Prince and The Revolution
Prince and The Revolution: Live
Legacy/NPG
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To this day, “Can’t nobody do it like Prince do.” Even from the “afterworld,” Minneapolis-bred and based son Prince Rogers Nelson is still a force to be reckoned with, and one of the most influential and beloved artists that ever walked this earth, who’s still inspiring many generations to come.
The Purple celebrations—for the legend's 64th birthday—kicked off the evening of Thursday, June 2nd, with the highly anticipated, 100-foot “Crown Our Prince” mural (courtesy of Florida-based artist Hiero Veiga), featuring three shots of Prince, located on the side of Ramp A in downtown Minneapolis, overlooking First Avenue. If the unveiling of the stunning mural wasn’t enough, from June 2nd to June 5th, Paisley Park held an entire weekend of celebratory events, including concerts and Q&A sessions with artists who collaborated with Prince.
To continue the festivities, on Prince’s birthday, the city of Minneapolis revealed a commemorative street sign on First Avenue North between 7th and 8th Streets, which will now be known as Prince Rogers Nelson Way.
The city of Chicago is also honoring Prince this summer with the debut of Prince: The Immersive Experience project—curated by a partnership of The Prince Estate and Superfly—where the purple fam is invited to an immersive experience of all things Prince.
Amid the—bittersweet, I would say—festive feel of the numerous, exciting purple celebrations, and ahead of the Purple One’s birthday on June 7th, The Prince Estate and Legacy Recordings released the eagerly-anticipated and restored album Prince and The Revolution: Live, which captures the band’s extraordinary 1985 live concert in Syracuse, New York.
Directly rediscovered from Prince’s legendary Paisley Park vault, the original audio recording was impeccably enhanced and reconstructed, with the original video source rescanned, restored, color corrected, and remastered onto Blu-ray video with 5.1 Dolby Atmos surround sound by Prince’s late-career recording engineer Chris James.
Now available in both physical and digital formats, the new Prince and The Revolution: Live album marks the first time ever that the concert has been made available in an accessible variety of formats ranging from a beautiful 3-LP set to a 2-CD/Blu-ray set, and digital streaming platforms in spatial audio delivered in Dolby Atmos.
And for Prince’s die-hard fans, a limited-run Collector’s Edition of the iconic performance is available exclusively from the official Prince Store. Tastefully encased in a sumptuous purple-hued metallic box, the set includes the remixed and remastered audio pressed onto three colorful LPs (purple, red, and gold vinyl), 2 CDs, the Blu-ray video, an expansive 44-page book complete with never-before-seen photos of the Purple Rain Tour, new liner notes highlighting stories and memories from the members of The Revolution, and a 26x36 poster.
For the first time ever, old and new fans will get the thrilling chance of relishing—or reliving, for the lucky ones who had the privilege of witnessing the concert live—one of the most iconic shows in the history of music. “What I hope happens is that Sony can reach a new audience and turn a new generation on to what it’s like to be that kind of performer, with his kind of discipline and his kind of dedication — and how tough and badass Prince actually was, and what it took for him to get from the North side of Minneapolis to performing that show in Syracuse,” The Revolution's guitarist Wendy Melvoin articulated in an interview with Variety. “It took an incredible amount of focus and dedication, and he did exactly what he’d said he was going to do.”
Following the enormous commercial success of Purple Rain (1984)—which soon became one of the band’s numerous unprecedented milestones—Prince and The Revolution launched the Purple Rain Tour at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena on November 4, 1984 and concluded their shows five months later on April 7, 1985. It is not a mystery that the Purple Rain tour ranks as one of the greatest concerts of all time, marked by Prince and The Revolution being confronted with the first glimpse of massive global fame. “It was a trip,” Melvoin told Variety. “At the first gig in Detroit, the audience was insane—on stage, [your ears] were almost distorting from how crazy the audience was, in anticipation for the show to start.”
With 1.7 million tickets vended, the tour sold out the majority of venues, and Prince’s packed schedule allowed him, The Revolution, and the supporting acts Apollonia 6 and Sheila E. to have only a few weeks of rehearsal. Although the rehearsing, soundcheck, and performing routines were relentless and fast-paced, Prince still had time for other projects, which he managed to squeeze between the shows, retreating to a recording system he set up on his tour buses and sometimes booking sessions at a local recording studio during the extended breaks.
The show-trek ran for 98 dates, and a couple of months before the end of the tour, Prince and The Revolution had already completed their follow-up album, Around the World in A Day (1985) and were ready to work on their next projects, including the album Parade (1986) and the accompanying film Under The Cherry Moon. The artist decided to conclude the shows before the beginning of the Europe and Japan legs of the tour. Long story short, to not disappoint their European and Japanese fans, Prince and The Revolution opted to record one of the final concerts for home video and broadcast the event live globally.
“It was always about, ‘Let's go out there and make history,’ and we would say that, but we didn't really know that that would end up happening,” The Revolution’s keyboardist Lisa Coleman recalled about the live event in Syracuse, New York.
The concert took place at the Carrier Dome on March 30, 1985, and it crystallized one of the most momentous nights for Prince and The Revolution, a testament to their unmatched talent and impeccably exceptional craft.
“I was so proud of him and the band we put together and everything at that moment, and the fact that it lives on and that this beautiful project is coming out is something special,” drummer Bobby Z elaborated. Prince and The Revolution: Live captures the legendary band and the ascending and transcending icon that was Prince in one of their most crucial concerts.
The refurbished, color-corrected concert film looks clearer than the sun, and every minuscule detail can be captured and appreciated: from the band’s every movement, facial expression, and chord played to the gorgeous flamboyant New Romantic outfits and hairdos. The audio, also meticulously remixed and remastered, offers a special, unprecedented aural experience.
Prince and The Revolution: Live is more than just a film concert and a live album. Rather, it’s a complete experience, blending live music, impeccable live performance, and histrionics, documenting a steadily structured live show and complex live set pieces, enhanced by ultramodern lighting and effects, immaculate solos, lavish vocals, and triumphant arrangements. In other words, it’s undeniable proof of Prince and The Revolution’s immense dedication to their craft.
The album kicks off with the sound of the screaming crowd applauding and Prince calmly yet confidently proclaiming, “Hello Syracuse and the World. My name is Prince and I’ve come to play with you.” The band then launched into a flawless, exhilarating, and energetic performance of “Let’s Go Crazy” followed by up-tempo classics “Delirious” and “1999,” filled with howling guitar sections, pounding drumbeats, and speed-lightning keyboards.
Among the songs picked for the concert, there are a few highlights from Prince’s previous Controversy and 1999 hits. The passage to the segueing glories “Little Red Corvette” and “Take Me With U” is smooth and provides breadth for more exquisite, extended, tighter than tight instrumental solos and interactions with the screaming and chanting audience.
By the time the quirky “Yankee Doodle” spoken monologue had begun, the audience was already going wild, while Prince declared and mischievously inquired, “I love you / What’s more I want you. Do you love me?” … “Close your / eyes and imagine as the rain falls fast / And faster and faster and faster / Do you believe in love? / Do you believe in lust?” setting the stage for the next piece - acclaimed with thunderous applause—“Do Me, Baby” embellished with opulent vocals.
Right at the end of “Do Me, Baby,” the exclamation “You’re just too irresistible” introduces the next set of songs, “Irresistible Bitch” and “Possessed” with arrangements intelligently and meticulously reworked and reminiscent of Prince’s hero, the Godfather of Soul James Brown.
The stunning virtuosic vocalizations of the blues-hued ballad “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore” shift to additional 1999 gems “Let’s Pretend We’re Married”—retaining an independent character from the studio version, turning into a homage to rock legend Little Richard—and “International Lover” building up the tension for the successive song. Directly from the “Purple Rain” B-Side, the sermon-like magnificent ballad "God" culminates with yet another soliloquy containing Biblical references: “Did it matter who ate the apple first? / That result was negative” … “What's the difference between life and death? God.”
Prince delved deep into the Purple Rain album with the subsequent handful of songs, including the fast-paced “Computer Blue,” the sinuous “Darling Nikki,” the majestic “The Beautiful Ones” and the funky, lilting “When Doves Cry” with instrumental and vocals soaring the highest heights. The euphoric “I Would Die 4 U”—illuminating Wendy Melvoin’s merits as a funk player after Prince asked, “Do you wanna hear Wendy play a little bit?”—and the expansive jam “Baby I’m a Star” approach the end of the album/movie concert. Lastly, the piece par-excellence, the 18-minute and 54-second, monumentally executed “Purple Rain” beams with lengthy, glorious howling guitar solos and powerful vocals.
Saying that Prince was extraordinary would be an understatement of his power and magnitude. Beyond impressive are his musicianship, leadership, vocals, and stage presence—evident even by only listening to the live album—making Prince and The Revolution: Live a memorable, immersive aural experience.
Prince and The Revolution: Live documents a historic night for the band, becoming a stunning testament to their eminence and weight. Still today, Prince is leaving his glorious purple mark, while his legacy is living on, and my rosy auspice is that his memory and art will be appreciated and cherished by music aficionados for many years to come.
Notable Tracks: “The Beautiful Ones” | “Do Me, Baby” | “God” | “Irresistible Bitch” | “When Doves Cry”
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