The Sacrifice Of Victor Prince video

Warner Music Vision

video

It doesn’t matter what he’s called.

The early hours of September 8th 1993 marked a low ebb in Prince’s relationship with his official fan club; it was also the first time one of his legendary after show performances was captured on film. It was the final night of the Act II Tour, during which Prince ‘sacrificed’ his former self onstage and his corpse carried off by band members. The act signified Prince burying his birth name and with it his past and to be known henceforth as the unpronounceable Prince Love Symbol, the event was the beginning of a long feud between Prince and his record label Warner Brothers over their ownership of his music.

Prince chose Bagley’s Warehouse as the venue to host the aftershow concert which he named Celebrate The Dawn, with which to close the tour. Bagley’s (a rave venue later renamed Canvas) was London’s largest nightclub and occupied a former warehouse building in the heart of derelict railway grounds of King’s Cross, then a notorious area of London. Fans, many of them teenage girls, trooped through the dark surrounding streets to await Prince at the venue. He did not arrive until the early hours and finished the show at around 3:30am, at which time the 3,000 attendees had little means of getting home. The nightclub was also particularly overcrowded and, coupled with the late hour of the show, remoteness of the venue, and confusion over ticketing, the atmosphere at the show was strained from the outset.

That experience would trigger the thawing of Prince’s relationship with the editor of his official fanzine Controversy, who under the very difficult circumstances helped fans get home after the show. The show itself saw 20 songs filmed, of which 9 were televised on 22 January 1994 and the recording was commercially released in Europe and Japan by Warner Brothers as a VHS home video named The Sacrifice Of Victor, on 6 March 1995, as a double release with Prince: The Undertaker. This was the first occasion that a recording from one of Prince’s aftershow performances had been officially released.

Performers

Vocals/Guitar: Prince
Drums: Michael Bland
Rhythm Guitar: Levi Seacer Jr.
Keyboards: Morris Hayes; Tommy Barbarella
Bass Guitar: Sonny Thompson
Dancer: Mayte Garcia
Trombone: Mike Nelson
Tenor Sax: Brian Gallagher
Baritone Sax: Kathy Jensen
Trumpet: Dave Jensen; Steve Strand

Tracklist

Introduction (4:31)
The Ride (5:53)
The Undertaker [sung by Mavis Staples] (6:59)
Jailhouse Rock (1:40) ¹
House In Order [sung by Mavis Staples] (7:05) ²
Call The Law [sung by Tony M] (4:50)
Heart In My Hand / Love (Got A Hold On Me) [sung by The Steeles] (5:25) ³
In The Mood [Hornheadz] (1:50) ⁴
Peach (5:46)
Soldier In The Army Of The Lord [sung by The Steeles] (2:00) ⁵

¹ Written by Jerome Leiber and Mike Stoller.
² Written by Mavis Staples.
³ Written by The Steeles as Heart In My Hand And Love (Got A Hold On Me)
⁴ Written by Wingy Manone, Andy Razaf and Joe Garland.
⁵ Written by Lyle Lovett.