Best show I ever saw was Prince, October 30, 1988, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan. Nothing else has come close. He had the audience in the palm of his hand in a way I've never seen. It was unbelievable. I also saw him in 1993 (average show), and again in 2004 (great show). I get what you are saying. He could be wildly inconsistent. His recorded stuff got mostly bad after The Gold Experience.
In the celebrity half-truths, gossip and smearing part of the thread, as far as I can tell. See also: Whitney Houston.
I only saw Prince once live. Underwhelmed. He just sat at the piano the whole show. No hot back up singers. Must have been one of his religous phases. I saw a Prince impersonator at Vegas who knocked the socks off the audience.
And the only male wearing a shirt with the sloppy collar hanging off one shoulder was probably George Michael. Well, I don't remember if he wore those, but it seems like he should have.
Is there any truth to the story that Prince once gave a "concert" where he just played his records and danced to them? Sounds like an urban legend to me, but he certainly was arrogant enough to pull something like that.
I wouldn't call it arrogance, but he used to host impromptu parties at Paisley Park. he could have do it there, you know, just put on some party records and everyone just casually partied and had fun.
I saw the 1988 show 3 times, and I actually didn't like it that much the first time. In the months before that concert, I'd watched the "Sign" concert movie like 2000 times, and I adored it. Basically I didn't love "Lovesexy" live... because it wasn't "Sign"! And all the shortened versions of the songs frustrated me. However, when I saw the show again, I knew what to expect and I embraced the approach. I'd expelled the "Sign" movie from my head and could appreciate "Lovesexy" for what it was -and what it was was great! I definitely liked 1993 more than 2004. Saw 1993 3X over 3 straight days, saw 2004 2X over a month or so, and thought 2004 was just... blah. 1993 was more of a theatrical show, one with ambition - at least as I recall. I might have to poke around Youtube to see if I can find the whole show - it's been so long that I don't really remember it that well. I think the best post-1993 show I saw was 2000 here in VA. Not on a par with the pre-1997 shows - I also saw 2X 1984 - but better than anything I saw after 1993. Biggest frustration? Philly 1998: club show, and Prince came out on fire... and then ceded the stage to Larry Graham for a loooong stretch. By the time Prince came back, it was too late - the momentum had died...
Yeah, that wouldn't be a bad thing. If he sold tickets to a formal "Prince concert" at an arena and then just played DJ, people would be irate. But Prince having fun at a small club situation... not an issue.
I saw Prince in 2004 also (at least I think it was 2004, I got a free CD from it that I never played lol), the highlight for me was the Sheila E portion of the show to be honest.
Still catching up... These Dreams Good Grief, the hair in this video is B-52s-level parody. I mean, they must have realized that this was getting one or two steps into the absurd, yes? Below: even Jareth was getting a little jealous of Ann Wilson I never had much interest in this song when it was new, and it isn't even a patch on the great, great rock they were producing in the seventies, but a gal's gotta eat, and that hair doesn't spray itself. Listening to it again many decades later, I don't really mind it all that much. Especially after the terrible dreck that we've been suffering through since early 1985, this one is actually somewhat decent. I suppose if I tried to parse the lyrics I might not be too impressed, but at least it sounds like they are trying something a little different. And like with Starship, I'm glad these long time lady buttkickers managed to get a #1 in their careers, even if it was their own My Ding-A-Ling comparatively.
Geez, was Sheila E at the east coast shows? I have no memory of that... but I'm old and senile, so... maybe? I do remember that in Philly, Prince brought up Patti LaBelle for one song. She spent like a minute just grunting "UHH!" before she actually sang. Related footnote: I always hated Patti LaBelle!
Yeah, Sheila E played percussion throughout the show, and at one point had her own little set (2 or 3 numbers). This was in L.A. at the Forum. It was the highlight of the show.
Huh. I'll have to do some poking around to see if Sheila was on the east coast shows too. I'd think I'd recall that, but again... old and senile!
Rock Me Amadeus People here say Mozart was elevated to the top ranks of the classical pantheon due in part to the movie Amadeus. I've always personally waited for Mussorgsky to get his due, but he was always too Modest to ask for big attention. (ba dum bum... classical music joke ) Falco seems weirdly ahead of his time; like, I could imagine him dressed like that having a hit with this in the mid to late nineties. This song, if it even qualifies as a song, is pretty much a big nothing burger. Barely even a hook; yes, it looks like rap is ready to arrive. Having said that, I can't deny the darn thing has been stuck in my head the past two days; if it is just a hook and not much more, it still is a hell of a hook. And I always appreciate it when someone has a sense of humor, and the mere idea of writing a pop song to celebrate Mozart is in itself funny. So, I don't think it deserves a #1 spot, but I enjoyed the three minutes listening to it, knowing I will probably rarely do so again.
Setlist.fm indicates Sheila only opened at a handful of Prince shows in 2004. If that's accurate, she wasn't at the DC or Philly shows I saw!
Felt like an extension of RP's time with Power Station... and a good extension. Simple little danceable rocker. Good song, and iconic video!
Shelia E was not at the MSG show I was at for the Musicology Tour. I checked Prince Vault to make sure. 13 July 2004 - Prince Vault
Yeah, for something so dated there's also something fairly timeless about this one. I still love it, always makes me smile. Everything can't be Joni, as much as I love her, but some things justify their existence thru pure creative fun and I feel like this is one of them.
This was only #1 for one week but in a lot of ways it feels like the biggest hit of the year, in part thanks to an utterly iconic, less-is-more video. We were definitely entering the era of the supermodel, so the devastatingly handsome Palmer fronting a clone army of Fembots with jugs was just a brilliant low-cost video concept that wound up being one of the most iconic of the MTV era. I always thought he looked like a kinky bank manager - businessman in the streets, freak in the sheets. The English-born Palmer had made his debut way back in '75 with the Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley LP. There had always been something hyper-sexual and illicit about his image right from the start: His first chart hit came in '78 with "Every Kinda People", a decidedly not freaky song, followed up by the more-driving "Bad Case Of Loving You" in '79, which I always loved. Again, the image was sex-forward: Palmer wasn't just a singer but also a percussionist, and played on Talking Heads' Remain In Light. The Heads' Chris Frantz returned the favor, playing drums on "Looking For Clues" from Palmer's '79 album Clues. Palmer shifted at the turn of the decade from his more blues/rock base to a New Wave / synthpop sound, including co-writing a tune with Gary Numan. I kinda like his material from this era, but it went nowhere on the US charts, although he finally started charting in his native UK during this period, scoring a #16 hit with his cover of "Some Guys Have All The Luck" in '82 (it's kind of a mess - Rod Stewart produced a vastly-superior cover of it in a similar synth-poppy style a couple of years later). For awhile there it looked like Palmer's fortunes were fading and he was going to be completely eclipsed by younger acts, but then he hooked up with Duran Duran fragment The Power Station as their appropriately handsome and glossy lead vocalist, scoring two US Top 10 hits with "Some Like It Hot' and their T. Rex cover "Get It On (Bang A Gong)". Palmer instantly went from "not" to "hot", and began work on his solo LP Riptide in '85. An '80s sleek combo of pop, rock, R&B and dance, it finally - if briefly - made Palmer a massive star with "Addicted To Love". Surprisingly for a guy who'd made a name as a bluesy covers artist, Palmer wrote this one himself, with Chic's Bernard Edwards handling the production, and it's a corker, exploiting his blues-tinged background while layering on hard rock and New Wave elements. I just realized tonight it's not a million miles removed from ZZ Top's '80s transformation, and I wonder if that was the inspiration. The song was originally intended as a duet with Chaka Khan, but her idiot label wouldn't grant her a release to work on it - she's still credited with the vocal arrangement, which is flawless of course. Duran Duran and Power Station alum Andy Taylor handles the edgy lead guitar - Duran Duran have always been underrated as musicians, they're really stellar even if they are all very pretty. The video shoot sounds like a hoot - the models were drunk and one lost her balance and slammed her guitar neck into the back of Palmer's head, forcing him into his microphone. Per Wikipedia: In a 2013 interview, when asked why she was designated the drummer and not given a close-up shot, Kathy Davies jokingly replied, "I guess the naughty ones always get sent to the back." Davies added that she did not mind it because she thought Palmer "had a good bum." I'm sure he did. It ain't the cure for cancer, but as with "Rock Me Amadeus", "Addicted To Love" is tons of fun and totally iconic. I'm actually surprised Palmer didn't parlay his success with this video into an acting career - he would have made a better James Bond than the overdramatic Timothy Dalton. Bond as written actually was kind of a malevolent bank manager, a businessman in the streets and a freak in the sheets. Palmer would go on to have 2 more #2 hits plus two more Top 20 placements before fading off the pop charts around the start of the '90s (although his UK career would arguably peak around the same time). The last time I saw him in an interview around the turn of the century I thought he looked strangely puffy and unhealthy - he had an impressive smoking habit. He passed away from a heart attack in Paris in September of 2003 at just 54. Don't smoke, kids.
