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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2018 TRIANGLE TODAY’S
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SYMPHONIC CELEBRATION OF PRINCE IS A
MUSICAL JOURNEY
presented by
Isaac Weeks for Triangle Today
When attempting to pay tribute to Prince, one of the most creative musical artists of our time, it only makes sense to do so in the most unexpected way possible.
we’ve gleaned from press releases that point toward Thursday being a night to remember for folks who remember when the song “1999” referred to the future.
A master at recreating himself as a performer throughout his career, the “Purple Rain” star would have approved of 4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince, a tour featuring a production of the late rocker’s catalog that comes to Raleigh’s Red Hat Amphitheater this week.
Promoted by industry heavyweights
By the time the tour rolls into North Carolina — it’s slated to take the stage in Charlotte Sept. 12 and Asheville Sept. 14 — the production will have only happened four times, so there’s little for anyone to go on when it comes to prognosticating what the show actually encompasses from Prince’s storied career. That being said, there are a few interesting things
While Live Nation Urban and TCG Entertainment are two of the heavyweights in the world of concert promoting, Live Nation Urban may be the most interesting factor to the entire production. An arm of Live Nation that is a little more than a year old, Urban was formed from a partnership between LN and Shawn Gee, manager for such acts as The Roots and Jill Scott. The venture is an attempt to bridge the gap in hip-hop and R&B demand online and the live performance opportunities available to those same artists. At the time of Live Nation Urban’s launch, Gee told Billboard, “If you’re an alt-rock or EDM act, you can pretty much set up 20-30 festivals to play. But you can
name the number of [urban-centric] festivals on one hand.”
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What audiences will see There may be some potential audience members confused about the actual setup of the 4U experience, so to clarify: it is a full symphony orchestra, playing alongside a live band with vocalists. This may be the area where TCG Entertainment lends its biggest strength, as they have revolutionized the concept of symphonies accompanying acts that most wouldn’t immediately associate with the French horn. A Night of Symphonic Rock featured such classic rock luminaries as Lou Gramm of Foreigner and Teri Nunn of Berlin, while A Night of Symphonic Hip-Hop featuring Wyclef Jean was the first large scale tour to meld the worlds of hip-hop with orchestral music.
Prince Estate If there was one thing that Prince wasn’t known for, it was acting nonchalant toward his catalog of work. Upon his death, the vault where the artist kept his unreleased work was inaccessible to his estate, as Prince made sure he was the only person to know the door key code. Upon drilling it open, the estate’s archivist found enough songs inside to release a new album every year for a century. 4U: A SYMPHONIC CELEBRATION OF PRINCE When: 7:30 p.m., Thursday Sept. 13 Where: Red Hat Amphitheater, 500 South Salisbury St., Raleigh 27601 Cost: Starting at $25
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