When The Lights Go Down In Australia 4CD
Sabotage Records
Catalog # SAB 302-303-304-305
Release Year 2005
4CD Length 78:14 / 79:22 / 73:48 / 77:52
Date/Venue Various Oct. 2003 Australian Venues
Source Audience Recordings
Quality VG / VG+
Rating 4.0/5.0

Track Listing
Disc 1
NPGMC Soundcheck - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne : 21st October 2003

1. Xemplify 2. Ooo Baby Baby 3. When You Were Mine (intro) 4. Elephants And Flowers 5. Africa Talks To You - The Asphalt Jungle (including Psychoticbumpschool - Life 'O' The Party) 6. Instrumental Jam (including Soul Power '74) 7. Bambi 8. Whole Lotta Love 9. Xpectation 10. When The Saints Go Marching In

NPGMC Soundcheck - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne : 22nd October 2003
11. Joy In Repetition

Australian 2003 Tour - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne : 22nd October 2003
12. One Kiss At A Time 13. All The Critics Love U In Melbourne 14. Outa-Space

Disc 2
NPGMC Soundcheck - Entertainment Centre, Sydney : 25th October 2003 (Listed as 24th October 2003 on packaging)

1. When The Lights Go Down 2. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) (instrumental) 3. Honky Tonk Women 4. The Ride 5.Love 2 The 9's 6. A Case Of U

NPGMC Soundcheck - Entertainment Centre, Sydney : 24th October 2003 (Listed as 25th October 2003 on packaging)
7. 17 Days 8. Beautiful Strange 9. The Rainbow Children (instrumental)

Disc 3
Australian 2003 Tour Aftershow - The Basement, Sydney : 26th October 2003 (am)

1. Warm-Up Funk Jam (including Play That Funky Music - I Know You Got Soul) 2. Brick House 3. Skin Tight 4. 777-9311 (including Ring My Bell) 5. Purple Rain 6. Guitar Improvisation 7. Shake Everything You've Got 8. Funk Jam (including The Payback - Uptown Up - Gotta Be) 9. Pass The Peas 10. No Diggity 11. Ooh (including Give Up The Funk - Ain't It Funky Now)

Disc 4
1. Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa 2. Release Yourself 3. Alphabet St.

NPGMC Soundcheck - Entertainment Centre, Brisbane : 27th October 2003
4. Girls And Boys 5. Outa-Space (including Get Up Offa That Thang) 6. Billie Jean 7. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker - Four 8. Ooo Baby Baby 9. Pink Cashmere 10. When You Were Mine 11. Partyup 12. Oye Como Va 13. Brick House (including Soul Power '74) 14. Santana Medley

Australian 2003 Tour - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne : 22nd October 2003 (Not listed on packaging)
15. Let's Work 16. U Got The Look 17. Days Of Wild

Comments
Fink's Comments  (rates this release 4.0/5.0)
By Sabotage's standard this would normally be a below average release. The recordings themselves, while being enjoyable, are actually quite poor by today's (high) standards. The audience level on The Basement aftershow recording is quite painful at times, and it is similar to an audience recording from the early 1990's - not a good thing. As with all collections like this though, the quality varies from recording to recording with some being far more enjoyable (and audible) than others.

This set contains 5 NPG Music Club soundchecks, and they are all a fascinating listen. Many contain some very rarely performed tracks, and Prince is in a jovial mood throughout. The undoubted highlights are the excellent 24th October soundcheck with a fantastic raw 'Beautiful Strange' followed swiftly by a lengthy 15 minute mainly instrumental jam 'Rainbow Children', and the excellent 27th October Brisbane soundcheck. The Basement aftershow is also worthy of mention, however be warned that listening to the crowd singing the "Oooh-ooh-ooh-ooh's" during 'Purple Rain' at any great volume is rather painful. All that said, as a document of the 2003 Australian tour this is a fantastic release. It's a joy to listen to Prince interacting with the fans in the soundchecks, and it's a pleasure to hear some of the rarely played songs rehearsed.

Sabotage have also acknowledged the fact that the quality is below-par for them, and have explained their reasoning for this release in the accompanying booklet. Packaging wise this is a stunning set with beautiful artwork - however there are a few track-listing mistakes (25th soundcheck listed as 24th & 24th listed as 25th), and no mention of the final 3 tracks on disc 4.

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