Prince - June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016
2016 has been a horrible year so far. In late December 2015 Lemmy died. Soon after David Bowie died in January 2016. And now this. Prince esta muerto. Prince was found dead on April 21, 2016. Only 57 years old. Much too soon. Prince was the most gifted musician of our time. The world's most underrated guitarist ever. He pretty much made the soundtrack to my life. I lived and breathed Prince through my teenage years, and I have never stopped following the man.
Even when some of his output wasn't on par with his out-of-this-world albums from the 80s, it was always a joy to hold a new Prince album in your hands. Live on stage no-one ever came close. He was the born performer, more charismatic than anybody you can think of, and the greatest musician we'll live to see. Watching him control his bands to perfection, knowing that he could out-play them on most instruments.
I haven't taken in the shock completely yet, I think. I am still in a state of denial. It hurts too much. This world is gonna be a much worse place without Prince. I may not always have agreed with his questionable behavior and decisions off stage, but I have never seen his like on a stage and I never will.
"He came to us from Minneapolis. Never failed in his art. We shall never see his like again....and now his watch is ended."
From my first Prince gig in 1987, the most impressive concert show ever LoveSexy '88, a meet and greet in 1998 - where I got to say hello to the little man - thanks to C - a dear friend of mine, several outstanding intimate after-shows, a week at London's O2 including 5 concerts, the magical moment in 2010 when Prince took Roskilde Festival's Orange Stage, the fantastic 2-day NPG festival in Copenhagen in 2011, and to the evening of pure rock n roll at Smukfest in 2013.
Thank you for everything Prince. All 28 gigs I was lucky enough to get to see, the massive amount of official and bootleg records that I treasure dearly. Even with Prince now gone from this mud-ball planet, his music will always be with us. If we are lucky enough there is still a lot more to come. His music vault is known to hold massive amounts of unreleased songs. Hopefully a lot of them will be allowed to spread their beautiful purple wings in the future.
R.I.P. PRINCE
"Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish life was never ending,
And all good things, they say, never last"
The Prince gigs I attended over the years:
- 1987 Scandinavium, Göteborg
- 1988 Idrætsparken, København
- 1990 Gentofte Stadion
- 1992 Ostsee Halle, Kiel
- 1998 Valbyhallen, København (Meet & Greet)
- 1998 Vega, København (Aftershow)
- 1998 Wembley Arena, London
- 1998 Hippodrome, London (Aftershow)
- 1998 Köln Arena
- 2002 Aalborg Kongres Center
- 2002 Falconer, København
- 2002 Vega, København (Aftershow)
- 2007 O2, London x3
- 2007 IndigO2, London x2 (Aftershow)
- 2010 Roskilde Festival
- 2010 Forum, København
- 2010 Amager Bio, København (Aftershow)
- 2010 MCH, Herning
- 2011 Spektrum, Oslo x2
- 2011 Amager Bio, København
- 2011 NPG Festival, København x2
- 2013 Smukfest, Skanderborg
- 2014 Wiener Stadthalle, Wien
- Concerts: 18
- After-shows: 6
- Festivals: 4
- Total: 28
The photo is from my last Prince concert @ Wiener Stadthalle in 2014. The only photo I managed to shoot before I got a warning and had to "behave".
Content Type: Music Comment
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Updated: 2016-04-22 16:21
Created: 2016-04-22 15:57
