Sabotage Catalog # SAB 275-276-277 Release Year 2004 3CD Length 61:05 / 78:02 / 64:52 Date/Venue Neal S. Blaisdell Center, Honolulu & Volcanoes, Honolulu, Dec. 16,17, 2003 Source Audience Recording Quality EX-

 Disc 1
1. Rad Keyboard Intro 2. Let's Go Crazy 3. I Would Die 4 U 4. When Doves Cry 5. 1999 (intro) - Baby I'm A Star 6. Shhh 7. D.M.S.R. (including [Eye Like] Funky Music [chant] - Tricky) 8. A Love Bizarre (intro) - The Glamorous Life (intro) 9. I Feel For You 10. Controversy 11. Interlude 12. The Beautiful Ones 13. Nothing Compares 2 U 14. Insatiable

Disc 2
1. Sign O' The Times 2. The Question Of U 3. The Ride 4. The Question Of U (instrumental) (including The One - Fallin') 5. Let's Work 6. U Got The Look 7. Life 'O' The Party 8. Soul Man 9. Kiss 10. Take Me With U 11. The Everlasting Now 12. Interlude 13. Band Introductions 14. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore 15. Alphabet St. 16. Purple Rain

Disc 3
2003 Tour Aftershow - Volcanoes Nightclub, Honolulu : 17th December 2003 (am)
1. Mama Feelgood 2. Yes We Can Can - Ain't It Funky Now - Stetchin' Out (In A Rubber Band) 3. 1+1+1=3 - Stretchin' Out (In A Rubber Band) - I Know You Got Soul - Life 'O' The Party 4. No Diggity 5. Ooh 6. All The Critics Love U In Honalula - Stretchin' Out (In A Rubber Band)

Comments
Mike's Comments(rates this release 4.75/5.0)
This is the first of Sabotage's 'The Complete Hawaii Tapes'. An excellent audience recording from his recent Hawaiian Hit And Run shows (as opposed to Hit 'N' Run!!). There are some great new takes on old classics like 'When Doves Cry' and 'Alphabet Street', my personal favourite is 'Kiss', bringing it back into the year 2003 with a kick up the ass-it's highly addictive listening! Also a welcome return to live shows must go to 'Shhh', and it's a corker on here. Prince and the band are in a funky mood and put on a great show for the enthusiastic audience. The sound quality of the aftershow is excellent, but slightly less so than the main concert. It's full of extended funky jams, including a LONG-workout of Mama Feelgood. The highlight (for me) is 'No Diggity'. How often do you get to hear one of your favourite non-Prince songs performed by the man himself??! The art-work is stunning, and the booklet contains a nice review of the Maui concert and aftershow.

Fink's Comments(rates this release 4.75/5.0)
Sabotage's release of the rescheduled Hawaiian shows in preparation for the US Musicology tour. For some reason these shows are looked down upon by people due to their unashamed "greatest hits" content (more so than the Musicology tour), however they shouldn't be overlooked so easily as there are some flashes of brilliance on here which make the shows rather special. I've rated the main show as an EX- recording, but it should be noted that it only slightly misses the grade of an EX recording due to the increased crowd noise from 'How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore' onwards - the remainder is surprisingly excellent, free of any interference and/or problems and of a very high standard. The show itself is similar to the October 2003 Australian tour and elements from the past 2002 One Nite Alone tour and the (at the time) upcoming 2004 Musicology tour are evident throughout. The show begins with an atmospheric keyboard into accredited to RAD which bears a passing resemblance to the One Nite Alone tour opener, before Prince recites the complete opening "Dearly beloved" lyric with the slight change of "There's something else....the truth" - it should also be noted the religious whoring is thankfully at a minimum throughout. The majority of the main section of the show is representative of the Musicology tour, however there are a small number of things which were evidently straightened out before the US tour launched - it's interesting to hear how the show changed from this into what the US audience got a matter of 3 months later. The only slight change worth picking up on during the main show is the stopping/starting of 'The Question Of U' to incorporate a stunning version of 'The Ride' with some ferocious guitar work. The encore section begins with Prince at the piano for a basic run-through of 'How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore' before launching into an enjoyable, loose jam on 'Alphabet St.' before the show closes out with the usual 'Purple Rain'. As mentioned previously the audience level increases slightly for the encore section, and a certain gentleman in the crowd's constant screaming for '7' is funny to begin with, but grates after 10 minutes - obviously for him too as he gives up after screaming "Prince, play fucking 7 man!" to no avail. One last thing regarding the main show is Prince saying "If you feel that Saddam Hussein is a hairdresser, talk to me" during 'Sign O' The Times' which has be puzzled.

Overall an enjoyable, undemanding show which at times seems more like a rehearsal than a concert - which makes it (to me) more appealing. The aftershow is equally enjoyable, although the recording is a little less impressive (still a solid EX- recording). The majority of the short set is made up of the opening 3 tracks which are basically lengthy instrumental tracks featuring various parts thrown in from different band members. The horn section are heavily featured, although RAD herself gets a fair amount of time on the mic. The accompanying artwork and booklet are as equally good as the content of the discs and capture the Hawaiian-style perfectly featuring various images lifted from the 2003 Australian tourbook. Overall this (along with the 3cd/4cd Maui release) are utterly fantastic documents of the short 2003 tour and the gap between the musicianship of One Nite Alone tour and the showmanship of the Musicology tour. It's worth checking out Sabotage's related release 'The Complete Hawaii Tapes Vol. 2 : Maui'.

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