Lovesexy Tour

The Lovesexy Tour was a concert tour by American recording artist Prince in 1988–1989 in support of his platinum album, Lovesexy. The tour was his last outing in the 1980s.

Lovesexy Tour
Tour by Prince
Associated albumLovesexy
Start dateJuly 8, 1988
End dateFebruary 13, 1989
Legs3
No. of shows31 in Europe
38 in North America
8 in Asia
77 in total (87 scheduled)
Prince concert chronology

History

Although the tour was a huge success in terms of reviews and audience numbers (most shows were sellouts), it lost money due to the high production costs incurred with transportation, only breaking even by its final leg in Japan in early 1989. Prince used a number of elaborate props on the moving, multi-tiered stage such as a basketball hoop, a fountain, trellis fences and a full-scale replica of his Ford Thunderbird automobile.

Costume worn by Prince during the Lovesexy Tour

The two-hour show included most songs from the Lovesexy album, alongside well-known hits and rarer material. In usual Prince fashion, many shows saw the premiere of entirely new songs, particularly "Blues in C (If I Had a Harem)".

Thematically, the show was divided into two very distinct main acts with the themes of light and dark. Act One, which ran for an hour, consisted mainly of older material from Prince's earlier albums, often strung together into medley form to ease time constraints. The show often began with "Escape" before segueing into "Erotic City" and concluded with "Anna Stesia". Act Two consisted largely of songs from Lovesexy, plus classic hits such as "Kiss" and towards the end of the concert, "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", and "1999". The highlight of many shows was the piano medley in the second act, often featuring "When 2 R in Love", "Venus de Milo", "Starfish and Coffee", "Raspberry Beret", and "Condition of the Heart".

The band

This post-Revolution line-up was the same that had supported the Sign ☮' the Times Tour. At the conclusion of the tour, the band was rearranged with the departures of Boni Boyer and Cat, along with Sheila E. New drummer Michael Bland was hired from Dr. Mambo's Combo from Minneapolis, Rosie Gaines took over keyboards and backup vocal duties, and a trio of dancers known as the Game Boyz were added. The horn section was dropped altogether.

Susannah Melvoin, Wendy and Lisa, George Clinton, Mavis Staples, Jill Jones, Tony Le Mans, Tony! Toni! Toné!, Patti LaBelle were guest performers at the Bloomington, Hampton, and Philadelphia concerts.

Set list

The following set list is from the July 16, 1988 show in Milan, Italy. It's not intended to represent all dates throughout the tour.

  1. "Escape" (musical introduction)
  2. "Erotic City" (contains elements of "Sex Shooter")
  3. "Housequake"
  4. "Slow Love"
  5. "Adore"
  6. "Delirious"
  7. "Jack U Off" (contains elements of "Twelve")
  8. "Sister" (contains reprise from "Adore")
  9. "U Got the Look"
  10. "I Wanna Be Your Lover"
  11. "Head"
  12. "When You Were Mine" (contains elements of "When You Were Mine")
  13. "Little Red Corvette"
  14. "Pop Life"
  15. "Controversy"
  16. "Dirty Mind"
  17. "Superfunkycalifragisexy" (contains reprise from "Controversy")
  18. "Bob George"
  19. "Anna Stesia"
  20. "Intermission" (musical interlude)
  21. "Eye No"
  22. "Alphabet St."
  23. "Glam Slam"
  24. "The Cross"
  25. "I Wish U Heaven" (contains elements of "I Wish U Heaven (part 2)" and "God is Alive")
  26. "Kiss"
  27. "Dance On"
  28. "When 2 R in Love"
  29. "Let's Go Crazy"
  30. "When Doves Cry" (contains elements of "La, La, La, He, He, Hee")
  31. "Purple Rain"
  32. "1999"
Encore
  1. "Positivity"
  2. "Lovesexy" (contains elements of "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night")

Tour dates

The September 9, 1988 Dortmund, Germany show was recorded and broadcast live via satellite across Europe and later released on VHS.

Date City Country Venue Tickets sold / Available Revenue
Europe
July 8, 1988 Paris France Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy 64,050/64,050 N/A
July 9, 1988
July 10, 1988
July 12, 1988
July 15, 1988 Milan Italy Palatrussardi 34,000/34,000
July 16, 1988
July 17, 1988
July 19, 1988
July 23, 1988 Antwerp Belgium Sportpaleis 18,500/18,500
July 25, 1988 London England Wembley Arena N/A
July 26, 1988
July 28, 1988
July 29, 1988
August 1, 1988
August 2, 1988
August 3, 1988
August 5, 1988 Birmingham NEC
August 6, 1988
August 10, 1988 Stockholm Sweden Isstadion 19,600/19,600
August 11, 1988
August 14, 1988 Oslo Norway Valle Hovin 30,125/30,125
August 17, 1988 Rotterdam Netherlands Feijenoord Stadion 97,809/97,809
August 18, 1988
August 19, 1988
August 21, 1988 Copenhagen Denmark Idrætsparken N/A
August 27, 1988 Frankfurt West Germany Waldstadion
August 30, 1988 Hamburg Wilhelm-Koch Stadion 45,970/45,970
August 31, 1988
September 3, 1988 Modena Italy Stadio Alberto Braglia N/A
September 8, 1988 Dortmund West Germany Westfalenhallen 34,110/34,110
September 9, 1988
North America[1]
September 14, 1988 Bloomington United States Met Center 30,903 / 34,000 $474,345
September 15, 1988
September 17, 1988 Rosemont Rosemont Horizon 52,134/52,134 $895,134
September 18, 1988
September 19, 1988
September 22, 1988 Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum 12,896 / 17,000
September 24, 1988 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum 16,000 / 23,780
September 27, 1988 Richmond Richmond Coliseum 7,187 / 12,500 $132,580
September 30, 1988 Hartford Hartford Civic Center 13,000 / 16,000
October 2, 1988 New York City Madison Square Garden 38,440 / 38,440 $875,000
October 3, 1988
October 5, 1988 Toronto Canada Maple Leaf Gardens 13,252 / 14,500 $314,578
October 8, 1988 Hampton United States Hampton Coliseum
October 10, 1988 Landover Capital Centre 25,202 / 35,000 $630,050
October 11, 1988
October 13, 1988 Atlanta The Omni 32,756 / 32,756
October 14, 1988
October 16, 1988 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum 9,869 / 14,073 $197,380
October 18, 1988 Philadelphia The Spectrum 17,352 / 17,352 $372,307
October 20, 1988 Worcester Worcester Centrum N/A N/A
October 21, 1988
October 22, 1988
October 24, 1988 Uniondale Nassau Coliseum
October 28, 1988 Pittsburgh Civic Arena 14,611 / 14,611 $321,446
October 30, 1988 Detroit Joe Louis Arena N/A N/A
October 31, 1988
November 3, 1988 Denver McNichols Arena 9,000 / 17,000
November 6, 1988 Los Angeles Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena N/A N/A
November 7, 1988
November 10, 1988 Oakland Oakland Coliseum Arena 26,886 / 26,886 $604,935
November 11, 1988
November 15, 1988 Seattle Seattle Center Coliseum 12,363 / 14,100 $260,820
November 17, 1988 Vancouver Canada Pacific Coliseum 12,072 / 13,000 $273,589
November 21, 1988 Ames United States Hilton Coliseum 10,009 / 13,000 $175,158
November 23, 1988 Memphis Mid-South Coliseum
November 25, 1988 New Orleans Kiefer Arena
November 27, 1988 Houston The Summit
November 29, 1988 Dallas Reunion Arena
Asia
February 1, 1989 Sendai Japan Sendai Gymnasium N/A N/A
February 4, 1989 Tokyo Tokyo Dome
February 5, 1989
February 7, 1989 Nagoya Rainbow Hall
February 8, 1989
February 10, 1989 Kitakyushu Kitakyushu City Gymnasium
February 12, 1989 Osaka Osaka-jō Hall
February 13, 1989

Filming

The second show in Dortmund was put on by the Dutch promoter, and the majority of the audience was from the Netherlands. The show was filmed by Dutch production company ID-TV, for later release on video, called Lovesexy Live.

References
  1. Lovesexy Tour
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