The first thing you hear is a familiar voice over the sound of thousands of fans yelling, “Hello, Syracuse and the world. My name is Prince and I have come to play with you.”
The artist soon appears on stage and, decked out in an animal print jumpsuit with white ruffled sleeves and collar and a guitar on his back, begins “Let’s Go Crazy”. “Dear brothers, we are gathered here today…”, he says.
It’s the electric start of a high-octane concert in upstate New York from over three decades ago, re-edited and re-released in audio and video that captures Prince & The Revolution at their peak.
“It was as amazing as I remember it,” says Lisa Coleman, a member of The Revolution who was there that night singing and playing keyboards. She adds drummer Bobby Z: “The next generation needs to see this because that’s what it’s about.”
The March 30, 1985 concert at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York, includes the songs “Delirious”, “1999″, “Little Red Corvette”, “Take Me Home”, “Let’s Pretend We’re Married”, “Computer Blue”, “When Doves Cry” and “I Would Die 4 U”, among others.
It closes with a sensual and dazzling “Purple Rain”. Prince, in a gleaming cape, delivers a several-minute solo that showcases an immensely talented guitarist.
“You can tell he knows what he’s doing out there: he’s lighting up the world. He always played like there was no tomorrow. But that one is especially moving,” says Bobby Z.
“Prince and The Revolution: Live” will be released on June 3 in a variety of formats, including digital streaming platforms, a three-LP vinyl version, a two-CD version, and a Blu-ray of the concert film.
There will also be a limited edition with three color LPs, two CDs, the Blu-ray video, a 44-page book with previously unseen photos from the “Purple Rain” tour and new liner notes written by all five members of The Revolution.
FILE – Prince performs in Houston on Jan. 11, 1985.
(F. Carter Smith/AP)
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“I was so proud of him and the band we put together and everything at the time; the fact that he is still alive and that this beautiful project is coming to light is something special, ”says Bobby Z, who has been friends with Prince since they met in 1976.
Fans of the late artist have another reason to rejoice this summer: “Prince: The Immersive Experience” makes its world debut on June 9 in Chicago. It offers visitors the opportunity to explore his wardrobe, musical influences and hits.
The Syracuse concert came at the end of a 100-date tour, and Prince and the band by now are a sleek, compact machine capitalizing on the success of the movie “Purple Rain.”
“I feel like it was a pearl in a great necklace,” says Wendy Melvoin, guitarist and singer for The Revolution. “The only difference is that it was being televised all over the world. And there was a little more pressure on us to improve.”
Over the course of the performance, Prince makes several costume changes, jumping off stage scaffolding, stripping off his shirt, suggestively squirming in a bathtub, and driving the crowd wild with lines like “Do you want me?”
The concert was one of the first available on pay-per-view television and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. It was later released on VHS, but the quality of the audio and images was poor.
“I am very excited for the next generation of Prince fans to see what it is all about. He was not an average guy. This was an incredibly talented dancer, singer, bandleader, showman, composer, and musician. He was one in a billion,” says Bobby Z.
Melvoin says that die-hard Prince fans may have seen bootleg versions, but he hopes the new album and film will inspire other artists.
“I think the people I’d like to see it are people who want to learn how to put on a great show,” he says. “Other artists should see it.”
Melvoin and Coleman recently rewatched the two-hour concert and found themselves saying “wow!” periodically.
“We were sitting next to each other watching a version on the big screen, and we had both forgotten certain parts; it was really a sight to behold,” says Melvoin. “I think one of the things I said to Lisa was, ‘Oh my God! How good we were!’”
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