Publication: Bergen Record [US]
Date: August 4, 1986
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Title: "A Little Too Sophisticated; Close, But…"
Reviewed By: Jill Schensul

When he was 17, Prince visited New York City and Madison Square Garden. He dreamed of someday playing music in the giant arena.

Saturday night, the musician got his chance. But the performance he gave might not have been quite as he'd imagined it back then. In the first of two shows at the Garden, it seemed Prince had grown just a little too faraway from what inspired that kid in the first place.

Like such pop institutions as Talking Heads and David Bowie, Prince keeps pushing his creative limits. From the simple pop and soul ballads of "For You" in 1978 to the psychedelics and polytonalities of this year's "Parade," Prince has expanded and experimented. And, as Talking Heads, David Bowie, and other seminal artists have also done, he may have strayed a bit far from the heart of the rock-and-roll matter. His two-hour show at the Garden was a close-but-no-cigar attempt at musical euphoria, suffering from overproduction and under conviction.

When the house lights went out, the sellout crowd screamed unrelentingly for five minutes for Prince. Wisely, there was no opening act to throw to the lions who waited only for the diminutive rock star.

And when Prince appeared, the roar was deafening. Let's go crazy.

As Prince's band, the Revolution, (augmented by three male backup singers and a horn section), lumbered into "Around the World in a Day," the audience was on its feet and trying as best it could to go crazy.

But the music, burdened with horns and odd tempos, had begun to sink heavily into the smoke.

Although there were a few inspired moments and Prince and his backup singers provided some great choreography, the evening never really clicked. Prince's show was too, well, sophisticated. Gone was the ingenuousness of pastconcerts, the simple joy of learning what twist of the pelvis made the audience scream, or how high a voice had to go to make an I-love-you-so-bad wail that could make your hair stand up.

Prince has it all down now. Certainly, he discovered it and has every right to use it. But by the time he was halfway through "Purple Rain" during his second encore, he was abusing the privelege. The wails seemed hollow, the moves histrionic, and the whole overblown production was off-key. The song was especially disappointing because it has been known to raise goose bumps and encourage an occasional religious experience in previous renditions.

Theconcertalso suffered from the repertoire, made up largely of Prince's recent, more intricate and musically thoughtful songs. With its heavy psychedelic, French chanson, ballad, and ethnic influences, it is less accessible than his older funk raveups. The intricacies were lost in the murky sound system, tempos were slightly lethargic, and many of the songs were dragged down even further by too much instrumentation.

Songs that might have breathed life into the show, such as "Delirious" and "Controversy," were cut short. Even the steamy "Do Me, Baby," never seemed to smoke.

This was partially because Prince seemed uncharacteristically distant. His sophisticated look, shorn, slicked back hair, expensive suits, and topcoats, was telling. Prince was much less lascivious this time out, a development for which many in the audience were probably thankful. But this more decorous attitude also seemed to prevent him from hitting the grit that won him his fans in the first place. He never cut loose, believably.

So, okay, no religious experience. The concert was fun, Prince was entertaining, everyone seemed happy. Yet it's hard not to expect more from Prince, simply because he has always managed to deliver it. But Prince is dedicated to experimenting, and judging from the reaction of the loyal fans Saturday, I bet they'll stick around while that kid goes back to the drawing board.