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Music in real places

Music

First Avenue & 7th St Entry

701 First Avenue North, Minneapolis, Minnesota; historical club venue, no exact camera or stage pin

Explore the places

Markers identify buildings or documented location references. They do not mark an exact recording room, stage position or camera angle.

  1. First Avenue & 7th St Entry — Map source

Music happened here

Purple Rain: First Avenue, from benefit to film

The benefit supplies songs and the film’s title

3 August 1983

Prince performed at the First Avenue benefit on 3 August 1983. Live recordings of Purple Rain, Baby I’m a Star and I Would Die 4 U contributed to the associated album, and director Albert Magnoli recalled choosing the title song after hearing it that night.

First Avenue becomes a performance-film setting

1983 film production; exact scene dates not asserted

Albert Magnoli identifies First Avenue as the location for Purple Rain’s filmed performance scenes and describes distinct sets and lighting for songs, with extras filling the club.

Reading the place today

First Avenue remains an operating music venue; check its current programme and entry arrangements. The club setting does not establish an unchanged stage, a surviving film set or access to particular filming positions.

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