LIVE & EVENTSI
n an impassioned speech
before main set closer Purple
Rain, Wendy Melvoin explains
why The Revolution are
appearing in the UK for the
fi rst time since the Parade
Tour in 1986. Devastated by
Prince’s death, the surviving fi ve
band members “needed to be
our best selves in the worst of
circumstances”. With their leader
no longer here, playing two
hours of the magic they created
together seemed the best way to
honour him. They weren’t wrong.
It’s inevitable Prince’s absence
is felt. He was both the fi nest
showman and greatest guitarist
of his generation; nobody
can lose that and not leave a
vacuum. But a genius like Prince
wasn’t going to surround himself
with anything except the best,
and The Revolution are in every
sense the best Prince tribute band
there can be.
It’s a no-frills set-up, thequintet strolling on stage with
no backdrop and looking like
they’ve been assembled from
four different bands. Most jarring
of all is Bobby Z. He played
drums with Prince right from the
start on 1978’s For You, but
tonight he resembles a kindly
college lecturer. He exemplifi es
the show’s sparseness, playing
behind a drumkit that maybear The Revolution’s logo but
is so small it might have been
borrowed from a toilet circuit
support band.
Brownmark (real name:
Mark Brown) does a decent
job of handling the vocals of
Prince’s lower register, with
Wendy equally capable on
his more conversational songs.
Hearing Wendy do the “DearlyTHE REVOLUTION
SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE,
LONDON
13 FEBRUARY★★★★
WHO BETTER TO CELEBRATE THE LEGACY OF A MUSICAL ICON THAN
THE BACKING BAND THAT SUPPLIED THE GROOVES FOR HIS BEST WORK?© Chris McKay/Getty Images(^1) America
(^2) Computer Blue
(^3) Mountains
(^4) Take Me With U
(^5) Uptown
(^6) DMSR
(^7) 17 Days
(^8) Raspberry Beret
(^9) Erotic City
(^10) Let’s Work
(^11 1999)
(^12) Sometimes It Snows In April
(^13) Let’s Go Crazy/Delirious
(^14) Controversy
(^15) Mutiny
(^16) Kiss
(^17) When Doves Cry
(^18) Purple Rain
Encore
(^19) I Would Die 4 U/
Baby I’m A Star
SETLIST
beloved...” intro to Let’s Go
Crazy which ushers in an
unbeatable six-song fi nale is a
shivering moment. The higher-
end Prince vocals see Stokley
Williams guest on half a dozen
songs. Wendy is at pains to
point out Prince was a fan of
Stokley’s Minneapolis funk outfi t
Mint Condition, and his singing
is fi ne. But either Stokley is in The
Revolution or he’s not, and his
stop-start appearances on stage
don’t add enough to Brownmark
and Wendy’s vocals to make
him essential. Yet. Indeed, the
undoubted vocal highlight is
Sometimes It Snows In April,
where most of the band leave for
Wendy and pianist Lisa Coleman
to have their fi rst unaccompanied
song in Britain since 1990.
Other than Brownmark
accepting Stokley’s chant of “Go
Mark!” in Let’s Work, noodling
solos are saved for Wendy’s
band introduction segment after
Controversy, The Revolution’s
playing elsewhere as taut as
you’d hope from a band who
had to work at such a rapid rate
in their heyday. Wendy hints The
Revolution may do an obscurities
tour; her and Lisa are surely due
their own reassessment, too. With
Prince’s vaults now opening,
maybe previously unknown
albums could be premiered on
stage. Whatever The Revolution
do next, their performance merits
Prince’s faith in them. You can’t
ask for more than that. John Earls