Signs of the lights: Prince’s audio-visual apotheosis

Abstract

How do we understand a concert video in the context of a cultural industry’s alternative product? The DVD included in the Super Deluxe box set of the Sign o’ the Times (SOTT) album, released in 2020, has a two-hour-and-fifteen-minute concert video known as Live at Paisley Park and three official music videos. The audio-visual aesthetic was one of the main weapons of a multi-artist who always tried to extrapolate the musical element, not only in his films or his music videos but also in live concerts. Many possible reasons can explain the presence of the New Year’s Eve concert in the package and not the official film directed by the artist himself. The most concrete explanation is that the rights of the film Sign o’ the Times currently belong to a company not involved in this project. It might not be an insurmountable hurdle, but a more accurate comparison between the two audio-visual products can help one understand that the Paisley Park video is more genuine in many senses, and the lighting is one of the most evident signs of it, building a veritable apotheosis of music and dance.