Got to the Apollo at about 3pm, and was pleased to see that the queue wasn't that long, there were only about 40 fan club members before us. A refreshing change from the 200 or so at the London gigs. The guys in the queue at Manchester were a lot more friendly and chatted openly with each other, which was great to see. Again, the "I must be in the 1st row" saddos (you know who you are) queue jumped by arriving late and getting in line with a "mate" who had been there earlier, but no big deal.

We got ushered inside at around 5pm (I think) and were shown into the lobby area. I have to mention the security and the organisation of the Apollo Manchester. They were 100 times more efficient than London! They were still dealing with about 200+ fan club members, but we all got in quickly and the staff were really polite. Then, unlike London, they made us queue in an orderly line rather than just all bunch up together. We waited and waited, and we could hear the band going through their soundcheck (it's clear now that the soundchecks aren't actually proper soundchecks, but a mini pre-gig for the NPGMC members). As a taster for what was to come, we heard what sounded like the keyboard line to Purple Rain. Me and my friend were standing in front of one of the doors into the auditorium, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, comes Maceo! My friend shook his hand and said hello, Maceo replied with "Hello sir how are you". I was applauding but, strangely, no one else did until one of the technicians shouted out "Mr. Maceo Parker!". I'll give the fans the benefit of the doubt as they might have been in shock . Eventually, at around 6pm, we were let in to the auditorium and, again, fantastic organisation in that the security would only let a certain amount of people in at a time and once inside they directed you to a corridor that wasn't full. We ended up in row 4 right in the middle. We waited, and waited, and waited, Renato and Blackwell were playing around on their instruments, and we waited some more, until at about 6:50pm they bought on the background music and the general admission people started streaming in, so dissapointingly no soundcheck. We went to the bar while we waited for the main event, and again got chatting to some of the fans.

Now for the main event. I won't go into too much detail as I'm not the sort of person who meticulously notes down set lists, but it was very similar to Saturday night's London show, except that he did a piano set for the encore instead of an acoustic one. Highlights again for me were Whole Lotta Love, Raspberry Beret, Empty Room, plus some others I can't remember (all will become clear later). But, after through the London shows and the beginning of the Manchester show saying things like "if you came to hear Purple Rain then you better leave now!", for the final encore, he played Purple Rain, and the whole of it! Amazing! Oh yeah, almost forgot, special mention in the dance competition goes to Nick! This time, instead of people being picked from the front (probably because he was fed up of the same people being in the front rows every night) he came off the stage and walked up the isles and picked people from further back. Two girls came onstage and a guy called Nick. Nick looked a bit nervous, but he kept to the beat and Prince kept saying how funky he was. Throughout the show Prince kept referring to Nick whenever he said how funky Manchester were . The Manchester crowd were great, and belted out all the songs when prompted. As for the venue, it was better than London. It was a bit narrower and the stage was smaller, making it feel much more intimate. The sound was just as good as London too.

After the show, we made our way into the centre of Manchester to a bar where one of Prince's DJs performed. Now, I have to say, he's not great and can't mix very well. Plus, when there are tracks that are completely different in style and tempo, he keeps trying in vain to mix them together, let them fade and drop the next tune in! The other sad thing was that, at the start, people weren't dancing much, but once the drink kicked in everyone started dancing. It really started to hot up and then it was over! Apparently in Manchester on a Monday night everything shuts at 2am, which is why we drained the hotel bar.

Now, to the 2 guys me and James met in the queue (you know who you are), it was a great night out and I hope you read this and get in touch. And to Jo and Elaine, I hope you guys get in touch soon too!

If some of this seems a bit incoherent and bitty, that's because I didn't get to sleep until 7:30am Tuesday morning (that's when the bar went dry) and I got a couple of hours sleep before driving the 200 miles or so back to London! I had to stop half way for a 30 minute power nap because I really would have fallen asleep driving!

Well, now my Prince adventure is over, three awesome nights in London, two aftershow parties, and an aftershow performance, and a night in Manchester with the great people we met. It's going to take a while for me to come down from this high.

I hope he comes back soon and doesn't leave it another 4 years before he comes back to the UK.

Rico.

Thanks for the nice review.
Did he play Purple Rain on keyboard or guitar ?
Was it good ? Any differences compared to other, more
guitar driven versions ? I´m asking this because I found
the Purple Rain version at Xenophobia very strange , just
on keyboards, because we´re all so used to the guitar version. So, guitar or keys ?

KoolEaze said:

It was a "proper" version of Purple Rain with some serious amounts of guitar being played! We did hear a keyboard version whilst we were queuing in the foyer of the venue and they were going through the private soundcheck.

What joy Rico! I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who is hazy after a show. I hope it will always be that way!

Take care and thanks for the adventure, even if it vicarious!

Thanks!

Thanks dude

bkw said:

Hey guys, got a quick question. Did prince show at all at the Manchester 7th after party? Waited till about 1.20 but no show..

Great show thou wasnt it! "ozzy osbourne"! (u know what i mean sooo funny!

No, Prince didn't show at the party, it was just his DJ spinning tunes (badly).

No he didn't show at all, I was the first 2 dance and the last one 2 sit down

col said:

So it was you tucked away in the corner dancing in the shadows then? I thought I saw something going on on the other side of the dancefloor, but it was too far away from the bar to see clearly

I don't remember being in Manchester ! Must be another James !!
Nice review, shame about the Sound Check thing !

james said:

Yeah, you should have seen the look on the NPGMC member's faces when the background music came on

I heard he farted, America?

2freaky4church1 said:

What, he farted the full 21 minute version of America? Now I don't remember that!