# Final concert: Merle, Bowie, Prince **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2016, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980 "2016-04-24T04:09:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/21 "2016-04-27T06:09:37Z")
Haggard, Prince and then Bowie. I grew up on Country (yes, Iowa does Country, Rock and all those other genres but…). 'Nuff said. Ok, I am verbose: Haggard was my childhood, Prince was my teen moments and then I discovered Bowie beyond “Let’s Dance.” Bowie and Prince have a lot more songs I do my dishes to… but I luv me some gravelly slow to jangling songs like Okie from Muskogee (‘specially since I have visited that fine town) or [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHY23tMeCug) or [Merle Haggard - The Bottle Let Me Down - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrTPj_oMKyk) . That’s dancin’ slow or hootin’ and hollerin’ and drinkin’ by the bonfire music. Not that we do much of any of it anymore. But those songs are a nice break from the Devil’s Music ie Rock… errrr Hard Rock… or well, music that has a fast beat (so many other genres). (Many of which we like… but one does need a breather.) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/22 "2016-04-27T08:46:17Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > FYI, none of the shows were “typical” performances by those artists. You weren’t seeing any of them at their prime, doing what they necessarily did best. John Lennon’s last public performance was at a hotel in Japan. He was sitting around playing guitar and singing “Jealous Guy,” when a formally dressed Japanese couple, who had gotten off the elevator on the wrong floor, walked in and sat down to listen. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/23 "2016-04-27T13:36:37Z")
Definitely Bowie. He’s the one I didn’t get to see. I saw Merle several years ago at Bonnaroo, and Prince last year at the Palace Theatre in Louisville. Until yesterday or so Prince’s final show in Atlanta was streaming on Soundcloud. (His goons must have gotten back to work.) I only listened to part of it, but it sounded like it was fun. I know that the show I saw last year was spectacular; I think working with 3rdEyeGirl was inspiring to him, and he still had great work left in him. ☹ Merle had apparently been pretty sick for a while, and he cancelled all the shows he could but felt like he had to keep a few of the better paying ones so he could pay his band and crew. Supposedly he was sick enough at one show in Vegas that Toby Keith stepped up and sang the rest of the set. But I think this was the very end–I’ve seen videos from as recently as October where he looked and sounded great. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/24 "2016-04-27T17:08:26Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Definitely Bowie. He’s the one I didn’t get to see. I saw Merle several years ago at Bonnaroo, and Prince last year at the Palace Theatre in Louisville. > > Until yesterday or so Prince’s final show in Atlanta was streaming on Soundcloud. (His goons must have gotten back to work.) I only listened to part of it, but it sounded like it was fun. I know that the show I saw last year was spectacular; I think working with 3rdEyeGirl was inspiring to him, and he still had great work left in him. ☹ > > Merle had apparently been pretty sick for a while, and he cancelled all the shows he could but felt like he had to keep a few of the better paying ones so he could pay his band and crew. Supposedly he was sick enough at one show in Vegas that Toby Keith stepped up and sang the rest of the set. But I think this was the very end–I’ve seen videos from as recently as October where he looked and sounded great. The one where Toby performed most of his songs was actually his final concert. Before the show, he asked Toby, who happened to be in town, if he knew any of his songs. Toby said, “All of them, and I don’t need the lyrics.” Merle started the show, couldn’t breathe well enough to go on, and introduced special guest Toby Keith, who came out and finished the show for him. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/25 "2016-04-27T17:52:23Z")
It’s a no-brainer; Bowie, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/26 "2016-04-27T18:20:58Z")
Prince–I’m a bigger fan of his music than of Bowie’s, and I don’t like country music at all. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/27 "2016-04-27T19:38:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Bowie all the way. I liked a lot of Prince’s earlier stuff…Raspberry Beret is about where he lost me, and he’d probably be playing a lot of newer stuff. > > Prince or the Thin White Duke? Are you kidding me? My sister and brother in law saw Prince a few years ago and reported it to be the best live performance of any kind they have ever witnessed. And my sister isn’t a Prince fan. He played all the old hits. He knew people loved them and did not disappoint. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/28 "2016-04-27T19:52:52Z")
I like all three, but I would have taken the Prince ticket over both of the others. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/29 "2016-04-29T03:01:25Z")
For me it David Bowie or Prince and I chose Prince, for I am currently in the mood more for his music than Bowie. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/30 "2016-04-29T03:35:09Z")
Merle. Merle’s been there all along. Prince was but a flash in my pan. I was fortunate enough to see Bowie but, even if not, my preference is still Merle. Plus, I could sing along with more of the songs. Thanks for the link… would have been good to see that specific event. Another way I might evaluate my choice would be _pseudo_-objectively. I think Merle is a bigger part of country music than either of those other (wonderful) dudes is to pop. That sentence begins to fall apart for various definitions of pop, but I think it holds true no matter how you’re definin’ country. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980/31 "2016-04-29T16:40:59Z")
From what I’ve heard recently, it seems Prince is closest to the sound I like, so I guess him. This surprised me, BTW–what I thought I remembered of him sounded very synth heavy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-concert-merle-bowie-prince/752980.md?page=1)