Portishead slams Prince after last minute inclusion to Coachella Music Festival

**GoldDust77** · April 27th, 2008, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by panda

note to portishead, whoever the hell he is: dude, you are nobody! note to Prince: I think you are God!

As Grimm pointed out, Portishead is a millions-selling super-talented, extremely creative (NOBODY else sounds like them), very successful band, with a large legion of EXTREMELY dedicated fans. And they happen to be my favorite band in the world; i'd give my left arm to hear Beth Gibbons & Geoff Barrow (the leaders of the band) sing live.

Prince--meh...never could understand his appeal at all; don't like his voice or any of his songs. Couldn't PAY me to see him. He was relevant when i was a little kid, and he paled in comparison to Michael Jackson. Just my opinion.

**ingi** · April 28th, 2008, 10:21 AM

Some footage of Prince (& Sheila E on drums) kicking ass at Coachella. This tiny bastard is incredible. YouTube - Prince - live at Coachella 2008

**cmmdee** · April 28th, 2008, 10:25 AM

Why are they so pissed? Who cares if he brings his purple entourage?
And why can't they do a soundcheck?
I have seen the purple midget live and he is a-m-a-zing.
They sound awfully bitter.

**ingi** · April 28th, 2008, 10:55 AM

Morris Day & the Time! hells yeah YouTube - PRINCE - CHOLOVISION - LIVE @ COACHELLA 08

**chartreuse** · April 28th, 2008, 10:58 AM

prince covering creep

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u1ekw3LB0I[/youtube]

**RevellingInSane** · April 28th, 2008, 10:59 AM

While I like both artists' work, I have to call Portishead on this one. Without Prince, those tickets would be gathering dust. They should see it as a chance to expand their audience, rather than bitching.

Prince can sell out stadiums and they can't sell out a festival? Some people don't know when to take the hand, bluff, and win!

**chartreuse** · April 28th, 2008, 11:04 AM

prince knew exactly what type of crowd he was playing to & he played for them; he's incredibly talented as an entertainer. from what my husband has read on his prince boards, he ROCKED on guitar all show long.

**SophieOrangeBerry** · April 28th, 2008, 11:14 AM

Okaaaaay.. that Prince version of 'creep' was bloody shite.

And yay for Portishead. One of my fav bands. <3

**cmmdee** · April 28th, 2008, 11:16 AM

Ooh thanks for that Creep youtube link

**GoldDust77** · April 28th, 2008, 12:37 PM

Okaaaaay.. that Prince version of 'creep' was bloody shite.

And yay for Portishead. One of my fav bands. <3

^^Agreed, Sophie. That version of "Creep", (while i CAN definitely appreciate an all-out jam version of a song with the artist's own interpretation of the song, like what Prince did) just pales in comparison to the almighty Radiohead.--my OTHER favorite band in the whole world. (Yes, i have about, oh, maybe 15 bands that i refer to as "My Favorite Band in the Whole World".

)

Originally Posted by RevellingInSane

While I like both artists' work, I have to call Portishead on this one. Without Prince, those tickets would be gathering dust. They should see it as a chance to expand their audience, rather than bitching.

Prince can sell out stadiums and they can't sell out a festival? Some people don't know when to take the hand, bluff, and win!

^^Totally get what you're saying, Revelling.

But just as an explanation & defense of Portishead, i can see where Geoff Barrow is coming from. First of all, Portishead is mostly an electronic band, with lots of weird sound effects, turn-tabling, samples & stuff that are hard to get just right. (thus the need for a good, long sound check to fine-tune everything.)--as well as the fact that their singer, Beth Gibbons sings in a VERY delicate, falsetto-ish, crystalline way. Without a good sound check her delicate voice could end up not rising above the music, or sounding murky, or something. (Beth's unique, beautiful voice is--one of the things--that makes Portishead so very special & awesome.)

Secondly, Portishead almost NEVER, EVER, EVER plays live gigs. Next to NEVER. They have played very few live concerts in their 14-year career. (due in large part to Beth's intense stage fright, as well as the hardship of duplicating their sound live--which i already discussed.) So, when they DO play a gig, (especially one with as big an audience as Coachella), they DEFINITELY want to get it JUST RIGHT. It's a super-important gig.

They agreed to do the Coachella show based on a certain schedule, with a certain allotted-time period for their all-important sound-check. A big star like Prince suddenly, at the last minute, being put into the time-period which they were supposed to have to do their soundcheck, just screws things up for them.--in that they now don't have enough time to perfect their extremely-complex sound, and the reduced prep-time also probably contributes to Beth's nearly-paralyzing stagefright (knowing that when she goes out on stage to sing, things might be not quite up to par). A live Portishead show just happens to be a rather large production; it takes more prep-time to fine-tune than, say, a run-of-the-mill rock band coming out with their loud guitars & playing. Portishead is not a "spontaneous" type of band; quite the opposite.--as i'm sure you know anyway if you're a fan. :-) (and that finely-detailed prep-work is what makes them so AWESOME live!)

So there's my *little* (

) thesis/explanation/defense of Geoff Barrow's (of my Favorite Band in the World) comments. Whew...

**Just Kill Me** · April 28th, 2008, 01:34 PM

Thank you Golddust!

**cmmdee** · April 28th, 2008, 01:45 PM

Funny ass picture:

**Bijoux** · April 28th, 2008, 02:09 PM

Prince Is God!!!!

**cmmdee** · April 28th, 2008, 02:44 PM

^^ I love him!

**sweetness** · April 28th, 2008, 05:26 PM

^^ Me too!!

Originally Posted by RevellingInSane

While I like both artists' work, I have to call Portishead on this one. Without Prince, those tickets would be gathering dust. They should see it as a chance to expand their audience, rather than bitching.

Prince can sell out stadiums and they can't sell out a festival? Some people don't know when to take the hand, bluff, and win!

Very well said.

Portishead is being a bit whiny and anal.