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Artist News
Prince road tests new solo album, Eavis confirms Glastonbury talks
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 24 June 2014
Prince has played Star Tribune journalist Jon Bream his new solo album – ie not the one he’s releasing with 3rdeyegirl.
In an article for the Tribune, Bream reveals that he was called up after a Bruno Mars gig to hear the new record, which he sat down to listen to in Prince’s Paisley Park studios with the members of 3rdeyegirl and some of Prince’s crew. Though not Prince himself, who joined them via speakerphone.
Discussing the record, Prince said that he felt he’d “finally got something that is a cohesive statement”. Although he didn’t mention a release date, he said that he wanted to be “able to make music and put it out now”. In addition to that, Bream was played new Rita Ora featuring Prince, which the musician reckoned should be available soon, because with Ora “time is money”.
So, that might be something you hear soon, or it might just come to nothing. You never know with Prince, do you? Speaking of which, Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has confirmed that he was in talks with Prince to play this year’s festival, but “social media chit-chat” put an end to any hopes of booking him.
“We wanted him to play, and it got to the point where his people were talking to us about him doing it, but before he confirmed he got really upset because he thought we had advertised that he was playing”, Eavis said in a Guardian interview. “We hadn’t, but with social media, rumours get everywhere, and one of those rumours was that Prince was coming. So he didn’t want to do it in the end”.
He added: “All the social media chit-chat now about who might be playing really doesn’t help us. People think we’ve advertised them early, but there’d be no point to us leaking details because the tickets sell out in an hour in October, before the headline acts are announced. People come for what the event means to them, not the headline acts”.
Still, Metallica were on hand to step in at the last minute, which is fortuitous for them. Eavis explained: “Metallica have been trying to play for so long – they ring every year, and they’re so polite about it. ‘We’d love to be there, we’re getting older, can we play it now?’ That sort of thing”.
Metallica sound a bit whiney.
UPDATE 25 Jun 15:00: An earlier version of this article stated that the track recorded with Rita Ora features on the Prince album Bream was played. It is in fact, a Rita Ora track featuring Prince.
