R.I.P. Prince – Reign In Purple – Orange Bowl 1985 Show Recap

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R.I.P to the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.

This is what it sounds like when doves cry, my friend.

He was the Purple Alpha, the Minneapolis Omega, and a son of funk in the same league as James Brown and Little Richard.

Here’s what HenryStoneMusic’s own Joe Stone remembers of the Prince legacy, including a play by play recap from his famous Orange Bowl concert on Easter Sunday in Miami 1985.

“Yknow, I remember leaving the TK Offices, the T.K. building on like a Tuesday afternoon, driving on LeJeune Road past the Miami Airport when the Playboy Club was still over there and for the first time hearing “When Doves Cry” come on the radio. And I was kinda like who the fuck is that? Cause it was so groundbreaking. It was. And it had these different arrangements and the guy was so versatile.”

“Not long before that he had a smash hit with “Little Red Corvette,” and I loved the extended version of that song, and that cool soulful vocal breakdown in the middle. And before that he had “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” and it was completely different. This guy was so incredibly different. A real musical chameleon.

He was really quite an innovator and I think he was misunderstood and probably had some social awkwardness with everyday life and reality because of the depth of his musical intelligence.”

“And I think we’ll discover more about Prince over the next 20 years than we know today because he was musically very far ahead of his time.

And he was quite the philanthropist at the same time. He did a lot of things without telling people. Without telling everyone, “Hey I did this.” He quietly did a lot of good for a lot of people.

He was also one of the first to have complete creative control over his work with Warner Brothers. I can’t remember his first manager’s name, but his deal with WB was that he had complete creative control of the process.”

“I saw him play live a couple times. I saw him at the Orange Bowl. Must have been 1985. It was a fuckin killer show at the Orange Bowl. He was on tour I’m pretty sure. The Purple Rain tour.

I remember he was running across the stage and he kinda tripped on one of the steps and fell down a little and then disappeared like he was embarrassed until the people started screaming and chanting and he came back out with a little sad face.

I can see it now.

He’s running and went to hit a step and missed it and went shboom! I was like oh shit, I hope he’s alright.

Shit looked like it musta hurt.”

“He was amazing.

He definitely influenced fashion in a lot of ways. And he had this interesting way of introducing new artists and music to us.

He would present them like, these guys have been around. Like Morris Day and The Time. And the broad that was in the movie…..Voluptuous? It was interesting how he introduced artists he was involved in creating and producing. It was like a seamless way that they already existed and we should know them.

I loved Prince. He could get some real poppy stuff going, but he kept it soulful and funky and that’s what I love.

Soul, and funk, r&b. I feel that. And he was always able to keep that going. Even the more rock n rolly stuff.

He shall be missed. He was an amazing musician and amazing artist.”

R.I.P.

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