Prince and the Revolution's 1985 Purple Rain concert to be live-streamed for Covid-19 relief
The estate of the late great funk musician Prince is all set to host a massive three-day live streaming event on YouTube. 'Prince and the Revolution: Live' show from Syracuse, New York, on March 30, 1985, which was filmed towards the end of Prince's legendary Purple Rain tour, will be streamed from 8 pm ET on Thursday, May 14, and will continue to stream on Prince's official YouTube channel till 11:59 pm ET on Sunday, May 17.
All this funky goodness is designed for a good cause too. This streaming event is being held as a fundraiser for the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization, powered by the United Nations Foundation and Swiss Philanthropy Foundation. As they did with the recent Post Malone Nirvana live stream gig, the tech giant Google will match any viewer donations at a ratio of 2:1 for up to 5 million dollars. So if you donate 50 dollars, Google will match it with a 100 dollar donation, and will continue to contribute until their 5 million dollar cap is reached.
Watch the concert below from 8 pm ET on May 14, 2020.
Prior to today's watch party, Prince's estate also hosted a special Q&A at 7 pm ET with Revolution drummer Bobby Z, with Andrea Swensson of Minnesota Public Radio’s 89.3 The Current acting as moderator. The other members of Prince's Revolution band all joined in later to watch the show together with fans. You can catch footage of the Q&A session below from 7 pm ET on May 14, 2020.
The 1985 'Prince and the Revolution: Live' show from Syracuse, which was originally released on VHS, was unavailable for a long time before it was reissued as part of the 'Purple Rain' deluxe disc edition in 2017. It contains all the Prince classics such as 'When Doves Cry', 'Let’s Go Crazy' & 'Purple Rain', including rarities such as 'Possessed' and 'How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore'.
If you're interested in listening to audio from the show, the entire album will be available on streaming services like iTunes and Spotify from Friday, May 15 onwards. The full tracklist from the show has been included below:
1. Let’s Go Crazy (6:03)
2. Delirious (2:51)
3. 1999 (5:51)
4. Little Red Corvette (3:39)
5. Take Me With U (4:57)
6. Yankee Doodle Dandy (3:53)
7. Do Me Baby (4:51)
8. Irresistible Bitch (1:56)
9. Possessed (4:25)
10. How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore (7:19)
11. Let’s Pretend We’re Married (2:11)
12. International Lover (2:01)
13. God (7:46)
14. Computer Blue (4:15)
15. Darling Nikki (3:30)
16. The Beautiful Ones (6:50)
17. When Doves Cry (9:29)
18. I Would Die 4 U (3:27)
19. Baby I’m A Star (10:57)
20. Purple Rain (19:26)