Nude Tour

Nude Tour

World tour by Prince
Start date	June 2, 1990
End date	September 10, 1990
Legs	2
Number of shows	51 in Europe 5 in Asia 56 in Total
Prince concert chronology

The Nude Tour was a greatest-hits concert tour by Prince. While the previous tour drew critical praise, the high cost of the concert tour production made it a financial disappointment; thus, Prince eliminated much of the excessiveness of the previous tour to be more financially viable. Like several of his then-recent tours, with the exception of Lovesexy, Prince chose not to tour in the United States. It wouldn't be till 1993's Act I Tour that Prince did a full tour of the U.S.

History

Unlike the previous year's Lovesexy Tour, the Nude Tour promised a stripped-down, back to basics concert that saw Prince eliminate many of the excessive and expensive set designs that were produced for the Sign ☮' the Times and Lovesexy tours, thus the "Nude" moniker. The setlist was reduced to a limited number of his hits from the '80s with a few tracks from the Batman and then-forthcoming Graffiti Bridge albums, resulting in all the songs being played in their entirety and much shorter shows. In a move to promote a more youth-friendly image, as well as cut costs, Prince chose to eliminate the veteran horn section from the band.

Opening act

• Mavis Staples

Band

• Prince – vocals, piano and guitar
• Miko Weaver – guitar and vocals
• Levi Seacer, Jr. – bass guitar and vocals
• Doctor Fink – keyboards
• Rosie Gaines – keyboards, organ and vocals
• Michael Bland – drums, percussion and vocals
• Tony M., Kirky J. and Damon Dickson AKA The Game Boyz – dance and vocals

After the stability of the previous two tours with a virtually unchanged band line-up, several departures forced Prince to rearrange his touring band. The departing members were Boni Boyer, Cat Glover, Sheila E. and the horn section of Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss. The young Michael Bland was added on drums, Rosie Gaines took over on keyboards, organ and co-vocals, and a trio of dancers known as the Game Boyz rounded out the new band. With the exception of Fink and Miko, this was the make-up of the original New Power Generation line-up.

The addition of The Game Boyz caused much upheaval in the Prince camp. They first came to Prince's attention in 1983 during the filming of Purple Rain; Mosely, Johnson and Dickson can be seen dancing during various performances at the First Avenue club. The trio continued to associate with Prince over the years, dancing as a group in the music videos for "Glam Slam" and with the band Madhouse. Around the time of Graffiti Bridge, Prince recruited the trio for the film and his touring band.

Many questioned Prince's choice to begin courting the hip hop audience through the addition of The Game Boyz and the increased contribution of Mosely's rapping on future Prince tracks despite the belief that Mosely's rapping ability was sub par. Previously, Prince was negative towards rap music, dismissing it as a fad, as noted by the songs "Bob George" and "Dead on It" from The Black Album.

Furthermore, Rosie Gaines complained that she was being mistreated by the dance trio. Tension developed between Gaines and Prince, as instead of disciplining the dancers, he simply removed Gaines from the tour bus and placed her on Mavis Staples' tour bus.^[1]

After the tour, the last remaining members from The Revolution, guitarist Miko Weaver and keyboardist Doctor Fink, left the group. Miko's departure was especially dramatic. During pre-tour rehearsals, Prince had a number of conflicts with band members, but particularly with Miko. According to several members of the group, Prince felt threatened by Miko's good looks and popularity with the women. "Prince didn't like the fact that Miko was getting women as much as [Prince] was/On the road, Miko would have five or six women in his room, and some of them would want to go with Miko instead of Prince."^[2] The tension boiled over when Prince kept picking on Miko, asking him to turn his guitar down and yelling at him. After back and forth arguing, Prince challenged him "to take this shit outside?" to which Miko retorted, "Yeah like I'm gonna come outside with you and your bodyguards." Miko walked out and briefly quit over the incident, but later rejoined the band at the last minute for the tour.^[3]

Other official sources and tour personnel have also said that Prince sacked Miko Weaver because he caught him in bed with a Prince fan who was under the age of consent.

Mavis Staples went on tour as an opening act.

Typical set list

1. "DAT Intro" (prerecorded samples of various hits)
2. "The Future"
3. "1999"
4. "Housequake" (contains excerpts of "Sexy Dancer")
5. "Kiss" (contains excerpts of "Let's Jam It")
6. "Purple Rain"
7. "Take Me with U"
8. "Alphabet St." (contains excerpts of "It Takes Two" and "The Latest Fashion")
9. "The Question of U" (contains excerpts of "Electric Man")
10. "Controversy"
11. "Ain't No Way"
12. "Nothing Compares 2 U"
13. "Batdance"
14. "Partyman" (contains excerpts of "What Have You Done for Me Lately")
15. "Baby I'm a Star" (contains excerpts of "Respect")

In addition, Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done for Me Lately", "Little Red Corvette", "Do Me, Baby", "Bambi", Smokey Wilson's "Don't Make Me Pay for Your Mistakes", Z. Z. Hill's "Down Home Blues", Joni Mitchell covers "Blue Motel" and "A Song for U", "Jerk Out", Fontella Bass' "Rescue Me", "Respect", "Irresistible Bitch", "When Doves Cry", "Thieves in the Temple", "Venus de Milo", "Under The Cherry Moon" and Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance" were incorporated into the setlist of some concerts.

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
Europe
June 2, 1990	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Feijenoord Stadion
June 3, 1990
June 4, 1990	Copenhagen	Denmark	Gentofte Stadion
June 6, 1990	Kiel	West Germany	Ostseehalle
June 7, 1990	Hamburg		Alsterdorfer Sporthalle
June 9, 1990
June 10, 1990	Hanover		Niedersachsenstadion
June 12, 1990	Berlin		Waldbühne
June 13, 1990	Dortmund		Westfalenhallen
June 14, 1990	Munich		Olympiastadion
June 16, 1990	Paris	France	Parc des Princes
June 17, 1990	Lille		Escape Foire
June 19, 1990	London	England	Wembley Arena
June 20, 1990
June 22, 1990
June 23, 1990
June 25, 1990
June 26, 1990
June 27, 1990
June 29, 1990	Birmingham		NEC
June 30, 1990
July 1, 1990
July 3, 1990	London		Wembley Arena
July 4, 1990
July 7, 1990	Cork	Ireland	Páirc Uí Chaoimh
July 9, 1990	London	England	Wembley Arena
July 10, 1990
July 11, 1990
July 13, 1990	Birmingham		NEC
July 15, 1990	Basel	Switzerland	Fußballstadion St. Jakob
July 17, 1990	Rome	Italy	Stadio Flaminio
July 18, 1990	Cava de' Tirreni		Stadio Simonetta Lamberti
July 22, 1990	Madrid	Spain	Vicente Calderón Stadium
July 24, 1990	Valencia		Estadio Luis Casanova
July 25, 1990	Barcelona		Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc
July 27, 1990	Marbella		Estadio Municipal de Marbella
July 29, 1990	A Coruña		Estadio Santa Maria del Mar
August 4, 1990	Werchter	Belgium	Festival Terrein
August 5, 1990	Heerenveen	Netherlands	Thialf
August 6, 1990	Dortmund	West Germany	Westfalenhallen
August 8, 1990	Mannheim		Maimarkthalle
August 10, 1990	Gothenburg	Sweden	Scandinavium
August 11, 1990	Stockholm		Globe Arena
August 12, 1990
August 16, 1990	Lausanne	Switzerland	Stade Olympique de la Pontaise
August 18, 1990	Nice	France	Stade Charles-Ehrmann
August 20, 1990	London	England	Wembley Arena
August 21, 1990	Manchester		Maine Road
August 22, 1990	London		Wembley Arena
August 23, 1990
August 24, 1990
Asia
August 30, 1990	Tokyo	Japan	Tokyo Dome
August 31, 1990
September 2, 1990	Nishinomiya		Hanshin Koshien Stadium
September 6, 1990	Sapporo		Makomanai Open Stadium
September 10, 1990	Yokohama		Yokohama Stadium

References

1. Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, Alex Hahn,
2. Alex Hahn (2003). "Possessed: The Rise And Fall Of Prince". Billboard Books.
3. Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, Alex Hahn