I clearly remember this cuz I had checked with the record stores on the release date of the album. At this stage, the single Controversy had been out and the album was to be released later that week. That's when I learned that Prince was one of the opning acts. So he was telling me who all was on the bill. Anyway, about a day or so before the first concert out here, my girlfiend at the time, her father was going with some friends of his. At this stage, I had no idea Prince was even on the bill. I liked the Stones and had wanted to go, but all of the best seats had been long gone. But it was never mentioned who the opening acts were. Cal, where these concerts were taking place, it was heavily advertised about the Stones. I've posted about this on here several times. This has been discussed to DEATH on this site. E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator Were they THAT offended by the lyrics to "Jack U Off"? Did they have a problem with a black man in front of a multi-racial, multi-gendered band? Why such a hostile reaction? I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this. What was their problem with Prince? He had already proven himself to critics with the "Dirty Mind" album and tour- but I guess this Rolling Stones crowd was a different circle altogether. Clearly, the taper did not know that Prince bootlegs would one day be in high demand.Īgain, I am discussing this only to shed light on the content of the performance and the audience's reaction. Prince returns to sing "Why You wanna Treat Me So Bad"- and it's hard for me not to imagine the lyrics being addressed directly to the crowd- but the taper yells, "ENOUGH!" someone next to taper in the audience continues booing, and the taper stops the tape. I think, at this point, Dez was the "seasoned veteran" of the band, while Prince was still new to rowdy audiences. Prince seems to have disappeared- there are no vocals at all during "Uptown," but a lot of lead guitar soloing (presumably by Dez). Dez graciously thanks the crowd and continues playing. As the song ends, a loud chorus of "boo's" can be heard from the audience. Then comes "Jack u Off," the taper yells, "LOOK AT ALL THE TRASH!"- I guess the stage was being pelted. By performing "Bambi" without falsetto, he sounds more like Mick Jagger.īut the audience is not that into it- at the start of the second song, someone-presumably the taper, says "One more song, and that'll be ENOUGH for THIS band!" The second song is "When You Were Mine," another hard rocker with no falsetto. The guitars are turned way up, it sounds like he is trying to appeal to a "macho" crowd. Prince performs his songs without falsetto, which was not customary for him at the time. It is worth noting that Prince was not the ONLY opening act- he is sandwiched between J Geils Band and George Thorogood, who as far as I know are two "white rock" bands that the Rolling Stones crowd was probably more familiar with. I heard a bootleg of the October 11th (1981) show- I'm NOT going to say WHERE I heard it (and I HOPE NO ONE ELSE WILL, because some things need to remain hush-hush)- but I do want to discuss the content of the recording and the incident. Why was Prince "booed" at the Rolling Stones opening act performance?