Albert Magnoli and Prince direct Prince, Morris Day, Apollonia Kotero, Cat Glover, Boni Boyer and Sheila E. in this vanity project and concert film both made to promote his latest albums respectively.

Decided to have me a little Prince night while Natalie was away. Not sure why? He isn’t really as Eighties important to my musical tastes (or my definition of cool) as say Madonna, MJ or David Byrne. The highly regarded Purple Rain is a travesty. I’m not sure what people see here. Camp, vacuous and shoddy. Prince is a creepy little misogynist in it. He looks like an utter nerd bombing around scrubland on his puce scooter. The sex scenes with Apollonia (who is credible dramatically) are laughable. The jerky tragedy pretentious. Morris Day gives a spirited yet amateur performance as the silly heel. Are people watching this with a straight face? The music video chunks are undeniably iconic though.

When Prince’s 1987 album Sign ‘O’ The Times underperformed in the stores he decided to make a concert movie to sell the concept experience visually. Footage shot on the European tour didn’t relay his vibe so he shot a fake concert at Paisley Park and this is the result. I care about this track list less (there’s only on or two singles I’d listen to on semi-regular rotation) but the production is grandiose. So much dry ice and strobing colour lighting that Prince and his ensemble of house performers get lost in the gargantuan overkill. Interludes that suggest some Greek tragedy (Hello, Purple Rain) and sets that could come from a million dollar steampunk Brechtian play. So the music isn’t up to his gold standard, the vibe is humping and pumping.

3/6

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/