Prince Tour

Prince Tour
Tour by Prince
Location North America
Associated album Prince
Start date November 26, 1979
End date May 3, 1980
Legs 2
Number of shows 14 club dates
42 as opening act
56 in total
Prince concert chronology

The Prince Tour was the first concert tour by American recording artist Prince, and supported his second album Prince. The tour started as a headlining club act and played 13 dates before joining Rick James' Fire It Up Tour as a supporting act for 38 more dates in the United States. The tour lasted from late November 1979 [1] through April 1980.[2]

History

The tour focused on material from Prince's first two albums. As a support act, the set usually contained 7-8 songs, but most extended out so the concert would last about 40 minutes. Towards the end of the tour, Prince sometimes incorporated a newly written song, "Head" into the act. The lewd number conflicted with keyboardist Gayle Chapman's religious beliefs, as she was a member of The Way and caused her to leave the band. She was later replaced by Lisa Coleman, who provided additional vocals for the song in the studio and in concert and later became a close collaborator with Prince.

The Prince Tour stayed within the United States, but prior to Prince's next tour, he would venture to Europe for the first time for three club dates.

Matt Fink started in this tour wearing a jailbird, black and white striped outfit. It would not be until the next tour for Dirty Mind that he would adopt the Doctor Fink persona.

When Prince joined Rick James' Fire It Up Tour, within the industry it was billed as the Battle of Funk. However it quickly became evident that Prince was winning over the crowd with his short, lively set which he stole from Rick James and eventually brought more energy than the two hour set by the headliner. Animosity between the two groups developed as they tended not to socialize after the show, plus Rick James and his crew were heavy into drinking and doing drugs, something Prince avoided.

Band

Typical set list

  1. "Soft and Wet"
  2. "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?"
  3. "Still Waiting"
  4. "I Feel for You"
  5. "Sexy Dancer"
  6. "Just as Long as We're Together"
  7. "I Wanna Be Your Lover"

Additionally, "Head" was debuted on this tour and worked into this some shows.

"Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" was the second song played in these concerts, and would be the same for the next two concert tours. For some reason after that, it would never be played again except at a few one-off shows over the following years.

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue
North America—Leg 1
November 26, 1979 West Hollywood United States The Roxy Theatre
November 28, 1979 Denver Rainbow Music Hall
November 29, 1979 Burleson Western Palace Club
December 1, 1979 Houston The Palace
December 2, 1979 Avondale Ole Man River
December 2, 1979
February 9, 1980 Minneapolis Orpheum Theatre
February 11, 1980 Cincinnati Bogart's
February 14, 1980 Cherry Hill Emerald City
February 15, 1980 New York City Bottom Line
February 15, 1980
February 16, 1980
February 16, 1980
February 17, 1980 Boston Paradise Club
North America—Leg 2 (Opening act for Rick James' Fire It Up Tour)
February 22, 1980 Fort Worth United States Tarrant County Convention Center
February 23, 1980 Shreveport Hirsch Memorial Coliseum
February 24, 1980 Houston Sam Houston Coliseum
February 28, 1980 Chicago Uptown Theatre
February 29, 1980
March 1, 1980 Pittsburgh Stanley Theater
March 2, 1980
March 5, 1980 Greenville Greenville Memorial Auditorium
March 6, 1980 Atlanta The Omni
March 7, 1980 Jacksonville Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
March 8, 1980 Lakeland Lakeland Civic Center
March 9, 1980 Sunrise Sunrise Musical Theater
March 14, 1980 Hampton Hampton Roads Coliseum
March 15, 1980 Raleigh Dorton Arena
March 16, 1980 Columbia Carolina Coliseum
March 20, 1980 Rochester Rochester Community War Memorial
March 21, 1980 Cleveland Public Hall
March 22, 1980 Louisville Freedom Hall
March 23, 1980 Detroit Cobo Arena
March 27, 1980 Columbus Columbus Municipal Auditorium
March 28, 1980 New Orleans Municipal Auditorium
March 29, 1980 Jackson Mississippi Coliseum
March 30, 1980 Lake Charles Lake Charles Civic Center
April 2, 1980 Buffalo Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
April 3, 1980 Toledo Toledo Sports Arena
April 4, 1980 Saginaw Saginaw Civic Center
April 5, 1980 Indianapolis Market Square Arena
April 6, 1980 St. Louis The Checkerdome
April 7, 1980 Milwaukee MECCA Arena
April 10, 1980 Savannah Savannah Civic Center
April 11, 1980 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum
April 12, 1980 Baltimore Baltimore Civic Center
April 13, 1980 Springfield Springfield Civic Center
April 17, 1980 Birmingham Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center
April 18, 1980 Memphis Mid-South Coliseum
April 19, 1980 Huntsville Von Braun Civic Center
April 20, 1980 Dayton University of Dayton Arena
April 24, 1980 Richmond Richmond Coliseum
April 25, 1980 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum
April 26, 1980 Macon Macon Coliseum
April 27, 1980 Nashville Nashville Municipal Auditorium
May 3, 1980 Landover Capital Centre

References

  1. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=dkgVlMQkBE0C&pg=PA73&dq=prince+1979+tour&sig=rofoaLyKKV1SzLWl8MnlMHXHzng#PPA73,M1
  2. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=dkgVlMQkBE0C&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=prince+rick+james+tour&source=web&ots=IqRHXkynCB&sig=sOQ4LO-xQ7VEJQmkXmw9L5cPG2g#PPA79,M1
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