Prince: Live in Syracuse 1985

Less polished and coherent than later concert registrations: nonetheless great music and purpleness in the 'immaculate' early days of his royal purpleness the genius from Minneapolis. Also 5 B-sides R programmed in the show. No less than 120 min of jammin' funk and funky jazz. No material from the upcoming album 'Around the world in a day' unfortunately, apart from some catchy 1-liners and controversial behaviour :-o

The only let-down is the chest-hair, though it seems 2 disappear half-way through the movie. And there R some dull moments where the show seems 2 stand still 4 a moment. 1 of the worst composers of the 9ties was definitely the single consistently best artist of the 8ies: producing, arranging, composing and performing. He confirmed that once more in 1987 with the 'Sign "o" The Times' concert registration and the brilliant album of course. My second favourites R '1999' and 'Purple Rain' of which most songs R presented here. Purple Rain - the movie - was a disappointment though, even more than 'Under the cherry moon'. I'm still wondering where the fantastic concert registration of Lovesexy is.

9/10

I had the pleasure of sending the concert to Europe that night but not after a lot of aggravation trying to get the audio correct! During a few minute break was sitting in the audience listening to the purple one doing sound check...I did not realize that the lovely lady who was sitting next to me was Sheila E! She was just a pleasure to chat with for a few minutes. The lady could really put on a show.

My co-worker had time for dinner with the members of the Revolution and said they all were great folks who just enjoyed what they did. Sadly I have lost my original recording of the concert with some early footage. A lot of comments that were made would have had to be edited out for any playing if you were not there! Was an experience that I did enjoy!

A remastered version, here is Prince and his band the Revolution in concert after their breakthrough in 1984.

Buoyed by the success of the movie Purple Rain which got Prince an Oscar for best song.

He quickly rivalled Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen in musical terms by 1985.

This is an opportunity to see Prince in his purple regency period. Fans would later discover that Prince had the chameleon like ability to change colour schemes, looks and bands.

It opens with Let's Go Crazy, moves to older hits 1999 and Little Red Corvette. From then on the emphasis is on the Purple Rain album as the concert ends with the title track.

It is a showcase of Prince the writer, performer, musician and dancer. He really wanted to show the world he could walk the walk and talk the talk.

In retrospect, I did squirm when I saw him dance. Like Michael Jackson his joints paid a price for it in later life.

The concert movie is a celebration of his breakthrough period. A historical record of one of the most influential artists of the last two decades of the twentieth century.

I can understand that some people might be underwhelmed by this watching it later, out of context. But at the time I saw it, it was broadcast live to Europe, which means it was like 4 AM and the whole atmosphere was just crazy. MJ was the first big black pop star to show up on the European scene and then suddenly there was Prince ... I did not like 'when doves cry' when it was played over and over again on the radio ...

But after watching this concert 'live' (on TV) in the wee hours of the morning ... I was turned ... since then I bought pretty much every record / CD / bootleg ... went to see him live 3 times on different continents ...

But ever since his internet experiment of releasing a 3 CD album just there .. it kinda fizzled out ... I like his old stuff ... and I'd love to see a great DVD of this concert (seems there is only VHS)

A few years ago, I went into a video store, and like I always do, I checked out the music videos. Upon seeing this title, I said to myself, " hey, I like Prince, let me get this." So I get home, and pop in the tape..and it starts to roll, and I see, "on march 30th, 198five, the world witnessed Prince and the revolution". I start thinking to myself...hmmmmm, that date sounds familiar...OH MY GOD, I JUST BOUGHT A TAPE OF A CONCERT I WAS AT LIVE!. I must say that in 1985, I was not a big Prince fan, but the girl I was seeing at the time was, so I figured, what the hell, I will take her. I came away a fan. The show was energetic, great music, great showmanship etc and now I own every Prince recording. The relationship with the woman didn't last, but my admiration for Prince remains. Now I show my girlfriend the tape and say " hey, I was there" and I show her the ticket stub. No, I can't see myself in the video since my seats were obstructed view. Hey, maybe thats why my relationship at the concert didn't last lol. Shoulda sprung for better seats, but I was just a young college student at the time.