PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION
The Revolution Will BeTelevised
PRINCE OWNED THE AIRWAVES WHEN HIS 1985 PURPLE RAIN TOUR WAS BEAMED OUT TO MILLIONS AROUND THE WORLD AND ITS LEGENDARY SYRACUSE SHOW IS NOW BEING RELEASED ON BLU-RAY AND REMASTERED LIVE ALBUM. CLASSIC POP TALKS WITH WENDY MELVOIN AND LISA COLEMAN FROM HIS STELLAR BACKING BAND THE REVOLUTION TO FIND OUT MORE.
FELIX ROWE
H elloSyracuse and the world. My name is Prince and I have come to play with you.” Note the choice of phrase: not play for you, but with you. The audience are his personal playthings, mere pawns in his wicked game. Over the course of the next two hours, Prince plays the 40,000-strong crowd like an instrument, demonstrating – as always – amasterly control.
This was Prince in full splendour at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse, in New York State on 30 March 1985, during his mammoth Purple Rain US tour – and we can now revisit that legendary show once more on the newly-released triple vinyl or 2CD/Blu-ray set Prince And The Revolution: Live.
Between November 1984 and April 1985, Prince And The Revolution performed just under 100 shows – sometimes twice a day – to a total of 1.7 million people. The tour represents a performer in total command of his artistry, testing the limits of his power.
Picking up where Hendrix left off, Prince’s axe-wielding antics injected Black R&B back into white-dominated rock’n’roll. Like 1999 before it, Purple
Rain was instrumental in removing barriers that hitherto segmented audiences. The wider tour highlighted Prince’s mid-80s power, with guests at various dates including heavyweights Bruce Springsteen and Madonna.
Syracuse is the resounding document of that era. The occasion was beamed live around the world and ultimately immortalised in pop lore, cementing Prince’s status as a live tour de force. The master tapes have now been unearthed from the vaults and digitally restored in all their glory.