#PrinceOnThisDay 1/2 The October 25, 1984 Minneapolis Auditorium rehearsal of “I Would Die 4 U” (Extended Version) is a peak-Purple Rain-era document of Prince as bandleader: a roughly 30-minute (sometimes listed nearer 31 minutes) jam by Prince and the Revolution plus Sheila E. and members of her band, later edited to the official 10:15 (x-apple-data-detectors://embedded-result/313) 12” single. It is not the album version. The Purple Rain album track (and the 7” single) originated in the legendary August 3, 1983 First Avenue benefit concert recording, with subsequent studio overdubs at Sunset Sound. This extended version is an entirely separate tour-rehearsal take made specifically for the 12” maxi-single, released November 28, 1984 (around the time the Purple Rain Tour launched in early November). Context and Personnel: By late October 1984, Prince and the Revolution were deep in production and tour rehearsals for the Purple Rain shows. The Minneapolis Auditorium session expanded the core band with Sheila E.’s players, creating a larger, denser ensemble suited to the high-energy, percussive, and improvisational side of the material that would appear in the tour’s encores (where “I Would Die 4 U” typically led into extended “Baby I’m a Star” jams). Documented personnel on the October 25 (x-apple-data-detectors://embedded-result/1231) recording include: • Prince (lead vocals, directing, and other contributions) • Bobby Z. (drums, percussion) • Brown Mark (bass, vocals) • Wendy Melvoin (guitar, vocals) • Lisa Coleman (keyboards, vocals) • Matt Fink / Dr. Fink (keyboards, vocals) • Sheila E. (percussion, notably timbales) • Eddie M. / Eddie Minnifield (saxophone) • Miko Weaver (guitar) • Susie Davis (keyboards) This lineup gave the track a fuller, more live-band texture than the tighter, more synth- and drum-machine-oriented album version. Structure and Musical Character Unlike the album cut’s relatively concise, high-energy pop-funk arrangement (roughly 2:50–3:00 (x-apple-data-detectors://embedded-result/1883)), the rehearsal jam builds gradually and expansively. It opens with Prince’s count-offs (including a false start), Bobby Z. launching the electric drum pattern, and gang vocals chanting the title hook. Prince then cues instruments in sequence: Wendy on rhythm guitar, Sheila E. on percussion, Lisa Coleman with a frenetic keyboard part, then Eddie M. and Miko Weaver adding sax and additional guitar layers. The wall of sound grows into Sheila’s timbale features before Prince calls “Song!” and the band drops into a version of the familiar arrangement. In the full take, this is only the beginning—by the point of Fink’s closing glissando there are still well over 20 minutes remaining. The groove is often described as funkier and more open than the album version (annotations note a slightly slower tempo in some circulating versions, around 135 BPM versus ~140). Audible bandleading—Prince calling names and directions—underscores the real-time arranging. Highlights in the official 10:15 (x-apple-data-detectors://embedded-result/2881) edit include the layered percussion, the interplay between the two guitars, and especially the section around the 6:46 (x-apple-data-detectors://embedded-result/3001) mark where Eddie M.’s euphoric sax solo pushes Prince’s vocals higher and more ecstatic. The track carries some overdubbing and ends with a fade.