The Prince Tour kicks off this week and setlist speculations are flying high! Notoriously known for switching up the game in true playa style, The Prince of Purple rarely plays the same set twice. Having way too much time on my hands, I made it my personal mission to statistically analyse a sample of 10 setlists from Prince’s last tour, Welcome 2, to derive the most likely lineup. There were excel spreadsheets and algorithms involved – yes, I’m that nerdy folks!
From my analysis I gathered that the average Prince Show consists of a minimum of 19 to a maximum of 33 tracks, including up to 4 encores, depending on how generous he’s feeling. Here’s hoping his trip across the pond hasn’t tired him out too much! Whether you’re a diehard fan, or just another hipster jumping on the purple bandwagon, here are my predictions (in no particular order) to help you cram those lyrics.
Tracks that have been played without fail at every set, pretty much guaranteeing that we will hear them are:
- Let’s Go Crazy
- Delirious
- 1999
- Take Me With U
- Raspberry Beret
- Cream
- When Doves Cry
- The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
- Hot Thing
- Purple Rain
- Darling Nikki
- Kiss
Tracks that have consistently been played, very likely to be included are:
- Little Red Corvette
- Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
- Nothing Compares 2U
- Cool
- Forever In My Life
- Alphabet Street
- I Would Die 4U
- Controversy
- Sign O’ The Times
Tracks that have been played multiple times, but on the whole not included in every set are:
- Nasty Girl
- D.M.S.R
- Pop life
- Musicology
- Everyday People (Sly & The Family cover)
- Shhh
- Dance (Disco Heat) (Sylvester cover)
- Baby I’m a Star
- A Love Bizarre (Sheila E Cover)
Every set seems to include a selection of choice covers. Only played a handful of times but worth particular mention are:
- Let’s Go (The Cars cover)
- Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)
- The Bird (The Time cover)
- Jungle Love (The Time cover)
- Come Together (The Beatles cover)
- Get Down Tonight (KC and the Sunshine Band cover)
- Thank You (Flattinme Be Mice Elf Again) (Sly & The Family cover)
- Yesterday (The Beatles cover) – oh god I hope he revives this one for our listening pleasure!
I don’t know about y’all but this lineup has me feeling all Delirious. Although I’m not going to lie, the fact that Partyman and Batdance are nowhere to be seen really makes me understand what it sounds like When Doves Cry.
