May 2

May 2 The Revolution to headline Riverside finale

News | 2019

The Revolution, the Minneapolis band whose fame will forever be linked to Prince’s seminal album Purple Rain, will perform the 2019 Down by the Riverside season finale, the city’s music department announced Thursday.

The schedule, which includes six shows total, also features performances by Motown luminaries Rare Earth and Minnesota’s own Cloud Cult. The season begins Sunday, July 14 with the rock group 10,000 Maniacs.

The Revolution’s work with Prince on Purple Rain — both the album and the movie — helped earn them international recognition. The album spent 24 weeks at number one on the charts, sold more than 20 million copies, and won Prince and The Revolution two Grammys and an Oscar.

Their collaboration with Prince, which also included the follow-up album, Around the World in a Day, is credited for helping put the Minnesota music scene on the map. The group disbanded in 1986 and, like Prince, members of The Revolution went on to pursue other musical endeavors.

In 2016, following Prince’s death, the original lineup reconnected and put on a series of shows at First Avenue in Minneapolis, the same music club where decades earlier they had performed concerts for Purple Rain.

Today, they remain on tour featuring the same lineup from the film — Matt Fink, Bobby Z., Lisa Coleman, Brown Mark and Wendy Melvoin.

This will be the 28th year for the Think Bank Down by the Riverside concert series. The free outdoor shows are held Sunday nights in Mayo Park.