe
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Honky Cat
Sad Songs (Say So Much)
I'm Going to Be a Teenage Idol
Daniel
Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
I'm Still Standing
The Bitch Is Back
Crocodile Rock
Encore:
Your Song

He didn't do "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"?! I guess when you have as many hits as he has,you can't do 'em all

nd33 said:

lastdecember said:

great take and agree on all that, have long since said that artists with careers and longevity have peaks and valleys, and new days to shine. Elton has been delivering stellar shows for a while now, def in the early days then when drugs and everything took their toll, despite being a hitmaker his shows were ok, but dont expect him to do 3 hours in 1980-1985 in that era, even though he had alot of hits then and stuff, he had alot of issues. I would love Prince to LOOK at that elton john setlist and use that as an idea of what to do. Im tired of jamming, i know its prince's thing, but as someone who has seen 79 prince shows, im tiring of the routine, the laundry list of hits and covers and jams and chants. Seriously, since 2004 to me his live shows have NOT been exciting at all, yes good shows, but there is a difference between a good show and exciting shows. To me Prince is bored and in a rut LIVE now, take that Elton setlist, 30+ songs of that 19 were released as singles, thats a good ratio in my opinion to satisfy someone who may have never seen Elton and the diehards who know album cuts and the latest record. Prince has had an enormous output since emanciption but he has played less than 1% of his new music live! that is crazy. And dont get me started on the band he has...time2go.

I think you've just seen too many Prince shows LOL. 79!!! WTF!

I've seen 0 live. He's NEVER come to New Zealand.

My friend (who's only casually interested in Prince) happened to be in LA only last year when Prince had a show on at the Forum and he managed to get a ticket and came away saying this was the most amazing concert experience ever! He's been raving ever since. And he said Prince played for 3 hours 15 minutes. This is a guy who's a pilot for a major airline and travels all over and sees lots of concerts.

I think this is all much ado about nothing. Prince more often than not plays over 2 hours whereas most major acts don't.

As someone said above, he has such a diverse knowledge of music style that he can pull out anything at any time....if you're not getting into his band jamming, then I say get up out your seat and start shaking your thing. That's the language of music, baby. That's 10 cats talking to each other in harmony intuitively without speaking. Count yourself lucky that you've had the chance to see such a legend live in cincert at all

U totally misunderstood my point, im not knocking Prince, and not saying I WISHED i hadnt seen these shows, saying that his shows have become routine lately is not saying, "gee i wished i had stayed home" HUGE difference. And 79 is not alot when you factor in the fact that the Musicology and emancipation tours he did multiple nights, im also factoring in aftershows too, im based in NYC and played here quite a bit, did aftershows etc.. plus on the musicology tour i girl and a bunch of her friends wanted to do a travel deal, so they rented a van and a bunch of us, hit up shows in the carolinas etc... but trust me there are people, especially in chicago and minnie that have seen the man about 2-3 times as much as me.

So back to the topic, the rut is not because i have seen him too much, the rut is a musical rut he is in, he is trapped being nothing more than laundry list type of performer now, but that should have changed since he said musicology was the end of those songs, but it wasnt by any means, if anything he has played more hits than ever, i rank this period of shows right on just abouve the emancipation tour, which was also very plagued with less than stellar shows, including the one and only Prince show i despised and that was at Jones beach in 1997, awful.

^^And you are annoyed that he plays his hits?? The problem with hardcore (how I hate that expression) fans is always that they think they make up the majority of the fans going to concerts. But that is not the case. The hardcores are a fraction of the people going to the concerts. The majority of people are casual fans, who know the hits, want to see the hits and are leaving and left disappointed on the tours where he didn't play that many hits. People want to hear songs they now and the well known songs he covers play into that category as well. And it's not like he always only plays the hits, he always throws in some obscure songs or hits he hadn't played in a long time. Also, as you know, no two shows are the same. If you compare that to a say Kiss or AC/DC show then be glad what you get.

PatrickS77 said:

^^And you are annoyed that he plays his hits?? The problem with hardcore (how I hate that expression) fans is always that they think they make up the majority of the fans going to concerts. But that is not the case. The hardcores are a fraction of the people going to the concerts. The majority of people are casual fans, who know the hits, want to see the hits and are leaving and left disappointed on the tours where he didn't play that many hits. People want to hear songs they now and the well known songs he covers play into that category as well. And it's not like he always only plays the hits, he always throws in some obscure songs or hits he hadn't played in a long time. Also, as you know, no two shows are the same. If you compare that to a say Kiss or AC/DC show then be glad what you get.

He's not playing hits. He's sleepwalking through them. Many times he's just singing the first verse while some candy ass joke of a band is playing an easy arrangement of them. He's got a world class drummer in Blackwell, a decent, but not great bass player in Ida. Renato is fine, but his playing can be cold and technical. He doesn't have a guitar player, Andy just learned to play an hour ago.

On Muiscology, the arrangements were more tight, and focused. There were no Shelby's singing lead on sometimes as many as 8 fucking songs. 8 fucking songs? Really? Usually just 2 or 3...but this is a Prince show...and if the show is less than two hours, and more than 45 minutes of it is without Prince singing...what kind of show is it? Elton kicked his ass in this regard.

allsmutaside said:

Yeah, I read it. It sounds like you are suffering from PIPUS - Post Innappropriate Pedistal Use Syndrome. And now that Prince is not meeting your criteria for the height, you are trying to figure out how to move on from that. Put your left foot in front of your right and... Or even do the hokey pokey, that works too. I mean tying to compare apples and apples when you have an apple and an orange in hand doesn't always work out all that well, as you can see from some of the responses here. I think that if you had posted a concert review of Elton, and a presented your list of Prince grievances seperately you would have been well received. (Prince not meeting the height critera .)

If Prince showed up and just sang one song, and had Tony M on 7 songs, and Shelby lead on ten, you would probably say it was the best show ever. My simple point is that Prince can't sing 30 full length songs in a 3 hour show. He has no ability to do a show like that. Elton is 11 years older, but has more guts to do a show that is not only a crowd pleaser, but meets the needs of someone who is a musician, and understands a quality show.

I get pissed when I see a show with lack of focus, and lack of full length songs sung by Prince. It's not apples and oranges. Elton is aruged by many to be one of the greatest composers of our time. I believe that Prince is 100 times better, but that Prince wastes his time with crap talent like Andy, and wasting time playing cover songs nobody wants to hear.

stillwaiting said:

PatrickS77 said:

^^And you are annoyed that he plays his hits?? The problem with hardcore (how I hate that expression) fans is always that they think they make up the majority of the fans going to concerts. But that is not the case. The hardcores are a fraction of the people going to the concerts. The majority of people are casual fans, who know the hits, want to see the hits and are leaving and left disappointed on the tours where he didn't play that many hits. People want to hear songs they now and the well known songs he covers play into that category as well. And it's not like he always only plays the hits, he always throws in some obscure songs or hits he hadn't played in a long time. Also, as you know, no two shows are the same. If you compare that to a say Kiss or AC/DC show then be glad what you get.

He's not playing hits. He's sleepwalking through them. Many times he's just singing the first verse while some candy ass joke of a band is playing an easy arrangement of them. He's got a world class drummer in Blackwell, a decent, but not great bass player in Ida. Renato is fine, but his playing can be cold and technical. He doesn't have a guitar player, Andy just learned to play an hour ago.

On Muiscology, the arrangements were more tight, and focused. There were no Shelby's singing lead on sometimes as many as 8 fucking songs. 8 fucking songs? Really? Usually just 2 or 3...but this is a Prince show...and if the show is less than two hours, and more than 45 minutes of it is without Prince singing...what kind of show is it? Elton kicked his ass in this regard.

Oh, he's not playing hits and having a candy ass joke band... hmm, I wonder what I've heard then. Ah, well... if you think like that, not having a good time and basically just nitpicking through everything, you probably should stop seeing him. I saw him twice last year and the 30.000 people at Hop farm and the 12.000 people in Zurich and myself, seemed to love the show.

wants to see him in vegas bad my son loves his music n i did to at his age 11

we wanna take him ..

Prince, for reasons only he understands, chooses not to sing 30 full songs in a 3 hour (main) show; Some of his recent aftershows have had some stellar moments showcasing obscure tracks, which is why I replaced 'can't' with 'chooses.'

Imho the current NPG line up is the weakest he's ever had - and i've seen plenty of NPG configurations live. Throw in that he seems to be phoning his performances in and you're left with a some what pedestrian show. The vegas-like arrangements and back up singers make the whole experience kinda sterile and flat.

Prince must be due a band 'clear out' about now - and I'd welcome it. With the exception of John Blackwell I wouldn't miss any of them. Does anyone really believe the present crop will go down in NPG line up history alongside the likes of Sonny, Michael B!

If, with a new line up, prince still insists on 'hits heavy' shows there are still plenty of hits to choose from that haven't been played for some time. Mix them with some lesser known gems and he'd doubtless still keep the casual fans happy(and likely the hardcore ones too)

stillwaiting said:

Prince can't sing 30 full length songs in a 3 hour show. He has no ability to do a show like that.

Best NPG Lineup. IMO

Prince

Rhonda Smith

Renato Neto

John Blackwell

Awesome at Montreux

PatrickS77 said:

^^And you are annoyed that he plays his hits?? The problem with hardcore (how I hate that expression) fans is always that they think they make up the majority of the fans going to concerts. But that is not the case. The hardcores are a fraction of the people going to the concerts. The majority of people are casual fans, who know the hits, want to see the hits and are leaving and left disappointed on the tours where he didn't play that many hits. People want to hear songs they now and the well known songs he covers play into that category as well. And it's not like he always only plays the hits, he always throws in some obscure songs or hits he hadn't played in a long time. Also, as you know, no two shows are the same. If you compare that to a say Kiss or AC/DC show then be glad what you get.

Its not even the HITS, its the way he is doing them, this abbreviated versions of songs are just teasers, and to me its seems like, Prince is saying, i got to give some hits here you go, and like a laundry list they come out. I dont doubt his heart or dedication,etc...its just bland, leaving you thinking what is this show about, and it has been stuck like this since the Musicology tour ended, which was his real last "tour". So im not saying dont play HITS, i have no issue with the HITS but the way he does them, i mean my favorite band a-ha called it a day in 2010, and played the world that whole year, i saw them 6 times and it was all singles and hits they had released no album cuts, and i had no issue with that because they were doing it the way the songs were, not 1 minute of this song, half of this one, cutting the chorus out of this one, etc....so i wasnt bored even though 3 nights here in NYC the setlist only varied by two or three songs night to night, i didnt care, because they seemed very into it, the crowd loved it , and they were the songs.

As for Prince shows and the die-hards being a small % i dont agree, especially in Prince's case, and again the idea that the artist owes you the hits is false, they owe you a show, your ticket is not a promise of songs you get to hear in either direction whether you want hits or bsides or covers, so im mainly saying Prince needs to change something up because it has become routine now.

daddymac said:

Best NPG Lineup. IMO

Prince

Rhonda Smith

Renato Neto

John Blackwell

Awesome at Montreux

Those Montreux shows were good, much better than Welcome 2 America. It was still ackward watching without a guitar player. When Prince played guitar, it was nice, but some of the show seemed like a watered down ONA show. The pop jazz was good, but there wasn't really any true funk. It was still a very high quality show with above average musicianship, but was still a little short. Prince has lost some great musicians due to "ISSUES" with paychecks. Really? Prince? Issues with Money? No...not possible? Right?

If Prince had any balls, he'd have a big band on stage with multiple players, and have the right musicians play on the right songs...That means Horn Parts in songs that have horns....NO HORNS in Let's Go Crazy, no stupid chants of Go Go Go, Go Go Go....if the live version he plays of Let's Go Crazy were released as a single in 1984, it wouldn't have hit the top 100.

Guitar: Miko Weaver, Wendy, Prince

Keys: Matt Fink, Tommy B

Bass: Sonny T

Drums: Michael B or John Blackwell

Drums and Percussion: Sheila E

Horn Section: Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, and Greg Boyer

Now this would be a real band. Even though I don't think Wendy and Lisa are the greatest musicians, their ability to co-write and keep Prince level headed made them indispensable.

I know there are people here who would rather have Andy Allo, Tony M, and Kirk Johnson in the band...and that is fine for you. I'd rather have people who can play serious music, and also have fun.

stillwaiting said:

daddymac said:

Best NPG Lineup. IMO

Prince

Rhonda Smith

Renato Neto

John Blackwell

Awesome at Montreux

Those Montreux shows were good, much better than Welcome 2 America. It was still ackward watching without a guitar player. When Prince played guitar, it was nice, but some of the show seemed like a watered down ONA show. The pop jazz was good, but there wasn't really any true funk. It was still a very high quality show with above average musicianship, but was still a little short. Prince has lost some great musicians due to "ISSUES" with paychecks. Really? Prince? Issues with Money? No...not possible? Right?

If Prince had any balls, he'd have a big band on stage with multiple players, and have the right musicians play on the right songs...That means Horn Parts in songs that have horns....NO HORNS in Let's Go Crazy, no stupid chants of Go Go Go, Go Go Go....if the live version he plays of Let's Go Crazy were released as a single in 1984, it wouldn't have hit the top 100.

Guitar: Miko Weaver, Wendy, Prince

Keys: Matt Fink, Tommy B

Bass: Sonny T

Drums: Michael B or John Blackwell

Drums and Percussion: Sheila E

Horn Section: Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, and Greg Boyer

Now this would be a real band. Even though I don't think Wendy and Lisa are the greatest musicians, their ability to co-write and keep Prince level headed made them indispensable.

I know there are people here who would rather have Andy Allo, Tony M, and Kirk Johnson in the band...and that is fine for you. I'd rather have people who can play serious music, and also have fun.

Dude are you just choosing ur favorite prince musos?

Are you saying Renato, Rhonda are not serious musos?

Look at bands like the Black Keys....only 2 dudes...

Why the hell would you want a guitarist when you have a rolling stone magazine top 100 guitarist in Prince as the guitarist in his own band.

Prince - Guitar

Rhonda - Bass

John Blackwell - Drums

Renato - Keys

What more else would you want... they played the Montreux gigs pretty well by themselves and Prince was a monster on Guitar on those concerts.

Prince is a master musician, artist for over 30 years im pretty sure he knows what he wants interms of what composition of bandmembers he needs.

Life is too short to be overcritical of everything. It seems that alot of people on here critisise every single gig that Prince has done. Ive been a fan for a long time and quite frankly nearly all the times i have seen him on TV or in concert have been amazing regardless of whichever musician is on stage with him.

I thin here is alot of nit picking on irrelevant stuff here.

If i have to nit pic id probably say Princes hip hop stuff (Love Symbol album era) was a bit weak...but still ok to listen to and im not going to go and post a thread about it lol.

daddymac said:

Best NPG Lineup. IMO

Prince

Rhonda Smith

Renato Neto

John Blackwell

Awesome at Montreux

Yeah! They were! Funny you mention Montreux. Just got the DVDs this week. I did attend the shows though and back then I didn't appreciate it enough, due to the lack of hits and mentally I was someplace else (I did enjoy the second show more). But sitting at home watching the DVDs, I have to say, it was awesome (also the first show). Empty room is amazing.

lastdecember said:

PatrickS77 said:

^^And you are annoyed that he plays his hits?? The problem with hardcore (how I hate that expression) fans is always that they think they make up the majority of the fans going to concerts. But that is not the case. The hardcores are a fraction of the people going to the concerts. The majority of people are casual fans, who know the hits, want to see the hits and are leaving and left disappointed on the tours where he didn't play that many hits. People want to hear songs they now and the well known songs he covers play into that category as well. And it's not like he always only plays the hits, he always throws in some obscure songs or hits he hadn't played in a long time. Also, as you know, no two shows are the same. If you compare that to a say Kiss or AC/DC show then be glad what you get.

Its not even the HITS, its the way he is doing them, this abbreviated versions of songs are just teasers, and to me its seems like, Prince is saying, i got to give some hits here you go, and like a laundry list they come out. I dont doubt his heart or dedication,etc...its just bland, leaving you thinking what is this show about, and it has been stuck like this since the Musicology tour ended, which was his real last "tour". So im not saying dont play HITS, i have no issue with the HITS but the way he does them, i mean my favorite band a-ha called it a day in 2010, and played the world that whole year, i saw them 6 times and it was all singles and hits they had released no album cuts, and i had no issue with that because they were doing it the way the songs were, not 1 minute of this song, half of this one, cutting the chorus out of this one, etc....so i wasnt bored even though 3 nights here in NYC the setlist only varied by two or three songs night to night, i didnt care, because they seemed very into it, the crowd loved it , and they were the songs.

As for Prince shows and the die-hards being a small % i dont agree, especially in Prince's case, and again the idea that the artist owes you the hits is false, they owe you a show, your ticket is not a promise of songs you get to hear in either direction whether you want hits or bsides or covers, so im mainly saying Prince needs to change something up because it has become routine now.

When he plays festivals or arenas with 10.000 people and more, then the percentage of hardcores is small. And it doesn't matter what you think an artist owes it's audience, if he doesn't give them what they want (and usually that's the hits), they might decide to not come back the next time. So he kinda has to play the hits, whether he wants to or not (maybe that is the reason he chooses to play shorter versions of certain songs). I saw A-ha for the first (and last time) in 2010 and I'm pretty much a singles fan (other than Hunting high and low never bothered to listen to an album). I would have been disappointed if they wouldn't have played their hits at all. And it doesn't really matter whether it's full versions or not. In most cases a verse and a chorus is enough, it's not necessary to play the song until the very last note and by playing shorter versions, he can play more songs, also some lesser known songs, so everyone wins. Of course, some times it's unfortunate... when he played Gold last year I wished he would have played the solo as well, but I got the bulk of the song and was happy with that. Also considering he didn't play that one in ages.

daddymac said:

Prince is a master musician, artist for over 30 years im pretty sure he knows what he wants interms of what composition of bandmembers he needs.

Life is too short to be overcritical of everything. It seems that alot of people on here critisise every single gig that Prince has done. Ive been a fan for a long time and quite frankly nearly all the times i have seen him on TV or in concert have been amazing regardless of whichever musician is on stage with him.

I thin here is alot of nit picking on irrelevant stuff here

Agree!

stillwaiting said:

allsmutaside said:

Yeah, I read it. It sounds like you are suffering from PIPUS - Post Innappropriate Pedistal Use Syndrome. And now that Prince is not meeting your criteria for the height, you are trying to figure out how to move on from that. Put your left foot in front of your right and... Or even do the hokey pokey, that works too. I mean tying to compare apples and apples when you have an apple and an orange in hand doesn't always work out all that well, as you can see from some of the responses here. I think that if you had posted a concert review of Elton, and a presented your list of Prince grievances seperately you would have been well received. (Prince not meeting the height critera .)

If Prince showed up and just sang one song, and had Tony M on 7 songs, and Shelby lead on ten, you would probably say it was the best show ever. My simple point is that Prince can't sing 30 full length songs in a 3 hour show. He has no ability to do a show like that. Elton is 11 years older, but has more guts to do a show that is not only a crowd pleaser, but meets the needs of someone who is a musician, and understands a quality show.

I get pissed when I see a show with lack of focus, and lack of full length songs sung by Prince. It's not apples and oranges. Elton is aruged by many to be one of the greatest composers of our time. I believe that Prince is 100 times better, but that Prince wastes his time with crap talent like Andy, and wasting time playing cover songs nobody wants to hear.

Of course it is apples and oranges. Their careers cross over in time, but there is a good ten years of work Elton has on P. Those ten years, and several other indicators, suggest a completely different demograpic pool as baseline, or starting point, for their fanbases. These fans attend concerts and their performers cater to them, hopeful for ticket sales.

You seem to have more on your mind than comparing EJ and PRN in concert. And you are seriously jacking your own thread.

but has more guts to do a show that is not only a crowd pleaser, - guts, futs! (Even on its literal face that statement is oxymoronic.) Did Elton have guts? Well, the old bitch was uber fucked up for most of his early career - liquid guts, powdered guts, smokey guts... Yeah, Elton had plenty of guts. Whearas Prince remained sober and played in his underwear as he opened up for the Rolling Stones. So, now, don't hang up, "just talk about" guts.