Prince & Cee-Lo At The Garden
This gave me goosebumps.
The number one criterion of live performance is to make those who did not attend believe they missed it.
That’s why Coachella sold out instantly this year. Hell, they didn’t even need to announce the lineup. It’s far from overwhelming. But 50,000+ people want to be there. They want to watch the endless parade of people, they want to tell their friends they attended, they want to be part of the discussion.
I’ve been wondering whether the good numbers for Coachella and the Katy Perry tour portend a good summer touring season. It appears money is loosening up, people are spending again. Will they spend on music?
If it’s a must-see show.
If you’re doing the same thing every night to tape, people might go for the extravaganza. But it’s the same in every city. What if it’s different?
But let’s back up a step. Sometimes it’s the same every night and it takes time for the word to spread. Mainstream press covered Roger Waters’s tour of "The Wall" like it was just another show. Faded superstar hits the boards for one more go-round, a final dash for cash. And all of that might be true, but it doesn’t speak to the essence of the experience. People who saw "The Wall" can’t stop testifying. Arguably, there’s been no better production. But it’s even better than that, not all the production was on stage. From the almost full scale airplane screaming over the audience to explode into the wall in the beginning to the remote-controlled flying pig to the surround sound, I’ve never seen anything like it before. This show should play stadiums. Roger is missing out. Sure, put another act on the bill for insurance, to make sure the dates go clean, but "The Wall" is pure rock and roll. You either saw it, or you missed it.
Like Cee-Lo with Prince.
Prince has got to stop putting out new music. No one cares.
Let me clarify that. He’s got to stop believing people care about his new music. No one cares about the new music of old farts, and he’s one too, he’s over fifty. If you want to sell the new music of an old fart you release only one tune, a verifiable classic, as good as "Crazy". Alas, Prince has not cut this track, not in decades, even though he used to be able to seemingly at will.
So it’s about the show.
And Prince levitates the room. But when he does the unexpected, that’s when we all want to go.
All the gossip sites were talking about Kim Kardashian coming up on stage. Like I care? But someone e-mailed me this YouTube clip. It’s like a bootleg tape of old. Recorded from a distance, but containing the essence.
Usually these surprises only happen in New York and L.A. But when they do, you never forget them. John Mayer with Taylor Swift at Staples was a highlight. But Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker coming up on stage with Kenny Chesney excited me too.
It’s ultimately about the music. Get people who can sing and play up with the star to improvise, to do something different, and you end up with heat.
This is the story the Super Bowl decriers were looking for.
Slash is lovable, but Izzy was the star of that band.
And one can argue that Danger Mouse is the star of Gnarls Barkley, but it’s Cee-Lo’s voice (which is why Axl Rose can still tour as GNR).
And "F___ You" is a novelty tune.
But "Crazy" is the best single of the aughts.
I thought I could miss Prince. Hell, I saw him do "Dirty Mind" at Flippers Roller Disco. I saw him open for the Stones. I’ve seen him spin to "Little Red Corvette". But watching him on stage with the portly man in the white suit, conducting the band in his red outfit, I feel both included and left out.
Included because I’m experiencing the video. Left out because I wasn’t THERE!
Surprise the audience. You don’t need to feature a superstar guest. Maybe a rare cover, or a reworking of a classic cut… To make sure they know the gig is something special.
And today when you do something special, word gets out.
Because there’s video of everything.
And people talk.
This is not on hard drive. Prince nails the solo.
This makes me CRAZY!
P.S. When I finished writing this, I checked the link for accuracy and what I got was the following message:
"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim from NPG Records Ltd."
Ridiculous. I thought Prince wanted to sell tickets.
Social is everything. Give people the tools. Encourage, don’t limit. If limiting worked, Guy Hands’s acquisition of EMI would have been a triumph.
Meanwhile, this link is still working, but it’s from a distance, it’s much worse:
