Paris 11 July 1992

 Last week I listened to the first concert of the Diamonds and Pearls tour and found that I greatly enjoyed it. However, it was only the first concert of the tour and the band was still warming to their work. To provide some balance, this week I will visit one of the final concerts of the tour. While the opening night in Tokyo was a bare-bones affair, for the penultimate night in Paris I am hoping to see some development in the show. Perhaps new arrangements, a little more freedom, or new songs appear in the setlists. Several memorable performances had come and gone in the four months between the two concerts and what I’m hoping for is one more to add to the canon.  

11th July 1992. Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris. 

The mix of “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” sadly under-powers Rosie Gaines’s vocals. Sonically it is unrealistic to expect her voice to fill the room with every performance, and in this case, she is certainly not helped by the mix. However, “Thunder” makes up for this with its powerful drive and sense of direction. It’s loud, forceful, and an uncompromising concert opener. With a setlist following closely to the first concert of the tour, there is no surprise to what is heard but there is a remarkable amount of thrilling energy to the performance. Time on the road has not jaded the band, they once again serve a fiery dish that bodes well for the rest of the concert. 

 

“Daddy Pop” maintains this frantic start and in the concert setting, it finds its rightful place. A song that never jumped out at me on record, here it is active and bounds along with joyful energy. Prince’s music needs consideration in the live setting just as much as on record, for it is in concerts like this that Prince brings his creations to life, the music dancing and singing around him as he plays. I don’t feel as generous to Tony M as I did last week, and in this case, I would be quite happy if he didn’t appear in the final minute of the song. 

The concert settles with “Diamonds and Pearls.” The first strains of the guitar sketch out what will follow – a delicate wispy rendition of this now beloved classic. The song was not immediately accessible to me but played live, and ably back by Rosie Gaines and some sweet guitar work, Prince raises it to another level where I can properly indulge myself in the music. We have six whole minutes to wallow in this extravaganza, Prince’s final guitar note stretching out across the arena as he gently lowers us into the next song. 

Prince’s guitar remains to the fore with a sleek rendition of “Let’s Go Crazy.” It is not the version we remember from Purple Rain, nor is it as heard back in April of 1992, rather it is its own beast, shortened and sharpened by Prince. The guitar is scalpel-like with its incision and Prince’s brief spoken word heightens the sense of being in the moment. This will never be my favorite version of “Let’s Go Crazy,” but right here and now I love it. 

The use of horns greatly enhances the Diamonds and Pearls version of “Kiss.” Listening almost thirty years later one can see where Prince was heading with his mid-Nineties sound clearly signposted here. The horn section is an integral part of his new toolbox of sounds, “Kiss” taking on new tones and shades – making for a fresh revamp of an otherwise familiar song. 

 

There is little new in “Jughead.” In the four months since the April concert, it has become dated and grating and I can find little pleasure in it. Rosie Gaines rights the ship briefly, but overall I would rather it sunk out of sight. In the words of Randy Jackson- “It’s a ‘no’ from me, dawg” 

“Purple Rain” is familiar but uninspiring. Maybe it is its musical surroundings, but as much as it flexes and pushes at the edges of the highly refined show it never reaches the emotional highs the crowd desires. The bare-knuckled guitar that appears at the beginning fails to bloom into anything more, leaving the song feeling like a lost opportunity. It’s sad to see an old friend so frail and tepid, yet there is hope in the new material that follows. The final singalong goes some way toward washing away some of my ill-feeling about the song. As usual, the tail of “Purple Rain” always carries hope and redemption. 

There is a great uplift in the spirit of the concert with “Live 4 Love.” It brings with it an injection of energy and guitar work that burns with a phosphorus brightness. It ticks several boxes- its message, its sing-along quality, and its intense guitar work. All three mean it should be a classic, however, Tony M dates it with his rap. While enjoyable enough, it does pull the song back to the nineties and limits future listens. Prince’s burning guitar negates some of this negative energy, but sadly the last two minutes are beyond redemption. 

 

It is at this point that the concert differs from the Tokyo concert of April that year. First a brief interlude of Rosie singing “Lively Up Yourself” lays out the landscape for Prince and his perpetually young “Delirious” Enlivened by horns, it sounds the freshest I’ve heard for years. It is amplified by the fact the band has a chance to stretch out and give some light grease to the previous heavy funk. With the interweaving work between the horns and the band, they build a spider web of sound that spindles across the following few minutes. To hear a quality band go to their work like this is truly a pleasure, and I close my eyes and immerse myself in the experience for the length of the song. With “Willing And Able” serving as the caboose to this train of music it is beautifully rounded out and made whole. 

“Damn U” was still three months from appearing on record to the general public, but here it is in all its glory, making quite an impression on both me and the audience. Soft and sensuous, it envelops the crowd with its seductive, almost dripping, warmth. Prince draws us in with his vocals, but it is the music that holds me rapt – the horns barely punctuating the womb-like quality of the rest of the band builds around me. A good match for the concert, this song arrives at just the right moment. 

The audience are well versed on when and what to sing as “Sexy M.F.” had been released as a single the previous month. Parents may not like it but it is a lot of fun, and with the horns and crowd both providing spontaneous moments it does make for another highlight. Tommy and his solo bring further lightness and musicality, the song is so much more than some dirty words and naughty singing from the crowd. 

The highlight of the show comes next with a scorching version of “Thieves In The Temple” It rushes through my blood, the music seizing the listener from the first strains of the Arabic opening until Prince’s final howl into the dark nine minutes later. In between Prince ratchets up the song’s innate tension with a series of interludes, each a pause before another rush of musical inspiration overwhelms the listener in its inventive fury. The appearance of “It” heightens the sense that the song hides a dark heart, and as Prince indulges in his raspy scream the raw blooded emotion that flows through the song is briefly exposed. This wound is tempered by some warm bass work that eventually disintegrates in the face of some equally sharp guitar playing. If there is one song at this concert that is essential listening, this is it. 

 

A genre switch sees a brief appearance of “A Night In Tunisia.” It is well measured and well-matched with “Strollin'” but both prove to be mere tasters for “Insatiable.” Well served by the epic ballad sound with “Damn U,” Prince returns to it for “Insatiable”. It is hard to resist the temptation of Prince’s sultry vocal delivery and the almost teenage yearnings of the song. Although well-trodden ground for Prince, he knows just the right way to caress each word, each syllable, so that one can’t help but be drawn into the song. 

We return to a more robust sound with “Gett Off.” The song reeks of the lyrical content and Prince’s guitar does a far better job of sketching out the debauchery of Caligula’s court than the video clip for the song ever did. Again and again, it rings out, pulling at the pillars of decency as the song becomes a temple of indulgence and excess. As the song piles on the different genres and sounds the guitar remains a constant, bold, and strident as a clarion call at the heart of the song. Never once does it sink beneath the weight of its excess as it is held in check by Prince’s humor and a lightness of touch. Prince gives it sharp pinpricks just at the right moments to keep it grounded. 

“Gett Off(Housestyle) proves the versatility of the song, as anyone with the maxi-single and all its iterations can attest to. The song comes tumbling at us at breakneck speed. There is barely time to register all the changes as the music constantly evolves, all the while staying a slave to the underlying groove. I don’t mind so much as Tony M’s moment flies by, but I wish I had more time in the company of Rosies Gaines’s impassioned delivery. The horns continue this drive towards the future and the sense that we are rapidly approaching the end of the concert. 

 

The first encore sees the appearance of a familiar B-side – “Call The Law.” It is Tony M front and center, but the real action is Prince’s guitar playing that rises between verses. The guitar erupts whenever a crack in the music appears, and the fiery lava it delivers lifts the song far above its original B-side groove. 

The intensity of the “1999” groove matches the intensity of the guitar in “Call The Law.” Aiming for a thunderous end to the show, it doesn’t quite deliver live up to its initial intensity. With its humming energy, there is much to recommend it, but I can never quite scratch through the surface of the song, it remains soulless and aloof throughout. Both “Push” and “A Love Bizarre” appear in the medley, neither bringing the spark of divine inspiration I am listening for. Tony M, Prince, and Rosie Gaines all take a turn to rap as everything is seemingly thrown into the mix. None of it comes off as genuine and the concert finishes with a plastic and cold feel. It is a tangible disappointment as all that has come before has been wonderfully put together and a bedazzling showcase for the band and music. 

I have been a Prince fan for almost forty years. I didn’t enjoy the Diamonds and Pearls concerts the first time around, and it is very hard to change my mind after all this time. However, I have endeavored to listen to these concerts with fresh ears, at least to the best of my abilities, and I have found them to be an entertaining diversion to what I otherwise regard as ‘The Serious Stuff’. This concert delivered a variety of genre-spanning material, presented in a way to reach the maximum possible audience. This I can’t deny. I may not like all of it, but it was undeniably entertaining while containing just enough of the music I love to keep my attention until the end. Glitzy glamour doesn’t resonate with me, but its powerful funk and genre-busting catalog of Prince will always hold me enthralled. Overall, this is a solid concert without ever threatening my top ten list.