Metro Music Fest readies a 'Revolution' Prince’s former backing band headlines free ACM@UCO event
The majestic purple peacock who reigned over all that glittered in his multi-colored musical world of pop, soul, funk, gospel and psych-rock has been gone nearly two years now, but Prince’s defiantly androgynous spirit will be present and very much alive Friday night when his most famous backing band, The Revolution, takes the main stage at the Metro Music Fest at The Criterion, 500 E Sheridan Ave.
Co-headlining with The Texas Gentleman at this free, ninth annual celebration of song staged by the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma, the original lineup of melodic Minneapolis masters will be performing many of the most popular selections from the voluminous songbook of the artist who was born Prince Rogers Nelson in 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This is the cast of musicians who helped perfect
Prince’s eclectic synthslickened sound during his breakout “Purple Rain” period (the album and the film) — plus the groundbreaking LPs “Around the World in a Day” and “Parade” — before he disbanded the lineup in favor of other players in 1989.
The original Revolution members — drummer Bobby Z, keyboardist Matt Fink, and bassist Brown Mark all moved on to other projects, and keyboardist Lisa Coleman and guitarist Wendy Melvoin have partnered ever since as the performing and composing duo known as Wendy and Lisa, releasing albums and scoring for movies and TV.
“The relationship that
Wendy, Prince and I had was really like a love affair,” Coleman said.
“And we got closer and closer and closer, and he started to rely on us a lot. Professionally and personally. But I think it was the professional side that made him start feeling like he needed to get back in total control. I don’t know. Something sparked in him, and he felt like he needed to kind of go back to the beginning again.”
But everyone in The Revolution has stayed in touch with one another, and with Prince, and the idea of a reunion has been bandied about many times over the years.
After the shock of Prince’s tragic, drugrelated death in April 2016, the band remained silent for about a year, out of respect for their former leader.
Then the decision was
made to rejoin forces at long last, and pay a traveling tribute to their flamboyant and fearless flag-bearer in the making of music way too sexy and decidedly too cool for school.
And who will be doing Prince’s inimitable, wide-ranging vocal parts?
“Our good friend Stokely Williams, who comes and joins us on a handful of songs,” Coleman said from her Los Angeles home last week.
Williams, an R&B and neo-soul singer best known for his work with the band Mint Condition, was one of Prince’s favorite players in the Twin Cities music scene.
“(Williams) is somebody that Prince was fond of,” Coleman said. “And he really felt Stokely was a ‘talented m.f.,’ was the way (Prince) put it. And we thought that would
be a good way to honor Prince. And Stokely does an amazing job. He does it with such class, and he’s not taking Prince’s place.
“He just works with the crowd, and what we wanted to get across was pretty much that the lead singer is you. And we want the crowd to sing along and to connect with Prince … No one’s gonna take his place, but we can share this music and we can sing these songs and just be the Prince. We can all be Prince now. He belongs to all of us, and we want the crowd to go ahead and take it, and sing along and be the lead singer.”
Coleman added it’s an emotional experience.
“Luckily, most of the songs are such feel-good songs and party songs that we promise not to leave you purely in tears,” she said.