Prince Solo Tour In The Works?

Prince is reportedly planning a November-December European tour that’s being called “Prince Spotlight: Piano & A Microphone.” Rather than being backed by The New Power Generation or 3RDEYEGIRL, Prince will take the stage on his own, with just a piano and a microphone. 

Photo: Courtesy of Creative Artists Agency
Essence Music Festival, Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, La.

The Purple One revealed his tour plans Saturday to a crowd at his Paisley Park Studios complex in Chanhassen, Minn., that included a handful of European reporters. The news comes to us from Madrid-based daily newspaper El País (via music blog Dr. FunkenBerry).

“Why do this now? For various reasons,” Prince said, according to El País. “For starters it is a challenge. I don’t want to get bad reviews, but I don’t want to go back and do what I’m sure works because I’ve done it for 30 years. Let’s try new things. With the piano it’s more naked, more pure. You can see exactly what there is.”

Details about the tour are still up in the air. But apparently we’ll find out soon enough because El País says “Prince Spotlight: Piano & A Microphone” is scheduled to kick off Nov. 21 at Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria. The last stop is Dec. 22 at Cirque Royal in Brussels, Belgium.

The only other show with a specific date and venue is Dec. 13 at Teatro Liceo de Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain. Denmark is apparently going to host two performances while the U.K. will welcome his royal highness in Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Liverpool. Other countries on the routing include Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and France.

That being said, El País’ story notes that 12 hours after Prince broke the news, an email from his camp said the dates were not set in stone, but were rather “proposals.”