Reading about The Revolution's (tribute) tour for Prince provides an interesting perspective from his band mates. This is what Wendy Melvoin says about how they have felt, why they're doing it ("It was a spur-of-the-moment thing to find a sense of healing.") and how they are going to handle it.
Also, this...Who's going to be singing?
Well, that's the thing. Everybody keeps saying, "Well, why are you doing it? Who's going to sing? Who's going to be Prince? Who's going to be the centerpiece?" All right, let's break this down: No one. No one's going to be Prince. No one will ever be Prince, and none of us in the band are going to try and be him. You can't. It's just not going to happen.
I realize the situation is not the same as the Eagles and Glenn but I thought there were enough similarities that could help explain what surviving band members experience.So what was your solution?
All this is all fluid right now. But the plan today – and it's changeable – is we only perform songs that don't distance us as the band. So in other words, if we perform "Darling Nikki," none of us are going to sing it. We're going to have someone come out and do it. Wherever we go, there's going to be an artist who loved him deeply and they can come up and sing that song. But the other tracks that were specifically geared around a band – say, "Let's Go Crazy" or "Controversy," or songs that have more like group vocals – we're going to [sing them]. We're also going to do some of the songs that didn't call for a lot of his calisthenics or his screaming. There's no one who could do that. No one.
"The Revolution's Wendy Melvoin Talks Grieving for Prince, Spring Tour" Rolling Stone Mar. 6, 2017