One thing that has struck me as I listen to these concerts out of Detroit is how Prince never stopped evolving throughout his career. I had previously lumped his late 1990s material together, but now as I revisit them I realize that he was still going through rapid changes. This week I am listening to his Detroit concert from the New Power Soul Festival, just 18 months on from the 1997 Love 4 One Another concert I wrote of last week. The set-list contains some of the same material, but also a lot more cover versions, as well as some songs from the Newpower Soul album. It makes for an intriguing mix, and with a run time over two hours (three and a half if you listen to the full bootleg that also covers Larry Graham’s and Chaka Khan’s sets), there is plenty to digest.
24th October 1998, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
This blog covers all types of recordings, so it should come as no surprise to know that again this week we are listening to an audience recording. This makes “Push It Up” the standard by which the rest of the recording lives up to, and with a bass-heavy sound and audience noise, we know where we stand. The audience is hyped from the start by Doug E Fresh letting us know who we’re here to see – “N…P..G.” It very much has the sound of a party rather than a concert, and this doesn’t help Prince's vocals and rap when he hits the stage, the party overwhelms his performance in the first moments. “Jam Of The Year” is stronger as it comes tacked onto the rear end of the opening jam, and is far more representative of the sound for the rest of the gig. 1997 also saw a similar start with a new song, but here Prince is pushing the jam further into new vistas and the audience along with it as he challenges expectations, and himself.
“Talkin’ Loud And Sayin’ Nothing” keeps up a relentless pace, and although it doesn’t possess the best sound the bass remains to the fore, propelling the listener and the concert forward with driven energy. Prince taking flight on the piano adds to the kinetic energy and gives the song further life as he evolves it through several changes. I could do without the stops and starts he throws in, but I can’t deny that when he is funking he is funking. The final minutes are unconvincing however with Doug E Fresh failing to give us anything extra and the rest of the jam falling flat. In a song that could have been colossal, instead, Prince pulls his punches making it an uncompelling few minutes.
Doug E Fresh stays to the front of our minds as he raps over “Flash Light” before giving us a fleshed-out “La-Di-Da-Di.” Fifteen years early this would have blown my little teenage mind, but in 1998 it feels like they have missed the boat, and although I enjoy it well enough it doesn’t feel like a great fit for the concert. In comparison to the concert of 18 months ago, this opening stanza is crumbling under the weight of Prince’s high standards.
The focus returns to Prince with a short, sharp rendition of “Let’s Work,” which reminds us that Prince has his style of funk and doesn’t need to ride on the coattails of Larry Graham. My infatuation with Prince’s 1980s oeuvre colors this brighter than perhaps it deserves as Prince draws from his toolbox of Minneapolis funk and connects the song back to my teenage memories. The concert changes direction at this point and the next few songs remain firmly with Prince and his 1980s output.
“Delirious” is equally sprightly and lightens the recording considerably, especially with its bouncing piano line. There aren’t a lot of vocals, and the song is carried along by the oily guitar line that later ignites into a molten solo that has me temporarily forgetting about the quirkiness of “Delirious”
This of course raises hopes that “Purple Rain” will be similarly adorned with a snarling solo, and things look promising with an opening passage that has the chords hanging with emotion. Prince’s talk to the crowd is largely incomprehensible (at least to me) but the music remains in focus as it washes back and forth behind his speech. The verses remain in the same form as his opening speech, but I hear him loud and clear for the chorus, and the all-important guitar solo is the most powerful bit of the recording as Prince burns magnesium bright in the last minutes, scorching the recording with his guitar bearing its teeth in quiet fury for the most unforgettable part of a concert that until this point has been relatively flat.
The final howl of “Purple Rain” fades into the opening strains of “Little Red Corvette.” It loses some of its emotional baggage as it is a little quick, and the recording is slightly muddy, but Prince is playing with the opening, adding his simple yet effective guitar work to the introduction. The song is kept short, the intro making up the first minute, while the second minute is just enough time for Prince to punch out a verse, a chorus, and the quicksilver solo.
“I Would Die 4 U,” gets the same treatment, the bare bones of the song are presented just enough to inflame the crowd, but not to the point of giving us the full song. The second half of the song is loaded with “Jin-Go-Lo-Ba” and “Get Yo Groove On,” both of which echo in the cavernous sound of the recording and arena.
The next portion of the concert sees Prince playing lengthy versions, and the concert gains a lot more intensity at this point. First comes “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man,” front-end loaded with some revving guitar noise that powers the song for the next few minutes. The vocals cannot be made out well, but my ears are straining for that glorious guitar noise, and Prince delivers with an energetic and vitalized performance. The music quietens for a breakdown, and I wait patiently for Prince to reenter the fray, but the music never returns to its previous heights, and instead, we enter Prince’s spoken introduction to “The Christ”
I can’t make out most of Prince’s speech, but it is loaded with his beliefs at the time. I’m not sure how it’s going over with the audience, but they are certainly very quiet at this point in the show. It’s a brave move by Prince, and one I admire him for, but as a listening experience on a bootleg it is beyond me and I find myself counting the minutes until the music starts again. “The Christ” has a run time of seven minutes, but the first three and a half minutes are given over to Prince’s speech, making the rest of the song barely the same amount of time. With the quality of the recording, it is only the final triumphant minute that sounds great, the rest of it suffering from a lack of energy that is sapped by the recording.
An intense canopy of mystical sounds hangs over the introduction of “The One,” and this permeates through the rest of the song, making for one of the most interesting parts of the concert. On a better recording, this would be magical, and even on a recording as poor as this one can hear the spell Prince is weaving on stage. Eight minutes is not long enough to contain all the mists of emotions that spread through the recording, and as it finishes I am disappointed that it feels all too short, as well as lamenting again the quality of the bootleg.
The next section is messy to listen to as Doug E Fresh returns to hype the crowd for “Courting Time” It takes some time for the song to properly start (almost four minutes in fact) and it is a relief when it does finally start with a chorus and verse to sing along with. Doug E Fresh can still be heard hyping the crowd, but with Prince on the microphone it becomes far more balanced, and a better listen than I anticipated based on the opening.
“Do Me, Baby” is the last of these songs to get the full treatment, and despite the ups and downs of this concert, it still settles into its own velvety groove. It is an immersive experience as Prince dwells on the introduction, giving us plenty of time to soak in the red-light glow of one of his sexiest songs. One may not be able to understand every word that Prince sings, but there is no doubting the intent as Prince loads his vocal performance with the syrupy come-on that he is so famous for. It compares well to the same version he played on the previous tour, and again he brings some of his other seduction pieces into the song, but there is no need as “Do Me Baby ” is all we need – all day, every day.
The screams of pleasure from the audience continue into “If I Was Your Girlfriend.” The beat is excellent here, even if I can’t hear it 100%, and it’s just as well as Prince’s vocal remains dirtied by the recording. I am happy enough with the performance in this case, but I remain frustrated by the recording. I don’t have too long to suffer through, and the final stabs are easily the strongest moments of the song.
I am initially skeptical in regards to how the piano set might fare with a recording such as this, but it is robust, and the lack of instrumentation works in its favor. We can never quite shake the Detroit crowd, however, and they are intoxicated by the moment, especially the first minute of the song, but Prince’s work on the keyboard is strong and stands as a steel core to the songs he is playing. “Adore” is all too brief, but “The Ballad Of Dorothy Park” finds the sweet spot, and the tone and mood of the performance are perfectly pitched, the downbeat recording working to its favor again.
I am surprised by just how fresh “Venus De Milo” comes across in this context, it has a brightness that lifts it far above the heavier sound of the tape. Paired with “Diamonds and Pearls” it becomes a glistening center to this piano interlude, a shining bright spot a the heart of what otherwise is a dense and heavy concert.
The return to “Adore” rounds out the first half of the piano set in fine style, it doesn’t burn as bright as the previous couple of songs, but it has all the heart and emotion that one might expect, and the crowds' familiarity and expectation make Prince’s job a whole lot easier.
As one might expect, “The Beautiful Ones” has the warmest of welcomes from the crowd, and Prince dwells on his previous glories with an abridged version that does just enough to keep the crowd satisfied. It would be nice to have the full version, but what we have here ticks all the boxes, and is a highlights package that appeases most fans.
The loudest crowd noise on the recording comes with the opening keyboard hook of “Darling Nikki” The screams and cheers are prolonged, and loud, as Prince pauses and goads the audience to further ecstatic heights. It’s not great on the bootleg, but I get a sense of the fan's excitement to hear the song again, and I am relieved that after a couple of minutes of this frenzy Prince finally plays enough of the song that the crowd can sing a single verse.
By 1998 Prince had well and truly reclaimed “Nothing Compares 2 U” and the audience's reaction to its appearance at this concert is just as intense as their reaction to any Prince classic. The band has returned at this stage, and asides from Prince’s vocals it is the organ swirling in thickening streams of gospel, the heartbeat of the drums, along with Prince’s carefully crafted guitar break that mark this is a great performance, even if it is diluted by the quality of the tape.
The joyous ending of “Nothing Compares 2 U’ is matched by the equally uplifting “Take Me With U,” and “Raspberry Beret” double shot. While I am not particularly enamored by either, I do find the transition gives me life as my heart lifts for a second in its easy optimism.
The encore takes some time to begin, and when it does it is with a bare drum beat and guitar line that hints at a long jam to follow. What does follow is the promised long jam, the audience chanting us into the first minute before the music opens up into “(I Like) Funky Music” featuring, of course, Larry Graham. There is a keyboard section early on that brings to mind “The War,” but this thought slips away as the band takes on a far more funk-infused performance. There is no surprise at all as Prince leads the crowd through the chant “I like funky music” at several points throughout the song, even as it stretches out beyond the ten-minute mark. The great attraction for me in this song is the interplay between Larry Graham and Prince as they weave around each other building the funk organically from the ground up. It is a master class, an aural lesson on the power of the bass in the hands of two of the greats.
“Baby I’m A Star” sends us barreling towards a finish, although it feels too slick after the previous minutes of bass workout. It is merely the entrance to a final “1999” that carries the concert through to its conclusion. To my ears, it only highlights how far Prince had come in his career to this point, and in comparison to the music he was producing at the time it feels almost teenage in its pop sparkle and energy. It’s a welcome addition to the set, a nod to those in the audience that has followed Prince thus far, but at the same time, it is a disjointed fit to the rest of the set. Prince’s final comment in regards to Newpower Soul and Love 4 One Another brings us back to 1998 and returns us to where we started – 24th October 1998.
The guest appearances and Purple Rain songs are unnecessary, at the heart of this concert lies some great music, and even if Prince’s vision wasn’t as bold as it had previously been there are still new flavors and textures here to enjoy. Propelled by the buoyant Detroit crowd, this poor recording is as good a place as any to dip into the Newpower Soul era. There are better concerts in circulation, and this one serves as merely a teaser for those that want to dig further. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but for those that were there, it is a timely reminder that Prince was still a force to be reckoned with in the late 1990s.
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