I LOVE Minnesota’s The Current radio station. They’ve really been my go-to online music since WOXY went down, and today, they posted this fact: Before the 1984 blockbuster Purple Rain catapulted Prince on to the national stage, there was a benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theatre at the recently re-branded First Avenue. It was there that the budding pop star debuted much of the Purple Rain album tracks, and recorded the versions of “Purple Rain,” “I Would Die 4 U” and “Baby I’m A Star” heard in the film and soundtrack. Read more of the story here.
An ad in City Pages following the August 3, 1983 concert at First Avenue (from First Avenue’s files at MNHS)
Paperwork from the August 3, 1983 concert (from First Avenue’s files at MNHS)
Paperwork from the August 3, 1983 concert (from First Avenue’s files at MNHS)
