Prince’s Revolution to reunite for ‘Purple Rain’ 40th anniversary gigs at First Avenue

Prince’s former bandmates in the Revolution will return to where “Purple Rain” started to mark the album’s and film’s 40th anniversary in June.

The band announced a pair of gigs at First Avenue on June 21 and 22, the first time the members have all performed together since the salute to Prince at the Grammy Awards right before COVID-19 hit in January 2020.

Tickets for the June 21 concert (a Friday night) are being sold exclusively as part of the $600-$1,200 packages to attend Paisley Park’s almost-annual Celebration, happening that same weekend at Prince’s studio-turned-museum in Chanhassen. The June 22 concert (Saturday) is being held like a regular First Ave show, with $99-$199 tickets going on sale this Friday at 11 a.m. via first-avenue.com. Presale options begin Thursday. To avoid inflated resale prices, those tickets will not be transferrable.

Guitarist Wendy Melvoin was a mere 19 years old when she made her debut with the Revolution at First Ave on Aug. 3, 1983 — the night the song “Purple Rain” was first performed and recorded for what would be the movie soundtrack issued the following summer. The album officially landed on June 25, 1984, followed a month later by the movie’s release.

Melvoin and the other Revolution members — keyboardist Lisa Coleman, drummer Bobby Z, bassist Brownmark and keyboardist Dr. Matt Fink — played their first reunion gigs at First Ave in September 2016, five months after Prince’s passing. Those three tearful sold-out performances at the landmark Minneapolis rock club gave way to more joyful tributes to their former bandleader over the next few years, including fun hometown sets at both the Basilica Block Party and Rock the Garden.

Melvoin and Coleman returned to the Grammy Awards this year to back Annie Lennox in her gut-punching rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the Prince-penned song performed in tribute to its hitmaker Sinead O’Connor.

The Revolution’s First Ave gigs will top off a mix of events happening around “Purple Rain’s” 40th anniversary.

Prince’s on-screen nemesis Morris Day also will perform with his current lineup of the Time that weekend at the Paisley Park Celebration, where a movie screening and other activities will commemorate the anniversary. Day is then scheduled to pair up with his current and former bandmates in the Time, including super-producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, at the Taste of Minnesota on July 7 — not officially a Prince tribute event, but the chances of it becoming one seem clearer than the waters of Lake Minnetonka.

Some of Prince’s other ex-bandmates are paying tribute to him this month, too, which marks the eighth anniversary of his death: His ’90s New Power Generation backers Michael Bland, Sonny Thompson, Tommy Barbarella, Levi Seacer Jr., Tony M and Rev. Mike Scott will perform with other Prince associates at the renovated Uptown Theater on April 20.