Diamonds and Pearls Tour
Maine Road Stadium, Manchester
26th June 1992
*Review*
This show’s been around for some time now on the Funky Maine Road bootleg and has
always been a distinctly average recording. This version from ? Records has been
sourced from a higher generation copy but is still not without its problems. The
audience levels are still quite prominent and distracting, in particular one person
persistently clapping very loudly near the mic throughout most of the songs along
with various attempts to sing along......badly (and it must be noted that, overall,
the recording still remains little distant sounding). Obvious attempts have been
made to limit this and all with varying degrees of success. The problem is, although
this version is somewhat brighter and packing a little more punch, that in turn means
the audience noise is too.... so it’s kind of a double edge sword. There’s also a
couple of small drop-
Once you’ve ‘tuned out’ the audience you can sit back and enjoy a fine performance from Prince and one of the better examples of a D&P show out there. The content isn’t surprising (although the inclusion of a scorching version of Bambi is an utter joy) and with nothing too out of the ordinary here. But that’s not where the attraction lies as Prince is on fine form and in a great mood and this is reflected throughout with some great renditions of Thieves In The Temple, Gett Off (including a couple of lines from Take This Beat) and Daddy Pop to name a but a few. The audience themselves help no end with their enthusiasm which Prince feeds off, adding to the energy of the whole gig. So, as I say, it is an improvement and that’s always welcomed by any collector and can be enjoyed that little more now. Just don’t go into it thinking you’ll be getting something of the quality of modern day recordings.
2 CDR
Label: ? Records
Cat No: # ?001/002
Running Time: 68:77 / 61:52
Source: Audience Recording
Quality: VG+
Released: January 2010
Disc 1
1. Intro -
Disc 2
1. Sexy MF 2. Thieves In The Temple (including It -