| Concert Tour Name: | Purple Rain Tour |
| Type: | Continental |
| Location: | North America |
| Artist: | Prince and the Revolution |
| Album: | Purple Rain |
| Start Date: | November 4, 1984 |
| End Date: | April 7, 1985 |
| Number Of Legs: | 2 |
| Number Of Shows: | 98 (99 scheduled) |
| Last Tour: | 1999 Tour (1982–83) |
| This Tour: | Purple Rain Tour (1984–85) |
| Next Tour: | Parade Tour (1986) |
The Purple Rain Tour was a concert tour by American recording artist Prince and the Revolution following up on the success of his sixth studio album Purple Rain and his 1984 film Purple Rain. According to Spin, the tour sold over 1.7 million tickets.
The tour marked the live debut of the band now named the Revolution as Wendy Melvoin made her appearance as the new guitarist in Prince's band, taking over for the departed Dez Dickerson, completing the iconic line-up of the band.
In addition to Prince and the Revolution, they were joined on tour by Apollonia 6, and Sheila E. and her band. Despite gaining fame from their appearance in the film and releasing a third album, The Time were not invited to tour, as by 1985 the group had been depleted, with many of its remaining key members quitting to embark on personal careers.
The Purple Rain Tour was the first Prince tour to open with brand new material. In this case, it was with the album opener, "Let's Go Crazy". A triple dose from the 1999 album followed: "Delirious", "1999" and "Little Red Corvette". An instrumental interlude of "Yankee Doodle" usually introduced another 1999 song, "Free". The B-side "God" was often played, followed by a usual sequence of "Computer Blue", "Darling Nikki", "The Beautiful Ones" and "When Doves Cry" (featuring a mirror setup onstage to mimic the video of the song). As encores, the remaining Purple Rain songs closed the concert, "I Would Die 4 U", "Baby I'm a Star" and "Purple Rain". The three songs were extended, often taking 30 minutes to perform. "Take Me with U" was often worked in, completing all the album tracks. Other songs sometimes included were "Father's Song", "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?", the new "Temptation", "Let's Pretend We're Married", "Irresistible Bitch" and "Do Me, Baby". On rare occasions, "International Lover", and some tracks from Dirty Mind (1980) and Prince (1979) would pop up. Later in the tour, an instrumental of "Under the Cherry Moon" was sometimes played. The B-side "Irresistible Bitch" was segued into the unreleased "Possessed" at the show in Syracuse.
Setlist of November 11, 1984, at the Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan, United States[1]
Encore 1
Encore 2
Setlist of November 22, 1984, at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States[2]
Encore 1
Encore 2
Setlist of December 2, 1984, at the Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario, Canada[3]
Encore 1
Encore 2
Setlist of February 23, 1985, at The Forum, Inglewood, California, United States[4]
Encore 1
Encore 2
Notes
| City | Country | Venue | Attendance | Revenue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 4, 1984 | Detroit | United States | Joe Louis Arena | 129,730 / 129,730 | $1,967,572 |
| November 5, 1984 | |||||
| November 7, 1984 | |||||
| November 8, 1984 | |||||
| November 9, 1984 | |||||
| November 11, 1984 | |||||
| November 12, 1984 | |||||
| November 14, 1984 | Greensboro | Greensboro Coliseum | 44,029 / 52,629 | $667,773 | |
| November 15, 1984 | |||||
| November 16, 1984 | |||||
| November 18, 1984 | Landover | Capital Centre | 133,182 / 133,182 | $2,019,927 | |
| November 19, 1984 | |||||
| November 20, 1984 | |||||
| November 22, 1984 | Philadelphia | The Spectrum | 55,917 / 55,917 | $848,075 | |
| November 23, 1984 | |||||
| November 24, 1984 | |||||
| November 26, 1984 | Landover | Capital Centre | |||
| November 28, 1984 | |||||
| November 29, 1984 | |||||
| November 30, 1984 | |||||
| December 2, 1984 | Toronto | Canada | Maple Leaf Gardens | 35,000 / 35,000 | $628,950 |
| December 3, 1984 | |||||
| December 5, 1984 | Richfield | United States | Richfield Coliseum | 36,400 / 36,400 | $546,000 |
| December 6, 1984 | |||||
| December 9, 1984 | Rosemont | Rosemont Horizon | 90,687 / 90,687 | $1,375,419 | |
| December 10, 1984 | |||||
| December 11, 1984 | |||||
| December 13, 1984 | |||||
| December 14, 1984 | |||||
| December 15, 1984 | Lexington | Rupp Arena | 22,347 / 22,347 | $368,725 | |
| December 17, 1984 | Buffalo | Buffalo Memorial Auditorium | 30,021 / 32,328 | $525,368 | |
| December 18, 1984 | |||||
| December 20, 1984 | St. Louis | St. Louis Arena | 40,000 / 40,000 | $700,000 | |
| December 21, 1984 | |||||
| December 23, 1984 | Saint Paul | St. Paul Civic Center | 87,580 / 87,580 | $1,532,650 | |
| December 24, 1984 | |||||
| December 26, 1984 | |||||
| December 27, 1984 | |||||
| December 28, 1984 | |||||
| December 30, 1984 | Dallas | Reunion Arena | 53,274 / 54,828 | $879,021 | |
| December 31, 1984 | |||||
| January 1, 1985 | |||||
| January 3, 1985 | Atlanta | The Omni | 87,500 / 90,000 | $1,531,250 | |
| January 4, 1985 | |||||
| January 6, 1985 | |||||
| January 7, 1985 | |||||
| January 8, 1985 | |||||
| January 11, 1985 | Houston | The Summit | 102,564 / 102,564 | $1,708,690 | |
| January 12, 1985 | |||||
| January 13, 1985 | |||||
| January 14, 1985 | |||||
| January 16, 1985 | |||||
| January 17, 1985 | |||||
| January 19, 1985 | Birmingham | BJCC Coliseum | 35,400 / 35,400 | $619,500 | |
| January 21, 1985 | Cincinnati | Riverfront Coliseum | 44,100 / 44,100 | $771,750 | |
| January 22, 1985 | |||||
| January 23, 1985 | |||||
| January 25, 1985 | Memphis | Mid-South Coliseum | 33,600 / 33,600 | $588,000 | |
| January 26, 1985 | |||||
| January 29, 1985 | Austin | Frank Erwin Center | 32,224 / 32,224 | $531,696 | |
| January 30, 1985 | |||||
| February 1, 1985 | New Orleans | Louisiana Superdome | 60,000 / 60,000 | $1,050,000 | |
| February 3, 1985 | Birmingham | BJCC Coliseum | |||
| February 4, 1985 | Memphis | Mid-South Coliseum | |||
| February 14, 1985 | Tacoma | Tacoma Dome | 48,900 / 48,900 | $806,850 | |
| February 15, 1985 | |||||
| February 18, 1985 | Inglewood | The Forum | 96,000 / 96,000 | $1,680,000 | |
| February 19, 1985 | |||||
| February 20, 1985 | |||||
| February 22, 1985 | |||||
| February 23, 1985 | |||||
| February 24, 1985 | |||||
| February 27, 1985 | Daly City | Cow Palace | 78,498 / 78,498 | $1,373,715 | |
| February 28, 1985 | |||||
| March 1, 1985 | |||||
| March 3, 1985 | |||||
| March 4, 1985 | |||||
| March 5, 1985 | |||||
| March 7, 1985 | Las Cruces | Pan American Center | 26,100 / 26,100 | $456,750 | |
| March 8, 1985 | |||||
| March 10, 1985 | Long Beach | Long Beach Arena | 40,722 / 40,722 | $712,635 | |
| March 11, 1985 | |||||
| March 12, 1985 | |||||
| March 17, 1985 | Uniondale | Nassau Coliseum | 100,200 / 100,200 | $1,753,500 | |
| March 18, 1985 | |||||
| March 20, 1985 | |||||
| March 22, 1985 | |||||
| March 23, 1985 | |||||
| March 24, 1985 | |||||
| March 26, 1985 | Hartford | Hartford Civic Center | |||
| March 27, 1985 | Worcester | Worcester Centrum | 24,146 / 24,146 | $422,555 | |
| March 28, 1985 | |||||
| March 30, 1985 | Syracuse | Carrier Dome | 39,875 / 39,875 | $697,812 | |
| April 1, 1985 | Indianapolis | Market Square Arena | 16,089 / 16,089 | $281,558 | |
| April 3, 1985 | Tallahassee | Tallahassee–Leon County Civic Center | 12,541 / 12,541 | $232,009 | |
| April 4, 1985 | Lakeland | Lakeland Civic Center | 18,752 / 18,752 | $356,288 | |
| April 5, 1985 | |||||
| April 7, 1985 | Miami | 53,085 / 61,500 | $982,073 |
During this tour, Prince added saxophonists Eric Leeds and Eddie Minnifield to certain parts of the show and often they would join the Revolution on stage for the extended jams of "I Would Die 4 U" and "Baby I'm a Star". A minor conflict arose within the band, as Prince began giving Leeds lengthy solos during other songs, in particular Wendy was upset that her opening guitar solo on the show closing "Purple Rain" was given to Leeds.[5]
Tour photographer was Nancy Bundt.