London 24 June 1992

 

With such a long and varied career, it was inevitable that were times in my life when I walked away from Prince and his music, only to return later when he had further evolved. I have written before of the early 90s and how I missed a few years after feeling disappointed with Diamonds and Pearls and a couple of albums after. Nothing wrong with the albums or the shows, I was just at a different point in my life. In recent times I have returned to these albums and shows, and it has been a revelation. I have had this show on DVD and video for some years, but it never quite seemed to play right and I struggled to watch it. However, I watched this show a couple of weeks ago for the first time in many years, and I was blown away. The performance is very smooth and slick, and Prince is playing close to his best. I watched it as if seeing it for the first time, and this time I am feeling very passionate about it.

24th June 1992 Earls Court, London

Rosie is a treasure. Her vocals on the opening “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” are divine, and I can hear the passion and depth she brings to the show. It’s a spellbinding moment in the darkness before Prince appears in the smoke to open the show.

“Thunder” plays powerfully in the live setting, it is more fleshed out than on record and the band adds a lot more weight to it here. The guitar in particular has a lot of power. There is a lot to take in with the dancers and action on stage, but it gains focus as Prince steps forward to play a great sharp solo with a glassy clean sound.

 

The guitar is gone for the next song, and we get a lot more dancing as “Daddy Pop” begins. Although I am no great fan of the song I do get a buzz from seeing Prince and the dancers performing.  He is a great showman and it’s hard to take your eyes off him here as he dances and prances around the stage. Rosie adds her voice to the mix and the last few minutes of the song seem to have a little bit of everything, both visually and musically.

The introduction to “Diamonds and Pearls” is quite lovely with some gentle guitar luring me in. On-screen Prince is dancing, but he is no match for the ballerina on stage. The song takes off as Prince plays the piano and sings. It’s too loud for my taste, and I find it’s not as beautiful as it could have been. It does settle down as it goes, and the balance is restored when Rosie sings. Prince shows his versatility, singing, dancing, playing the piano, as well as the guitar, it four minutes he shows all his gifts, especially if we throw songwriting into that mix.

I do wonder about “Let’s Go Crazy” as it begins, but Prince allays my fears with a short but fiery rendition. True, it is flashy, but Prince keeps it so short that it never loses focus.

“Kiss” is all about the show, and there is plenty of action on stage as he performs. Surprisingly I am right into this, and if I could I would stand up and dance myself. The funk is strong and Prince plays on that to the hilt. This is one of the best versions of “Kiss” that I have seen for a long time, and I am kicking myself that it has been sitting unloved on the shelf for so many years.

 

From the high of “Kiss,” we sink to a low with Tony M singing “Jughead.” Ok, so parts of it aren’t too bad at all, it’s only when he yells at the crowd that I begin to switch off. Listening closely tonight I can hear that this song has the potential to be in a similar vein to “Sexy MF” – the music is almost there, however, it’s hard to go past Tony M. I get a surprise to see Prince singing from the dressing room, and it’s at this point I relax and enjoy it for what it is. The jumping up and down and yelling near the end is a lot of fun and takes me back, and is probably what I was doing myself back in 1992.

 

“Purple Rain” comes as a real surprise next, it’s in total contrast to what we have just heard. The second surprise is how great it sounds, Prince soloing for half a minute in the beginning before addressing the crowd. He sounds sincere as he thanks them before giving us some more of that intense guitar sound. As he sings all the performance from earlier in the show seems to take a backseat and we get a sincere rendition of “Purple Rain.” I wasn’t quite at the arm-waving stage, but I was the closest I have been for a long time.

 

Prince has the crowd chanting “Live 4 Love” and it’s pretty obvious what’s coming next -one of my favorite songs off the Diamonds And Pearls album. It opens with some blistering guitar work from Prince, he is soaring at this stage. It cuts back sharply as the vocals start and the song itself maintains the intensity. Sonny T playing a brief solo is a highlight, although it is offset by another Tony M rap. My heart lifts with a dual guitar solo that stamps its authority all over the song.

 

Good times follow with a mix of Rosie singing, the crowd clapping and some horns, we are taking a funky turn. Prince is on the piano at this stage, and there is the feeling that anything might happen. What does happen is Prince leaps on the piano to give us a burst of “Delirious.” If it sounds great, that’s because it is great. The horns make it oh so much better than I expect, and I am all in. I didn’t think it could get any better, but Levi plays a solo, the horns kick up a notch and I am running out of words for it all. Breath-taking.

Everything seems to happen at once next, Rosie sings “Willing and Able,” Tony M raps, and the horns funky things up for a good minute. I like it far more than I should and I am having a great time watching this here at home.

Prince then plays what would have been a new song at that time, “Damn U.” It’s still six months away from being released, but it gets a great response from the crowd.  Prince’s vocals are exquisite, and he is very well matched by the horn section, they match him in their quality of performance.

 

The audience seems to know the words to “Sexy MF” much too well, and they take great delight in singing the chorus back to Prince. Initially, I enjoy Prince, but the horns get better and better, and they steal the performance from him as far as I am concerned. I had forgotten Tommy Barbarella was in this band, both he and Levi play their solos with plenty of heart and it’s nice to see them get their moment.

The next ten minutes are the very highlight of the show for me. Firstly, a magical Arabic introduction and dancing give it a mystical feel. Then Prince appears and we get a fantastic long version of “Thieves In The Temple.” It’s dark and dirty, then a funky guitar appears and Barbarella plays a break and we are deep into it. Prince is nowhere to be seen, but the music is powerful and irrepressible throughout. As the song slides into its breakdown Prince appears, chain hat covering his face and he sings the lyrics to It. I can’t stress enough how great this sounds, there is a very real intensity throughout the whole song. As he screams the finale of It I am in fanboy heaven. However, he’s not done yet and what comes next is one of my favorite Prince live moments of all time.  With just an acoustic guitar he plays a funky guitar break for five minutes, and when I say funky I mean it is FUNKY, he is on fire. I am speechless by the time he finishes, this is what being a Prince fan is all about.

 

I am still catching my breath as Prince and the band ease back, firstly playing an easy-sounding “Strolling” before a segue into Insatiable. It’s so smooth and alluring, it’s a fresh sound after the earlier intensity. Prince starts seated at the piano and then is soon upon it before finally settling on a shower of pearls to deliver the rest of the song. It’s clean and has a warmth to it that I find appealing. Levi plays a summery-sounding break that seals the deal for me, and I decide this is my second favorite part of the show.

 

“Gett Off” gets off to a jump start, with seemingly all the main parts playing at once- the scream, guitar riff, and Tony M rapping right away. For all its lewd lyrics, “Gett Off” sounds a little tame at this show, that is until Prince picks up the guitar and plays his solo. He doesn’t exactly set the roof on fire, but I applaud the increase in intensity. We swing quickly into “Gett Off (housestyle),” a song that has never worked for me listening at home but seeing the show I can understand how it would work in a live setting. For me, Tony M is at his best now, and the interplay between him and Prince is fun. It’s got the feeling of the last hurrah as the dancers come forward and have their moment in the spotlight.

 

A brief break before the encores begin with a crowd-pleasing “Cream.” The look and sound of it are indeed creamy, Prince looks the part and his vocals are velvety as he sings. Seeing it in this setting I am reminded of the pop landscape at the time, and it does fit well with my memories of the early 90s. Prince entertains himself, having the crowd ‘meow’ and ‘woof’ back and forth, something which I too get a lot of amusement out of. Unfortunately, the recording ends not long after this point, but not before we get a minute to enjoy Rosie singing “Chain Of Fools.” It’s a good point to check out of the show, and seeing Rosie sing means we leave on a high. Regrettably, we don’t get the final encores, but I am well satisfied with what I have got up to this point.

 

I am annoyed at myself that I haven’t made more of an effort to listen to this show over the years. It is a great show, and I have no one to blame but myself. There is just too much out there, and it’s easy to skip over this to other periods I am more interested in. The show sounded great, but more importantly, it looked great, which is a big part of a Prince show. Now I have seen this one, I will certainly be going back through the collection to see more from this year.