Prince concert review - O2 arena London Friday 3rd August 2007
“You ain’t ready for me London” - “This is real music, not what you’re used to!”
But the crowd was more than ready for Prince last night, all 20,000 of us, as he tore the roof off the O2 arena with an absolutely stunning show. I saw him perform in Las Vegas in January, and up until last night that gig had held the honour of “best gig ever”. I say until last night, as the 2 hour show was nothing short of jaw dropping brilliance. In a lot of ways it was very similar to the 3121 show in Vegas, but the bigger audience seemed to fuel him on to play a lot of his anthems and to really encourage audience participation.
The show started on a slow note with “Satisfied” from the 3121 album, which apart from Purple Rain was the only slow jam of the night. The rest of the concert saw Prince really funk it up with tracks like Cream, Anotherloverholenyohead (I loved hearing him play this live), U Got The Look, I Feel For You, Controversy, Black Sweat, Little Red Corvette, Kiss (u don’t have to watch Big Brother to have a good time), Pink Cashmere, Take Me With U, Crazy (yes the Gnarls Barkley one)/One Nation Under a Groove and Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry where he got some of the audience on stage for some impromptu dance moves.
Playing a major part in Princes band was ex James Brown bandleader Maceo Parker, who gave a new twist to some classics with his sax taking the lead. Not to mention the awesome solos he performed when Prince was changing costumes.
The highlight of the show for me was the middle section where Prince told us he was going to get us all dancing and play the funkiest jam we had ever heard. The lights dimmed, then came back on at full blast whilst millions of paper streamers floated down from the ceiling - all while he launched into a devastating performance of Lolita, followed by track after track that got everyone on their feet and dancing in the aisles. In fact its fair to say that the whole arena was on their feet for the full 2 hour show, you just couldn’t sit while there was so much energy in the room.
The show continued in the same vein until Prince finally wrapped things up with an extended version of Guitar from his latest Planet Earth album. I was hoping he would play this, as its so suited to this type of venue - and it didn’t disappoint. What a way to finish the show, the mans guitar skills are still unrivaled, as is his showmanship. A fact backed up by my friend who accompanied me to the gig. She only knew a handful of Prince songs, and doesn’t own any of his albums. But after seeing him play last night, declared it was the best concert she had ever seen. Me too.
N.B. I would just like to say one more thing. We paid extra to attend a VIP Pre-Show party. This involved a few free drinks in the backstage bar along with a buffet, but more importantly it entitled us to the best seats in the house for the concert - within the first 3 rows. However, I overheard a group of girls complaining to some of the staff before the gig because the “finger buffet wasn’t what they expected”. Seriously, they had VIP tickets that meant they would get the best seats for the best gig they would probably see, ever, and they complain about the buffet!!! These people didn’t deserve those tickets, I very nearly told them so too. But as ever, I kept my opinions to myself 
What I’m listening to right now: Prince - “Black Sweat”
Saturday, August 4th, 2007 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I am the founder of ShareMyPlaylists.com, ContentNow.co.uk and some other businesses. I thought it would be fun to blog, writing about my experiences in Internet Marketing. I'll include some personal stuff too, probably about my other passions, music and cars. Please feel free to post your comments and thoughts too.
what time did the concert start and finnish?
About 8.45pm to 11pm.
I was there on Saturday, but on the third tier. Would have loved to be in the first three rows! How did you get the VIP thing? I wanna go again!
I went on the first night - it was the absolute nuts. Seats weren’t that great but the whole place was popping - don’t know if you heard but we got an acoustic encore when Prince ran through the crowd after the lights went up and played Raspberry Beret, Little Red Corvette and a couple of others - it was incredible
Saw the gig on Friday and was blown away… an absolute privelege to be there…
Nice review mate,I was there,came down from Edinburgh was awesome!
Are you sure he did Pink Cashmere?I must have had a few too many ciders if I didnt clock that,its one of my favourites!
You know if there are any plans for a DVD?He’d make a fortune!
Hi
I was there on Friday and I am still suffering from the blisters on my feet from jumping around like a lunatic as the show was fantastic, I was lucky enough to have VIP tickets so was front row. Each of my tickets (me and my husband) cost me a weeks wages each so yes I did moan a bit that the buffet consisted of a few stale nibbles and we qued so long we had no time for drinks!!!
Show made up for it though!
I participated at the concert that night and was been fantastic I came from Naples-Italy and I was been fortunate because I danced with Him on the stage.(I was that crazy man with the white shirt). I’m disperatly looking for videos or pics of that evening. please. thank u.
Was there on Friday and didn’t think it was that great. It started off well but then seemed rather unorganized, not helped by some technical faults, and didn’t seem to flow like it should. Think Prince disappeared too often and he could have played a few more oldies (Did he play Little Red Corvette? Don’t remember it). It was good but could have been better. For instance I saw Rod Stewart recently and thought he put on a much more accomplished show.
I have to disagree with your review, but I do think that it depends on where you are sitting. I was there Friday and was ‘in the Gods’ unfortunately only 2 rows behind us and there was no atmosphere up there and we were unable to make out anything he said and sung. It took 3 or 4 lines into a song before we recognised it, the acoustics were terrible up there, the singing and music all echoed and distorted. I was very disppointed, as I am a massive fan and have seen him twice before. O2 need to sort the acoustic problmes out, as they did not do him justice. I was sorry to say, many people around me just sat there talking, as they were not enjoying the show, now that does not sound like a Prince gig, does it? We also went to the aftershow party and were agin disappointed. we expected to see the NPG play, but not Prince and we got Dr John and his band who were a 50+ blues combo from new Orleans and by 3.30pm everyone was leaving in their droves very annoyed and having arguements with any member of the O2 staff they could find and demanding their money back. All in all a very disappointing night for what should have been the experience of a lifetime.
hi security team are a bunch of thugs. I was next to the guy that got jumped on. They were bang out of order.
I agree with Juliet!
I was disappointed by the buffet, and actually our VIP seats were right at the back of the symbol so I didn’t see much of the performance at all… But the atmosphere was electric and I had a phenom night. He didn’t play little Red corvette or Pink cashmere on Friday, But he did on Saturday when I went again to see the concert from above rather than below!!! On Saturday he also did Raspberry beret, Nothing compares 2U, If I was your girlfriend and at least another 4 songs that I am still so stunned from I can’t remember….. I am hoping to go again in the next few weeks and will see if it is completely different again!
Woob you gotta be joking, Prince is in a a diffirent league compared to Rod Stewart. Regards, Gary.
I must confess after going to the opening show on Wed and then again on Friday that the ist show was a significantly slicker event. Prince seemed to be more up for it and played several more anthemic tracks. I think I may try to go again on the closing night as I think he is more inclined to pull ALL the stops out for the reason of it being the last in London for some time. Even though Fri was not as good it still blows away anyone else I have seen, inc Madonna and Lenny Kravitz…..
I went on Saturday and thought it was fantastic. However I was very disappointed that he didn’t play “When Doves Cry” “1999″ “Sign o the Times”. I realise he has too many hits to play them all but I would have preferred to hear Prince songs than cover versions.
Went To O2 For Saturday Nights Gig (4th Aug)
been a fan for years WHAT A NIGHT !! What A Showman and Performer, he seamed to have changed the songs from his first nights gig but Hey as the man Said He Has So many hits he may just get to play them all over the remaining nights
if i could get tickets again i would drive back down to london to see him before he finishes but don’t tell my bank manager My Seats On Saturday Were leval one Front Row 12-15 ft From The Stage boy What a Night Best Concert I Have Ever Seen by any artist ( incldiung when i went to see Rod Stewart) PRINCE IS THE MAN !!!!!
It was a wickid gig - loved every minute of it - our seats might not have been as close as yours but they were still very, very good.
How was the after show party mate? I was going to go but the line to buy tickets went all the way out the building!
My fiance and I went to see the Purple one on Saturday 4th August and my fiance, who is a massive fan and has seen him already 6 times said the same as Tim. With all his hits he didn’t have to play covers and especially not Crazy (especially as it wasn’t even him singing, although that woman did have an amazing voice). I would have loved to hear him playing “When Doves Cry” too as its my favourite Prince song.
The only hassle we had was trying to catch the tube at the end of the concert when they only opened one set of doors and there was a bottle-neck but other than that the venue is pretty cool as long as you turn up early if you want to go for a pre-concert drink/dinner.
A group of us went to see Prince Aug 3rd. Overall, we were all pretty disappointed, yeah it was good but for Prince I was amazed at the lack of quality in performance. Prince seems to love performing in the dark with hardly any lighting, the sound was awful, it could be the 02 arena itself but I think they needed to turn the bass down and the treble up. Could barely hear and took a while to get into the song trying to figure out what lines he was singing despite being about 20 rows from the stage itself. He only performed about 5 hits and one wasn’t even his. A cover version of ‘play that funky music’ when it would have been fab to have heard Little Red Corvette (which I might add, he didn’t play Kieron, think you had a few too many!)Raspberry Beret and When Doves Cry would have been great. Purple Rain was amazing despite the poor sound but thats as good as it seemed to get, infact I think the 2 dancers stole the limelight. Being a huge Prince fan I couldn’t wait to see him and thought I’d be up dancing all night but the fact I was sitting down here and there just proved it wasn’t the great quality Prince can provide. Towards the end everyone was waiting for him to come back on stage to the point where we were being told to leave the building but because he didn’t play many of his big hits it was like awaiting a superb finale, not quite the truth, infact I don’t even remember what he ended with. Didn’t live up to his name that night I think.
I saw Justin Timberlake recently also and I actually feel he put Prince’s performance to shame. And thats goes without saying George Michael as well.
Thanks for all the feedback guys:
JP: I’m pretty sure he played a snippet from Pink Cashmere at one point, but of course I could have git it wrong. I’m not sure abouut a DVD release but when I went to see him in Vegas in January the gig was being filmed and could possibly be released at some point. As the show goes, the ontent was pretty much the same format anyway.
Woobs: I didn’t notice any technical faults whatsoever. I can’t believe you can even try to compare a Prince gig to a Rod Stewart gig tho. Are you sure you’ve actually seen Prince play live?
Kope: Sorry to hear you had a bad experience and no atmosphere. Where I was (3 rows from front) the sound was superb as was the atmosphere. Absolutely everybody around me were on their feet, dancing and having a great time.
James: As Kope above mentions, the aftershow was a disappointment. Prince didn’t even play, instead there was a band on from New Orleans. They were OK, but not Prince. Still. that didn’t spoil an excellent night.
Chloe: I too saw Justin Timberlake play a couple of months ago and while I enjoyed his show, he didn’t even begin to compare to Prince live. And George Michael?!?! I’ve seen him live and it had the same effect on me as someone just playing his greatest hits CD over the PA system. Dull.
1st August, opening night, absolutely AWESOME, Prince is the man, my friend and I flew in from Amsterdam and had such a COOL night. We got VIP tickets, enjoyed a drink or two upstairs, had a fantastic view on the stage and seating was good too. Prince his opening song was Purple Rain and the show lasted until nearly 23:00 hours, we then went on to the after show party where we waited for the show to start again, but after waiting for nearly 2 1/2 hours we simply got too tired so left, only to find out the next day that Prince did turn up at 2am and played until 3 am! Gutted, then again, it was hard enough driving the car at the other side of the road that late when you’re tired. Still, we had a FABULOUS night, no problems what so ever with the sound or light, the dancers were fit and it was a SHOW we will never forget. Can’t wait to go again, I LOVE HIM!! Dx
I’m going to see him friday 10th august with my two daughters who have been brought up on Prince, i cant wait, from the reviews i’ve read so fair, its gonna be mega…
Kieron,
Yes as i said i was there on Fri.
At one point his mic seemed to stop working and he was having an argument with a sound guy, another time his “trap door” didn’t seem to be working and it must have been 5 minutes before he came up. Then the house lights were on and off towards the end while he was on stage.
Agree with the comment about sound quality, especially up in the gods was not up to scratch.
I was really surprised when he said “goodnight” and did not return as it felt we had been short changed somehow having read the great reviews on the Wednesday.
As for the Rod Stewart bit - I have never really been a fan - but at least he kept it flowing and got the whole of the crowd dancing and singing along even tho it was pouring with rain.
did anyone compared Prince to JT and George Michael? thats hillarious…but u better stop drinking!
On Saturday 4th Aug. he started off with “Let’s go crazy” and his “Purple Rain” was amazing he also played “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “Little Red Corvette” and “Raspberry Beret” and “Guitar”. Can’t remember any more as my fiance is the HUGE Prince fan and has seen him 6 times but did say that his aftershow gig at the Garage in Glasgow was great as he played again for over an hour!
Hi Kieron
I’ve seen Prince 3 times and mere words do not describe his brilliance.
This will be my first visit to O2 and I’m sitting in BK104 Row U (141/142) - will I see/hear anything or should I try and buy some more?
Mo
We went to see the man on Tuesday 7th….managed to get seats 4 rows from the stage - block B1 - AWESOME.(We felt as though we had our own private show a couple of times).
I have never been to a concert where the artisit displays such professionalism and talent. His accoustic sets were superb as was his rapport with the crowd.
His band and the American salsa band ( name escapes me - sorry) who ‘warmed up the audience’ were technically brilliant.
I would suggest only one thing…if you are not sure wether to book tickets to see this gig…DO IT! Regret is a terrible thing!
Prince is a legend, do not miss this last opportunity to witness it.
ENJOY
I went to see the purple one on tuesday 7th and it was amazing. sat on the top tier at the front and had a wicked view of the stage and, of course, his holiness. set was amazing - couldnt name a hit he didnt play! exceeded my expectations and i’ve seen him 4 times before. thought he couldnt get any better. the acoustic sets he did were so intimate it was though there was only me and him in the room. advice? GO GET TICKETS!!!!
I am going to see prince tomorrow night, but havnt got my tickets yet!!!! Going to - HOPEFULLY collect them tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
Wanted to know what time you guys got to the venue?
I dont know what the start time is.
Also what guests appearances there were - were there any supporting acts?
Cant wait to go - little worried about poor sound quality tho’, hopefully we will have good seats.
Wow, emotions are clearly highly charged here! I’ve seen His Purple Pop Pixiness 12 times in the last 17 years, starting with the Nude Tour in ‘90, but I don’t recall ever seeing a band as tight, brilliantly rehearsed and supremely talented as I had the pleasure of witnessing on Wed 7th Aug. I can’t think of any other artist capable of kicking off a concert like that with 15 minutes of acoustic, alone on stage - unexpected, but sublime, in my view.
I thought Guitar (which I originally thought was rubbish) totally worked live, and Get On The Boat is as funky as Beautiful Night used to be.
The piano segment was great, but lifted pretty much directly from the One Night Alone Live second CD (the box set is available for £40 at the concert, and everyone reading this should go without food to get one before they sell out), but it was the unexpected that made the evening so rare - The Beautiful Ones and Sometimes it Snows, the blinding uptempo version of If I was Your Girlfriend and a spanking trio of Alphabet Street, Black Sweat and Kiss. And Maceo. Oh. My. God.
It was a little odd seeing footage from a concert in Houston Texas (as he kept repeating, thereby confusing the audience who thought he was on stage but just too small to see) at the beginning, when the first night started with the montage of superstars singing his praises, but it was a great version of DMSR nonetheless.
I suspect that over the course of the 21 nights, Prince will settle on a “best start” and “best end” to the concert, depending on what seems to work best in practice, which means that the almost too good to be true show last week will have reached perfection by mid September. Get your tickets now!!
Oh, and to end this lengthy speech (apologies!), the first night aftershow was amazing - band on at 0120. Prince on at 2am, starting with 20 minutes of squealing guitar, a stomping instrumental version of Another Lover HIYH, and eventually, just before 3am, he sang 3121. And Maceo. And Candy Dulfer.
Here’s a handy tip: while he’s clearly not going to play at every afterparty, you can bet your mortgage on the best being saved for the last night….some tickets still remain!
And really finally, Ticketmaster is selling the Stage Suites (the ones behind the red rope, virtually on the stage, from which 8 people were pulled on stage to dance on wednesday). £250 a pop.
Ah well. It’s gonna be a beautiful night.
Hi All
Some very interesting comments! I went on Friday 3rd and also on Tuesday 7th. I felt there was a a better atmosphere in terms of anticipation on the Friday with it being the 2nd show, but I agree with some of the comments, that the acoustics weren’t great from the side of the stage (Block 103 Row X) when compared with Tuesday (Block 108 Row N - v near to the front) when the sound was great.
I had read reorts that he was on for 2 and a half hours plus on the opening night so was a bit confused and eventually disappointed when the concert stoipped at approx 2 hours and with house lights coming on then off etc
Tuesday however, was the best i have seen Prince (6th time spanning 16 years). You get to know when he is in one of his playful moods and Tuesday was one of those nights. There was much more variety to his performance, a 5 or 6 song medley played on a keyboard which included The Beautiful Ones was a highlight, as was If I Was Your Girlfriend. He started with a medley of bona fide hits too with Little Red Corvette, Raspberry Beret and Cream.
I return to the 02 on the 18th and then at the end of August and look forward to more variety and surprises.
If Justin Timberlake ever dreams about putting on a stage show as half as good as Prince, he better wake up and apologise!
I too went to see Prince on Fri 3rd and what there was of him was brilliant, but what soooo disappointed me (after driving 3.5 hours to get there) was all the ‘faffing’ about coming on and off stage….. in all I calculated he was actually on the stage for no longer that 1 hr 20 mins. Started late (no supporting act)m on for half hour/off for 10 mins/on for half hour/off for 10 mins/back for 5/off for 5 and so on……. why the hell do these stars think it’s so clever to do that??? I have been to a lot of concerts lately (yes I have a varied taste
and George Michael played those games with the audience too (starting late/on and off etc) but for sheer value and consideration for the fans, Rod Stewart’s show took a lot of beating…. starting at 6.30 with Chrissie Hynde & the Pretenders and Rod doing 2.5 hours with only a couple of quick exits for clothing changes. Elton John always does 2.5 hours solid and most surprisingly Bryan Adams also gave fantastic value with 2.5 hours of sheer rock!! So, although I’m not putting down what he did, which was brilliant…. it was what he didn’t do that disappointed. I would really have loved to hear Gett Off and Little Red Corvette and he should have given more time to the fans………anyway, that’s my view!!
Ive just brought some tickets to the prince aftershow party (after having attended the gig last friday - wicked show btw) but now ive found out that he doesnt play at all the after show partys. can anyone confirm this?
Hi Dawn! I just read the review of DutchBird (#20 on this page). He reports that Prince’s appeared on the afterparty on August 1 and played the house for at leased one houre. So, he knows were to find this stage
But I am also interested in experiences of other readers about our man playing the official afterparty. Anyone was there?
Dawn: As Kope and I both said above, we attended the aftershow party and Prince didn’t play. So it looks like some nights he plays, some nights he doesn’t - its the luck of the draw. But for the sake of £25 a ticket I would pay, just in the hope that he does play.
I attended the 3rd august concert,
and after reading all the reviews
I have most certainly been robbed.
Left waiting for an hour before being
let into the v.i.p area,
no entertainment
(except for the fun I created for myself)
finger buffet not excistent until requested,
stale when it arrived,
no time to sit and relax and enjoy my pre concert
drink,the actual concert left me wondering when it was going to start,only to realize that it had finnished.What the hell was going on.
The after show party?
did’nt expect the lord and master to attend,
but 90%of the people around me did,
were teased into thinking he would show anytime,
never did,all this put togeather created a very bad atmosphere,so thank you(NOT)Mr Rogers Nelson.
All in the event cost me hundreds of pounds as I paid for my friend to attend too,I have been a loyal fan for 23 years now,and bought every album,many singles,t.shirts,bangles and baubles,
concert tickets,NPG membership…….the list goes on,feel like binning it all now,cannot even listern to the music! ever feel like you’ve been taken for a ride? Where was he? what was he doing?
I know you should never put 2and2 togeather but some other tiny diva also had a speacial party that night,could this explain the farce?
Alice, I find it hard to believe we were at the same concert.
OK there was a wait to get into the VIP area as Prince was running late at the soundcheck. Big deal.
The finger buffet was there, we got offered food lots of times - but unlike you I was there for the concert, not the buffet.
No time to sit and relax before the concert? Well how come I had time to sit and relax with 3 drinks?
I don’t understand your comments about the actual concert either, he played for 2 hours and it was awesome.
After Party - sure it was disappointing that he didn’t play but again, it wasn’t guaranteed that he would be playing anyway.
It cost me hundreds of pounds to attend and a day out of work too. But in my opinion it was more than worth it.
For anybody wanting to know about the Aftershow parties then check out the official 3121 blog. According to this report here: http://www.3121.com/blog/?p=69
“THE WAY IT’S SHAPING UP IS WHEN THERE R BACK2BACK SHOWS, THE BAND USUALLY OPTS 2 REST. IF THE NEXT DAY IS FREE THO, WATCH OUT!”
OK, so we were spoiled by VIPs 3rd front row tix - and pre-concert drinks et al (Buffet average it’s true, but VIP lounge was excellent I thought, great place to hang beforehand) - but totally amazing concert. First 5 tracks up to Controversy just blew me away. Bit of a flat spot with the FUNKY LONDON shite and crowd dancers, but hey - some people seemed to dig it. Alice, you were clearly at a different gig, on a different planet (FYI, the Slug & Lettuce wasn’t the VIP lounge). Sound was amazing and Prince himself comes from a parallel dimension.
I attended the August 10th show. And I agree this is the best concert ever and I’ve seen many concerts of many different artists.
I also liked the “Big Brother” twist on Kiss. As expected Purple Rain brought tears to my eyes but “Nothing Compares” from his Family days did that trick also. I loved the lead background vocalist her “I know am Grazy” cover (I didn’t like that song very much when it was in the parade last year) but it had me with this version.
Play that Funky music White boy was also a fun twist indeed. Unfortunately we didn’t have the paper streamers
But personally the best part for me was when he played alone on stage, with a medley of Litte Red Corvette and Raspberry Barret.
Yeah great concert and all people I spoke to told us that the Firday shows tend to be the best.
Also I’d like to quote the support act, I don’t know who they are. (Anybody?). But a nice combo of Tina Turner, Soul with Rock and Fuck. They played 3 or 4 songs and they really warmed us up.
We attended the Sat night LET DOWN! Having been a major fan right from the start of his career and seenhim on several occasions … WE FEEL TOTALLY CHEATED! Yeah hes a showman but the constant teasing of snippets of hits and playing cover versions … was extremely annoying to say the least! I brought my daugher (19 and her boyfriend along) and hoped to show them one of the greatest shows ever … We all left agreeing with the many boos… and sat in a bar listening to his HITS … wish I’d saved my money! TOTALLY SCREWED!
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THE ABOVE COMMENT! I too was at the Sat 11th Aug gig! ..It was frustrating! we’d spent a fortune getting down from the Mids staying overnight.. eally looked forward so much to this for so long and … it was frustratingly droll! I accept he may want to ditch the past but to not even include UK hits 1999, MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL in the WORLD and just a snippet of Doves Cry & an AWFUL version of LETS GO CRAZY! etc ..is just …. well… PANTS! Tight Purple ones at that! Most disappointed! ..as a footnote! O2..the accoustics are dire! really really dire!
SPACE and sparky: Can you really expect an artist with over 25 or so official studio albums, countless live albums and tons of bootlegs, i.e. A LOT OF SONGS play a set that pleases everybody? There is so much more to this artist than the “hits” that he released in the UK in the late 80’s and 90’s. Move on guys.
Kieron:
No not move on at all, i go to a concert to expect to listen to someones music, from the past and present (and in some cases future) i dont want to listen to someone going on about how he has too many hits, and we aint worthy to listen to him, the booing was deserved, if only pantomime, 20 seconds of a song for him to stop is in my mind playing to his own ego.
Oh and i was there last night, and also a woman gave birth in the toilets during the show.
Truly disappointing. Went last night with 3 friends (August 11) and the failure to play his major songs (at the end) in their entirety was rightly booed.
The only positive was the venue itself. Had read reviews complaining about acoustics etc but we were 4 rows from the back and it was fine.
Was at the Friday 10th August show. This was the first time ever seeing Prince in concert despite being a fan for absolutely years. It was awesome. Cannot believe his energy. He really seemed to be enjoying himself. The atmostphere was brilliant. Was at the aftershow party and must have been the only one who actually didn’t expect him to be there!! However, he came on at approximately 2.10 a.m. and finished at about 3.35 a.m. Couldn’t believe it!! He was brilliant. Had to pinch myself that we were so close to him. Also although I have my favourite songs didn’t expect him to play all the old ones - he’s bound to get bored playing the same stuff all the time. Was just happy him playing whatever he wanted. Had an unbelievable time and am thinking about going again before the shows end - costs a fortune between plane fare and hotels but couldn’t care less - this ain’t gonna happen again!!
My wife and I went to Saturday’s show and have to say thought it was terrific. True he didn’t play all his hits but the set he did play has plenty of them in - any artist or group who has been around for as long as he has is never going to be able to fit them all in anyway. We were level 4 and I have to agree with some reviews that the acoustics were pretty avaerage but his showmanship more than made up for the murky sound in places. A great night out and a bargain for the price.
Saw Prince on Saturday, we were really pleased with our seats, as were near to the front! until we realised our view was of the drumkit! BUT how wrong I was, Oh ye of little faith! A true legend..just me, Prince and his music for 2 hours. He worked the (round) stage and the Audience teasing them with riffs and chords and kicking songs and lyrics. I screamed, danced (ok I thought I looked sexy)and totally fell in love with the man every time he played another song.
I’m really not sure what people expected? maybe they shouldn’t have and just have realised what a (talented) man they were seeing. Yes I wanted him to come back..I would have waited all night, but Alas, even a Prince needs his sleep (wonder if he used his Pillow £15..Lush!) A true Artist, and LONG MAY THE PRINCE REIGN in his Purple Kingdom, I for one, will remain a loyal Subject
I went to Sat 11th performance. totally amazing, I can honestly say I have never been at such a fantastic concert - Prince is such an entertainer, I never sat down once, the sound was fantastic, had great seats, blk 106, and could almost reach out and touch him!!! Would love to go back again and would definitely get tickets for the afterhow party
I went to the Friday 10th show and the aftershow party. I thought the main show was awesome and he played mainly older songs. The venue was better than I expected and the sound was fantastic. Prince seemed to be having a great time and was very interactive with the crowd. The song choices bearing in mind his huge selection to choose from was very satisfying and aside from a few he did most of his hits (or bits of them anyway). A 2 hour set with 3 encores is pretty good for any concert let alone for an artist that is doing the same thing night afternight. I have to say however that the bit that blew me away was the aftershow party where I really didn’t believe that he would play, especially after a 2 hour gig.
He did another one and a half hours of funky tunes in a tiny venue and sometimes they just seemed to be jamming and having a great time. The whole place was jumping up and down and the atmosphere was amazing. To see a legend like that in such a small venue was totally unexpected and I couldn’t believe he carried on playing until 3.30am. I didn’t get home until 8.30 in the morning but was still buzzing!!! It was by far the best gig I’ve been to and would have gone away happy after the main event, but the aftershow was simply awesome. Top showman, top show and still a legend. Rock on.
I do have to say huge respect also to Beverly Knight. She was also awesome and seemed to be just as awe struck as the rest of us but did a 1 hour 15 minute set at the aftersow and then stayed on stage with Prince for the rest of the show. She’s definitely gained a fan here.
It appears that the concerts are a bit hit and miss depending on which night you go on, if can imagine Saturday would have been a bit flat as he did so much on Friday and couldn’t have got to bed much earlier than 4.30am so although I do feel for all you guys a bit I am so pleased I went on Friday!!!!!
To answer Raymond, the warm-up act was Beverley Knight.
You know Kieron,I find it hard to believe you read my posting.
At no point did I state that I was there for the’delicious finger buffet’.
Well done you for knocking back your ‘3 free drinks’
The concert is indeed a matter of opinion.
The after show party,as stated I never expected anything,my point was,and still is,that a huge percentage of the audience did,and worse still were teased into believeing that he would show,hence creating a bad atmosphere,and that in my book is very naughty.Dr John was given a poor reception and those of us who were happy to enjoy,
were indeed blighted by this,people calling out’go home’and ‘booing,not nice.
And finally, WELL DONE YOU FOR HAVING MONEY TO BURN.
In my home choices have to be made.
On this occasion it would seem I made the wrong one,but hey BIG DEAL.
I was at the sat 11 aug show and couldn’t help but feel frustrated/unfulfilled at the end! the show was good but had the potential to be great!..the show started great but then seemed to lose it’s organisation in parts!..i agree with the other posts that any prince song would have been better than a funky music cover!..also the medley/intro’s of hits such as raspberry beret,little red corvette,when doves cry did as mentioned previously seem to play to his ego!..i was also in the gods and felt the sound could be better,the venue itself was impressive though!
After seeing the stones twice,bryan adams,rod stewart,elton john amongst others this year(all artists with extensive back catalogues)I haven’t managed to feel as frustrated as to what could have been!
I would still definately recommend to go and see as Prince truly is a legend and a great performer!! however I do feel the show could have been great as opposed to good!!
Prince at The O2 11th August 2007-08-12
I attended the Prince concert last night with my brother and this is my experience of the concert.
First I was under the impression I purchased tired seats and was mislead when in fact BK107 AA Level 1 are on the flat. There is no point having a design of stage which cannot be seen from the seats, this is not the case at Wembley Arena or Birmingham NEC and NIA if you purchase comparable seat position to the above.
The main complaint however is the sound in the arena is the worst I have every experienced in my life and we go to lots of concerts all over the world but this was the first at the O2, the sound just echoed around the arena and both the vocals and music was distorted. I was going to book to see Elton John Red Piano at the O2 but I have decided now against this as I have seen him many times and do not want to spoil the good impression I have had by going and hearing him at the O2 arena, I will go and see him in Las Vegas where I know the sound will be perfect. I left the Prince concert early as I could not stand it anymore and asked one of the stewards if the sound was always poor at the O2 and he confirmed the sound was poor and always is
I have now had the chance to read some reviews and many seem to confirm the sound issues especially the one in the Evening Standard. I also did a Google search and found many sites that complain about the sound at the O2
Below is just a couple of links to sites which are discussing the sound problems they clearly have and with respect we all cannot be wrong. There are many other sites complaining about the O2 sound which with respect other arenas do not seem to have.
http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_posts.php?thread_id=90091&category_id=13
http://prince.org/msg/12/238203?jump=16&pg=1
Finally the only other issue is the stewards running in between the seats trying to stop thousands of people taking photos, I agree maybe it should not be allowed to take photos but with respect stopping people just spoils the show for the genuine fans who go to watch and hear the concert, I would have thought the priority would be to sort out the arena sound problems. Not sure who is to blame, the Arena seem to blame Prince but they would, all I know is we felt cheated.
I think Prince knew about the sound problems as he jamed and messed around for the majority of the concert and he did not perform for 2.5 hours as stated in many reviews at least he did not on the night we went. Yes he was booed by some but I am sure he is thick enough skined not to care? He gets paid whatever he does!
Hi there
I went to the 10/8 gig and was hugely disapointed.I paid top dollar for for tickets on ebay that never came then i re bought tickets from viagogo also at top dollar.i also paid for flight and hotel as i came from ireland so as you can imagine i really wanted to go.I was really impressesed at the venue and couldn’t wait for prince to come on.For the first few songs We bopped trying to get into it but for me it never happened.We were 5 rows from the front d2 we had excellent seats,Prince looks amazing for a 49 year old he sounds great but the o2 sound wasn’t great .there was a really hollow sound.I was really pissed of when he teased us with oldies but never followed through and even more pissed off when he sang songs he wrote but never charted with,I wasn’t there for his song writing abilities I was there for nostalgia to see prince god damn it.
we never got the confetti others spoke about either.This was my experience but there is no doubt the place rocked AND the majority had a great time.Just recently been to see george Michael he was groovy never stopped moving and going to see The police in October hoping for a better night.big big disapointment
Went to the concert 11.08.07 very excited but it was a let down, I saw his Lovesexy tour years ago and I guess being 3rd row back at the NEC I was spoiled. The first part of the show was fine but the encore! he shouldnt have bothered, all he did was tease with less than a minute of each song no wonder the crowed booed. I shall forget this experience and remember fondly the last. On the upside the people I went with are not fans and were blown away by the show.
I was there on the opening night and again on Sat 4th. Both nights were absolutley superb by far the best concert i have been too(Inc Justin at 02 Chloe).
I preferred the line up on Sat as he played a few more of the classics.Little R was definately played(i was sober).
Had great seats too which certainly helped.
You will not be disappointed if you’re going to one of the other dates this summer. He truly is a legend!
Does anyone know what the seats are like at Bk106 Level 1 Row L?
We are going next week and I am getting worried that we won’t be able to see him!
If you log on to the ticketmaster website you can click on a map of the seat plan at O2 and check out your seats!
me and my husband are going to see prince on 25th aug blk 107 row f can anyone please tell me if these will be good seats as we are really looking forward to this concert an if these seats are not great would like the chance to purchaes better seats????xx
I have checked out the seating plan on ticketmaster and on there they look really good - I am just worried because Chris (above) mentioned that he had not been able to see the stage - and his seats look good on the plan too…
Seems silly of the organisers to place seats where you can’t see the stage!
I missed out on the concert at the o2 arena but one of my work collegues went and was pulled up on stage to dance with Prince and I wanted to find out where can I find the video footage if any via the internet???
The Stage is too high for people to see on the flat, my advice is to get a seat in the raised sections if you want to see the stage even though you may be further away from the stage.
How do you know what part is on the flat? Is it all of Level 1? Cos you can’t tell from the seating plan.
Never mind, I got my answer!
The seats are good ones! Nikki, your seats look like they are great seats too.
aftershow party whats it like in standing area as seating sold out we are going sat 18 vip area hope its worth it flights, hotel etc.
Thanks For Info..really excited will let you know how it goes in 1 week 4 days…not that im counting..
Rose the Indigo o2 is a very small venue,
I was in the standing area downstairs
and quite liked it.
Unfortunatly it was a no show with Prince,
had he shown I can only imagine that
it would of been a night to have blown my mind,
hope he shows for you
good luck
Alice thanks for the reply, dont know if my 40ish legs will take it ,is there a bar for some emergency back up ??
Don’t worry Rose my legs are
46 now and they managed it well easy,
yes there is a bar and I found all the o2 staff
helpful and very friendly.
Also there is a cloakroom
a small charge of £1,so you could always
take a spare pair of comfys.
Have fun and enjoy.
i was there last night and can honestly say its the best gig ive ever been to!!he is a genius,the band are amazing and i did nt sit down for the whole show.he worked the crowd like a circus master and the atmosphere was electric,the only thing is when the lights came up we left and i reckon he might have come back on.can anybody confirm that?all in all an incredible night i will never forget
I have a question. I go this Saturday 18th to the Prince concert. Doors open at 6pm. Does anyone know the iternery and if so, could you kindly email me at mini@minisguestlist.com or on this blog and let m know what time i should attend as I understand Prince perform for 2 hours but the venue is open for 5 hours….
Prince at the 02 on saturday the 11th of August
Who were those 6 girls and a guy dancing on stage with Prince on sat 11th of August?
Went to the concern on 7 August and it was FANTASTIC! Had tickets for the aftershow but was way too tired to attend (sold them to other concert goers), anyone know if Prince attended the aftershow?
Our seats were Block 110, Row M, great view.
So is it correct to say tickets state 7.30 start but Prince is on stage at 8.45 ???
14th August show was top from start to finish! 2 hours of sheer delight. When the houslights came on after the encore we all just stayed & yelled for more…. & got more after 5+ minutes of chanting. What a vibe in the hall!! Fantastic crowd, fantastic band & fantastic Prince! As far as atmospehere is concerned this one was on par with Lovesexy 1988 in Dortmund (remember that show & video filmed there?? - I was there ;-)).
Took my 11 year old daughter this year to her first proper gig. You should have seen her enjoying herself ;-)))oh… & my wife & sister from Holland had a nice time as well (that’s actually an understatement…)
Well worth the 500+ Miles roundtrip from Cornwall!! (& shame I don’t live closer to London to do some more shows…)
He comes on at 9 and if you have VIP tickets you get to dance on the srage with him.
Hi, was at after show and concert on tues Prince played till about 3ish then went off but the crowd started chanting 3121 ehich seemed to do the trick he came back after getting changed into his comfy gear and played about another half hour was fantastic much much better than the concert in my opinion!
I am going to see Prince on August 18th is level 4 really that bad ! I hope not, was so looking forward to the concert but am now really worried it wont be that great. It says on the ticket 6pm what time is it best to get there we are driving from Portsmouth then getting the tube in.
I was at the Saturday 11th show and thought Prince was awesome.
Great value for money in a great venue.
I do have to agree with the sound comments though.
We were in BK103 and as amazing as the seats were for viewing the stage the sound never blew me away.
It wasn’t loud enough. Countless times when Prince strummed there was distortion and feedback. Yiiiikes!
It is true that he could have played so many more BIG hits but there are too many to choose from . I feel privileged to have seen the amazing set he treated us to.
A full version of ‘The Beautiful Ones’ would have been the ultimate for me but alas……the final encore whisked us all into a cheering and then booing frenzy and the last song wasn’t strong enough ;o( BUT all in all
My opinion= Prince rocks.
Anyone going on the last night of the tour? I might have a spare ticket I need to get rid of - it’s a “stage suite” ticket in the red roped off area…there are 3 of these areas and the audience dancers are chosen from them. And yes, you get champagne all evening to calm those nerves! I’ll know in early September whether the ticket is spare (sister, saving for wedding etc etc). If anyone’s interested, drop me a line at mrharries@mac.com.
In the meantime, enjoy the shows!
I went to the tuesday night concert, was sat about 2/3rds up Never seen Prince before but always loved his music. Was very impressed with him, his performance and atmosphere. Everyone was up for a party. Pity about sound quality though. Did’nt do him justice at times. Put me off seeing anyone else there. But loved the venue, so such a shame. Prince was very good and really enjoyed his guitar riffs. Hes sooo cool. Would love to see him again.
I went to see Prince on the 14th Aug at the O2 Arena. I really want my money back. The sound system was like listening to music out of a tin box, with a sound delay that made me dance like someone with a stone in their shoe in a concrete jungle. With a small band supporting Prince the hits sounded nothing like the originals ? when the crowd started to dance, a dinner dance crooning track would follow ? “kinda like the music you would hear in the back ground of a Mc Donald’s restaurant”. And the two background dancers with silly 1960’s wigs on looked totally out of place, and looked like a after thought to fill out the stage. I can only advise people not to go to the 02 arena if they want a good sound quality.
Does anyone know how i can get my money back ?
I went on sat 11th august and thought the concert was truly amazing!! I had bought the tickets for my brothers 21st, and er had a fantastic time! It was also my first ever concert, and I dont tihnk anything will ever be able to top it! Purple Rain, Cream and U got the look were brilliant! Does anyone know what the funky stuff in the middle of the first set was, before Play that Funky Music White Guy? I loved every minute of it!!!
Also, with the seats - we had Blk 103 level 1 seats 90 and 91. They were AMAZING - close enough to the stage to still be able to see him smiling!
Hope that you all have a wonderful time like we did!
I went to the Sat 11th Aug gig. I was really looking forward to it, especially after having read such great reviews.
What a complete and utter let down! The shows have been promoted as a greatest hits tour….. so I don’t expect the majority of the 2 hour show to be his new material. Nor do I expect him to disappear from the stage on numerous occasions and leave his band to fill the gaps. He deserved to be boo’d, he’s so far up his own backside that he sees nothing wrong is teasing the crowd with playing snippets of his most famous hits. I certainly wouldn’t waste my money paying to see him again, nor would I recommend his show!
i’ve been twice this week - 14th (Tues)and 17th (Friday) - both brilliant with great support from Beverley Knight and Mia. Great view from a box (i was lucky to be invited) danced non-stop - one of if not the best gig i have been to. Prince fans and not-prince fans all had a great night - he had us from the first note.
I went last night (18th August) and was gutted. Like Kope I was in the gods - row R and sound was awful. Venue is too big methinks. What dissapointed me most was how little time Prince was on stage. He started at 9.30, left for about 10 mins half way through, wasted time with many ‘goodnight London’ stop starts and finished at 10.50. This was after telling the crowd to ‘call someone cos this is gonna go on all night’. I expected more than just over an hour. I’ve seen Prince about 10 times before, mostly Lovesexy tour and had high hopes but felt cheated.
I think being stuck next to four drunks that dropped their hotdogs and beer during purple rain didn’t help. Hope this night was a one off and people going tonight get a better deal.
That was the worst performance I have seen, he glided on stage over 40 minutes late(9.25pm), and cheated us out of half an hour. The hour and a hlaf he was on stage was not even that good, with only a hand full of songs, and the rest of the time messing about on the keyboard. The encore was poor, and so many fans were left standing booing.
My advice to anyone, dont bother going, not worth the journey, and what a rip off. The Muse and Robbie Williams are outstanding compared to prince.
Went to see the show on Saturday the 18th.Prince came on at 9.25 and was gone by 11.00.I must have picked an off night to go.
Ihaven’t been fortunate to c Prince live living in South Africa.Iam a fan and have every dvd,cd of his available.All the recent dvds of the concerts in recent years shows Prince playing snippets of songs;his slightly eccentric habits and tastes ,none of which detracts from the fact that his performances are incomparable to anyone else .Iam surprised some of his”fans”would not know this.Isuspect that these persons are not die hard fans at the end of the day and deserve to you the commercial hits.The unique factor about Prince is that some of the most incredible concert songs were never hits or ever released as singles.His biggest Album in terms of sales purple rain and the movie displayed the mans creative process .With prince the chances are that you may hate a song or love it like no other.Yes the popular songs deserve to b played longer for those their to hear it but get into the other songs as well and enjoy the experience.Certain songs I disliked initially are now my favourites.Anyway heres hoping Prince comes to our sunny shores,meets Nelson Mandela and does a show or 2 with any songs from his catalogue whether it has been a’HIT’or not
Worth every penny just to hear Purple Rain…”Brilliant”….and Yes he did play 1999
I agree with a number of others that the sound quality in the arena could be better.
The attitude of several of the security guy’s is also disappointing. We travelled with friends form South Wales and sat with a group of French guy’s,we all agreed that Prince was something else. I would add that on Saturday night 18th Aug he was late on stage at (9.10 and over by 10.45pm) a little more would have been nice…….
I’ve been a loyal Prince fan since 1983. I have albums and memorabilia without count. I haven’t liked all of his albums because sometimes his musical direction has not always been to my taste, but I have always estatically enjoyed his concerts. I’ve been to 20 plus Prince concerts in the last 25 years and have been deliriously happy at every one of them and never expected to go to a bad one. But last night, Saturday 18th August in the O2 Arena the unthinkable happened. I sat through a bad Prince concert. Actually, I couldn’t sit through it all because Prince came on so late we had to leave early to catch the train home. I knew Prince would probably come on sometime after 8:30 p.m., but never dreamt he would not appear until 9:32. Yes, historically, Prince brings you to the edge of your seat with anticipation, but it always seemed he began and finished in reasonable time. Perhaps I was just delusional then. Or perhaps I never noticed he started late and finished late because he did more than play a selection of MEGAMIXES, or perhaps I never noticed because the sound was brilliant, because he cared about the quality of the acoustics. Never before have I had trouble working out what Prince was playing because the bass was so loud and the treble so lost. The audience has never had to do so much singing or dancing either. Once upon a time Prince sang to us and we sung along a bit. The audience didn’t pay to hear themselves sing and his dancers actually danced. (Please come back Cat, and show them what to do). Once upon a time we didn’t pay to watch members of the audience dancing on stage. (I saw him bring members of the audience on stage at the Apollo and thought it was just his attempt at a Bruce Springsteen ‘Dancing the the Dark’ type thing and thought, if that was the case, Prince had missed the point because Bruce had actually danced with the audience member. You could see, back in the Apollo, it didn’t work that way for Prince and I hoped he would never do it again). So I couldn’t believe it when he invited a token man amidst carefully selected attractive young women to join him, and show just how they could not dance. Did he dance with them? Did he hell. And the teasing, now I’m on stage, now I’m off it, has become just plain silly. We pay to see him, not play peek-a-boo with him. I do not know what time he finally went off stage and stayed off, but even if he played until 11:30 p.m., he would not have been on stage for two hours. I thought Prince was showing integrity by setting ticket prices at £31.31, but now I feel he was just giving us a cheap show. I think it’s the after show party which gets his full attention now.
I went online to find out if anyone else felt like me. I thought I was alone in my disappointment and didn’t expect to find so many people who felt the same. But I did find them, and thought I should set my feelings down too, because in the main the other disappointed fans are like me, they’ve been fans forever and we’re the ones who notice the difference between then and now.
If you thought Prince was good this time round, you should have seen him once upon a time when he was truly extraordinary.
One of Prince’s tag lines at the concert was ‘this is for your memories’. Well, I hope I forget I ever went to the O2 on a cold, miserable August night in 2007 because, amidst the megamixes and bad acoustics, it all came to an end for me.
p.s. my partner who accompanied me detailed more thoroughly the timing for the evening. Prince finished his set before encore, at 10:30. Given the lengthly saxophone solo in the middle, his initialy set would have lasted about 40 minutes. Get’s worse really, doesn’t it?
i went on sat the 18th and he was late on stage an hour between mya on stage and him turning up he started with 3121. but the party started three songs in when he did 1999 he did the hits i wanted to hear like sign of the times controversy and purple rain. but he only did a one song encore of lets go crazy then was off about one and a half hours and maceo parker was on his own for nearly ten minutes doing a solo. the sound was good he did most of the hits i wanted to hear. but some people booed because he was not on long enough. i felt disappointed he was not on longer but while he was on sound was good he interacted with audience. a good night but not superb if he had played say three or four more songs would have been happy.
We travelled from Denmark on Friday 17th to attend his shows both Friday and Saturday being the true and long lifed fans that we are - the two of us.
We did not have the best seats in the house (balcony 407 without a view to the screens) but we were quite thrilled by the perfomance and sound was not bad at all as some are commenting on.
He played for two hours and we were actually very pleased. We also brought a friend of ours from the UK who is not a fan at all and he was very pleased as well.
Then we stood most of the night waiting for Prince at the Aftershow knowing there was a chance he might not come, which he then didn´t. Of course we were dissappointed flying in from DK and all, but hey that´s the name of the game. Maceo, Shelby and the rest rocked the house for sure though.
…BUT Saturday is a whole different story. To be honest I was furious and pissed of at the same time.. He went on waaay to late as you all are saying but with such energy which was much different from the day before. We both agreed that he started off much better than the day before and all his comments about “grab your cellphones and call somebody ´cos we´re gonna party all night” & “we´ll be here until 7 in the morning” left us with a really bad taste when he left us all in a really bad way spending stupidly long time going down and coming up the floor for encore and letting Maceo and Rene Renato fill out a 7-10 minute gap while he canged clothes for Purple Rain.
So no wonder people were boohing when they turned on the lights at 10.40. So did we. Pissed off we were.
“You are not ready for me” Yes indeed we were but you left us with a bad experince. I´m so glad we went on the Friday as well because this was a very dissappointing performance even though I HATE to give my man bad credit.
We didn´t even CONSIDER going to the Aftershow @ the Indogo2 after this.
Actually I could go on but just wanted to give my comment as well, hoping that somebody from the Prince tour crowd reads this and passes the comments from this Blog on.
Come on dude, put your self together for the coming shows.
Peace and B good!
We saw Prince at the O2 on friday 17th August. I’ve not been to any of his shows before and this was a birthday treat for me from my daughter. We had crap tickets (behind the drums) but the purple one made a fair bit of effort ensuring everyone got a looksee. But someone tell me the point of a building with a centre stage that is higher than the seats around it. It should have been sunken, or at the least revolve! The acoustics in the O2 are pretty bad, security are way over the top, also you get ripped off in the bars. Apparently the upstairs bars are worse than downstairs, but I dont call £10-50 for two miniscule drinks downstairs good value.
Apart from all that, we enjoyed the show itself, he’s a consummate performer, the atmosphere was great, and 5mins of stomping and clapping brought him back for a two-number encore. But I no way would book concert tickets at the O2 again, its fine as a conference hall!
I went to the concert on the 18 with my brother - huge Prince fan! must agree with many others. Prince was late on stage and left early. Felt sad for my brother as he travelled down from Newcastle to see a man he has admired for so many years and he tells me the highlight of his evening was maceo parker!! I know the guy is a star, but I think a bit of consideration would have been nice - people had travelled from across the UK and Europe for an intial set lasting around an hour. Let’s hope for others that it gets better…last night was just night 9 of 21! Agree with Philip, what there was, Prince was good and enjoyable, but if there was just 3 more songs, a whole lot of people would have been a heck of a lot happier. Hear Prince hasn’t been turning up to aftershow parties either. For the arena, we were in block 101 on level 1 - great seats and great sound
I went to see Pink at Brixton Academy earlier on in the week. She performed non stop for one hour and a half - with much more enrgy and i didn’t feel i’d been done out of an night of entertainment.
August 19th 2007
Hi both myself and my partner(my wife has seen him before) were at this gig as well and like many other FANS we were left at a complete loss…for starters he comes on at 9.25pm nearly a hour after Mya the support act went off and we like MANY others are left watching Prince pedal out his merchandise on the vid screens(this was being force fed to you nearly as long as he was on stage himself…did not know he was working for QVC!!!)anyhow as many other people noted after about 45-50 mins he went off for a half time orange or would that be a purple to leave us being entertained by a TRULY FANTASTIC SAX PLAYER…for a good 10 mins then he comes back on and plays PURPLE RAIN fantastic then like a rabbit darts down his hole then states “i’ve run out of hits…”teases us then comes back up and plays Lets go crazy then yes you’ve guessed it down into his hole again in a cloud of smoke and YES THATS IT 10.50PM and its OVER!!! I’ll let you guys do the math on that and i think you will agree VERY,VERY POOR.Closing note NO we will not go to see him again and PRINCE IF YOU SHOULD HAPPEN TO CARE ABOUT YOUR FANS…AND LIKE YOU STATED ON YOUR MESSAGE TO YOUR FANS…”THIS IS FOR YOUR MEMORIES”…HERE IS ONE FOR YOU “GO AND DISAPPEAR UP YOU OWN RABBIT HOLE” AS YOU SO CLEARLY LOVE YOURSELF SOOOOO MUCH.
We went on Friday 17th, drove up from Cornwall, we enjoyed every second, there was no boo-ing I will admit the accoustics could have been better but its a live gig for goodness sake.Yes it could have gone on for longer but what gig didnt you want to go on longer ( unless you had the miss fortune to see the Spice Girls). I realy dont know what everyone is moaning about, perhaps you are too old to go to live gigs? Anyway I think he is great and I love the idea of him giving away his latest album for free.
I went to see him on the 18th and although I enjoyed it I was also left bitterly dissapointed, he was not on stage nearly long enough and I really felt cheated after reading all these fantastic reviews before I went. We sat there for ages waiting for him to come on stage and then before we knew it he was off again. Apparently he made it to indigo at 1.30am - 2 and a half hours after he finished in the main arena. I was so gutted….
Wayne… We are moaning about the Saturday night show! I went Friday as well and as I said earlier I was very, very pleased.
Good concert, good sound etc. LOVED every moment of it.
It is Saturday I am dissappointed about. He left the crowd thinking we we´re gonna party all night long and just finished the concert way too soon which I think was really lousy of him..
Well, stll think he´s the greatest though !!
Saw the Purple one for the first time on Saturday the 18th. It was a really great show in my experience, the atmosphere was awesome, the crowd were really gee’d up. Mexican waved a lot. It was shorter than expected and Maceo was definitely terrific. Mr Rogers teased the crowd a few times, overall, you gotta admire this fit dude’s energetic act and style!