Detroit 1 April 1993

 

Five long years after the 1988 Lovesexy shows, Prince returned to Detroit with his Act 1 tour. The change in Prince’s music and look in that period is immense, but the unbridled love that the Detroit crowd has for Prince remains undiminished. One only has to listen to a few seconds of today’s recording to see what I mean. Both of the Detroit concerts are recorded and circulating, today I will be listening to a recording of the first night. This is for no other reason other than it is the first. Both concerts are more or less the same length (and among the longest of the tour), so it’s not like we are not missing out on anything. As with all the shows in recent weeks, this one is a rough and ready audience recording. I will try not to come hammer that point too often, but be aware this is not for the faint of heart. And so, on with the show.

1st April 1993. Fox Theatre, Detroit.

The most striking thing about the recording in the first minute is just how passionate the Detroit crowd is. At other shows, we have heard them cheering and applauding at the appropriate moments, but in this case, it is pure hysteria from the opening moments. The shrieks and screams are reminiscent of what I have seen in Beatles concerts, and although it’s tough on the ears, it does put me right in the moment, crushed there with the audience as they lose themselves in the moment. The music remains buried beneath this carnage, but I can hear enough of “My Name Is Prince” to appreciate what is happening – the crowd has every right to lose their shit as the concert becomes a whirlpool of noise, excitement, and unrestrained enthusiasm.

 

Things become slightly more orderly for “Sexy M.F.” – the audience is still all over the recording, but here Prince corrals them, with their screams and cheers coming at more opportune moments. “Sexy M.F.” has its own easy slide, and the tape delivers it to us with a steady stable recording for the next few minutes. The glossy horns, Tony M’s hype and rap, and the greasy guitar line all make for a recording that lays bare the new facets of Prince’s music. I am warming to this show already, 1993 is a weird and wonderful year in the Prince canon, and concerts such as this are a prime example of the exciting new directions he was pushing in.

A ballad three songs in, who’d have thought? “Damn U” lays the syrup on heavy, this is a song that could easily be overworked, but Prince pricks some of this lushness with his intricate piano playing that sharpens the music just when it needs it. Whatever happens in the music however becomes irrelevant as I drown myself in Prince’s buttery lyrics, the most essential ingredient in this rare delicacy of a ballad.

Some howling guitar puts an emphatic end to this, and ushers in an urgent “The Max.” Prince’s vocals carry the sense of right here and now, while the wave of music behind him sees the band pushing in the same direction. Tony M adds a heavy, macho element to proceedings, in this case, the song is a fine match for his talents. Interest ebbs for me midsong, as Prince and the band pull back from this initial intensity, it may well be another great musical moment, but the recording doesn’t give me a good sense of what is happening, and I cannot properly appreciate the music.

The opening of “The Morning Papers” highlights this same issue. I can hear Prince clearly enough, but the tape does have the slightest distortion that steals the crispness from us. It gets better for the guitar line, but Prince's vocals remain of lesser quality. Putting these issues aside for a moment, the song itself is very good, the performance is much better than the recording of it, and in particular, the horns come into their own later in the song.

 

“Peach” cuts right through any recording issues, and is the strongest song of the set (at least to listen to on the bootleg). Prince’s vocals are just as strong as his guitar playing, and the crowd is quieter here than anywhere else on the recording, all in all, making for a pleasant listening experience. It works as a great contrast to come of the other material in the setlist, this was one of Prince’s great funk bands, yet “Peach” rocks like nothing else and stands tall again all the other funk and pop material at the concert.

Yet another musical strand is pulled into the show with the appearance of “Blue Light.” An under-appreciated song on the album, in the show it works as the perfect foil to some of Prince’s more demanding material, and it easily deserves the five minutes it gets here. It's a song where I find I don’t listen too closely, rather I just lean back and let Prince's warm summer delivery envelop me.

“The Continental” is a coat of many colors, and the song comes to us fabricated from several different swatches. Its initial fury dissipates into a gentle lay in the sand as Mayte delivers her seductive list of pleasures, most of which are unfortunately lost to audience noise. “Get On Up,” “Everyone Get On Up,” and “Tighten Up,” keep this groove going as we move forward, they all play with gentleness, especially against the driven sounds of “The Continental” that started all of this, but to my ears, it is these later songs that offer the most pleasure and insight to where Prince was at this time, as well as bringing the Detroit crowd back into the show.

The not-so-gentle push and pull of the concert continued with the hip-hop-influenced “The Flow” rolling heavily over the previous few minutes. It comes as a shock to the system after the melodic ending of the previous song, and with Tony M dominating the is very little subtly in the performance. Not the best moment of the concert, and certainly not helped but the rapidly overheating recording.

 

The slow and confident swagger of “Johnny” is much better, both in terms of the quality of the recording, and the use of Tony M’s deeper roll. Prince’s rap gets the attention of the crowd, but as far as I hear it is the groove of the band that should draw the headlines, along with the decisive use of horns. Kathy J in particular is outstanding, her solo performance trembling in its deep-rooted intensity and sound. The other outstanding player is of course the Detroit crowd themselves, and once again they are integral to the performance.

It is impossible to untangle “Eye Wanna Melt With U,” “Sweet Baby,” “And God Created Women,” and “Three Chains Of Gold” from one another, they come together as a suite, beginning with Prince’s piano musings through “Eye Wanna Melt With U,” and “Sweet Baby” The opening minutes quieten the audience, Prince’s performance of “Sweet Baby” casts a spell that no one dares breaks. This strange alchemy between Prince and his piano spins the leaden recording into a golden moment, and even as it descends into crowd screams I remain enthralled by his performance. The magic of the moment permeates through the next few minutes, “And God Created Women” picking up from where it left off, and even as the music builds it is still Prince’s vocals and keyboards that remain at the heart of the matter. “Three Chains Of Gold” caps this most dramatic and theatrical part of the show, not quite as emotional as the preceding minutes, it is still a fitting end to one of Prince’s most ambitious pieces.

I do admire the Arabic intro to “7,” again Prince continues to challenge himself and the audience with new music and expectations. The merest taste of  “7” can be heard throughout, and this whets my appetite for what is to come. When “7” does appear through the swirling exotic eastern sounds, it is to the expectant cheers of approval from the Detroit crowd as they add their flavor to what is unfolding. The recording fails to live up to the moment, the bootleg is too clattered and uneven, and this is where we lose a great concert moment to a poor recording.

 

A similar fate befalls “Let’s Go Crazy,” although to be fair it is an abridged version and saturated in audience noise. It doesn’t feel like a good fit for the previous music and one wonders if even a better recording could make it any better.

The crowd is just as noisy for “Kiss” as they were for the opening song of the evening, and although I can catch the guitar and horns well enough, most of the song remains buried beneath the energized crowd. Strangely enough, this poor recording only makes me wish I could have been there as obviously the crowd is going bonkers for what one can only assume is an outstanding performance. A lot of fun can be heard, even if the music cannot.

The funk is turned up to eleven for “Irresistible Bitch,” and this time we can hear the performance, although again the crowd is with us every step of the way. Only two minutes is not long enough to get down into its groove, but it’s always nice to see a friendly face from the past.

Speaking of familiar faces of the past, “She’s Always In My Hair,” has me sitting upright and paying close attention. This is a song that still captures the imagination, even after thirty years, and although there are much better recordings of it from this tour, I still take note as Prince frames out a strong rendition of this beloved B-side. It is relatively short, at least in comparison to other renditions on the tour, but nevertheless, it still retains a heavy weight punch, and although noisy is still worthy of attention.

The same could be said of the horn-infused “When You Were Mine,” which follows hard on its heels. The crunch of Prince’s guitar is matched by the shrill addition of the horns, and with the crowd providing a wave of emotion and energy, Prince rides the song easily through the minutes it plays. It is far from perfect in sound, but I still thrill in its ragged and torn live glory.

The return to the nineties is timely, as is the return to the seductive sounds with “Insatiable” and “Scandalous.” “Insatiable” positively drips in lust and yearning, and even twenty years later, and through the filter of a raw audience recording, I can feel the heat of Prince’s performance. The horns add a thin veneer of respectability to the song, but at the heart of it is raw lust, I can feel the sweat building as I listen here at home, there is no escape as Prince lays out his seduction plan. “Scandalous” raises the stakes even higher, and judging by the audience noise, it is all too much for some of the ladies in the audience. Unfortunately, this mars the recording, and of the two seductive ballads, it is “Insatiable” that has me breathing quicker.

 

“Gett Off ” is good, very good in fact, but it is “Gett Off (housestyle) that always gets my heart racing. Fast and furious, Princes keeps his foot on the accelerator, even as he engages the audience for some signing, the momentum of the music is maintained. There is no time to dwell on what is happening, just go with the moment and enjoy it for what it is.

The inclusion of “Goldnigga” is timely, it brings us firmly back to 1993, and again grounds the concert in a slow, solid groove. Tony M rides the groove in an easy style that plays to his strengths, and I can only wish there was more of it at this show.

The sacred cow at the concert is of course “Purple Rain.” It is untouchable and expected at every show, even when it feels at odds with the other material. The rendition here is worthy enough, but it is an odd fit and feels ponderous after the previous two hours of high-energy pop, funk, and theatre. This is one for the Detroit crowd though, and their singing along with Prince’s guitar in the final minutes is a dramatic example of the bond between audience and performer. If you wanted a taste of what Prince and Detroit meant to each other, then here would be a good place to start.

One of the more interesting moments comes at the end of “Purple Rain” when Prince muses on the possibility of playing for 25 nights, something that was to come to fruition fourteen years later in London. One wonders if he carried that thought with him for those intervening years, or if it came to him again as a fresh idea in 2007.

There comes a tremendous rush with “Partyman” living every inch up to its name. With “Loose” and “Partyup” thrown into the mix it becomes an out-of-control, downhill rush towards what must surely be the end of the concert, and Prince can be heard picking up the crowd and bringing them along for this final wild ride.

“1999” serves the same purpose, although it’s not as joyful as the previous “Partyman.” The crowd is singing, and it is hard not to as Prince hits that chorus, but overall it leaves me empty, and if anything slightly melancholy for a youth that seemed to go by me all too fast. I was already a twenty-year-old punk by the time of this concert, and “1999” is a nostalgic nod back to the ever-lasting summer of my since lost childhood.

The segue into “Baby I’m A Star” is all too predictable, but it matters little as the song only cooks for a minute and a half before Prince takes it off the heat. A finale of “Push” is far more satisfying, although this too is all just part of this extended jam. Prince takes a back seat for “Push” rather it is the band that drives the groove home, with the horns leading the way with a bold and brassy spring in their step. Everything is thrown into this final hit-out, and it becomes a cacophony of sounds and instruments in the final minutes as everyone seemly wants to get a final say.  It’s not quite the ending I would choose, but it is fitting for a concert that has contained so many styles and sounds that they should all appear in this final number.

Okay, so what to make of all this? The first part of the show, which contained mostly songs off the Symbol album, was certainly a lot stronger than the second half of the show. If we put aside the audience recording, which is what it is, we are left with a passionate Detroit crowd, a dramatic and epic first half, and then a hits-filled second half that doesn’t live up to what has come before. As a bootleg, it is an interesting listen, if only we could have it in better quality, and despite the unsatisfying second part I still enjoyed what I heard throughout.  As I said at the beginning, this is not for the faint of heart, but no doubt anyone from Detroit who was there would grab this as a memento of what sounds like a hot and heavy night.