Just back from the gig, and I’m listening to I Wanna Be Your Lover. If Prince had played that tonight, verbatim, it would have been legendary. I’d almost be happy with that one song, done right.
I have no problem with Prince – I’m sure he is a lovely bloke. But when you get that famous, I guess the machine controls you.
I’m fucking seething!
Well, kinda.
Almost every seat was $180. Some in the very back row were $99, a token gesture. And down at ground level, surrounding the symbol stage, were seats priced at $350 and $450. That’s where I was. And it was shite. And that was the consensus of everyone down there that I spoke to.
Prince’s concert was “in the round”, a concept I have no problem with. But for it to work, you need a round stage, with the band in the center, and the star working the perimeter. Prince’s show tonight had a massive directional bias, and half the audience were cheated. But at least the hard-done-by half of the audience could look down on him, even if they weren’t exactly facing him. In my expensive seat (which I would have happily swapped for a $99 seat), I mostly got to see the back of the drum kit. I saw a lot of the backing singers, they used the rear of the stage extensively. But I paid to see Prince.
There were screens to watch, but from my premium seat they were literally at a 85 degree vertical angle, and it was painful to watch them for more than a minute at a time.
Prince did visit the rear of the stage – I counted 5 times in 3 hours. And each time was less than a minute. In fact so brief were these rear-facing appearances that only once did I have time to switch my phone to camera mode and take a picture.
The music was excellent and faultless. But I didn’t enjoy it – I only remember two brief happy moments 🙁 You know when you watch the Grammys or the Oscars and they have a tribute performance, where several songs are merged together and the music is honored. Imagine that for three hours. It seemed Prince did so many medleys that I reckon only two of his biggest hits were played in their entirety, whereas we got to hear a single verse and chorus of perhaps 10. Every time one of my favorite songs started to kick in, it segued into another hit. With no visuals and only sounds to enjoy, I still couldn’t get into a groove.
I did note that he mentioned Australia a few times, but I don’t think he ever said the word Melbourne…
The encores were stupid. One occurred after a 20 minute break in which there really wasn’t much cheering. I’ve never seen such a false encore in all my days. The third encore was so long coming that I gave up and left, along with half the crowd. I wouldn’t be surprised if he played another song or two to half the audience, and even they had given up clapping long before.
Prince was very slick, but there wasn’t a single moment where (I felt) he connected with the audience. There wasn’t a single moment where he sung beautifully, or soulfully.
The crowd loved it (I say that based on the dancing and smiles). But cults get similar reactions, and that doesn’t mean they are good. There are seven fish’n’chip shops in Williamstown (where I live) and I wouldn’t eat any of them for free – even though it is my favorite meal ever. Yet they are all still in business, because most folk are too easily pleased.
The hi-hat drums… well Prince was mostly behind them, and at the same relative height. Here’s the best it got for me visuallly – and it was extremely brief.
Here’s what a reporter from The Age said about Prince’s prior gig in Sydney:
Most shows start and end as strongly as possible and, if they have to dip, do so briefly in the middle. This one was a veritable roller-coaster: one minute you’d be feasting on the hot funk of Jam of the Year; the next you’d be scratching your head at The Song of the Heart, Prince’s goofy song from Happy Feet. Or you would be getting Delirious and partying like it was 1999 (why does he so often cram the upbeat jams into medleys?) only to find him sliding into a teasing, unfulfilling read of Little Red Corvette.
Don’t get me started on the painfully indulgent 20-minute meander through Purple Rain or the fact that he kept us waiting another 20 minutes in the dark for a final encore of Peach.
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