Xenophobia report from Harold Lewis

by uptown1 on Wed 10 Jul 2002 E-mail uptown1 about this essay

Introduction:
{{{Harold Lewis is a well-respected longtime member of the Prince fan community, and is essentially Uptown's USA representative. Here's his detailed, very thorough report of the Celebration 2002: Xenophobia...}}}

XENOPHOBIA: 7 NITES ALONE WITH PRINCE Report

DAY ONE: June 21, 2002

DAYTIME ACTIVITIES AT PAISLEY PARK: Clinic/Q&A session in Studio B with Femi Jiya and Joe Lepinski (Prince’s personal recording engineers). This was VERY interesting. For those that don’t know, Studio B was where Prince recorded Sign O’ The Times. It is somewhat dated now technology-wise, so Prince now uses the state-of-the-art Studio A (closed to fans unfortunately). This was repeated twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. In between a CD called One Nite Alone Live! was played in Studio B (consisted of various portions of several ONA Tour shows, including Portland and Indianapolis). Another CD entitled It Ain’t Over was also played throughout the week, which I believe was the aftershow performance from The World nightclub in New York City. One Night Alone was also played occasionally during the week.

This was also the only day that the majority of Paisley Park was open to the fans. People were allowed to wander around more or less on their own. However, security cameras caught a couple of people trying to steal things and access was restricted the rest of the week (we were only allowed into Studio B, The Paisley Park Museum, the soundstage, dance rehearsal room, and the NPG Music Club Room). Needless to say, the fact that a few people ruined it for everyone was very disappointing.

The day was plagued by rain and severe thunderstorms (in fact, parts of Minnesota experienced flooding) so the majority of the planned outside activities never took place the first day (makeshift dance floor with DJ, basketball, volleyball, other fun and games).

Each night Prince and Mani were often spotted walking around and watching the opening acts from a couch at the rear of the soundstage.

OPENING ACT: Maceo Parker (9:05 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.; 115 minutes)
PRINCE: 11:45 p.m. to 2:20 a.m. (220 minutes)

SETLIST:
The Rainbow Children
Muse 2 The Pharaoh
Xenophobia
A Case of You
Mellow
1+1+1=3/Love Rollercoaster
The Ride/Alphabet St.
The Other Side of The Pillow
Strange Relationship
Sing A Simple Song (w/Larry Graham)
La, La, La Means I Love You
Didn’t Cha Know
When You Were Mine
Avalanche
Family Name
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
The Everlasting Now

Joy In Repetition (Encore)

The first night of the Celebration was originally intended to be played at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Minneapolis. However, it was moved at the last minute due to “logistical problems,” which was probably a fancy way of saying that they didn’t sell as many tickets as they had hoped (prices ranged from $85 to $125 for the general public). Anyone who had bought tickets to the Orpheum gig had to return their tickets through Ticketmaster and purchase tickets at Paisley Park for $100.

The performance consisted of a regular One Nite Alone tour show as was expected (great for the many foreign fans that had been unable to catch the tour here in the States). Prince was in a wonderful and relaxed mood from the very beginning and seemed to have a constant smile on his face. The highlight was when he brought several fans onstage to dance during “1+1+1=3” and “Love Rollercoaster.” One fan from Japan was named Tuna, so Prince obviously had a great time with that. At one point he said that Tuna had better get funky or he was going to “Put him back in the can.” The addition of “The Ride” was a deviation from the planned set list, and was extremely long and contained fantastic guitar work from Prince. He also added a few lines from “Alphabet St.” at the end. Prince had the audience sing the entirety of “Raspberry Beret.” The encore of “Joy In Repetition” was phenomenal and lasted over 10 minutes.

DAY TWO: June 22, 2002

DAYTIME ACTIVITES AT PAISLEY PARK: Sheila E. drum clinic/Q&A session in the NPG Music Club Room. Easily one of the best clinics. She still looks and sounds great (her opening set in the evening was one of the most enjoyable of the week) and was very approachable and nice to the fans.

OPENING ACT: Sheila E. (9:15 p.m. to 11:15 p.m.; 120 minutes)
PRINCE (June 23rd): 12:25 a.m. to 1:35 a.m. (70 minutes)

SETLIST:
The Rainbow Children (Instrumental)
Power Fantastic
Extraordinary
Here On Earth
With You
Pearls B4 The Swine (Instrumental)
The Ghetto (Cover)
Sweet Baby
When The Lights Go Down
Strollin’
Gotta Broken Heart Again
You’ve Got A Friend (w/Sheila E.; Cover of James Taylor tune)

Pop Life (Encore)

One word describes the second evening at Paisley Park: HOT! And I’m not referring to just the performances, which were scorching all night. The intense thunderstorms from the day before managed to flood the air conditioning system in the soundstage area; this was combined with nearly 1,000 attendees and high humidity (which caused condensation to form on the floor and made it extremely slippery). After Sheila E’s fantastic set, Takumi (Prince’s guitar technician) announced that everyone would have to leave the soundstage area for about 20 minutes so they could attempt to dry the floor. Needless to say, this upset many people who had waited in line for several hours to obtain the best spots closer to the stage. Everyone was fairly cooperative, however, as they filed out in to the PP parking lot.

After a half hour or so everyone was let back in. As people were filing in Prince and the NPG were already onstage playing an instrumental version of “The Rainbow Children.” Several minutes went by before they continued, even though many fans were still not inside. I would describe the general theme of the second performance as “Prince: The Lounge Singer.” It was one of the most laidback performances of the week and Prince spent most of the evening playing piano (in fact, he didn’t pick up a guitar all night). He apologized several times to both the fans and Sheila for the problems with the air conditioning, promising that it would be fixed and he would “take us all on a date.” Little did we know what that would mean until later!

Prince played some real gems that night and his vocals never sounded better. “Gotta Broken Heart Again” was played for the first time since the Dirty Mind tour in 1980-81. A cover of James Taylor’s “You’ve Got A Friend” was dedicated to Sheila E., who came out and sang a verse to the delight of everyone. It was Prince’s shortest performance of the Celebration at approximately 70 minutes.

Prince mentioned a couple of times during the show that he was going to take us all to a movie. He said we were going to go see Minority Report since it had the word “minority” in it. No one thought he was actually serious until the end of “Pop Life” when he told everyone to follow the white car (his limousine) to the Chanhassen Theater down the street. So, a caravan of cars made the two mile trek to the theater, where Prince had rented out three screens for the attendees and the Paisley Park staff. He, Mani, and Sheila E. also stayed for the movie (which didn’t begin until 2:20 a.m.). What a memorable experience and completely unexpected!

DAY THREE: June 23, 2002

DAYTIME ACTIVIES AT PAISLEY PARK: Discussion session with Tavis Smiley (formerly of BET), Londell McMillan, Dr. Cornell West, and Michael Eric Dyson. The topic was “Xenophobia” although they delved into a variety of subjects. Femi Jiya and Joe Lepinski also held another clinic/Q&A session in Studio B.

OPENING ACT: Victor Wooten (8:05 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.; 155 minutes)
PRINCE: 11:25 p.m. to 12:40 a.m. (75 minutes)

SETLIST:
Days of Wild (w/Larry Graham)
The Jam (w/Larry Graham)
Dolphin
Sign O’ The Times
The Work, Part I
Paisley Park
Renato’s Keyboard Solo
Peach/”It Ain’t Over” Jam (w/Damon Dickson)

Everyone was relieved to feel that the air conditioning problem from the night before had been solved. The third night’s performance was very high energy, especially compared to the evening before. Prince and the band (including Kirk Johnson on percussion throughout and Larry Graham on bass for the first two songs) marched into the soundstage Sign O’ The Times-style from the back to begin with a 15-minute version of “Days of Wild.” “The Jam” followed with Larry Graham on vocals and extensive solos by the musicians. Things slowed down a bit with a mellow version of “Dolphin,” which lead into a funky new arrangement of “Sign O’ The Times.” “The Work, Pt. 1” was next, followed by a rockin’ version of “Paisley Park” (chorus sung by the fans). Keyboardist Renato Neto soloed for a few minutes thereafter, before Prince returned to the stage for “Peach.” Several little kids were brought up onstage during the latter, including Kirk Johnson’s daughter. Prince lead everyone in the chant of “It Ain’t Over” as everyone marched out again; this chant became the motto of the fans and Prince for each succeeding night and was repeated numerous times.

DAY FOUR: June 24, 2002

DAYTIME ACTIVITIES AT PAISLEY PARK: Saxophone clinic/Q&A session by Maceo Parker in the NPG Music Club Room. Londell McMillan led a discussion regarding the state of the music industry afterwards.

OPENING ACT: Norah Jones (8 p.m. to 9:15 p.m.; 75 minutes)
PRINCE: Set #1 (9:45 p.m. to 10:45 p.m.; 60 minutes); Set #2 (10:55 p.m. to 11:40 p.m.; 45 minutes)

SETLIST #1 (ACOUSTIC):
Don’t Play Me
Whole Lotta Love (Cover of Led Zepplin tune)
7
Tangerine
A Case Of You
Pink Cashmere
One Kiss At A Time
Alphabet St./Beverly Hillbillies Theme
Girls and Boys
(Sometimes I Feel Like A) Motherless Child (cover)
The Truth
“Guitar Playin’ Man” Jam
The Other Side Of The Pillow
She Loves Me 4 Me
Peach/”It Ain’t Over” Chant
Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do
Forever In My Life
Last December

SETLIST #2 (PLUGGED):
Take The A Train/Strollin’ (Instrumental)
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?
Diamonds and Pearls
The Beautiful Ones
Free
Starfish and Coffee
Sometimes It Snows In April
I Love U, But I Don’t Trust U Anymore
Prince and the Band (New Song!)
Xenophobia/Bustin’ Loose Chant

Prince’s stepfather, Howard Baker, and half-brother Omar attended this show and all of the subsequent nights.

A lot of fan’s dreams came true when they figured out by the stage setup that we were about to witness a very special night in Prince history: a full-blown acoustic set (for the first time in his career)! The stage setup consisted of a chair, Prince’s acoustic guitar, and Kirk Johnson’s conga drums (he played on a few songs), and for most of the hour-long set Prince was illuminated only by a solitary spotlight. Words do not do justice to this performance (just look at the set list!) and it truly had to be heard to believed. The so-called “Guitar Playin’ Man” jam was hilarious and featured Prince making up lyrics as he went along about how bothered he was when he gets telephone calls from telemarketers and bill collectors. Kirk Johnson’s daughter came onstage to dance again during “Peach.” Prince allowed the audience to sing almost all of “Forever In My Life” and the chorus to “Last December.”

After about a 10-minute break, during which Renato tinkled the piano keys, Prince and the NPG came onstage for a short “plugged” set. They started with a jazz jam that seemed to mix “Take The A Train” and “Strollin’. He than began a short piano segment before kicking in a swing/jazz jam called “Prince and The Band.” This is a new unreleased track as Prince rapped just about all of the lyrics from a sheet while sitting behind his keyboards. It features extensive soloing from the band members and the chorus of “C’Mon, Clap Yo Hands…4 Prince and the Band!” The instrumental “Xenophobia” was the encore and included the “Bustin’ Loose” chant.

It was truly a magical night that those in attendance will never forget.

DAY FIVE: June 25, 2002

DAYTIME ACTIVITES AT PAISLEY PARK: Clinic/Q&A session by saxophonist Eric Leeds and keyboardist Renato Neto in the NPG Music Club Room. Renato mentioned that the band had rehearsed 25 new songs especially for the Celebration.

OPENING ACT: Bernard Allison (8:15 p.m. to 9:20 p.m.; 65 minutes)
PRINCE: 10:30 p.m. to 12:25 a.m. (115 minutes)

SETLIST:
Prince Guitar Solo
Bambi
Whole Lotta Love (Cover of Led Zepplin tune)
Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)
The Question of U
The One
Jazz Jam
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Ain’t No Sunshine (Cover of Bill Withers tune)
She’s Always In My Hair
The Ride (w/Morris Hayes on keyboards)
Alphabet St. (w/Morris Hayes on keyboards)
Blues Jam (w/Morris Hayes on keyboards)
Elephants & Flowers
All The Critics Love U In New York
Beautiful Strange

Calhoun Square (Encore)

If Saturday night had been “Lounge Singer Night,” Tuesday evening was definitely “Rock Night.” Prince played heavy guitar on nearly every song and the set included many rarities. One of the video projectors was setup in the back of the soundstage and broadcasted weird, psychedelic images over the audience and onto Prince’s face and video screens. It made for a very cool effect the whole night.

The set opened with Prince alone on stage, illuminated from the rear by a white spotlight and smoke. He launched into a scorching guitar solo for 2-3 minutes before stopping to allow the band to get into place. An intense version of “Bambi” opened the show. Prince sang all of the verses before moving into a cover of Led Zepplin’s classic “Whole Lotta Love.” The first surprise of the evening was a full-blown version of “Something In The Water (Does Not Compute),” containing all of the lyrics and Prince playing the keyboard part on his guitar. Awesome. This lead into “The Question of U” and a new arrangement of “The One,” which was arranged in a much more rock fashion (I barely recognized it at first). A long jazz jam followed, which seemed a bit out of place given the rest of the material. This was followed by “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man,” which Prince has drastically rearranged by slowing the tempo down by half and turning it into more of a blues song (this was actually one of the highlights for me of the night…it sounded GREAT!).

A cover of Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” was next, followed up with “She’s Always In My Hair” (an obvious crowd favorite). Former NPG band member Morris Hayes then joined the band, playing Prince’s keyboards on “The Ride,” “Alphabet St.” (a full-band version), and a lengthy blues jam. The main set concluded with a lengthy jam on two surprise inclusions: full, complete versions of “Elephants & Flowers” and “All The Critics Love U In New York.” Prince had the audience repeat the chorus to the former several times near the end, and during the latter many audience members were brought up onstage to dance (including 79-year old Mary Boyer from Cleveland, Ohio). Prince then returned to the rock theme with absolutely blazing versions of “Beautiful Strange” and “Calhoun Square” (the encore). These last two songs sound much better live than on record.

Another absolutely unforgettable night!

DAY SIX: June 26, 2002

DAYTIME ACTIVITES AT PAISLEY PARK: Bass clinic/Q&A session with Larry Graham.

OPENING ACT: Musiq Soulchild (8:30 p.m. to 9:40 p.m.; 70 minutes)
PRINCE: 10:50 p.m. to 1:25 a.m. (155 minutes)

SETLIST:
The Rainbow Children
Muse 2 The Pharaoh
Money Don’t Matter 2 Night
Xenophobia
A Case of You
Mellow
1+1+1=3/Housequake (small portion)/Love Rollercoaster
The Other Side of The Pillow
Strange Relationship
Sing A Simple Song (w/Larry Graham)
La, La, La Means I Love You
Didn’t Cha Know
When You Were Mine
Avalanche
Family Name
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
The Everlasting Now

Days of Wild/”Soul Child” Jam (w/Musiq) (Encore)

This was the second of the two shows originally scheduled for the Orpheum Theater in downtown Minneapolis that was also moved to Paisley Park. After Prince’s performances the previous three evenings it was a bit of a disappointment. This was moreso because it was essentially another viewing of the One Nite Alone tour set, not because of the quality of Prince’s performance. Eric Leeds and Najee replaced Maceo Parker on saxophone for the final two nights Prince was very talkative throughout the show.

The one new addition to the set was a complete, full-band version “Money Don’t Matter 2 Night.” Prince also threw in the “Who in this house knows about the ‘quake?” chant and horn part from “Housequake” several times during “1+1+1=3.” Prior to “The Other Side of The Pillow” has asked the NPG what their definition of cool was. Rhonda just pointed towards him, to which Prince replied, “The paycheck’s still the same!” Prince went on to mention that his definition was Miles Davis and told everyone (imitating Miles) a story about how he had tried to give Prince a real ugly belt, which he refused because it was so bad. “F.U. then!” Miles told him. Prince then went on to say that our interpretation of what “F.U.” was said a lot about the type of person we were. Everyone seemed to get a real kick out of this.

The encore, with Rhonda on Prince’s keyboards was a 25-minute jam. The first portion, dubbed the “Soul Child” jam, utilized the same beat from “The Everlasting Now.” After several minutes of this it turned into “Days of Wild.” Musiq and Larry Graham guested during this portion of the show.

DAY SEVEN: June 27, 2002

DAYTIME ACTIVITIES AT PAISLEY PARK: Drum clinic/Q&A session by John Blackwell in the NPG Music Club Room. Outside, fans were asked to write their names and where they were from, and any messages to Prince on the pavement using sidewalk chalk. The parking lot was covered by the end of day!

OPENING ACT: Rachelle Ferrell (9:15 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.; 135 minutes)
PRINCE (June 28th): 12:05 a.m. to 2:10 a.m. (125 minutes)

SETLIST:
Najee Flute Solo
One Nite Alone
Adore
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Do Me, Baby
Condition of the Heart
U’re Gonna C Me
Empty Room
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?
Nothing Compares 2 U
Speech
Shake!/Automatic/Shake!
Manic Monday (Sung by NPG Music Club Member, Connie Castillo)
Soul Sanctuary
God/God (Instrumental) (w/Kip Blackshire, Musiq, Rachelle Ferrell)
Last December

ENCORE:
Purple Rain
Anna Stesia/’Party ‘Til The Sun Comes Up” Jam

Most people felt that the final evening of the Celebration was going to be special, and I do not believe that anyone left disappointed. As the crowd was let into Paisley Park for the evening everyone in attendance was given a CD single containing a live version of “Days of Wild” from the Montreal ONA tour stop on June 18th, 2002 (this had been played over the PA several times during the week). Many people also received a free “O+(>” pin.

The show began with Najee walking onstage playing a flute solo. He went to Prince’s keyboards (moved to the center of the stage) and sat down while continuing. A couple of minutes later Prince walks out to Najee, massage’s his shoulders a bit, and bids him adieu. The first six songs of the night were performed solo by Prince on piano: “One Nite Alone,” “Adore,” “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” “Do Me Baby,” a complete version of “Condition of the Heart,” and “U’re Gonna C Me.” The band then joined him.

What happened next was totally unexpected. He began singing “Empty Room”! The audience, who had been sitting down until this point, rose to its feet and gave the loudest ovation of the entire week. I think Prince was a bit taken aback, so he stopped and said “Y’all ain’t ready for that yet!” He then went on to joke with the crowd about breaking up with a woman, finding a strand of her hair, etc. Prince then performed the entire song (minus the guitar solo) on piano. It was AMAZING. I don’t know what else I could say other than I would have paid $250 just to have seen him perform this one song. It was that good. Trust me.

The show then continued with “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?” and “Nothing Compares 2 U.” After a short speech he launched into a funky piano jam that turned into a full version of “Shake!” Several audience members were brought up to dance. Following the first verse of “Shake!” Prince sang the first verse and chorus to “Automatic,” then went back to the rest of “Shake!”...playing it to conclusion. Prince then asked if there were any singers in the house, and choose NPG Music Club member Connie Castillo to come up and sing. He wouldn’t tell her what song they were going to do, that she was just to follow the beat when the band started to play. He called it “Karaoke Night at Paisley Park.” The band then launched into “Manic Monday” and Connie sung the entire song perfectly; in fact, Prince looked surprised and amazed at how well she did. Afterwards I think she started to cry and he gave her a big hug. A beautiful, full version of “Soul Sanctuary” followed.

Prince asked for all of the lights to be turned off. He began with the vocal version of “God” which turned into the “God (Instrumental).” This lasted nearly 15 minutes and featured a sax solo from Najee and vocal solos on the “God made you, God made me” portion from Kip Blackshire, Musiq, and Rachelle Ferrell, as well as from the entire audience. This was an extremely emotional moment. The lights were then turned on and the entire band played “Last December,” again with the audience singing the chorus along with Prince. It was the only time that Prince picked up a guitar during the evening.

Everyone then left the stage for a few minutes before beginning the encore with “Purple Rain.” The funkiest version of “Anna Stesia” ever played concluded the set and the week, lasting nearly 25 minutes and featuring Larry Graham, Musiq, Rachelle Ferrell, her brother, and her guitar player. Everyone was allowed to stay and “party ‘til the sun comes up.”

[Excellent! Thanks so much for the report, Harold! -Ben]