The Revolution celebrates 40 Years of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ in Minneapolis

The Revolution paid their respects to founder Prince this weekend with a performance in Minneapolis at a 5-day event commemorating the 40th anniversary of Purple Rain .

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The group, originally created in 1979 by the Purple One, took the stage for a one-of-a-kind show at Minneapolis’ First Avenue, the downtown nightclub where scenes from the movie were filmed 40 years ago, to commemorate the milestone.

With the movie launching Prince ’s career to new heights and earning him his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, The Revolution , consisting of Wendy Melvoin , Lisa , Bobby Z ., Brownmark , and Dr . Fink felt the pressure to represent the Prince of Funk well.

“We’re missing our commander in chief,” Melvoin told Billboard ahead of the event before Coleman added, “It’s a little strange to do those things without him there.”

After going their separate ways in the mid ‘80s before reuniting briefly in 2012, the band got together again in 2016 — the same year Prince unexpectedly passed at the age of 57.

Taking the stage in Minneapolis, the group played songs from Prince’s catalog kicking things off with “Let’s Go Crazy,” followed by “Computer Blue,” “Erotic City,” “Raspberry Beret,” “Take Me With U” and more. Later in the show, they were joined by special guest Judith Hill , who also shares a special connection with Prince as he produced her debut album.

“Thank you for the beautiful night. We love doing this for you guys,” Melvoin said before closing out the night with “Purple Rain.” “For real, we’re missing him here a lot. No one is trying to be him on this stage. We’re just trying to do him proud.”