Prince & the Revolution: Live marks the first official audio-only release of the concert the band gave at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York on March 30, 1985. The show has been heavily bootlegged over the years and released as a DVD on the 2017 Deluxe Edition of
Purple Rain, so it hasn't been out of circulation, but the 2022 Legacy release is remastered and restored, both on the audio and visual level, it's also available in spatial audio on streaming platforms. Whatever the medium, the performance captured on
Prince & the Revolution: Live is phenomenal, a gig that captures a band at its peak who know they're being filmed for posterity. The group is comfortable enough to stretch, vamp, and jam, and they'll even throw in such flair as jazzy accents on the chorus to "Delirious." Nevertheless, this performance isn't distinguished by detours, it's defined by its precision.
Prince decided to close the book on his
Purple Rain era with this March 1985 concert, filming it for home video and broadcast in Europe. Knowing this represented a farewell to this phase,
Prince pushed the Revolution to deliver a focused, kinetic set, one that featured every song on
Purple Rain along with hits from 1999, accentuated by such B-sides as "Irresistible Bitch," "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore," and "God," plus the non-LP frenzied funk workout "Possessed." The result is perhaps the best recorded document of
Prince & the Revolution in full flight: they sound invincible here. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine