Act II Tour - Prince 1993
1993
Concert tourWhat’s my name?
By 1993, in the UK Prince had seen eight back-to-back albums peak in the top-five of its chart, across Europe he was experiencing the height of his success.
The Act II Tour was the Europe phase of Prince’s preceding Act I Tour of the US. Although using the same stage, the Europe leg of the tour was distinctly different to the shows of Act I and was in every essence an entirely new tour. Act II Tour drew on Prince’s legacy and greatest hits, excepting in the encores in which showcased his latest songs that would be included over the two solo projects Come and The Gold Experience he intended to release in 1994.
Unlike the more modest Act I Tour staged at theatres, Act II Tour was performed for 27 dates and upscaled to much larger venues, climaxing in Prince’s first and only career performance at London’s Wembley Stadium, 31 July 1993. Four Non Blondes supported his UK dates. In all, Act II Tour drew a combined audience of 750,000. Under the sponsorship of Coca-Cola, the Europe Act II Tour was staged on a grander scale to the US Act I leg and was a highly successful production due to Europe continuing to outperform the US in sales of Prince’s music.
Following audience reception that Tony M’s style of rap lacked the gravitas of contemporary hip hop-acts, he and dancers Damon Dickson and Kirk Johnson were dropped from the lineup of both Prince’s touring band and NPG altogether at the conclusion of Act I. Whereas Act I focussed on NPG’s current Love Symbol and preceding Diamonds And Pearls albums, the setlist of Act II Tour focussed on songs from Prince’s cannon as a solo artist. Although enjoying commercial success overseas, the timing of the tour belied a darkening backdrop in his legal affairs. In the US, Love Symbol had not done as well as expected and Prince’s rising frustration toward Warner Brothers began to became increasingly apparent. Despite having just signed a contract extension with the label in August 1992, barely a month before the tour’s opening show in July 1993, Prince declared that he would adopt a new name out of protest of Warner and their control of his music and so became Prince Love Symbol. The appearance of a spoken statement drawing attention to his frustration was also worked into this show. The tour premiered at the NEC in Birmingham on 26 July 1993. Throughout Act II Tour he premiered songs from NPG’s debut album GoldNigga which would be later sold from the merchandise stands in the tour’s later stages, although the release was pointedly not under the Warner Bros Records label.
The band’s three strong dancing contingent of Act I Tour was reduced to Mayte, who received a more prominent role for Act II. Opening every show, Mayte was hoisted down on a swing to the stage floor wearing Prince’s chain mask as he sang My Name Is Prince offstage beyond sight. As she whipped off the mask, Prince swaggered into centre stage to continue the song. The stage featured Act I’s vast love symbol #1 shaped rig with direction control spotlights, and above that were more banks of lighting. The band were on a high riser behind, the drums positioned stage left and the keyboards stage right. The horn section occupied the centre. The show was a huge scale production and a visual feast. Prince teased the audience with calling out “What’s my name?” knowing it was impossible to return an answer.
The performance was energetically delivered and featured a five-piece horn section. Fireworks closed the show’s outdoor dates. Act II Tour also saw Prince’s first appearance headlining festivals; Rock Over Danube (Vienna) and its counterpart Rock Over Germany (four shows at Munich, Wegberg, Lüneburg and Mainz). The 3 September show was part of the Rock Over Germany open air series of events and broadcast live on German radio.
Owing to demand, Prince returned to London on 7 September to close Act II Tour. Ahead of this final show Prince and the NPG played a 20 minute set at BBC Broadcasting House for airing on the Simon Bates show for Radio One. Then that evening, Wembley Arena staged the final show of the tour. In the climax of this show ‘Prince’ was held aloft and carried offstage to feign his death, for afterwards he would become The Artist Formally Known As Prince, the unpronounceable glyph naming also the album Prince Love Symbol supported by Act I Tour. It was a public act of crystallising Prince’s name change, having already renamed himself Prince Love Symbol on 7 June 1993. Act II Tour would become Prince’s final tour under his birth name until 2000, despite having changed his name before the start of Act II Tour. Just one week after the tour’s final show, Prince opened his next series of concerts, named Interactive Tour, promoted under his new name Prince Love Symbol.
Performers
- Vocals/Guitar
- Prince Love Symbol
- Drums
- Michael Bland
- Rhythm Guitar
- Levi Seacer Jr.
- Keyboards
- Tommy Barbarella
- Morris Hayes
- Bass Guitar
- Sonny Thompson
- Trombone
- Mike Nelson
- Tenor Sax
- Brian Gallagher
- Baritone Sax
- Kathy Jensen
- Trumpet
- Dave Jensen
- Steve Strand
- Dance
- Mayte Garcia
Total performances
- 27 shows from 26 July to 7 September, 1993
Sample setlist
- My Name Is Prince
- Sexy MF
- Love 2 The 9’s
- The Beautiful Ones
- Let’s Go Crazy
- Kiss
- Irresistible Bitch
- She’s Always In My Hair
- Raspberry Beret
- Sometimes It Snows In April
- The Cross
- Sign O’ The Times
- Purple Rain
- Little Red Corvette
- Strollin’
- Scandalous!
- Girls & Boys
- Mayte dance interlude/speech
- 7
- 1999
- Baby I’m A Star
- America
- Come
- Endorphinemachine
- Peach
- Johnny
Piano solo
Supporting albums
© Goldies Parade, 1998 – 2026 • Privacy