1999 Tour

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1999 Tour
Tour by Prince
Associated album1999
Start dateNovember 11, 1982
End dateApril 10, 1983
Legs2
No. of shows93 (102 scheduled)
Prince concert chronology

The 1999 Tour was a concert tour by American recording artist Prince in support of his fifth studio album, 1999. It was, up till then, his longest tour of the United States. In addition to Prince and his band, his latest all-girl group, Vanity 6, made their first live act tour along with the returning The Time.

History[]

This tour saw the debut of Vanity 6 as a live act to go along with The Time as opening act. Even with the release of The Time's second album, What Time Is It?, tension between Prince and The Time escalated as the band was forced to play as Vanity 6's band during their 40-minute set with only a small increase in pay. They were further slighted by having to play behind a curtain, while the sultry girl group performed out front on stage. Eventually, the heat between the bands and the fact that Prince was getting increasingly insecure at The Time's nightly great performances, led to Prince dropping them from the tour completely.[1]

This marked the end of guitarist Dez Dickerson's tenure as a member of Prince's band. In the prior year, Dez became a born-again Christian and found himself conflicted playing music that contained Prince's racy lyrics. He was further upset when prior to 1982's Homecoming Tour stop in Minneapolis, he expressed his desire to omit "Head" from that night's set, that often ended with Prince simulating masturbating with his guitar. Dez gathered support from the rest of the members in the band to show a united front requesting they would not play the song in front of Dez's family, but when Prince was confronted and called for a vote, all but Dez sided with Prince, angering Dez.[1]

With Dez's impending departure, Prince had already found a replacement in Lisa Coleman's childhood friend Wendy Melvoin, who had already been participating in soundchecks with the band and would even stand in for Dez when he was not available. By the last leg of the tour, Wendy was officially the backup guitarist.

Initially, Prince had planned on playing at London's Dominion Theatre but opted out at the last minute, in order to continue gaining status across the United States.

Opening acts[]

Set list[]

The typical 1999 Tour setlist started with the "Don't worry..." intro from "1999" before an instrumental buildup to "Controversy", which segued into "Let's Work". "Do Me, Baby" was another staple from the Controversy album. Although some occasional older material was played, the remainder of the concert focused on new material. A keyboard interlude by Lisa introduced the new "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?". An extended "Lady Cab Driver" was a highlight and the slow jam "International Lover" were always played, as well as "Little Red Corvette" and "1999" (which often closed the show). "D.M.S.R." was usually worked in, sometimes as an encore. Occasionally some older material included "Head", "Uptown" and "Dirty Mind". "Still Waiting" sometimes segued into "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?". Between acts, songs from Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark were played.

Setlist of November 30 – December 3, 1982, at the Masonic Temple Auditorium, Detroit, Michigan[2]

  1. "Controversy" (Includes "1999" 'don't worry...' intro)
  2. "Let's Work"
  3. "Little Red Corvette"
  4. "Do Me, Baby"
  5. "Head"
  6. "Uptown"
  7. Keyboard Interlude by Lisa Coleman
  8. "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?"
  9. "Automatic"
  10. "International Lover"
  11. "1999"
  12. "D.M.S.R."

Setlist of March 8, 1983, at the Norfolk Scope, Norfolk, Virginia[3]

  1. "Controversy" (Includes "1999" 'don't worry...' intro)
  2. "Let's Work"
  3. "Do Me, Baby"
  4. "D.M.S.R."
  5. Keyboard Interlude by Lisa Coleman
  6. "With You" (Instrumental)
  7. "Still Waiting"
  8. "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?"
  9. "Lady Cab Driver" (New version with additional lyrics)
  10. "Little Red Corvette"
  11. "Dirty Mind"
  12. "International Lover"
  13. "1999"

The Band[]

Tour dates[]

Date City Country Venue Attendance/Capacity
North America—Leg 1
November 11, 1982 Chattanooga United States Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium 3,866/3,866
November 12, 1982 (2 shows) Atlanta Fox Theatre 10,543/10,875
November 13, 1982
November 14, 1982 (2 shows) New Orleans Saenger Theatre 5,271/5,271
November 18, 1982 Columbus Veterans Memorial Auditorium N/A
November 19, 1982 Gary Genesis Convention Center 8,500/8,500
November 20, 1982 Indianapolis Market Square Arena 14,032/14,032
November 21, 1982 Cleveland Cleveland Public Hall 7,987/7,987
November 24, 1982 Philadelphia Class of 1923 Arena N/A
November 26, 1982 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum 12,187/12,187
November 27, 1982 Hampton Hampton Coliseum 13,800/13,800
November 28, 1982 Columbia Carolina Coliseum 12,352/12,352
November 30, 1982 (2 shows) Detroit Masonic Temple Auditorium 25,932/25,932
December 1, 1982 (2 shows)
December 2, 1982
December 3, 1982
December 4, 1982 St. Louis The Checkerdome 16,323/16,323
December 5, 1982 Louisville Louisville Gardens 6,850/6,850
December 8, 1982 Saginaw Saginaw Civic Center N/A
December 9, 1982 Chicago Auditorium Theatre 11,703/11,703
December 10, 1982
December 11, 1982
December 12, 1982 Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum 12,500/12,500
December 15, 1982 Memphis Mid-South Coliseum 11,200/11,200
December 16, 1982 Nashville Nashville Municipal Auditorium 11,098/11,098
December 17, 1982 Pine Bluff Pine Bluff Convention Center N/A
December 18, 1982 Baton Rouge Riverside Centroplex N/A
December 19, 1982 Birmingham Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center N/A
December 20, 1982 New Orleans Saenger Theatre 2,636/2,636
December 29, 1982 Houston The Summit 22,852/22,852
December 30, 1982 Shreveport Hirsch Memorial Coliseum 5,230/5,230
December 31, 1982 Dallas Reunion Arena 17,734/17,1734
January 2, 1983 Houston The Summit
January 3, 1983 Lake Charles Lake Charles Civic Center 5,230/5,230
North America—Leg 2
February 1, 1983 Lakeland United States Lakeland Civic Center 9,500/10,000
February 2, 1983 Savannah Savannah Civic Center N/A
February 3, 1983 Augusta Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center N/A
February 4, 1983 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum N/A
February 5, 1983 Richmond Richmond Coliseum N/A
February 6, 1983 Roanoke Roanoke Civic Center 5,115/9,828
February 10, 1983 Providence Providence Civic Center N/A
February 11, 1983 Hartford Hartford Civic Center 16,000+
February 13, 1983 Washington, D.C. D.C. Armory Starplex N/A
February 14, 1983 N/A
February 15, 1983 Chapel Hill Carmichael Auditorium 10,180
February 16, 1983 Macon Macon Coliseum 9,252
February 18, 1983 Tallahassee Tallahassee–Leon County Civic Center 9,975
February 19, 1983 Jacksonville Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum 11,626/11,626
February 20, 1983 Mobile Mobile Municipal Auditorium N/A
February 22, 1983 Greenville Greenville Memorial Auditorium N/A
February 24, 1983 Buffalo Buffalo Memorial Auditorium N/A
February 25, 1983 East Lansing MSU Auditorium N/A
February 26, 1983 Toledo Toledo Sports Arena N/A
February 27, 1983 Ann Arbor Crisler Arena N/A
February 28, 1983 Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Civic Arena 12,860/16,000
March 2, 1983 Peoria Peoria Civic Center N/A
March 3, 1983 Trotwood Hara Arena 8,000
March 5, 1983 Baltimore Baltimore Civic Center 12,447/12,447
March 6, 1983 Salisbury Wicomico Youth and Civic Center N/A
March 8, 1983 Norfolk Norfolk Scope 6,853/6,853
March 9, 1983 Columbus Columbus Municipal Auditorium 3,916/3,916
March 10, 1983 Monroe Monroe Civic Center N/A
March 11, 1983 Huntsville Von Braun Civic Center N/A
March 12, 1983 Knoxville Knoxville Civic Coliseum N/A
March 13, 1983 Kalamazoo Wings Stadium N/A
March 15, 1983 Bloomington Met Center 13,729/13,729
March 17, 1983 Rockford Rockford MetroCentre 9,500/10,000
March 18, 1983 Omaha Omaha Civic Auditorium 9,474/9,474
March 19, 1983 Kansas City Municipal Auditorium 9,330/9,330
March 21, 1983 New York City Radio City Music Hall 5,882/5,882
March 24, 1983 San Antonio HemisFair Arena N/A
March 25, 1983 Norman Lloyd Noble Center N/A
March 28, 1983 Los Angeles Universal Amphitheatre 6,251/6,251
March 29, 1983 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena N/A
March 30, 1983 Phoenix Veterans Memorial Coliseum 9,223/12,221
March 31, 1983 Long Beach Long Beach Arena 13,574+
April 1, 1983 Oakland Oakland–Alameda County Arena 28,400/28,400
April 2, 1983 Fresno Fresno Convention Center N/A
April 3, 1983 Oakland Oakland–Alameda County Arena
April 5, 1983 Denver Denver Auditorium 5,790/5,790
April 7, 1983 Milwaukee MECCA Arena 9,532/9,532
April 8, 1983 Detroit Joe Louis Arena 21,672/21,672
April 9, 1983 Richfield Richfield Coliseum 17,500+
April 10, 1983 Chicago UIC Pavilion 10,638/10,638

[4]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Jason Draper (2008). "Prince: Life & Times". Jawbone Press.
  2. ^ http://www.princevault.com/index.php/30_November,_1982
  3. ^ http://www.princevault.com/index.php/08_March,_1983
  4. ^ Prince Tour History
Retrieved from ""