May 14, 2020 – Prince and the Revolution: Live 1985 (2020) Youtube
The Prince estate is streaming this complete concert from 1985 through Sunday night, May 17. It is free to watch, but they ask for donations to the United Nations World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. If you read this in time, go watch this concert now while you have the chance.
The concert is amazing. Prince is at the height of his powers. It is like watching Michael Jordan in the early 1990s. Prince’s singing, piano playing, and guitar playing are all great; the band is so well-rehearsed and tight; Prince’s energy seems inexhaustible; the costumes, lighting, and choreography are all elaborate – it is really a show. There are so many high points in this concert, but if I had to choose just one, I pick the nearly endless, high energy performance of Baby I’m a Star, which closes the concert before the final encore of Purple Rain. Prince is having an amazing time during this song, running back and forth, calling out directions to the band, dancing with Jerome and members of the Time (I think). He is joined by Shiela E. on percussion, Eric Leeds on sax, and Apolonia Six on backing vocals. It is Prince at his most energetic, danceable and infectious.
I now must admit something I have never shared with anyone. But first I have to establish my bona fides. I am a big fan of Prince. I have seen him many times in concert, in giant arenas, medium-sized theaters and small clubs. I have bought every Prince album the day it came out, including The Rainbow Children. I know who Jamie Starr is, and I have listened to albums by The Family, Mazarati, and Madhouse – all produced by Prince. I have even seen the Prince movie Under the Cherry Moon. I may not be as big a Prince fan as my friend Eric Greene – who may have seen all 21 of Prince’s concerts in the Los Angeles Forum in April and May of 2011 when I only saw one of those shows – but I am in the top 1% of Prince fans for sure.
So, with my Prince fan credentials established, I can sheepishly admit to you that I don’t like the song Purple Rain. I recognize this is everyone’s favorite Prince song. It closed the Prince tribute concert on CBS in April, as it closed the live concert in 1985 that is streaming now. I know I should like Purple Rain, but I find the song turgid and obvious. The melody of Purple Rain is moving, yes, but what exactly is the song about? What is this “purple rain” that Prince is talking about? I guess the song is an apology to a lover that Prince hurt, but the song lacks all specificity. Purple Rain is a power ballad, and I have always hated power ballads and all anthemic songs that seem aimed at the last row of the stadium. The song’s production is overblown and manipulative. Purple Rain requires you to waive your arm over your head in a slow back and forth motion. I don’t want to do as directed – when everyone moves in unison on the orders of one person, I feel like I am in a Fascist rally being filmed by Leni Riefenstahl.
Prince has real moments of vulnerability that I find genuinely moving. My two favorite moving, vulnerable Prince moments are How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore, which was the B-side of the single 1999, and Sometimes it Snows in April from the album Parade. To me, the song Purple Rain is not a moving, vulnerable Prince movement; it is a moment of heavy-handed manipulation.