Prince's London love-in: a must see or over-hyped has been?

bun-u said:

Didn't spot another thread about this so thought one was worth starting - given this is supposed to be the cultural event on 2007. I know alot of different people who have gone to these shows (some of them several times), admittedly all of them gushing about how terrific he was, the atmosphere, the after-party, all this legend-in-the-flesh nonesense. Don't really get it all myself.

Apologies if this has all been done before...:slanted:

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Went last night, left before the encore. Gobsmacked at how bad it was. For 20 years I've been heraring about how great Pricne is live; this is the first time I've seen him. We had great seats too, so there's no 'big venue' excuse (altho the sound was poor). At times it was like a stadium rock show - never seen so many guitar solos in one night - his covers were far too many and not very good (sorry, but how the fuck can someone like Prince cover Come Together and miss the bassline off?) and apart from the hits (Kiss, Let's Go Crazy, Girlfriend) and a brilliant piano-only version of Strange Relationship I was really bored, except when that big lummox of a white geezer in the lime-green bandana got up on stage and danced to Play that Funky Music White Boy.
About halfway thru we went for a fag. When we were told there were no pass-outs, she said "shall we go". I just couldn't leave that early. 20 mins later we did.

Yeah, agreed, it was rubbish last night. I had fun dancing to a couple of songs but it was really a case of trying to make the most of it. I got the impression a lot of the cheering was people trying to convince themselves they hadn't wasted their money.
I also got the impression that he knew he was playing for a crowd who weren't especially Prince fans, just people who wanted to see a big star.... you can't see Elvis any more so why not go and see Prince? Way too much guitar rock shit, songs I didn't know, hardly any classics. He started playing Sexy Dancer but then sang "Jack Le Freak" by Chic over the top, which doesn't even go properly. Why? I imagine cos he thought it would appeal to the non-Prince-fans.

I was a bit gutted as a HUGE prince fan but kept quiet for the sake of friends I was with who were all excited.

A Prince show where "Black Sweat" and "Kiss" are the highlights, you know there's something wrong


although, a friend I was with agreed it was pretty poor but insisted it had been awesome two weeks ago when she went, so maybe we were just unlucky.

I wouldn't really want to see Prince, I prefer the idea of him rather than the real thing. You know who I would still go and see now, though? Michael Jackson. More out of morbid curiosity than anything else.

i went on sunday. he was good, as in hes still animated and expressive as a performer but the musical content isnt up to much.

the sound setup at the 02 is a piece of shit - all blaring midrange, much louder than the speakers can handle it seems and the actual sound of princes band is bland, MOR, and a bit vegasy (and he could do with getting rid of the two generic big voiced backing singers and attractive but painfully cabaret dancing girls).

that part where his sax player did a soft porn channel 5 soundtrack sounding version of what a wonderful world was dire, esp as prince said 'real music y'all, check it out!' half way through. funny he said that cos towards the end, he was triggering loops of his hits (like when doves cry, sign o the times etc) and singing along, only for a verse each though, presumably as he only had them on loop, so couldnt do the whole song. he actually came in at the wrong time for SOTT though, which was a bit lame.

basically though, yeah, this is prince at that sort of rolling stones level now, where people go to see him just cos its prince. people and critics are giving him all the praise now just cos hes still around, and cos he belongs to a bygone era of 'weird'/gifted popstars that they miss, so it doesnt matter that it sounds like crap, or that hes mostly just rolling out ersatz, pretty bland versions of his hits, they just want to see him.

what the 'loop' part made me think though was that a lot of princes songs have always sounded shit live, like kiss, or when doves cry or 1999. basically cos theyre so reliant on the sound of his drum machine, that whenever he tries to overmaximise the instrumentation or have it played in a more trad 'live' way, they really lack something (the generic big arena sound doesnt help obviously).

i liked his foo fighters cover but mostly, the funk tracks in the show, esp the new songs musiclogy and black sweat, are really awful. i dont know if its cos he doesnt have a rhythm guitarist anymore or that the songs just arent funky or good to begin with but he drags them out for too too long, and inviting ppl from the audience to dance on stage for 20 mins and sometimes even sing was lazy filler.

gumdrops said:

that part where his sax player did a soft porn channel 5 soundtrack sounding version of what a wonderful world was dire, esp as prince said 'real music y'all, check it out!'.

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I turned to my mate at that point and said "can't believe he's just said that". bad enufff having a schmaltzy sax solo - but of Wonderful World ffs? Why didn't he just do Careless whisper.

I agree with your review. Prince himself could still do an amazing show, I reckon - but this wasn't it.

ive actually gone twice to see him at the 02 now (im a BIG fan) - went on the 1st night and thought it was quite bad (he didnt seem to *really* want to do his hits, too many crap covers, too much of that tedious 'funky london' chant over crap, uninteresting, leaden funk jams) but on sun i thought it was a 100 times better. mainly just cos i could see him though (hes a fun performer to watch, if you get good seats, which i did luckily) but musically, its dissapointing.

well i used to love him his stuff and saw him twice in his prime, i haven't really had any desire to see him again regardless of the hype, he's simply not much cop anymore, i don't want to wipe the memory drive, i'd rather hold the fact that i saw him in my younger days i loved it and he was great and i believed in him and his music.
By doing a summer of gigs just goes to show how bad things have got, he's a revue act and london is his vegas. As for giving his latest album away with daily mail, it's like, do i have to say anything else?

Quote:
Originally Posted by gumdrops
that part where his sax player did a soft porn channel 5 soundtrack sounding version of what a wonderful world was dire, esp as prince said 'real music y'all, check it out!'.

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Does anyone know who the saxman was? Maceo Parker has been playing some gigs, but my memory was that the guy on sunday was a pudgy 40-something. I'd also expect him to be introduced with more ceremony than he was, had it been maceo.

me house-mate saw Prince on wednesday night. No 'When Doves Cry', and apparantly Elton John joined him on stage to do a version of 'The long and winding road'...

hmmm...

gumdrops said:

prince said 'real music y'all, check it out!' half way through. funny he said that cos towards the end, he was triggering loops of his hits (like when doves cry, sign o the times etc) and singing along, only for a verse each though, presumably as he only had them on loop, so couldnt do the whole song.

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I went last night (to the, um, last night), and thought that was funny, too. It was a bit annoying that he dsimissed Sign o the times and When Doves Cry in such short order.

I really liked it, tho. There were none of the crap covers referred to up thread, and the band were just the right side of funk jam tedium. And given that I've never been to a stadium gig before, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked the glo-sticks-in-the-air sing along to Purple Rain.

I went, and found the O2 arena gig a bit disappointing. Admittedly I got pretty poor seats, but the sound quality was still awful, with the up tempo songs turning into tehcnofied disco stomps. There's a substantial cheese quotient, with songs like "Kiss" sounding not all that different to Tom Jones's bloated, horn blaring version.

Nevertheless, the good songs were pretty transcendent. "1999" and "Girls And Boys" were just amazing. He's still a wonderful performer, and looks and moves fantastically; which was part of the problem for us, in that we were so far away that we couldn't really feel the funk. So it was fun and well worth it, but still all a little bit cosy end of pier entertainment.

However, the after show gig I went to (which is in a 1500 capacity club, so relatively 'small', although you have to pay for it again), was WICKED man. Prince played for about an hour and a half. A lot of it was funk jams, but whereas in the main gig those seemed like mindless crowd pleasers, in the aftershow these were really lithe and dextrous, just full of vitality and verve. Sexy in an unusual way, Prince's campness making it kind of flirty an instantly appealling.

A mate danced so much he broke his ankle.

One thing it's worth saying, which a lot of other gig goers have remarked upon- it's really quite a priviledge seeing Prince do his still pretty darn funky thing in person. One of the greatest artists of the last couple of decades, who still kicks ass on a semi regular basis. To witness that, I'm extremely glad I went.

it is still a privilege seeing prince well, being prince, but this band are basically like a great wedding band. or like the bands you hear on david letterman or other american chat shows. i went to the club gig at the indigo too and while i have to give it up for anyone that can perform for another 3 hours after the main show, and the venue allows for much better sound than the 02, i found the funk quite flabby and heavy handed (he really does need an extra rhythm guitarist). really too many horns (from a well well past his prime maceo parker and mike phillips, who - no joke - is the 2007 version of kenny g as a solo artist!) as well. and much as i wanted to cheer on that hard rock medley at the end (the acdc sounding version of anotherloverholeinyohead), it just sounded a bit corny, which is what i felt about most of it really - between the chic covers, the play that funky music white boy etc etc, god, it was all quite cheesy (how much inspiration is anyone going to have to sing freak out in 2007?) or over-faithful to/reverential of/stuck in the past. and the way prince kept over-soloing, even during the amy winehouse song (which she actually was there to sing) which just doesnt need any guitar solos (no matter how modest!) was pretty lame. he was feeling himself a little too much. his best guitar work is a bit more considered, and i do usually like his solos, but he seemed to just be doing it for the sake of it.