--- title: Prince First Performed Purple Rain 33 Years Ago description: Wednesday marks 33 years since Prince first performed his iconic song, "Purple Rain." canonical: https://time.com/4437859/prince-purple-rain-anniversary/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-03T22:03:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:04.098Z og:title: It's Been 33 Years Since Prince First Played 'Purple Rain' og:description: All hail the Purple One. og:url: https://time.com/4437859/prince-purple-rain-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77fa93ea25c81672/6988a1058e060170b9467088/anniversary-prince-purple-rain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Super Bowl XLI: Pepsi Halftime Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: It's Been 33 Years Since Prince First Played 'Purple Rain' twitter:description: All hail the Purple One. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77fa93ea25c81672/6988a1058e060170b9467088/anniversary-prince-purple-rain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Today Is the 33rd Anniversary of Prince's First Performance of 'Purple Rain' > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 3, 2016 10:03 PM UTC  Prince performs during the "Pepsi Halftime Show" at Super Bowl XLI between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears on February 4, 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) Prince performs during the "Pepsi Halftime Show" at Super Bowl XLI between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears on February 4, 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) Jonathan Daniel—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 3, 2016 10:03 PM UTC The artist known as [Prince Rogers Nelson](http://time.com/4359619/prince-birthday-anecdotes/) has a musical legacy that most artists can only dream of. His most famous song is undoubtedly [“Purple Rain](http://time.com/4303815/prince-dead-purple-rain-1984-album/)” — also the name of his semi-biographical 1984 [feature film](http://time.com/4312354/prince-purple-rain-coat-auction/) and its accompanying soundtrack — which helped Prince earn mainstream success and worldwide fame. However, the first time that the _Purple Rain_ track list was performed was nearly a year before the film or album were produced, at a benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theatre at the legendary [First Avenue](http://time.com/4314125/prince-minneapolis-hometown/) (where Prince also filmed scenes for [the movie.](http://time.com/4314125/prince-minneapolis-hometown/)) It was at this event that the Purple One debuted most of the album and recorded versions of “I Would Die 4 U,” “Baby I’m a Star” and of course, “Purple Rain.” According to Prince producer David Rivkin in an interview with Minnesota’s [_The Current_](http://blog.thecurrent.org/2016/08/33-years-ago-today-prince-played-purple-rain-for-the-first-time/?WT.mc%5Fid=cc55f9be208db8bbf4315cc367cd17a8), no one had any idea what his Purpleness had in store. “Nobody knew anything. I didn’t know if it was just for his own personal folly or if he was gonna use it for something,” Rivkin said. “It was kind of a weird situation. I kind of assumed it was going to be a record, but I didn’t know there was a movie being written.” However, the project’s relative anonymity might have been exactly what Prince needed for this crucial track, according to Rivkin. “I guess because it was fresh and new and it came off so good that he decided to use it,” Rivkin said. “He could have waited and done 20 shows and picked the best one, but he didn’t. He’s kind of like that though — it’s like first impressions are the most important.” The event’s 75-minute set raised nearly $23,000 for the dance company, a sum that becomes even more extraordinary when you factor that each ticket was $25 — $60 in today’s prices — (and a steep increase from the general $4 or $5 ticket for a show). In honor of the 33 years since he first performed “Purple Rain,” listen to the recording that happened at First Avenue on this day nearly three decades ago and pour one out for the one and only Prince. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4437859/prince-purple-rain-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4437859/prince-purple-rain-anniversary/"},"headline":"Today Is the 33rd Anniversary of Prince's First Performance of 'Purple Rain'","datePublished":"2016-08-03T22:03:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:04.098Z","description":"All hail the Purple One","url":"https://time.com/4437859/prince-purple-rain-anniversary/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music","Prince"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77fa93ea25c81672/6988a1058e060170b9467088/anniversary-prince-purple-rain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77fa93ea25c81672/6988a1058e060170b9467088/anniversary-prince-purple-rain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Super Bowl XLI: Pepsi Halftime Show","caption":"Super Bowl XLI: Pepsi Halftime Show","creditText":"Jonathan Daniel—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4437859/prince-purple-rain-anniversary/","name":"Today Is the 33rd Anniversary of Prince's First Performance of 'Purple Rain'"}}]}] ```