Now after few days I finally start to get back to normal routines. I mean I was so excited before and after the concert I hardly could sleep. I'm not good at setlists so I'll leave it to others (check out manki's report).

We got in around 6:20 PM. I have to say that I had very high expectations after reading many wonderful reports of the other shows. When I walked in to the soundcheck and heard the band play that jazzy music I already knew my expectations would be fulfilled.

I got a seat from the third row, which was the last row reserved for NPGMC. Should I've been there earlier to get a front row seat? Oh, I didn't care 'cause I had never been so close to the stage in a Prince concert before. Actually last time I saw Prince live (1998) I should've had binoculars to actually see that it really was Prince on the stage .

After the jazzy intro, Prince said good evening and asked us if everything had been OK outside and we responded yeah. Then it was very quiet and Prince said something like "You're all very quiet. It's nice for a change. Usually people are shouting out to play something." Then he kind off shouted quietly: "Play Kiss." And continued: "We can play Kiss if someone from the audience will sing it...in falsetto...preferably a big guy", everybody laughed. He asked who had been in Oslo and joked about a guy who had danced there and said: "I don't know if he danced to the lyrics, but he didn't dance to the rhythm anyway. At one point he definitely danced to the horns", Prince waved his arms as to imitate the guy. "He doesn't know we secretly filmed it", he continued. "Perhaps we should put it out on the Internet", laughing.

Prince seemed very relaxed and seemed to be in a good mood. I think he actually was very pleased that the audience didn't shout out questions but gave the band a chance to practice on the "Take five". I thought it was interesting to see how they practiced. Prince sat in the back with Mani and gave his orders to the band with a mike. When Blackwell played his first solo, the reaction from the audience was like OOOH It actually looked like John had more than two arms .

Later when John played a solo again, Prince stood on the side of the stage and watched him. First he stood still, and then he started to nod his head a little bit and then applauded. You could see that Prince is very pleased with Blackwell, after all he must've seen and heard hundreds of solos by Blackwell and STILL he reacted kinda same way like we in the audience did.

After the practice, they played that jazzy version of Dorothy Parker, the one with Madhouse in it. Prince was on the keyboards. Every band member got to do a solo, it sounded great. Prince seems to get a kick out of teasing the audience, 'cause when they first started to play "Question of U" and stopped (presumably because something wasn't right for Prince), and people reacted like "oh no, please play it". Prince said something like "This is fun", with an arch expression on his face. They did play the whole song though, so he isn't a sadist It was a great version with that beautiful pure guitar sound, which IMHO is Prince's trademark.

At one point Greg Boyer said something to Prince and pointed out to a girl in the front row, Prince then asked: "Where you in Rotterdam?" "No", she said. "But you've been to every other show", Prince asked. "Yes", she said. Then Prince mumbled about something like "You've been to every other show, but you weren't in Rotterdam", like he couldn't believe it

At 7:15 PM Prince asked what time it was, and said that they have to go and get ready for the show. He asked if we should let the others in. Then he said jokingly: "There is other people coming, my career isn't going that bad yet". He changed his voice a little bit and continued: "Oh no Prince, this is all you get".

When Prince was leaving he asked: "Where's the afterparty?" Some guy yelled: "At my place", and Prince said, "There's always someone who says that". "Do you have a big house", Prince asked the guy, "Yes", the guy replied. Prince laughed and said something like, "It won't work out anyway, it never does." Then he said: "We'll come back at 8...30...9", and the band left from the stage.

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I've written a report of the main show also, you can find it here


Satu
[This message was edited Sat Oct 26 6:03:03 PDT 2002 by Satu]

great report, thanks.

Satu

THANK YOU so much!! I love the details...

lol, the Elvis guy
So, they do film the shows...

Great report Satu!

I totally missed that he was sitting in back with Mani. I could hear him on the mike but didn’t know where he was.
So was it at her he was pointing as he sang: I love you? If so cute.

You are right, Blackwell looks like his arms are flyin
everywhere, and that possibly he really does have more
than two arms.. I have a tape of the Jay Leno performance, "Dorothy Parker", and I could really c his talents there.

Oh, the whole band is just 2 talented, and of course Prince,
Extraordinary!

Thanks for the details.

BlueAngel said:

He was sitting maybe 10 rows back from the audience on the right. I was sitting to the left so I peeked a few times over my shoulder. Mani was sitting to the left of him and it looked like he was watching into our direction. I don't think he was, but it looked like it... So, I didn’t dare to stare at him and have him to tell me "Whatcha lookin’ at!" But I tell you; it was very hard to try not to look at him. Well... you know, he does look fine.

Satu said:

I think he would have had to call me out :O I don't know if I could take my eyes off him, I see him so rarely...