Music lovers have called an unlikely collaborative cover of Prince song Purple Rain the ‘best-ever’ cover of the track.
The song has been covered by the likes of Dolly Parton, The Waterboys, and Dwight Yoakam, but a performance from two music icons in the UK has provided fans with an all-time great live performance.
One fan has since described the performance as an “incredible piece” which pairs an unlikely but “powerful duo” on stage. A post to X has seen the performance of viral, with the five-minute cover led by a chart-topping UK artist.
On guitar is a musician who also topped the charts several times throughout his career, with the man responsible for a dozen albums considered to be the greatest of all time.
The @rocknrollofall X account shared the footage, with many saying they had never seen the performance before.
Their post reads: “Best Purple Rain cover I heard, Tom Jones voice and David Gilmour stratospheric sound. Who’s out there still listening 32 years later?
“Tom Jones on his show ‘The Right Time’ performing the Prince classic ‘Purple Rain’ accompanied by guitar legend David Gilmour on 13th June 1992. That’s quite a powerful duo for such an incredible piece by Prince.”
The pairing of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, 79, and It’s Not Unusual hitmaker Tom Jones, 85, seemed to surprise many, with fans flooding the replies to say they did not realise the cover had been recorded.
One user wrote: “Tom Jones is a great singer, too often overlooked and even maligned.” Another added: “Only a legend can cover another legend.” A third wrote: “This is incredible. Thanks for sharing!”
Fans were not just full of praise for Jones’ take on the Prince classic, but the instrumental quality added by Gilmour. One user wrote: “I’ve never seen this, thank you so so so much, I never realised how much I needed Gilmour to emote over prince’s structure it’s beautiful.”
Another added: “I mostly hate covers, which are almost always a straightforward, lazy rehash of playing the original. But this is f**king spectacular.”
A third wrote: “I wasn’t super on board until ‘I never wanted to be your… weekend lover’ and that won me over.”
Jones is no stranger to covering music, with the Welsh songwriter giving a bizarre cover of Arctic Monkeys’ ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor’ during a concert years after his Prince cover.