Hit N Run Tour - Prince 2000/1

2000/1

Concert tour

Give me what I made back to me…

To celebrate the reclamation of his birth name following the expiration of his recording contract with Warner Brothers, Prince embarked on his first Hit N Run Tour since 1986, to both capitalise on and return to playing live again the hits he recorded when signed to Warner (1978-1996), the tracks he refused to play in concert since the mid 1990s. Although Prince was now free from that contract, its legacy left him at loggerheads with the label over their continued ownership of his music. His cover of When Will We B Paid? was performed regularly on Hit N Run Tour and became a segment he would speak about the ownership of his music and the treatment of artists by record labels.

Happy at having reclaimed his birth name since using Prince Love Symbol from 1993, in June 2000 Prince hosted in a week-long open house Celebration at Paisley Park Studios, when for the first time in its history fans were invited to tour its facilities. Hit N Run arena tour launched that November and played thirty dates. Willing to perform again his Warner catalogue Hit N Run Tour was essentially a greatest hits show and not in support of an album. The concerts were also to hone his newly formed backing band for the live studio sessions for The Rainbow Children.

The new lineup also enlisted Prince’s first dancer on the payroll since the departure of Mayte in 1996; filled by 23-year-old Tomasina Parrott who was given the stage name Geneva. Chaka Khan’s saxophonist Jerome Najee Rasheed was enlisted to the band, along with new hires Kip Blackshire (having provided background vocals on Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic in 1999) and the White sisters. The big addition to the new lineup made his onstage debut with Prince in the 2 September 2000 show; Patti LaBelle’s drummer John Blackwell joining Prince’s band for Hit N Run Tour, in replacement of Kirk Johnson. Blackwell, since regarded as Prince’s best drummer, died in 2017 from a brain tumour.

Hit N Run Tour saw also the first and final appearances of Prince’s most iconic guitars; the last in the line of Cloud guitars, this one coloured dark blue was retired in this tour. The Cloud guitar so closely associated with Prince since the Purple Rain movie cleared way to debut Prince’s latest guitar, a striking purple love symbol shaped guitar christened Habibi, and would remain his set-piece instrument until 2007.

Prince planned to release an album in August 2000 named High which the tour was likely to promote – the image intended for the cover of that album, a shot by Steve Parke, was also the promo poster for Hit N Run Tour. That album was instead released as individual tracks published to the NPG Music Club as the content was incompatible with Prince’s beliefs at the time. The tour’s set lists saw limited variation, and ticket prices ranged according to the cost to hire the venue, $19.99 up to $100.

Launched on 7 November 2000, Hit N Run Tour provided Prince his first opportunity to tour the US again since the expiration of his contract with Warner Bros Records on 31 December 1999. He performed 33 concerts throughout the winter of 2000 and through to the spring of 2001. Without an album to promote, Hit N Run Tour also offered Prince the opportunity to play songs from his repertoire long overlooked in past tours. The staging was thereby basic to focus on the music, comprising a rear riser for the drums, with the remainder of the band stage floor, keyboards left and right. The concerts were announced just days ahead of the show, hence the ‘hit and run’ moniker, a move likely to alleviate the pressure to fill the arena sized venues as a more formally scheduled tour. The second leg of the tour began in April 2001, following the launch of NPG Music Club. The gospel group Milenia joined Hit N Run Tour in this second leg, which wound down in early May 2001, staging its final shows in California, where Prince also put in two consecutive nights performing on Jay Leno Show on 3rd and 4th May.

Between 11th to 16 June 2001, Prince hosted his second week-long Prince: A Celebration open house event at Paisley Park, culminating with two special shows open to the general public staged at Xcel Energy Center arena. His Prince: A Celebration shows continued as a mini tour of the US, running until the end of that month, supported by Fonky Bald Heads. The seven-day events proved so successful the format was repeated for a third consecutive year in June 2002. Prince: A Celebration was intended to tour the US and Canada through to 8 August 2001, although after a only handful of concerts the tour was bought to an early close on 28 June and all subsequent dates were cancelled because Prince did not wish to be seen to endorse Warner Brothers’ release of The Very Best Of Prince. His Xcel dates and bookings for Summerfest Festival and Montreal International Jazz Festival were just four of the tour’s seven dates that were honoured out of the 24 others that were cancelled.

Prince: A Celebration

I’d like [fans] to see what they helped create

The inaugural Celebration (7 – 13 June, 2000) was scheduled to coincide with Prince’s 42nd birthday (June 7th). This unique week long event was announced at the same press conference of 16 May 2000 when Prince reclaimed his birth name, having changed it to Prince Love Symbol on his birthday on 7 June 1993 in protest against his then record label Warner Bros Records. This special event celebrating Prince’s musical legacy was hosted at Paisley Park Studios and comprised of guest filled “dance till down” parties featuring live performances from Macy Gray, TKO, Mint Condition and Taja Seville. Although Prince himself did not perform at Paisley Park during this event, fans were invited to tour the studio complex daily and vote for their favourite unreleased tracks for future releases. The event was so well received Prince: A Celebration became a birthday fixture for three consecutive years. Prince, played a public closing show on 13 June at the Northrop Auditorium in central Minneapolis when joined with an array of guests including Angie Stone and Larry Graham; but the highlight was the onstage reunion with Bobby Z, Dr Fink and BrownMark reuniting The Revolution.

Prince: A Celebration ‘The Rainbow Children’ (2001)

The second Celebration (11-16 June, 2001) was staged at the culmination of Prince’s US Hit N Run Tour. Fans were once again invited to tour Paisley Park, and Prince himself lead discussions held in its atrium, all of which was documented on film by director Kevin Smith. The second year event focused around the premiere of The Rainbow Children album which also named the event. Because more notice was given to the 2001 Celebration, allowing more fans to make travel plans, the second year was larger in scale to the inaugural event. Nightly performances were given from Erykah Badu, Common, Alicia Keys, Nikka Costa, Fonky Bald Heads and The Time. Prince played two public shows at the Xcel Arena in downtown Minneapolis on the 15th and 16th of June as part of the event, and afterwards four additional arena shows being all that materialised out of a much wider greatest hits tour planned at venues throughout the US and Canada under the banner Prince: A Celebration and intended to run until 8 August 2001. This tour was pulled short due to Warner’s release of The Very Best Of Prince compilation that 30 July, Prince not wanting his tour to help promote a Warner compilation.

Prince: A Celebration ‘Xenophobia’ (2002)

The third and final Celebration (21 – 27 June, 2002) was billed Xenophobia, named after the 7 disc CD boxset attendees were promised to receive at a later date. The CDs never came to pass but one of the discs planned was digitally released on New Years Day in 2003, renamed Xpectation. Staged following the conclusion of the North America leg of One Nite Alone… Tour, unlike its two preceding events, Prince played nightly in the Paisley Park soundstage with 7 special shows backed with his full band (except the show on 24 June, a guitar set, and 27 June piano set). Celebration 2002 once again offered tours, but with the added bonus of panel discussions with Paisley Park insiders including Prince’s photographer Randee St Nicholas and NPG Music Club webmaster Sam Jennings, as well as a music clinic with Sheila E. Musical guests were Norah Jones, Musiq Soulchild, Maceo Parker, Victor Wooten, Bernard Allison and Rachelle Ferrell. Following Celebration 2002, Prince continued his One Nite Alone… Tour to Europe.

In 2017 (20-23 April) The Prince Estate reinstated the annual Celebration to mark the first anniversary since Prince’s death on 21 April 2016. The billing featured The Revolution, 3rdEyeGirl and The Time. In 2022 the Celebration moved back to the happier slot of Prince’s birthday week.

Performers

Vocals/Guitar

Prince

Drums

John Blackwell

Keyboards

Morris Hayes

Kip Blackshire

Bass Guitar

Rhonda Smith

Saxophone/Flute

Najee

Dance

Tomasina Parrott "Geneva"

Backing vocals

Mikki White

Malikah White

Niyoki White

Tia White

Sample setlist

Hit N Run Tour

1. Najee saxophone intro
2. Uptown
3. Controversy
4. Mutiny
5. Cream
6. Little Red Corvette
7. I Wanna Be Your Lover
8. Sexy Dancer
9. Housequake
10. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker / Four
11. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
12. Do Me, Baby
13. Scandalous!
14. Diamonds And Pearls
15. The Beautiful Ones
16. Nothing Compares 2 U
17. Let’s Go Crazy
18. Take Me With U
19. Raspberry Beret
20. Darling Nikki
21. When Doves Cry / Computer Blue
22. The One / I Would Die 4 U
23. God
24. Purple Rain
25. When Will We B Paid?
26. Kiss
27. Gett Off
28. Come On

Prince: A Celebration

1. Uptown
2. Controversy
3. Mutiny
4. The Work, Part 1
5. Cream
6. Little Red Corvette
7. I Wanna Be Your Lover
8. Sexy Dancer
9. Housequake
10. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker / Four
11. U Make My Sun Shine
12. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
13. Do Me, Baby
14. Scandalous!
15. Diamonds And Pearls
16. The Beautiful Ones
17. Nothing Compares 2 U
18. Let’s Go Crazy
19. Take Me With U
20. Raspberry Beret
21. Joy In Repetition
22. When Doves Cry / Father’s Song
23. The One / I Would Die 4 U
24. God
25. Purple Rain
26. U Got The Look
27. Kiss
28. Gett Off