Sign o' the Times Tour

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Prince in concert.

The Sign o' the Times Tour was a European concert tour by American recording artist Prince. It was the first tour after the split with The Revolution. As Prince's record sales were doing better in the European market than at home in the United States, Prince chose not to continue the tour into the United States after the European tour, as he was ready to get back into the studio and start a new project.

The Sign o' the Times Tour marks the debut of Prince's newest band, called the "Lovesexy Band" by most long-time Prince fans.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

The Sign o' the Times Tour marked a huge transition period in the career of Prince. Gone were the Revolution, in particular long-time band members Bobby Z. (who was there from the start in 1978), Brown Mark, Lisa Coleman, and Wendy Melvoin. The only holdovers from the "Counter-Revolution" line-up were Miko Weaver, Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, and long-time keyboardist Doctor Fink. Sheila E., who Prince had been working with in the studio, took over on drums, while another session player, Levi Seacer, Jr., who had been playing in Sheila E.'s band and was also a member of Prince's jazz-fusion project Madhouse, was added on bass. Boni Boyer was brought on board to play keyboards and organs and the Star Search phenom Cat Glover rounded out the group as choreographer, dancer, and backing vocals.

Warner Bros. and Prince's managers wanted a longer world tour to promote the album in United States and Japan, however Prince felt a need to tour Europe only, where his past three albums, along with this one, performed better than in the United States, and by the time he was finished with his European concert dates, was ready to move on from Sign o' the Times and record new material.^[1] He later compromised by filming some of the shows for a concert film release. However, the film quality of the recorded shows was too grainy and Prince was forced to re-shoot most of the concerts in a sound stage at Paisley Park, lip-syncing most of the songs.

Prince was scheduled to perform at Wembley Stadium, London on this tour, but the dates were cancelled.

The band[]

• Prince: lead vocals, piano, and guitar
• Miko Weaver: guitar
• Levi Seacer, Jr.: bass
• Matt Fink: keyboards
• Boni Boyer: keyboards, organ, and vocals
• Sheila E.: drums, percussion, and vocals
• Eric Leeds: saxophone
• Atlanta Bliss: trumpet
• Cat Glover, Wally Safford and Greg Brooks: dancers and vocals

Typical set list[]

1. "Sign "☮" the Times"
2. "Play in the Sunshine"
3. "Little Red Corvette"
4. "Housequake"
5. "Girls & Boys"
6. "Slow Love"
7. "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (Includes "Rockhard in a Funky Place" horn interpolation)
8. "Hot Thing"
9. Drum solo coda: "Now's the Time" (Charlie Parker cover)
10. "U Got the Look"
11. "If I Was Your Girlfriend"
12. "Let's Go Crazy"
13. "When Doves Cry" (Includes "La, La, La, He, He, Hee" interpolation)
14. "Purple Rain"
15. "1999"

Encore 1

16. "Forever in My Life"
17. "Kiss"
18. "The Cross"

Encore 2

19. "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" (Includes "Take the "A" Train", "Six", "Housequake" and "♥ or $" interpolations)

Also "Mutiny", "Raspberry Beret", "La La La He He Hee", "Dead on It", "Condition of the Heart", and "The Sex of It", were worked into some shows.

Tour dates[]

Cancellations[]

• 06/25/87: London, England, Wembley Stadium; CANCELLED^[2]
• 06/26/87: London, England, Wembley Stadium; CANCELLED^[2]

References[]