Prince’s Secret London Gigs in February 2014: Ronnie Scott’s and Kings Place
Alejandro De Luna
It’s February 2014. Cryptic tweets from the Prince entourage. No official announcements. No venue confirmed until hours before via a random tweet. Just rumours across London, panic-refreshing social media, the NME, the Evening Standard, and Prince’s team asking one question on Twitter: Where are we playing tonight?
During those days of Prince arriving unannounced and playing secret gigs across London, I was lucky enough to attend two of them. The queues were so long that Prince ended up performing two shows per night at the same venue, each with completely different setlists. Still, many were left outside.
I still remember the rush of jumping in a cab or the Tube across the city as fast as possible once the gig was announced, then rushing to join queues, wishing to secure one of those tickets.
Here’s what I saw.
Two secret shows. Two venues. Two different sets.
February 14th — Kings Place (2nd show)
Announced as an intimate acoustic set for Valentine's Day, but after a few songs it turned into a loud, electric bliss alongside 3rdeyegirl, Prince's backing band.
Capacity: 420
Queue: 5-6 hours
Price: £70
Printed ticket
February 17th — Ronnie Scott’s (1st show)
An intimate performance inside the legendary Soho jazz club, with Prince at the keys. Paparazzi and crowds outside, plus a guest list including Kate Moss, Jamie Hince, Adele, Stephen Fry, Noel Gallagher, Nile Rodgers and Cara Delevingne.
Capacity: 220-250
Queue: 13 hours
Price: £35
Entry number 162. Hand stamp.
‘Prince was doing this tour of little venues and he turned up in London, planning to play lots of little gigs unannounced, so nothing was booked. So he turned up. He had two trucks of gear on hire, two bloody great trucks full of stuff, but no gigs booked. And then they were sort of ringing round little venues going: “Can we come and do your gig tomorrow?” It was absolute chaos.' — Ronnie Scott’s manager, Simon Cooke
Hard to believe this really happened.
During those days of Prince arriving unannounced and playing secret gigs across London, I was lucky enough to attend two of them. The queues were so long that Prince ended up performing two shows per night at the same venue, each with completely different setlists. Still, many were left outside.
I still remember the rush of jumping in a cab or the Tube across the city as fast as possible once the gig was announced, then rushing to join queues, wishing to secure one of those tickets.
Here’s what I saw.
Two secret shows. Two venues. Two different sets.
February 14th — Kings Place (2nd show)
Announced as an intimate acoustic set for Valentine's Day, but after a few songs it turned into a loud, electric bliss alongside 3rdeyegirl, Prince's backing band.
Capacity: 420
Queue: 5-6 hours
Price: £70
Printed ticket
February 17th — Ronnie Scott’s (1st show)
An intimate performance inside the legendary Soho jazz club, with Prince at the keys. Paparazzi and crowds outside, plus a guest list including Kate Moss, Jamie Hince, Adele, Stephen Fry, Noel Gallagher, Nile Rodgers and Cara Delevingne.
Capacity: 220-250
Queue: 13 hours
Price: £35
Entry number 162. Hand stamp.
‘Prince was doing this tour of little venues and he turned up in London, planning to play lots of little gigs unannounced, so nothing was booked. So he turned up. He had two trucks of gear on hire, two bloody great trucks full of stuff, but no gigs booked. And then they were sort of ringing round little venues going: “Can we come and do your gig tomorrow?” It was absolute chaos.' — Ronnie Scott’s manager, Simon Cooke
Hard to believe this really happened.
