Providence 10 February 1983

 I love early recordings of Prince. Although the setlists aren’t as varied, he more than makes up for it with the ferocity and passion when he plays. The performances aren’t as polished, and there is a rawness that connects with me. Today I am listening to a gig from the 1999 era, an era that I don’t have many recordings from. He is just playing to a larger audience, but still has that excitement of his early days. 

 

10 February 1983, Providence 

The show opens with the slowed-down voice from the intro of 1999. “Don’t worry I won’t hurt you, I only want you to have some fun” I fully expected to hear the band launch into “1999,” but instead a fast bass drum begins, and very soon the funky guitar of Controversy starts. As I say every time, this is the sound that I adore. Already I love this recording. It sounds big and bold, and when the keyboards and rest of the band jump in it sounds very strong. The keyboards are very loud, and then Prince hits us with his first “Awwww!” I can’t hear Prince singing, he seems very quiet, the keyboard and guitar drown him out, but you can hear him just fine when he sings the chorus and when he talks directly to the crowd “all together now!” He sounds very rock n roll, especially when he says “Welcome to 1999, I believe in Love” before singing the “I wish we all were nude” section 

 

“Let’s Work” follows, as seems to be very common during Controversy and 1999 tours. These songs are often paired together. Prince announces the song by asking the crowd “Is everybody ready to work, is everybody ready to work?” This song didn’t use to be a favorite for me back in the 1980s, but now it is one that I like. The performance here is excellent. It has some great keyboard lines. Dez plays a strong guitar solo, and this is followed by a quirky little keyboard run. It’s really fun, and like I say, very enjoyable to listen to. Princes’ singing seems irrelevant here, it’s all in the music. 

 

There is a pause to catch my breath after this, and then the lovely saturated keyboard sound of “Do Me, Baby” begins. The keyboards pull back, and there is some beautiful little guitar played. It sounds great and is obviously going over well with the crowd judging by the screams. The intro is long, but I could have listened to it for much more. I have always loved the piano in this song, and this recording is no different, it’s a nice sharpness against the lushness of the synth. For a long time this was in my top 10 ballads, but only just. Now it’s right up there in the top 5. This was the first time that Prince totally nailed the seduction ballad, and I still listen to it to this day. The bass has a deep rubber band sound that I enjoy, and it just sounds classic in every way. Prince unleashes some shrieks that sound just as good as they do on the album, and there is a bang just after the last one which I guess is a mic drop; I can almost picture it in my head now. I must check out some concert videos from this period, I don’t give them nearly as much love as they deserve. 

The last notes of it fade and the bass and distinctive keyboard of “DMSR” begin. There is quite a cheer from the crowd, it’s a fan favorite. I am enjoying this setlist. I am a huge fan of 1999 and Controversy and this gig is chock full of many of my all-time classics. The guitar and bass interplay here is fantastic. The song is played faster than on the album, and it sounds better. I certainly would have been up and dancing if I had been there. The best part of the song for me is when Jill Jones screams “Arrrghhhhh, somebody call the police!!” I wish I could see what’s happening at this stage, it sounds awesome! I find myself laughing when Prince sings “all the white people clap your hands on the 2 and 4 now”, always a favorite line of mine. 

 

There is then a shimmery keyboard interlude which I assume is played by Lisa. It’s not too long but is a nice transition into the next part of the show. Nowadays I am a little worn out by Prince’s keyboard sequences and medleys, but at this stage of his career it was still new and interesting and his keyboard section shows off his talent but isn’t boring, nor too over the top. There is a brief intro as he warms up on the keyboard, and I then expect him to play “How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore,” but instead he serves up a blinding version of “Still Waiting.” I very rarely listen to this song, which is a shame, because his performance of it here is excellent. I am not prepared to say it’s the highlight, but it’s a peak in the show. Then he plays “How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore” as you would expect, and it’s not a short version as he is playing nowadays, but the full version which we love. The midsection has some great screams with plenty of echo effects on them, and the crowd responds with plenty of screams themselves. The rest of the band quietly enters as Prince begins his spoken piece about how she won’t call him. “Have you another man, is he fine, does he have an ass like mine”. I have heard it all before but it is still good fun. This is the Prince I want to see more of when he’s playing with a sense of humor. “I have another woman, she’s a nurse” I actually laughed when he said this. Of course, he ends it with “Don’t you want my tootsie roll”   

“Lady Cab Driver” begins with street noise and Prince saying he’s outta here – Taxi! Jill Jones sings a lot in this song, in fact at the beginning I can’t hear Prince much at all. I have got a lot of love for Jill Jones, some of my best Prince moments are songs she is involved with. “Lady Cab Driver” is my favorite song from the 1999 album, so this is easily my best song of the night. There is a guitar solo, with a great tone. I am not sure who plays it, built it’s a definite highlight for me. Unfortunately, the song is not played out long as we hear on the album, it ends much too soon as the band segues into “Little Red Corvette.” 

 

I like the versions of “Little Red Corvette” where there is a minute of keyboard swells before the song begins. Unfortunately, this isn’t one of those versions, the band launched into it almost straight away. It is a hit at the time, so I expected that Prince would milk it for all its worth, but the version here is very truncated, it ends just one chorus after the guitar solo and is only two minutes. It’s very surprising indeed. 

 

I have said many times before that “Dirty Mind” is a firm favorite, and here once again it is a knockout. It begins with Prince saying slowly and with an effect on his voice “I….don’t……want….to……hurt you baby, I only want to lay you down”. From then on it’s all on as the band attacks it at full throttle. And that’s just how I like it! It’s very fast, and it all go go go. It is one of those songs that seem to have energy from within that bursts out. There is no let-up or break in it at all. Only a 5-second pause mid-song but apart from that, it’s ragged and frantic. Prince sings “All, alright” but it’s not a sing-along, things are hammering along too fast for that. The song climaxes in an all-in crescendo and I can finally breathe again. There is then a break, the show is very short, and we await the encore. The crowd chants “We want Prince!” After a minute we hear a woman’s voice “Fasten your seat belts, prepare for take-off”. I think I know what’s coming now. “International Lover” is quite a title to live up to, but Prince has made a fair effort at it all his career. The song on the album sounds a little flat to me, but here it seems to have much more life to it. Prince himself sounds impassioned as he sings, and the band gives it some strength in the live setting. I was wondering how the long seduction scene with the aircraft analogy would work, but it sounds alright. I can only imagine what he is doing during the long keyboard break, luckily there is just enough to keep me interested. 

 

After the final words “welcome to satisfaction” the band immediately start playing “1999.” Being the hit, and the title of the album, I thought the crowd would have acknowledged it more, but they are fairly subdued. Or maybe I am reading too much into the recording, after all, it is a recording of the band, not the crowd. 1999 is played standard; again it doesn’t stray from the script. There is some good funky guitar near the end, but asides from that nothing about it grabs me. That’s not a bad thing, I liked it, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. Actually, after singing ‘Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb” there is some nice guitar work and a long keyboard and guitar build-up to a final explosion that ends the gig. 

 

My overall feelings about this gig are mixed. I enjoyed it very much, and listen to it a lot. Some parts of it may seem a little dowdy or uninteresting, but I can’t fault the performance or the recording. As a fan of this era, I was always going to be a big supporter of this recording. It’s an excellent record of the time as Prince was just crossing over to a larger audience. All in all, excellent. The next post will be something from the nineties; I have been wallowing in early 1980s nostalgia too much.