When tickets went on sale over the summer for The Revolution, sans Prince obviously, I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical. The man has been dead for nearly 4 years now. Was it a money grab by the band post his death? Was the band capitalizing on his death? Was it desperation for a once world renowned band to get back in the spotlight without their creator possibly blocking the appearances? After all, Prince basically signed The Revolution off in the 80s to make way for other incarnations of himself in the decades after.
I bought tickets anyway, because I did, in fact, want to see The Revolution. They are all accomplished musicians in their own right, so that alone promised it would be a good show. Admittedly, I also wanted to go out of curiosity for what a show of exclusively Prince music would be like without Prince.
My friend and I walked in the nearly 100 year old Ace Hotel Theater in downtown Los Angeles’s Historic Core the night of the show. A Spanish Gothic style building that used to hold United Artist Studio’s flagship theater in the early 1900’s. To say it is ornate is an understatement, and by appearances alone, certainly a place worthy to host the iconic music of Prince and The Revolution.
I became more wary when we saw no visuals of Prince or The Revolution anywhere. No posters, no photos, no shrine, no merchandise booth. His famous symbol wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Their only mention was on one single poster out front that read “The Revolution: Prince’s Former Band”. Based on Prince’s legendary control over his name and image, I can only assume there was legal red tape with his estate to use his name or image for this tour. But I’m only speculating.
The stage itself was nearly bare. Nothing elaborate at all. Three black platforms with instruments on them towards the back of the stage, and two stand-alone microphones towards the front. It was a stripped down set. No staging bells and whistles. It was just going to be the band and their songs. Much the way the staging was in the film Purple Rain. No video screens, no pyrotechnics, no dancers.
We sat in our seats, still skeptical, and soon the purple lights were dimmed. The crowd cheered as the band received the same introduction they did in the movie. A voice off screen, or in this case, off stage, spoke “Ladies and gentlemen…THE REVOLUTION”. Bobby Z, Dr. Fink, Brown Mark, and the infamous pairing, Wendy & Lisa, simply walked out on stage, grabbed their instruments, and proceeded to blow the roof off the house with “America” from the AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY LP.
As the show went on, they hit every major song of the Prince and The Revolution catalog, from “Controversy” to, of course, “Purple Rain”, as recorded. No extended versions, no alternates, no remixes. The music was just as it was on the albums we all bought. The audience of thousands danced and sang along to every lyric, even adding in the Prince signature high pitched “Owws”, “Oohs”, and punctuating ‘Uhhs” as heard on the original recordings.
It reminded me of the time I saw him play in Nashville back in the early 2000’s. It was one of the most pure and awesome moments between artist and fans I’ve ever seen at a live show. Prince picked up his acoustic guitar and started strumming the chords for “Raspberry Beret”. He sang the opening lyrics “I was working part time in a 5 & dime, my boss was Mr. McGee”. Then he walked away from the mic still strumming the guitar, and the entire audience of 10,000 sang the rest of the song without Prince returning to the microphone.
What an amazing payoff for an artist, to have thousands of people know your song so well that you don’t even have to sing it at your own live show, and the fans could sing along to the instrumentation, lyric for lyric. That’s essentially what was happening at this Revolution show, except it wasn’t just one song, but a decades’ long catalog of hit music.
I realized then, with all the lights, joy, and energy in the room from fans, this was not a money grab at all. This was a celebration. A celebration of an artist that released several albums of incredible music at his most creative and popular zenith, that the world collectively connected to. A celebration of The Revolution and their contribution. A celebration of that time in our own lives as well.
The PURPLE RAIN soundtrack alone has sold over 25 million albums, and is the 3rd best selling soundtrack of all time. The song “Purple Rain” was #1 for 12 weeks in 1984, and is still a “put up your lighters (cell phones now) and sing along” anthem as evidenced that night. Even when the key member of the songs’ creators is not there to help perform it. Afterall, the songs on the PURPLE RAIN album are in fact partly The Revolutions’ songs too. The credits on the album read “all songs by Prince and The Revolution”. And we, as fans, had been anointed by the Purple Paisley One before he ascended, “funking” through our speakers, because for 90 minutes that night, as we sang along to every song, it was a funky pop music religious experience. We were in the church of Prince. We WERE the church of Prince.
No other part of the show proved this more than the last 20 minutes. It was a specific homage to the PURPLE RAIN era. After “When Does Cry”, Wendy stepped up to the mic and stated the obvious. “Prince isn’t here, but you all know the lyrics. So you all need to sing along” (as if the audience wasn’t already), and then strummed the most famous chords of her career, and some of the most famous opening chords of music in general, the intro to “Purple Rain”. Of course, we all sang along, and simultaneously sang the high note church-choir-like “oooh” part towards the end with our hands waving slowly in the air like religious believers.
Next up was the encore of “I Would Die For You”, and “Baby I’m a Star”, the same order as in the finale of the PURPLE RAIN film.
How completely bizarre yet satisfying and validating that must be for The Revolution every time they perform. Their band leader and head song creator gone, but momentarily alive again, reflected in the thousands of peoples voices joyously singing along as they, “Prince’s former band”, played. We were Prince. Prince was us. And I believe this is what His Purple Funkiness meant in all his talk about the intertwining of artistry, fandom, God, the universe and mysticism, and it came to be. That truly is revolutionary.
“But I’m here to tell you, there’s something else, the afterworld” –Prince
Below are a couple of videos captured at the show. Check’em out! (videos by Kim Courte Sparks)
