Prince "Piano & A Microphone" (and about 37 amplifiers) Tour

Raise your hand if you thought that someday--SOMEDAY--you were going to party like it was 1999.  Be honest!

Now, keep your hand in the air if you NEVER imagined Prince would have fallen off the radar for decades (at least in terms of general popularity) and yet ... when he does go on tour decades later tickets are scorching hot, and you consider yourself lucky to pay hundreds of dollars per ticket (not scalped, I had multiple browser windows open to order as soon as tickets became available!).

Okay, my hand was in the air the whole time.  What about yours?

By the way, prior to the concert I played some Prince songs for my daughters.  They just looked at me like I was crazy.  Typical 80's stuff, they said.  As if they know what even means.  :)   I told them that they needed to check out Purple Rain, the movie, to understand Prince--except maybe they're not old enough yet!  Here's a documentary that helps explain it (same link as what I posted yesterday).
Prince In The 1980's - Full Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRNYiFxR2Ps

So the concert was last night.  Originally scheduled for a week ago, April 7, it was delayed because Prince was sick.  So it was rescheduled for a week later.  How was it?  Honestly, it was a bit of a letdown.  First a couple links with reviews.

From Funkatopia:
"Review: Prince, Piano & A Microphone – Atlanta"
http://funkatopia.com/funk-concert-reviews/review-prince-piano-a-microphone-atlanta/

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution, or the AJC as they seem to prefer now:
http://buzz.blog.ajc.com/2016/04/15/the-photos-people-managed-to-take-at-the-prince-concert-in-atlanta/
http://music.blog.ajc.com/2016/04/14/concert-review-prince-enchants-at-intimate-fox-theatre-show/

My take?  First of all, the 7p show that I went to was only 1 hour, 15 minutes (yes, I timed it).  1:20, as mentioned in both reviews above, is being generous.


I thought that the sound was horrible, as bad as any concert I've ever been to.  My post title tells the story.  It didn't come across at intimate at all the way the piano was over-amplified.  The bass portion of the keyboard was horrifically distorted, and drowned out Prince's voice, which was in great form by the way.

I particularly liked "Nothing Compares 2 U" and "I Feel 4 U."  Not a surprise given my post yesterday, I suppose.  "I Would Die 4 U" was a lot of fun, too.

The show ended unexpectedly early, and the Fox Theatre didn't seem to realize he was done at first.  Lights stayed dim for a while fans chanted for another encore.  "Purple Rain" was a common chant.  But after a while the lights came up abruptly and fans were asked to exit.  Very awkward, amateurish really.

Lesson learned: Don't go to the early show.  You won't get the full experience.


I looked around to find a Prince song to link to here.  Very few results.  Okay, so Prince doesn't seem to allow his videos on YouTube.  But he did do a Super Bowl halftime show a few years back.  And the NFL posted it, so I'll go with that video here.  I don't usually think much of such shows, but I thought Prince did a really good job, even though it was in the rain.

Prince Performs “Purple Rain” During Downpour | Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show | NFL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NN3gsSf-Ys