1999 Tour
| Tour by Prince | |
| Associated album | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Start date | November 11, 1982 |
| End date | April 10, 1983 |
| Legs | 2 |
| No. of shows | 87 in North America 87 in total |
| Prince concert chronology | |
The 1999 Tour, occurring 1982–83, was the fourth concert tour by American recording artist Prince in support of his fifth studio album, 1999. It was, up till then, his longest tour of the United States. In addition to Prince and his band, his latest all-girl group, Vanity 6, made their first live act tour along with the returning The Time.
This tour saw the debut of Vanity 6 as a live act to go along with The Time as opening act. Even with the release of The Time's second album, What Time Is It?, tension between Prince and The Time escalated as the band was forced to play as Vanity 6's band during their 40-minute set with only a small increase in pay. They were further slighted by having to play behind a curtain, while the sultry girl group performed out front on stage. Eventually, the heat between the bands and the fact that Prince was getting increasingly insecure at The Time's nightly great performances, led to Prince dropping them from the tour completely.
This marked the end of guitarist Dez Dickerson's tenure as a member of Prince's band. In the prior year, Dez became a born-again Christian and found himself conflicted playing music that contained Prince's racy lyrics. He was further upset when prior to 1982's Homecoming Tour stop in Minneapolis, he expressed his desire to omit "Head" from that night's set, that often ended with Prince simulating masturbating with his guitar. Dez gathered support from the rest of the members in the band to show a united front requesting they didn’t play the song in front of Dez's family, but when Prince was confronted and called for a vote, all but Dez sided with Prince, angering Dez.
With Dez's impending departure, Prince had already found a replacement in Lisa Coleman's childhood friend Wendy Melvoin, who had already been participating in soundchecks with the band and would even stand in for Dez when he wasn't available. By the last leg of the tour, Wendy was officially the backup guitarist.
Initially, Prince had planned on playing at London's Dominion Theatre but opted out at the last minute, in order to continue gaining status across America
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