20TEN Tour - Prince 2010

2010

Concert tour

There’s no need to record any more.

The Prince 20TEN Tour was essentially two outdoor tours focused on seven European festivals throughout the summer of 2010 as headlining act. The festivals Prince performed were Roskilde (Denmark, 4 July 2010), Arras citadel festival (France, 9 July), Werchter Boutique (Belgium, 10 July) and Super Bock Festival (Portugal, 18 July). On his arrival in Europe, on 1 July Prince and Sheila E made a surprise guest appearance at a Stevie Wonder concert at the Paris-Bercy, before heading to Denmark to kick off the 20TEN Tour on the 4th.

The festival tour coincided with the release of Prince’s latest album 20TEN which had been distributed free as a covermount with five European newspapers on 10th and 22nd July. Marking the event, on 22 July, a special show was announced and was staged at New Morning club in Paris, beginning after midnight on the 23rd it continued for 4 hours and 25 minutes delivering Prince’s the longest show of his career. The closing date of the 20TEN Tour was performed in Nice on the 25th.

The tour’s itinerary thereby comprised two distinct phases: summer, under the banner 20TEN Tour in promotion of the album; and with the media surrounding it finished, the autumn 2010 leg was renamed Prince Live 2010 and continued the tour of Europe.

Fed up with the state of the music industry and having worked on two albums in the beginning of 2010 (20TEN and Welcome 2 America), Prince placed himself in a self-imposed ‘studio rehab’ and embarked on an almost continuous run of tours that would span until 2013. The band’s lineup differed between the tour’s two phases. In the first leg, the backing band for 20TEN Tour comprised Cora Coleman-Dunham (drums), Josh Dunham (bass), Morris Hayes and Cassandra O’Neal (keyboards), Frédéric Yonnet (harmonica), with Shelby J, Elisa Dease (formally Fiorillo) and Liv Warfield on backing vocals.

Prince Live 2010 saw the return of John Blackwell (drums) and Renato Neto (added as third keyboardist). Husband and wife Josh and Cora Coleman-Dunham and Yonnet not appearing in the second leg, Ida Nielsen from Copenhagen, Denmark was enlisted on bass to replace Josh Dunham. Before heading to back Europe for the autumn tour Prince Live 2010, on 14 October Prince hosted a press conference in New York to announce Welcome 2 America Tour, an extensive tour of the USA which would follow Prince Live 2010 barely one month later. Prince Live 2010 commenced on 18 October to perform the first of eight shows.

20TEN Tour saw Sheila E and Larry Graham join the band for select dates: Sheila on vocals and percussion for the shows on 4th, 5th and 13th July, and then 20th, 22nd October; and Larry Graham on 9th and 10th July. Mint Condition opened occasional dates also. Being festival appearances, the set lists were dominated with Prince’s biggest hits with only a few new songs performed. On 14 November, Prince took a short break in the tour to play the Yasalam After-Race Concerts as part of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, his first and only shows he would stage in the Middle East, here Nicole Scherzinger and boyfriend Lewis Hamilton joined Prince on stage during A Love Bizarre. Prince Live 2010 returned once more to Europe to play its closing date, 18th November at the Arnhem GelreDome, Netherlands. Prince Live 2010 was then due to continue to South Africa, however these shows did not come to fruition as Prince instead returned to the US the day after the Arnhem show to prepare for the Welcome 2 America Tour, which opened in New Jersey just one month later on 15 December.

Performers

Vocals/Guitar

Prince

Drums

Cora Coleman-Dunham ^{20TEN Tour}

John Blackwell ^{Prince Live 2010}

Keyboards

Morris Hayes

Cassandra O'Neal

Renato Neto ^{Prince Live 2010}

Bass Guitar

Joshua Dunham ^{20TEN Tour}

Ida Nielsen ^{Prince Live 2010}

Harmonica

Frédéric Yonnet ^{20TEN Tour}

Percussion / vox

Sheila E

Backing vox

Shelby Johnson

Liv Warfield

Elisa Dease

Sample setlist

20TEN Tour

1. Venus De Milo
2. Let’s Go Crazy
3. Delirious
4. Let’s Go Crazy
5. 1999
6. Little Red Corvette
7. Take Me With U
8. Guitar
9. Controversy / Love Rollercoaster [Red Hot Chilli Peppers]
10. Sexy Dancer / Le Freak [Chic]
11. Nothing Compares 2 U
12. Mountains / Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) [Jackson 5]
13. Everyday People [Sly & The Family Stone]
14. I Want To Take You Higher [Sly & The Family Stone]
15. Alphabet St.
16. Kiss
17. Purple Rain
18. Dance (Disco Heat) [Sylvester]
19. Peach
20. Ol’ Skool Company
21. Forever In My Life
22. 7

Prince Live 2010

1. Renato Neto piano intro
2. Future Soul Song
3. Uptown
4. Raspberry Beret
5. Cream
6. Cool
7. Let’s Work
8. U Got The Look
9. Bridge Over Troubled Water [Simon and Garfunkel] / Pearls B4 The Swine / Love… Thy Will Be Done
10. Purple Rain
11. Controversy
12. Let’s Go Crazy
13. Delirious
14. 1999
15. Shhh
16. A Love Bizarre
17. Sexy Dancer / Le Freak [Chic]
18. If I Was Your Girlfriend
19. Kiss
20. Sometimes It Snows In April
21. The Glamorous Life
22. Peach
23. Dance (Disco Heat) [Sylvester]
24. Baby I’m A Star

Supporting album

20TEN

The Daily Mirror

Released

10 July 2010

US Chart Peak

Did not chart

UK Chart Peak

Ineligible