By Robyn Collins
The Revolution, Prince’s 1980’s backing band, are getting back together for a spring tour. After the music icon died last year the group connected at a Minneapolis hotel to mourn.
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There, they decided to reunite for shows in honor of the Purple One.
“We’re taking it to the people who are grieving like we are, and letting them have a little bit of relief,” guitarist Wendy Melvoin told Billboard.
In September 2016, The Revolution sold out three shows at the First Avenue nightclub (setting of Prince’s movie, Purple Rain). Now, they are preparing to kick off a tour Friday, April 21, on the anniversary of the music legend’s death at his Paisley Park, near Minneapolis.
They will make tour stops in Chicago, Washington, DC, New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco before ending in Seattle on July 15.
The Revolution includes Melvoin, bassist BrownMark, keyboardists Matt Fink and Lisa Coleman, and drummer Bobby Z. Their set list includes Prince’s synthesizer-heavy 1980s music through his 1987 double album Sign o’ the Times.
“We have the ability now to give people a glimpse of what we experienced with him,” BrownMark said. “And I think that’s a powerful thing. I know it helped me heal.”
As for why the band broke up to begin with, Bobby Z explained. [Prince] did what any boss would do and just put it (the band) to bed. That intense run we had, all those years, it was starting to come apart at the seams, with personalities and under that kind of pressure, just like human beings do, and he just kind of made a decision And he wanted to move on as basically a solo artist with a backing band, no disrespect. But this was a band he was a very critical member of.”
Whether The Revolution will continue beyond this tour is unknown, but Melvoin says, “We’d love to be able to see if there are some legs with this.”
