1999 Triple Threat Tour

1982/3

Prince has everything it takes to be one of the biggest stars.

Supported by The Time and Vanity 6, Prince’s ‘1999 tour’ was officially dubbed the 1999 Triple Threat Tour. The music for Vanity’s set was provided by The Time, hidden behind a curtain. The vocals for Vanity was also assisted off stage with the support of Jill Jones. Yet it was the fact that The Time’s opening set was received as comparable to Prince’s main performance, tensions mounted during the tour and a jealous Prince fearful of being upstaged, dropped The Time from the bill in the latter stages of the tour. This rivalry would form the backbone to the story line of the movie Purple Rain. Dez Dickerson left Prince on conclusion of the tour, to form his own band.

The 1999 Triple Threat Tour was a great success and grossed $10 million, and filled 20,000 seat venues throughout its 93 shows across 87 dates. A brief European leg with just Vanity 6 in support, was planned, but the entire leg was subsequently cancelled.

In 2019, a professionally filmed recording from the show was released on DVD.