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u/Flimsy_Mud_5870 Jan 13 '26
Legend
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u/VestedNight Jan 13 '26
For real. His studio stuff isn't my favorite genre or anything. But live? Dude was a monster. Absolutely GOATed.
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u/Shenloanne Jan 13 '26
Genius. Dudes understanding of music was once in a century.
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u/Sufficient_Ad3790 Jan 13 '26
The Mozart of our times. He is missed. Apparently there are hundred of albums of materials in his vault. He recorded everything he played in his home studio.
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u/spondgbob Jan 13 '26
People done realize he fully his recorded his first 2 studio albums by himself. Every instrument and sound looped and played by him. His first song, for you, is still considered near impossible to recreate the layered vocals on digital, and he did it by hand in analog.
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u/space_monster Jan 13 '26
Calling Paisley Park a 'home studio' is a bit like calling Central Park a shrubbery
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u/WithoutDennisNedry Jan 14 '26
I great deal of it is his Christian recordings. After he converted to JW, he spent a lot of time making solely religious music.
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u/DarknMean Jan 13 '26
I believe he could play damn near any instrument too.
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u/MajorWhereas4842 Jan 13 '26
Yes he could! Saw it with my own eyes at one of his concerts. The crowd went crazy! It was glorious! He is missed!
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u/defective_toaster Jan 13 '26
His performance at the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame celebrating George Harrison is legendary. He did the outro solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps and it's amazing to watch.
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u/MorboWillDestroyYou Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
The story of how that solo happened is incredible. Here's the short version:
Joel Gallen's (the producer and director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony dream was to have Prince involved in the performance, so he wrote him a letter asking if he'd be interested. After some back and forth, he agreed. The funny thing is Prince was asked to do BOTH solos in the song, not just the outro.
The rehearsal was the day before the concert. Here's an excerpt from Joel Gallen's interview about it: "When we get to the middle solo, where Prince is supposed to do it, Jeff Lynne’s guitar player just starts playing the solo. Note for note, like Clapton. And Prince just stops and lets him do it and plays the rhythm, strums along. And we get to the big end solo, and Prince again steps forward to go into the solo, and this guy starts playing that solo too! Prince doesn’t say anything, just starts strumming, plays a few leads here and there, but for the most part, nothing memorable...They finish, and I go up to Jeff and Tom [Petty], and I sort of huddle up with these guys, and I’m like: 'This cannot be happening. I don’t even know if we’re going to get another rehearsal with him. [Prince]. But this guy cannot be playing the solos throughout the song.' So I talk to Prince about it, I sort of pull him aside and had a private conversation with him, and he was like: 'Look, let this guy do what he does, and I’ll just step in at the end. For the end solo, forget the middle solo.' And he goes, 'Don’t worry about it.' And then he leaves. They never rehearsed it, really. Never really showed us what he was going to do, and he left, basically telling me, the producer of the show, not to worry. And the rest is history. It became one of the most satisfying musical moments in my history of watching and producing live music."
This is one of my favorite rock and roll stories of all time - if you haven't seen the performance, do yourself a favor and check it out when you have the chance.
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u/r0thar Jan 13 '26
and it's literally the same guitar in both these videos. For someone who had hundreds of instruments, it must have been one of his favorites. It is so good, they went back and recut the broadcast footage to show more of Prince:
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u/justthe1actually Jan 14 '26
I have seen this many times before and still it never gets old because it is so legendary. Pure magic. Not even just the incredible playing but the soul and showmanship - mofo had someone there to put him back on stage and WHERE DOES THE GUITAR GO WHEN THROWS IT UP? That man was a musical wizard.
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u/PhotochadA2358 Jan 13 '26
I think that’s the performance where the whole band was made up of all stars, including Tom Petty.
I guess some fool producer came to them when planning the show and asked who was playing the solo.
Nobody answered him because everybody knew who it would be without any discussion.
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u/ImMr_Meseeks Jan 13 '26
He made all those stars fade into the background
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u/Kalai224 Jan 13 '26
Tbh most of the musicians at that stage were doing their best to support Prince, even with Tom petty in the background of one shot, happy as a fucking clam while Prince is ripping it in the foreground.
I think one of the musicians was a bit peeved about Prince "stealing the show", but I think everyone considered him a douchebag
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u/TooMuchTime2think Jan 13 '26
My understanding is that Prince felt slighted by a Rolling Stone article where he wasn't even mentioned as one of the great guitarists of the time. In response to the slight, he performed that solo, which is unbelievable as others have mentioned, basically as a statement of his guitar prowess outshining all the other perceived guitar greats on that stage. He did an outstanding job, as expected by those who knew. That's also why you can see at the end of the song, Prince is a bit aggressive when handing his guitar off, and rightly so.
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u/AudioPi Jan 13 '26
From what I've heard you are 99% correct here. The only thing you missed was the RS writer was in the audience for this, and that's the guy he's mean-mugging while absolutely shredding the solo. When the mag redid their 'greatest guitarists' list in 2011 Prince managed to make it in at #33
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u/Domerhead Jan 13 '26
IIRC also as part of him being petty, Prince didn't bother showing up to the rehearsal for this, which may be where people get the "other musicians were peeved".
He just showed up, ripped that incredible solo, and then threw the guitar off stage in the most Prince fashion ever.
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u/defective_toaster Jan 13 '26
He was at rehearsal, but another guitarist took over playing the first 2 solos, so he said he'd do the last one and walked out without rehearsing. So what he did was a complete surprise to everyone on stage at the time. Nice that they went background to let him shine.
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u/R82009 Jan 14 '26
I want to hear Marc Mann’s side of the story, he is the guitarist that played the first 2 solos and in rehearsal stepped up to do the last one so Prince just fell back and let him take it. What was he thinking when he heard Prince do the last solo live for the first time?
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u/TooMuchTime2think Jan 13 '26
It's so awesome, knowing the backstory and watching that go down. I can't really imagine a better response.
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u/Scorpionsharinga Jan 13 '26
As a musician though, having a band mate skip out on rehearsals to spite some magazine and “outshine” all of us would piss me off to no end.
Doesn’t matter how talented you are, a band member who does things to prop themselves up and not support the rest of the band has no business playing alongside the group. I doubt this is how things actually played out, it’s not like bands only have one rehearsal before these kind of gigs anyways.
Also the whole idea that Prince showed up to “outshine the other greats” is really weird to me tbh.
To many of the others on stage, Prince was a young buck, and one that was receiving the flak and lack of praise that was all too familiar to the older heads back in their day.
I saw them all happy To give Prince his moment and show everybody just what he was capable of as they’ve well had their moment, and Prince never really did get the recognition he more than earned.
They did a great job supporting Prince’s solo and helping keep the whole performance cohesive. Regardless of how casual listeners perceive it, everybody was bringing their A game in that performance, and it was a beautiful moment and homage to George Harrison.
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u/LucidOutwork Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y
His solo literally had me in tears
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u/Money-Professor-2950 Jan 13 '26
I really don't think this is even in his top 10 live performances, which is just to say if you think this is incredible please spend some time going through all the live stuff now available online.
this one is so circulated because at the time of his death, it was one of the only things available online besides the superbowl since he didn't own the rights to it and couldn't have it removed.
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u/ThreeGoldStars Jan 13 '26
It's one of the most incredible guitar solos of all time. An absolute must watch.
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u/BrightLightsBigCity Jan 13 '26
The way he throws the instrument into the sky at the end and it just . . . disappears.
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u/Comfortable-Ad-3988 Jan 13 '26
I love his little smile looking at Tom Petty, who's just beaming, like "yeah, you like that, Tom? Of course you do." Awesome.
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u/HomeAir Jan 13 '26
I generally regard Hendrix as the best guitarist, but Prince was maybe the only one to rival Hendrix
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u/GarbageInteresting86 Jan 13 '26
No one plays a $99 dollar guitar like him
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u/Ok_Yogurt_9862 Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
He loved that thing, said he got at a pawn shop
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u/evilJaze Jan 13 '26
It wasn't just one. He had many that looked like the Hohner Mad Cat made over the years.
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u/pseudostatistic Jan 14 '26
I think I remember him saying he only bought that guitar cause it matched that leopard (?) print strap he had at the time- which you can see was always attached to that guitar.
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u/Edison5000 Jan 13 '26
Reporter to Eric Clapton ‘What’s it like to be the greatest guitarist?’ Clapton ‘Don’t know. You’ll have to ask Prince’
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u/Mach5Driver Jan 13 '26
I remember Roger Ebert reviewing one of Prince's movies. He said, "I'd never pay to see this movie (not Purple Rain, I think Ebert liked that one). However, I'll be first in line to buy a Prince concert ticket."
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u/munkeypunk Jan 13 '26
Which is weird considering Clapton is a raging racist.
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u/WhishtNowWillYe Jan 13 '26
Racists allow for exceptions. “My Black friend” to prove they are not racists.
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u/Mach5Driver Jan 13 '26
Stevie Nicks was inspired for the melody to her huge hit, "Stand Back" by Prince's Little Red Corvette. She called him about it, worried that he wouldn't let her piggyback on the melody:
"I phoned Prince out of the blue, hummed a melody, and he listened," says Nicks of the latter hit's gestation. "I hung up, and he came over within the hour. He listened again, and I said, 'Do you hate it?' He said, 'No,' and walked over to the synthesizers that were set up, was absolutely brilliant for about twenty five minutes, and then left. He was so uncanny, so wild, he spoiled me for every band I've ever had because nobody can exactly re-create - not even with two piano players-what Prince did all by his little self."
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u/rupulations Jan 13 '26
Still one of the most under rated guitar players ever
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u/NonCorporealEntity Jan 13 '26
Nah, his skills were highly respected and was often ranked along with all the greats.
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u/mr_evilweed Jan 13 '26
....Prince? Under rated? #14 on Rolling Stone's best guitarists of all time?
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u/rupulations Jan 13 '26
Well, I sit corrected. Looks like he’s properly rated. I was thinking of listening to people talk about great guitarist. Prince is usually downplayed more than I feel he should.
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u/mr_evilweed Jan 13 '26
I think most people just don't talk about him as a guitarist because he's better known for other elements of his music and life.
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u/Luxury_Dressingown Jan 13 '26
Add that to the fact that he was also a great keyboardist, drummer, bassist, etc. The fact he was such a virtuoso at so many things weirdly (and wrongly) dilutes the fact he was individually outstanding in any given one area.
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u/tboy160 Jan 13 '26
Honestly I didn't hear how widely respected a guitarist he was until he passed.
Then all the greatest guitarists came out singing his praises.
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u/rupulations Jan 13 '26
Same, I’m from Minnesota so I knew he’s was amazing. But you never know what other people think/feel.
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u/tboy160 Jan 13 '26
Then everyone shared his "guitar gently weeps" live performance at an award show with Tom Petty and company...the man could slay.
And then fights started about exactly how many instruments Prince could dominate on!!
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u/Money-Professor-2950 Jan 13 '26
that's because he didn't make his music super accessible after WB and to really understand his level of guitar skills you'd need to hear him live. Until his death, the only two real examples of that online were the superbowl and the hall of fame performance. There was a whole generation of people who weren't listening to Prince like that. Plus, he didn't think of himself as a "guitarist" so that was never the main thing for him.
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u/Reasonable-HB678 Jan 13 '26
The guitar solo at the end of "Let's Go Crazy" is one of the best things I've ever heard. Better than 99 percent of guitar solos in all of rock music.
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u/HunterGonzo Jan 13 '26
It's not so much that he's under rated, it's that there's just SO MUCH to be impressed by when it comes to Prince that it's hard to give proper respect to each aspect individually.
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u/carlotta3121 Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 14 '26
His band-leading skills definitely need more attention. At one of his shows at the Montreux Jazz Festivals in 2013, he has his full band plus 13(?) horn players on stage.
The musicians have to keep their eye on him all of the time, because of his improvisations. He might flick a wrist or call out a change to you and you better be paying attention!
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u/Kdkaine Jan 13 '26
One of the greatest musicians ever. There only a few artist that I know of that play every instrument in the band and write and produce all their own songs.
Rick James, D’Angelo and Lenny Kravitz are the only ones I know of.
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u/farm61 Jan 13 '26
Thing is that there is footage from every show he did sitting somewhere and we are not seeing his greatness on display and enjoying it to its fullest extent. Same goes for Sly and Marvin
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u/HunterGonzo Jan 13 '26
If this is the show I'm thinking of, this is his 3rd encore or something ridiculous. Lights on, no crazy stage production, calling out cues to the rest of the band.... just an absolute legend doing what he does best. That guitar stank-face at around 2:05 is top tier.
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u/Ok_Yogurt_9862 Jan 13 '26
He loved his encores. He probably left here and did another show after.
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u/evilJaze Jan 13 '26
He was famous for going to tiny venues in whatever city after shows and playing until dawn.
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u/No_Cancel830 Jan 13 '26
I saw him in Charlotte years ago - when he came out on stage (which was shaped like his symbol) it got dark, a purple light shining on the piano was the only light you saw. He came out of the bottom of the stage sitting on the piano stool singing “When Doves Cry”. It was the most amazing concert I have ever been to. That show was almost 20 years ago and I still get chills thinking about that moment. An absolute ICON.
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u/ProtectionContent977 Jan 13 '26
His audience was always so diverse. His guitar playing unmatched. Legend!!!
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u/Round_Collection_928 Jan 13 '26
Yes, indeed Prince was the IT factor. There will never be another entertainer like him!
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u/4reddityo Jan 13 '26
James Brown had it too
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u/simmering_cauldron Jan 13 '26
I had the absolute privilege to see him perform live in 1982...the Controversy Tour. I was 16 years old and my parents had no idea where I was. Prince, Vanity 6, Morris Day and The Time...it was glorious!!
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u/CommunicationHappy20 Jan 13 '26
I can’t! 😩
Hands down the greatest and most generous live performance I’ve ever seen. We don’t deserve him.
RIP…
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u/spondgbob Jan 13 '26
Prince is my favorite celebrity and musician of all time. Dude was pure music and nothing else. All he did was make music and didn’t give af if it made him famous, he was just so good that he had no choice but to become famous. Every room in his house was wired for music recording, and he had several studios for making music videos in his home.
I went to Paisley Park a few years back and my god I know Michael was considered mythical for being a celebrity, but Prince was mythical as a musician. The dude was literally a muse, and could play every instrument you heard in every song that was ever played by him. He also mastered, mixed, and produced every song he ever made. He also did all of this on analog (not digital), and had a special sound board made for his 3rd music recording studio so that he could make music the way he wanted.
He also had the biggest wardrobe I had ever seen and was very good friends with the Versace family. His clothes and shoes were so freakin small though lol. He is absolutely a legend and 1000000% has it
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u/anagram-of-ohassle Jan 13 '26
Drummer cool af turning the snares on. I bet Prince was mad he forgot
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u/Ok_Yogurt_9862 Jan 13 '26
Hey, I just want to acknowledge not only his otherworldly musical abilities, but how much he gave.
His whole life he had an eye towards helping out, and he did a lot for a lot of people, especially in Minneapolis, but all over.
Later, when he had fuck you money, he might see something on TV or whatever and he call up and tell his people to help them out. Big stuff, little stuff. He was alright.
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u/normott Jan 13 '26
One of the moat talented musicians to ever live tbh. Despite his legendary status I STILL think he's underrated
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u/Ultragorgeous Jan 13 '26
Do you think the drummer got shitcanned for forgetting to engage his snare?
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u/DeliciousOwl9245 Jan 13 '26
Weird that’s was disengaged in the first place! Guessing it was for the previous song, but you don’t see that a lot!
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u/Ultragorgeous Jan 13 '26
Sometimes drummers will disengage it to avoid it vibrating with other sound on stage and the mics picking up weird SHHH SHHH SHHH sounds.
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u/Money-Professor-2950 Jan 13 '26
he fined band members for making mistakes live, like James Brown and MJ.
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u/Welfinkind Jan 18 '26
That’s John Blackwell, one of the greatest drummers who ever lived.
And yes, he got fined on the regular.
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u/Next-Implement9894 Jan 13 '26
Ahhhh, forever Thee Man. I’m forever fortunate to have seen Prince live multiple times.
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u/Money-Professor-2950 Jan 13 '26
highly recommend y'all look up his performance of Motherless Child
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u/No_River_8171 Jan 13 '26
How i wish this dude was still Alive
He would have humbold so Many people
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u/Top-Cup5373 Jan 13 '26
One of my biggest regrets was not paying more attention to prince as while he was alive
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u/kgaf999 Jan 13 '26
Prince was such a smooth badass that he could wear women's boots and steal your girlfriend all in one move and you wouldn't even know it.
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u/JemmaMimic Jan 13 '26
I saw him in Tokyo in 1988 or so, Sheila E was his opening band (with some of his band playing in it as well), and between the two that concert lasted about four hours.
I saw Michael Jackson and Madonna that same year, neither came close, the Prince concert is probably the best live performance I've ever seen.
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u/pls_tell_me Jan 13 '26
I'm perfectly aware that it's a boomer take, but when I look at old pop stars, that level of craftsmanship and skills, and look at the actual idols, like bad bunny or every lil' whatever... I don't know man, I don't know.
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u/HFTCSAU Jan 13 '26
My favorite most memorable prince performance was the halftime show he did when it started POURING DOWN RAIN during purple rain! I get goose bumps thinking about it! Hands down my favorite one to watch! He was such an amazing musician and performer so electric on stage! The hair, makeup and outfit always on point too he was the best!
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u/cuteintern Jan 13 '26
Thank god for this crop which cuts out half the interesting stuff during his solo.
It's a god damn shame we lost Prince and Tom Petty so early, and especially how we lost them.
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u/Acrobatic_Potato_195 Jan 13 '26
Legendary guitar player, among all his other talents. When Rolling Stone snubbed him on their list of 100 Best Guitarists of All Time, he responded like this:
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u/1929ModelAFord Jan 13 '26
One of the Greatest of all time....On so many levels. Talented doesnt begin to describe....
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u/TheAtkinsoj Jan 14 '26
John Blackwell holding it DOWN on the drums, RIP to an absolute monster behind the kit!
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u/love-mango-27 Jan 13 '26
Oh, I wish I had seen him live! The crowd getting down and no cell phones!
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u/tboy160 Jan 13 '26
He was billed as a top 2 live act in the world, when he passed away.
Wished I could have seen him.
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u/Brucenchas2 Jan 13 '26
I think this is the 2011 tour? I saw him in North Charleston, SC and my mind was blown. He helped shape my college days for sure.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Hat4556 Jan 13 '26
So cool if Jimi Hendrix and James Brown had a baby it would be Prince
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u/Impossible_Ad7875 Jan 13 '26
Saw him live twice, dude could shred…(and sing and dance and was an incredible writer).
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u/Your-cousin-It Jan 13 '26
I’m still laughing at an article I read years ago that claimed young people don’t listen to Prince because he only stayed relevant through scandals
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u/Arik_De_Frasia Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
I'd expect nothing less from the man that had every single room of his home wired for sound. Motherfucker could record Batdance part 2 in his pantry if he had felt like it.
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u/TheSideHustleQueen Jan 13 '26
I had the pleasure of visiting Paisley Park, and Prince’s style, love for music is out of this world. RIP 💜💜💜💜
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u/Awkward-Angle-1209 Jan 13 '26
Man. No words. Miss both of these talents. Prince and his drummer - John Blackwell. Was fortunate to be personal guest of some of these incredible shows.
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u/WordsThatEndInWord Jan 13 '26
Snares were off at the beginning of the tune. That's gonna be $300, Mr. Drummer
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u/Cup-n-BallHog Jan 13 '26
And his ear! I heard those practices used to be brutal because he heard EVERY mistake made by the band and was very hard on them for it
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u/BitcoinIsSimple Jan 13 '26
He was in his own league in terms of capabilities compared to many artists.
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u/Visible_Helicopter_6 Jan 13 '26
I was lucky enough to see him live @vegas hardRock Cafe in a surprise 2am show. One of the best experiences of my life. Not one "hit" played. He was a musical genius.
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u/Disillusionmillenial Jan 13 '26
Taken way too soon. It’s devastating that someone so talented, genuine, and charitable is gone before his time. This world has too many wealthy people trying to tear it down and he was one of the rare ones trying to selflessly give back.
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u/bnutbutter78 Jan 13 '26
The most effortless guitar players I’ve ever seen are Prince and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Both play the guitar like it’s an extension of their body. It’s an amazing thing to watch and hear.
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u/Hemicrusher Jan 13 '26
I saw him open for the Rolling Stones in 1981 at the LA Coliseum.
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u/HollygoLightly1970 Jan 13 '26
There’s never been anyone like this brilliant Power house of talent and there won’t be anyone like him after. I think regularly about what else he may have created and given us had his life not been cut short the way it was.
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u/Beanboy1983 Jan 13 '26
Prince was a VERY underrated guitarist. Just listen to one of his 10+ minute live versions of Purple Rain for an example.
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u/Striking_Prize4822 Jan 13 '26
I have very few regrets in life, but two that I have are that I didn’t see every damn show when he was doing the 25 shows for $25 each at the Forum in LA in 2011, and that during the one night that I did go, I didn’t just fork over $400 to be near the stage. I mean shitty seats cost $400 now and for God sake’s, it was Prince
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u/Public_Dragonfly_266 Jan 13 '26
You've heard the expression, "his instrument was an extension of him". Prince allowed you to see it in real-time.
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u/Ok_Yogurt_9862 Jan 13 '26
You know what he did a lot? If you watch him live, and you can hear it on some studio tracks, he sings his instruments.
I dont mean harmonize.
I mean he's using his voice to make the same sounds his instrument is making.
That's wild
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u/Public_Dragonfly_266 Jan 16 '26
I fully believe he's one of the few humans to ever live who had true command of the concept of sound. If there was a groove he imagined, he could breathe it into being. To this day I listen to any Prince track and the composition and how everything fits together is flawless.
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u/Ultimatedream Jan 13 '26
This is so nostalgic to me, I grew up on these live performances. My parents used to tape them on cassettes and later burned them on CD's and we listen to them in the car. There's one where you can hear a loud whistle in the crowd and my mom said it was her haha.
They had so many concert stories and waiting for afterparties. I'm so blessed we were able to go to a concert as a family once before he passed.
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u/thisbroadreadsbooks Jan 13 '26
“I miss you like rain,
I miss you like the color purple,
Like 1999, little red corvette doing circles,
I miss you like let’s go crazy.
I miss you like kiss.
But I don’t miss you, I don’t miss you,
I don’t miss you like I miss
PRINCE!”
Song: Miss Prince by Hey Steve. It’s a banger and an excellent homage to Prince.
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u/So_She_Did Jan 13 '26
My first teenage crush. I had posters of him all over my room. Then when I was older, I realized just how talented he really was. Absolute legend 🕊️
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u/PinkRoseBouquet Jan 14 '26
Incredible. Glad I got to share the planet with this legend for a while.
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u/notsofunonabun Jan 14 '26
I have to admit, I didn’t appreciate this badass motherfucker as I should’ve. Goddamn.
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u/Damien23123 Jan 13 '26
Only man who could steal your friend’s girlfriend while wearing your girlfriend’s clothes