1999 Triple Threat Tour - Prince 1982/3
1982/3
Concert tourPrince has everything it takes to be one of the biggest stars.
Supported by The Time and Vanity 6, Prince’s three act 1999 tour was accordingly named the 1999 Triple Threat Tour. The music for Vanity’s 20-minute opening set was provided by The Time, hidden offstage behind a curtain – they were paid just $250 each for this extra work, adding to backstage tensions. The vocals for Vanity 6 was likewise assisted offstage, by Jill Jones who sung for Susan Moonsie lip syncing. Yet it was the fact that The Time’s 45-minute set was as well received as Prince’s 60-minute headline performance. Tensions mounted and a jealous Prince fearful of being upstaged dropped The Time from the bill following this tour. This rivalry would form the backbone to the storyline of the movie Purple Rain.
Guitarist Dez Dickerson would quit Prince’s camp on conclusion of the tour to form his own band, The Modernaires. Dickerson was replaced by Wendy Melvoin after substituting for him during missed rehearsals. Melvoin had come to Prince’s attention via her childhood friend, the band’s keyboardist Lisa Coleman and became a full-time member of the band after Dickerson’s departure. Switching from his Ludwig acoustic drums of previous tours, Bobby Z played the Simmons SDS-V electric drums on 1999 Triple Threat Tour, which he retained also in the two following tours to recreate the claps and snares of the Linn Drum Machine for the live shows. Its bass drum was rigged with a white light that pulsated with the kick drum. The band would be given a name after this tour, and for their next album became known as The Revolution.
1999 Triple Threat Tour opened two weeks following the release of the album 1999. The first leg ran from November 1982 to January 1983 and was performed throughout the US. Then the entire second leg was added off the back of the success of Little Red Corvette in the singles chart the following February, thanks to its inclusion in MTV’s songs aired on heavy rotation. The tour’s staging was an upscaled version of the set used by the preceding Controversy Tour, although the Venetian blind backdrop was now motorised. Neon lights that featured in promotional shots for the 1999 LP were reincorporated into the new set’s features. The stage itself was the same split level set used in Controversy Tour, from its upper catwalk Prince opened the show performing Controversy lit only by the pulsating light of the bass drum beneath. A fireman’s pole transported him down to main stage. Theatrical elements were ramped up with the inclusion of a brass bed that would rise through the upper level for International Lover with Prince silhouetted against the red lit back blinds, complete with pulsating floor-level lighting. The tour also introduced Prince’s much loved piano set, which he played on Yamaha CP-80 electric grand piano specially wrapped in purple vinyl. The piano set remained a staple in many of Prince’s touring shows since. Prince’s promo videos for the album’s singles were recorded on this stage during off days on tour, showcasing the live extravaganza which awaited concertgoers.
Following a break in January, the tour’s second leg began in February 1983, and The Time featured less and less, and in the planned European run the support was reduced to one act, Vanity 6. 1999 Triple Threat Tour was also Prince’s first tour to see black and white audiences attending in equal numbers. It grossed $10 million, and while starting off in theatres, it was soon filling 20,000 seat arenas throughout its run of 93 shows over the 87 dates it was performed. Dates of the brief Europe leg were advertised on the back cover of the UK single Little Red Corvette but the run was cancelled in the last minute to allow Prince to focus on his soaring momentum in the US.
Following the show’s date in Oakland, on 4 April Prince and the band headed to LA in their gruelling schedule to record a promotional appearance performing Little Red Corvette for the TV show Solid Gold. The tour resumed in Chicago the following day. After the tour, his burgeoning success required him to upscale his rehearsal facility, and that May took out a lease at a converted former dog food warehouse to hone his live act even further. On 16 May, Prince performed at his first awards ceremony, the Minnesota Music Awards. He won in six categories that night and was truly well on the road to superstardom.
Professionally filmed footage capturing the 1999 Triple Threat Tour at Houston Summit in Texas on 29 December 1982 was released in 2019 when issued on DVD, packaged with the 1999 Super Deluxe Edition. The audio of the show was engineered by Prince’s home studio engineer Don Batts.
Performers
- Vocals/Guitar
- Prince
- Drums
- Bobby Z.
- Guitar
- Dez Dickerson
- Bass Guitar
- Brownmark
- Keyboards
- Matt "Dr." Fink
- Lisa Coleman
Total performances
- 87 shows from 11 November 1982 to 10 April 1983
Sample setlist
Vanity 6
- Make-Up
- Wet Dream
- Drive Me Wild
- If A Girl Answers (Don’t Hang Up)
- Nasty Girl
The Time
- Get It Up
- 777-9311
- Girl
- Wild And Loose
- Gigolos Get Lonely Too
- Cool
- The Walk
Prince
- ‘1999’ spoken intro
- Controversy
- Let’s Work
- Do Me, Baby
- Sexuality
- Let’s Pretend We’re Married
- [Lisa Coleman keyboard interlude]
- With You
- Free
- Still Waiting
- How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore
- Lady Cab Driver
- Little Red Corvette
- Dirty Mind
- International Lover
- 1999
Piano set
Supporting albums
What Time Is It?
Warner Bros. Records
- Released
- 25 August 1982
- US Chart Peak
- 26
- UK Chart Peak
- Did not chart
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