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Sabotage Records Catalog # SAB 286/287/288/289 Release Year 2004 4CD Length 78:13 / 60:37 / 76:54 / 78:13 Date/Venue The Fillmore, San Francisco : 15th and 16th February 2004 (am) Date/Venue The Time Opening Act : Musicology Tour - Philips Arena, Atlanta : 30th April 2004 Source Audience Recordings Quality EX |
Comments
Fink's
Comments (rates this release 4.75/5.0)
Finally
someone has done justice to these tremendous shows. As cool as they were from
Freeology, nothing beats them being packaged together with stunning artwork (and
thankfully with the correct dates). These are 2 first class warm-up shows for
the Musicology Tour, and as good an audience recording as you will
hear......period. Prince is in a fun, funky, playful mood - yet still brings the
roof down. Props must also go to the crowd for matching Prince word-for-word on
his songs, and reacting so well to the show.
The first nights show (Disc 1 & 2) is probably my favourite of the 2, as it is
less like the Musicology Tour than the 2nd nights show (which is basically a
run-through of the 2nd half of the tour). 'Knock On Wood' is turned into a funky
duet with Chance Howard and Candy. 'What Is Hip?' is funky as fuck. The crowd
lead on 'Sweet Thing' (very cute) and most of 'Girls & Boys'. 'The Love We Make'
makes a great (rare) live appearance, and is dedicated to Sean & Mary
(who...they...be??). Prince comes back for an encore of 'Adore', and finishes
the night with the theme tune to Benny Hill (If you are UK fan - you'll know how
funny it is to hear this during a Prince gig - what the fuck!?).
The second show starts slowly with Renato's solo before launching into a trio of
crowd pleasers, then things darken up for a VERY funky S.O.T.T. Pass The Peas is
very fast paced, almost on speed - and just TRY to stop your head bopping to
Life 'O' The Party (listed as 'Live O The Party' on the packaging). The crowd
onstage take over the vocals for 'Take Me With U', and no matter how many times
I listen to it, I still laugh at the guy singing the wrong lyrics TOTALLY out of
synch with the music ;-).
Larry Graham guest for the first few tracks in Disc 4, but he is in the
background and pretty un-noticeable (thank Jehovah). Chance closes things up
with another cool version of 'No Diggity', and Prince finishes the concert with
a mental laugh, and a "And your little dog too!" line. The bonus tracks from The
Times opening set are a very cool addition, however they are from a VG+ audience
recording, and compared to the astoundingly good sound of the Fillmore concerts,
The Time's tracks sound kinda echoed and hollow.
The packaging is beautiful, with 2 nice reviews of the show from an audience
member, and the booklet (and discs) feature pictures from the 'Prince In Hawaii'
book (although the dreaded 'fam' word is frequently used). Club gigs don't come
much better than this - an amazingly good release.