On July 27th, 1984, Prince and the Revolution were confronted with their first hint of how their lives were about to change when they attended the Hollywood premiere of Prince's first movie, Purple Rain. "That night at Grauman's Chinese Theatre was insane," recalls keyboardist Lisa Coleman. "We thought were just making what would be kind of a cult film. I'd stood in line at that theater to see Alien the first day it came out. And now there I was, arriving in a limo. Limousine, red carpet – none of us had ever done anything like that before. We felt more like rebels, and suddenly we're all fancy, like movie stars."
That night would only be the start of one of the most momentous years in Prince's life. The film was an immediate cultural touchstone, grossing $7.7 million in its opening weekend (a commanding figure at the time) and eventually grossing 10 times that amount. Four months later, at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Prince and the Revolution launched the Purple Rain tour. The 98-show trek, which continued through April 1985, was groundbreaking in many ways: It introduced Prince's most elaborate sets and a new guitarist (Wendy Melvoin), and the crowd hysteria and occasional cameos from the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Madonna confirmed Prince's place as pop's most commanding star of the moment.
In the confines of those tightly structured shows, Prince reveled in special effects and over-the-top staging – doing splits or somersaults, playing his famous ejaculating guitar (using Ivory Liquid, of course) or pretending to talk to the Lord during the "Purple Rain" B side "God." Yet the tour impacted on him in ways he and the Revolution never expected. In time for the upcoming deluxe reissue of the Purple Rain album – with accompanying bonus audio and video material – and the tour's inclusion on Rolling Stone's 50 Greatest Concerts of the Last 50 Years list, RS spoke with the Revolution and the band's unofficial member, lighting director LeRoy Bennett, about those momentous five months and their aftermath.