Prince concert from 1985's Purple Rain Tour will be livestreamed for free

Prince & the Revolution drummer Bobby Z will talk about the tour in a live Q&A with the Current's Andrea Swensson.

May 12, 2020 at 6:36PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Prince on the Purple Rain Tour in St. Paul/ Star Tribune photo by David Brewster
Prince on the Purple Rain Tour in St. Paul/ Star Tribune photo by David Brewster (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Want to relive the historic Purple Rain Tour with Prince & the Revolution? A recording of their March 30, 1985 concert in Syracuse, N.Y. will be livestreamed on Prince's YouTube channel from Thursday to Sunday. The album will be available for purchase digitally for the first time on Friday.

But Purple aficionados may already have it – because it was issued as a VHS and laserdisc (remember those?) in 1985, and it was included as a DVD in the deluxe reissue of "Purple Rain" in 2017.

Maybe the best thing about this digital release is Thursday's pre-party when Prince & the Revolution drummer Bobby Z will talk about the tour at 6 p.m. in a live Q&A with the Current's Andrea Swensson.

The free livestream begins at 7 p.m. Thursday and goes until 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

The Prince Estate certainly has a wealth of concert footage that could be released. This taste of Purple Rain Tour is just a recycled tease and a move to bolster the Purple One's digital presence.

Don't be surprised if another deluxe reissue of one of Prince's prized studio albums arrives later this year.

about the writer

about the writer

Jon Bream

Critic / Reporter

Jon Bream has been a music critic at the Star Tribune since 1975, making him the longest tenured pop critic at a U.S. daily newspaper. He has attended more than 8,000 concerts and written four books (on Prince, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan). Thus far, he has ignored readers’ suggestions that he take a music-appreciation class.

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