-06-1986 : Mazarati @ Detroit

07-06-1986 : Mazarati @ Detroit

♫ h Detroit Cobo Arena Birthday Concert (1:12 / 0:59)

* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $17.50

(A : Birthday Parade – 10/10 / Birthday ’86 – The Full Concert – 5/10 * V : Detroit June 7^th 86 – 10/10)

Around The World In A Day / Christopher Tracy’s Parade / New Position / I Wonder U

Raspberry Beret / Alexa De Paris / New Position / Controversy / Mutiny (Incl. Dream Factory)

Happy Birthday / How Much Is That Doggie In The Window ? / Lady Cab Driver / Automatic / DMSR

The Dance Electric (w/ Andre Cymone) / Under The Cherry Moon / Anotherloverholenyohead

Soft & Wet / I Wanna Be Your Lover / Head (Incl. Electric Man) / Pop Life / Girls & Boys

Take My Hand, Precious Lord / Life Can Be So Nice / Purple Rain / Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On

Mountains / A Love Bizarre (Incl. Holly Rock) / Kiss (extended)

Prince spent his 28th birthday treating the fans at the Cobo Arena in Detroit to an inspired two-hour show. Several people guested on stage, including André Cymone, Sheila E., and opening act Mazarati. The rowdy and enthusiastic Detroit audience made its presence felt from the beginning, shouting “happy birthday” and singing along at Prince’s urging. “Happy birthday,” Prince said to himself before kicking off “Raspberry Beret.” “Controversy” started unusually, with Prince getting the crowd to repeat a line from “New Position,” “do ya, do ya like a big man should,” over the funky rhythm guitar intro. Apart from the usual “Dream Factory” lines, “Mutiny” also included some “Holly Rock” chants and an inspired organ solo by Prince, who was clearly enjoying himself a lot on stage. “Listen, this is a very special day,” Wendy said, taking the microphone after “Mutiny.” She led the crowd in a loud version of “Happy Birthday.” Then a grinning Prince took the microphone himself, “Does that mean I can come back? Last year we had a party and it was fun, but it wasn’t as fun as this. Detroit is like my hometown, I mean that. I could’ve stayed in Uptown and partied, but I wanted to come down and party with y’all.” André Cymone appeared on stage for “The Dance Electric,” which featured extended bass and guitar solos before finishing with Prince’s exclamation, “André Cymone !” “Head” included the “Electric Man” portion for the first time (at least on tape). Prince addressed the audience again over the “Pop Life” intro but it is very difficult to hear what he says on the existing tape recording of the concert (this part was edited out of the TV film). “Life Can Be So Nice” had an unusual, very long ending. After slowing down the tempo, Eric Leeds continued with an extended saxophone solo. The intro to “Purple Rain” was stretched out much longer than usual although the actual performance of the song was not different in any way. Sheila E. guested on “A Love Bizarre”, which included “Holly Rock” chants and Prince’s instructions of how to do the “Oak Tree” dance. The two Detroit concerts were filmed and an hour-long concert film was produced, Parade Live, which was broadcast in several European countries later in 1986. Detroit News’ Jim McFarlin thought the birthday show was “everything a good party should be : loose and loud, with the guest of honour proving himself a merry and gracious host,” while Gray Graff of Detroit Free Press described the show as “a slick, energetic, tightly choreographed eighties update of the old Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Ike & Tina Turner, and Sly and The Family Stone shows.” After the previous club and theatre “Hit & Run” concerts, the Cobo Arena was the first show in a larger, arena-sized venue. The remaining “Hit & Run” shows all took place in similar Purple Rain-tour-sized arenas. They sold out nearly as quickly as the smaller venues.
Parade Live – long overdue a reissue. Although only featuring an hour of the show, along with the Dortmund Lovesexy show it’s the best video recording Prince has ever released. Only here can you get a full sense of the true power of a Prince and The Revolution show from this era. Prince on his checkerboard stage, dancing atop his piano, stripped to the waist, a show with none of the longueurs so familiar from Prince’s main shows over the past decade – no stop–starts, no dead spots: when he goes to the piano, it’s a dancing run to an upright organ, the whole band working as one of the most formidable machines popular music has ever seen. And while the set may be one of his more pared down, the show is still theatrical: there’s as much drama in Prince’s out-on-a-limb performance of ‘Head’/‘Electric Man’ as in any of his movies. (No less than 4 different versions of this show have in fact been sent to TV channels and aired in 1986 and later. The one listed above is the promo video that was sent to Detroit TV channel WGPR and constitutes the primary US broadcast. A slightly different edit has been sold to various European TV channels later in 86, which is similar except that it lacks Soft And Wet. The third version is the promo video that's been re-edited for the Japanese broadcast: it is significantly shorter, but I need to check whether it only lacks some songs or if it is, in any other way, a different version. Finally, it has been reported that the full Detroit show has been aired late at night by WGPR at some point in 1986 (or possibly even later). This last version was pro-shot and sent to the station either by Prince himself or members of his staff, and it's not clear whether Prince had authorized this broadcast and whether he was even aware of its existence. The exact content of this broadcast is uncertain as we don't know whether it has been edited or not at all. More info needed.)
A : This is the complete recording of the heavily circulating Birthday 1986 concert. This recording is an audience, as opposed to the edited version which is Soundboard (taken from the broadcast). It's a fairly average recording, and parts are faded in / out (Soft & Wet). The show itself is fantastic, and as it's Prince's birthday it goes without saying that he's in a great mood. Andre Cymone guests on stage for a fast, frantic 'The Dance Electric', and Sheila E pops her head in for 'A Love Bizarre'. There are MUCH better 'Parade / Hit & Run' shows circulating, but as it's a birthday concert - it tends to be a little more special, even WITH the audience wetting their pants every time Prince so much as MOVES.
V : Another surprisingly decent release from Ladybird, and it seems they have sourced a more complete video recording of the show - much to my surprise and delight. Thankfully they have released the 60 minute version which includes the performance of 'Soft & Wet' - that is the plus of this release. Unfortunately the minus is that the picture quality is less good than some other releases of the show (GSH / Pimpsandwich's 'Cobo Arena' being far superior quality). The colour is a little faded and overall the is picture is slightly flat. The show itself is an excellent Hit & Run / Birthday show with Prince (obviously) having a ball on his 28th birthday. I won't comment on the show as it is listed several times on this site already. The DVD is packaged in a tri-fold out sleeve with stunning artwork, however there is no information regarding the show itself. Confusingly the track-listing on the back sleeve does not quite match the track-listing on the menu - however considering the mess of Ladybird's recent releases, this small flaw is no biggie. I much rather prefer the GSH / Pimpsandwich release of the show as the quality is far better, but this is more complete, so for that reason it's a nice effort and a decent release.
Shot at the Cobo Hall and directed by Daniel Kleinman, Anotherloverholenyohead is the twenty-fourth Prince video to have been released for broadcast. Of note this is the last appearance of Bobby Z., Brownmark, Wendy Melvoin, Susannah Melvoin, Lisa Coleman and Jerome Benton in a Prince video.
Joe Louis Arena Afterparty
A birthday party was held at Joe Louis Arena Olympia Room after the Cobo concert. Prince and his friends, including Andre Cymone, and local celebrities, including basketball players Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson, or Punch Andrews, Bob Seger's manager. George Clinton and Bob Seger attended the concert, but did not come out after. After singing "happy birthday", the evening ended early in the morning.
Detroit Free Press
Prince of the city

By Gary Graff

Prince is one guy who knows how to hit a town. He played the First Avenue club in his hometown of Minneapolis in March without any formal notice. In early April, a show at the Metro in Boston was announced that day. Fans in San Francisco had a day and a half’s notice for his surprise concert at the Warfield. The same happened eight days ago for a show at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theatre. Detroiters should consider themselves lucky; they had two days to prepare for Friday night’s show at Masonic Auditorium and four days for his birthday concert tonight at Cobo Arena. Perhaps it was special consideration for the city Prince considers to be his “second hometown,” according to his managers. It was certainly a chance to see a looser, more relaxed Prince than the pop phenomenon who opened his “Purple Rain” tour with seven shows at Joe Louis Arena in November 1984. Since then, he’s had two more albums – “Around The World in A Day” and “Parade” – Another N°1 his single in “Kiss” and has expanded his band, the Revolution, from five to 11 members. Surprise gigs aside, his real tour is scheduled to begin about the third week of July, timed to coincide with the July 2 release of his second film, “Under The Cherry Moon”.
Billboard
A Prince-ly hometown tribute

By Gerry Wood

A prophet with honor in his hometown, Prince performed at the 1986 Minnesota Music Awards and received a special award. The princely tribute came from Gov. Rudy Perpich during the award ceremony May 20 at the Carlton Celebrity Room in Bloomington. Drawing some 2.000 music and civic personalities, the three-hour event was telecast live over KTMA-TV. Enough awards were doled out to put Minnesota mining into overtime – 62 in all, including 13 that were announced but not presented during the telecast. Plaudits ranged from “best world-beat/calypso band” to “best rock reed player,” and seemed intent on securing the Guiness world record for most obscure categories in an awards presentation. While categories ranged from the sublime to the more sublime, several important awards were presented, including best rock female vocalist. Melanie Rozales; rock male vocalist, Dale Goulett; r&b/funk/blues female vocalist, TaMara of TaMara & The Seen; r&b male vocalist, Alexander O’Neal; new rock/pop band, Great Nation; radio stations, WLOL-FM and KDWB-FM; best video, Prince’s Raspberry Beret; rock/heavy metal band, the Jets; rock/pop band, Unlimited Warranty; rock/pop recording, Unlimited Warranty’s This Is Serious; LP/EP, The Jets; country/bluegrass/folk female vocalist, Mary Jane Alm; and country/bluegrass/folk male vocalist, Michael Johnson. The Minnesota Music Hall of Fame Award went to Jeanne Arland Peterson. Entertainer/group of the year honors went to Unlimited Warranty. They coveted Connie Hechter Award went to Amos Heilicher, founder of the Great American Music & Wax Museum chain. As usual, the power of the event was demonstrated onstage with electrifying performances by Prince, the Jets, Mazarati and TaMara & The Seen. There also was a stunning duet by Mary Jane Alm and Michael Johnson. Earlier, Prince, demurely attired in a dark suit and tie, was honoured for his contributions to American, and Minnesotan, music. The creativity of the state that has produced Bob Dylan as well as Prince, has never been more dramatically showcased.

10-06-1986 : Louisville Freedom Hall

* Attendance : 13.000 / Sold Out
After the two Detroit shows, another “Hit & Run” concert followed at the 15.000-seat Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. Again, no tape recording is circulating.
??-??-1986 : Can I Play With U (4) (6:27) – Prev. Sunset Sound 27-12-85
Prince contributed additional material to the track to extend it in 1986, but neither Miles Davis nor Prince were very excited by the final result, and after hearing the rest of the finished album, Prince asked that his track be removed, as it didn't fit in with the style of the rest of the album. After Davis died in 1991, Warner Bros. asked Prince to add some post-production to this track (as well as Penetration, Jail Bat and A Girl And Her Puppy) to include on his first posthumous album, Doo-Bop, but Prince was not interested in contributing to tracks that he felt didn't show Davis at his best. The longer version of the track was planned for release (credited to "Miles Davis with Prince") as the twelfth track on a 2001 box-set of Miles Davis's Warner Bros. work, entitled The Last Word, but the track was not included on the eventual 2-disc 2010 release, titled Perfect Way.
12-06-1986 : Sunset Sound
Baby Go Go (1) (4:40) – Female Trouble