Setlist Sun Palace Fukuoka, Japan November 26th, 2002

REHEARSAL

This really was a rehearsal not a soundcheck
The real soundcheck was pretty much done before we arrived.
They worked on a few songs.

1. Instrumental Jam - 20 mins
2. 777-9311 Bass riff only & Hair - Many takes - 40 mins
3. Push & Pull - Played 2 or 3 Times
4. Strollin' - U Want Me - Played 4 or 5 times
5. Sunshine of Your Love (Instrumental) - Hear My Train A Comin` - The Truth

MAIN SHOW

0. Prince Solo Drum Intro
1. The Rainbow Children,
2. Mellow
3. Money Don`t Matter 2 Night
4. The Work Pt.1
5. Push & Pull
6. 1+1+1=3
7. Housequake
8. Strollin`
9. U Want Me
10. Pop Life
11. Purple Rain
12. Strange Relationship
13. Pass The Peas
14. Hair - 777-9311 - The Stick
15. Brick House
16. Sign O` The Times
17. Take Me With U
18. The Everlasting Now
19. Gotta Broken Heart Again
20. Empty Room
21. How Come You Don`t Call Me Anymore
22. Anna Stesia
23. Rise Up
24. Last December

Out of the about 50 NPGMC members I was the only NON-Japanese one there so I HAD to talk, a few times Prince asked us all question and they didn't understand anything so they just stayed silent LOL - There was one guy who could speak a little English and after Prince asked a question they didn't understand he said "What did you say ?" Prince said to him "Can you sing a song ?" This guy obviously didn't want to sing LOL so he just said "I'm sorry" Prince and everyone laughed. Later Prince got a woman to come and interpret for him ... But still they were to shy to answer haha even in Japanese....

Concert started at 7.10pm and finished at 9.30pm
Including the breaks m a 2 hour show.
BUT we had a 3 hour soundcheck!!! Started 3.30pm
They had had a 4 day break before this show so they were ready to funk it up ! They practiced alot of stuff they would play that night...
They were already jamming on one song for 20 minutes before we were let in to the theatre...
We could hear it clearly waiting outside but it was just a jam, not any recognizable song, ...
I think that really WAS the soundcheck...
They worked on Hair (Larry Graham) for about 45 minutes, especially on the hornz and drums..
and the outro of Pass the Peas and then into Hair.. which they would play this very night.
They worked on Push & Pull ( Nikka Costa) for about half an hour.
About an hour was just soundcheck afer these songs, he complained that he couldn`t hear Renato`s keyboard strings.
He said `This is what I was talking about on the tape from the other night, you can`t hear the strings in the house`
SO then he went back to sit in the middle of the theatre and directed the soundcheck from there for about an hour

They also did work on Strollin` - U Want Me for about half an hour with him sitting back there.
When he came back to the stage I said to him ..
"You NEED to release the Xenophobia album"! He said
"What are you ... My manager?" everyone laughed ..hehe I said
"Yeah I`m your manager and you HAVE to release that album !" He said
"Come on up here "I went up on the stage and he was just picking up his new orange Fender bass guitar.
"Managers....."he said
".....play bass ?" I said and then he said
"Yep, If you can`t play bass you ain't got no business being a manager!" and just before I got to play there was some electrical problem with the bass, it was overloading the DI so my chance was gone..
Then when Takumi was fixing his bass Prince said ...
"I left the record companies to get away from people like you ! Always tellin` people what to do, U gotta do this, U gotta do that .....Managers !!" Everyone laughs again
He told us he went shopping for guitars in Tokyo on his 4 days off and he showed us his 4 new guitars .
One was an orange Fender 4 string bass with white scratchplate, that was the one that had the problem.
Another bass - this one is totally clear, you can see right through it ! It has a small handle on it like his Awhite Auserwald? guitar from the Nude tour. Very cool bass.
Another was a very small guitar, it was so small, it was dark purple and in the shape of a heart.
I have seen it around before in guitar stores... It was probably about 40/45cm long...
And here is the cool thing, he also bought this aqua Fender Strat and told us that Sonny T had the exact same guitar when they used to jam together when they were 14 years old...
He said he had to buy it "just for the memories alone".
I just thought it was a really cool story.
Then he played it and said - "They dont play so well... but I just like the look of them"
They also did work on Strollin` - U & Me for about half an hour. They finished up with a 10 minute jam on Sunshine of Your Love (Eric Clapton) and Hear My Train A Comin` ( Jimi Hendrix) and the first of The Truth thrown in just for good measure All played on the new aqua Strat beecause I guess they were some of the songs they used to play when they were younger? maybe .....anyway ....finishing up at 6.40pm just as the doors opened...

Doors opened to the public at 6.45pm and then the show started about 7.10pm For Most of the show Prince was wearing this sort of apricot suit again with the high collar.

0. Prince Drum Intro
He played the drums for about 2 minutes, it was very cool, there was a delay on the drums which made everything he did sound even better...the lighting was amazing, great start to the show.

1. The Rainbow Children,
The usual start with Maceo playing, walking from the back of the theatre down through the aisles, I read about it many times but it is a very cool way to start a show....(Long with alot of jamming and solos) Prince played his yellow Telecaster for this song

2. Mellow (cool solos by Eric Leeds and & Prince on his piano)

3. Money Don`t Matter 2 Nite
(Prince played this on his piano and another great solo by Mr. Eric Leeds)

4. The Work Pt.1 (Long jamming version) Maceo did his second solo of the night - 2 Guys and 2 Girls got up to dance with their turn in the spotlight, it was funny.

5. Push & Pull ( Nikka Costa cover ) Played on the new aqua Strat. NO hornz on this song. The way he played it made it sound like When Will We B Paid. Very laidback and same guitar sounds...

6. 1+1+1=3 - Housequake
He sang the chorus AND VERSES of Housequake !
Some great chants of Fukuoka - we party ... This was maybe the funkiest part of the night as far as I can remember.
Solos by Greg & Maceo on this and Eric Leeds was cool as usual.

7. Strollin' - U Want Me
He played this on the guitar George Benson gave to him and signed. Very jazzy version of Strollin.
Alot of solos on this, as Prince went off stage. Renato, Eric, Greg... Then Prince came back on stage as the band went into U Want Me...

8. Pop Life (Pretty standard version really - I think he's getting bored with this song now, he's played it alot recently and there isnt much you can do with it ...)
Solos by Eric and Renato

9. Purple Rain
Started on piano then moved onto the purple symbol guitar for the 2nd verse. Amazing guitar solo on this...

9. Strange Relationship
Extended version with a long piano solo by Prince

10. Pass The Peas
Prince played his blue cloud guitar for this one.
Prince let this one guy come up and sit on the pillows for about 3 songs .. This version wasn`t very long because they had to make way for...

11. HAIR - 777-9311 - The Stick
Played on Prince`s new orange bass guitar.
Long versions with alot of jamming. Rhonda had a solo, followed by Maceo, Renato, Eric then...
A Bass duel between Rhonda and Prince, it was very cool, they were both laughing so much ..
SO MUCH BASS - this lasted about 8 minutes ...

12. Brick House
Great funky version and what a surprise, even the band didn`t know he would play this, he had to tell them what key it was in ...

13. Sign O` The Times
Cool start with Prince beatboxing and Justin (that FONKY??? Baldhead doing some scratching)
Before starting the song on guitar..

14. Take Me With U - pretty standard version.
Good singalong by Fukuoka crowd..

15. The Everlasting Now
Solos - Renato, Eric, Greg, Maceo, Cool long version, I thought this was the end because
he was really stretching it out but it would have been a way too short concert - And he said Goodnight many times in this song and Thank you ... SO I thought OH NO ! there was abreak after that , it seemed like an eternity..

17. Gotta Broken Heart Again
After about a 10 minute break and endless clapping, he came back on ... as Renato did a piano solo, which sounded alot like 'With You" and then went into Gotta Broken Heart Again The room was absolutely silent for the song, his vocals were totally amazing and the acoustics in this place were great...
Maceo did a solo in this song...and started doing a funny dance which made Prince laugh. I never liked this song before but this version was so good...

18. Empty Room
He played his purple symbol guitar for this one. Cool guitar solo but it wasn`t loud enough, to hear very well... which was disappointing. After this song they moved his piano to centre stage.

19. How Come You Don`t Call Me Anymore
Cool version, the guy who sang `Call Me` was actually good, so Prince sang something else and this guy copied it almost exactly, it was great ! Then Prince did ... wait you can hear it for yourself hehe I cant give ALL the secrets....

20. Anna Stesia - Rise Up
Started on piano and then he moved to his Habibi. This was a fairly long version with some great guitar solos
The Rise up section was long too ... And that was it ... the house lights went up and they started dismantling everything for about 15 minutes.....

Then Prince strolls slowly out with his acoustic guitar, with house lights up , about a quarter of the people had left they all came running back in when he started the intro to...

21. Last December
Short version on acoustic guitar alone, about 2 minutes long... And that really WAS it ...

DJ Justin was scratching on most songs but I could only actually hear it about 5 times in the entire show hehe..

Something that surprised me was that Prince was dancing during the funky songs... Guess his leg is better now

The Afterparty was at Q`s Club in Tenjin, Fukuoka
It was a cool little club, all the upstairs section was VIP for him and his entourage He arrived at the afterparty about 12.30am but he stayed upstairs most of the time and he came and waved a few times but he knew we weren`t going
anywhere so he came down into the DJ booth was on a small stage and played a few tracks from ONA live (1+1+1=3 & The Everlasting Now) and sang along with the mic ...
it was cool and of course he teased us with the cd pretending to throw it into the crowd a few times... He was there on the stage maybe 20 minutes jamming to ONA live CD
He left about 2.30am DJ Justin from the Fonky Baldheadz was the DJ for the night and played mostly Prince stuff.
I have to say there were some fine Japanese women in that club Ohh... Rhonda danced on the DJ stage for about 20 minutes and after Prince had left, Alot of the people left after Prince did, there were probably only 30 people left in the club Rhonda and her sister? ( they look exactly the same ) danced with everyone 3.30 then the place closed up so we all had to go out. I asked Rhonda about going to Australia she said "i dont know yet" so i had some hope until I asked renato " 2 more shows right ? then back to USA ??" he said yep all done. I said "YOU gotta go to Australia man" He just shrugged and said something like "Its not up to me"
I also asked DJ Justin and he mentioned Hawaii and Australia in January but I dont think he was serious.
he just said he didnt want to be in MPLS for the winter LOL
SO then me and this Japanese guy I met, we have to wait until the trains start again at 6am? 6.30am ?
so here we are in this internet cafe typing this right now ...

thats it !



BEST THREAD EVER


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[Edited 11/26/12 2:51am]

Sounds like you had fantastic time! Wish I was with you! Thanks for letting us know.. end of the tour.. NOOOooo!!

thanxxx FunkyS w00t:

Great report, Thank you!

sounds like u had a funky good time. thanx 4 sharing

Amazing report... congratulations funky

Now I got Ms.Aftershow Manager (Sammy) and Mr.Bass Manager... too many managers for someone who doesn't want any...


socalledeuropeantour

Delo

Thank u for sharing, xcellent report.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time.

What ever happened to Mayo13? anyone?

FS, thank you for the long and detailed report. Loved the story about the guitars and -almost- getting to play bass for Prince.

Funky, did you score with the Japanese girl? lol

Nice job! This is one of the best reports I've read through the entire tour.

Wow, sounds like a kick ass soundcheck!

brilliant!

Nice plug 4 us Aussies. Looks like he wont be comin. Aint that a bitch.

Yeeeas...As it should B.
Wooohoowee!!!
That's what i'm talkin' about...LIFE is what U make it...Whatchoutdernow!!!
(<- Prince)
Xcellent report FunkyStrange...somehow, i knew u'd hold it down.
PEACE

hey funky did u ask him about an oz tour?

Alright Funky Strange. It sounds like that show was Awesome Fantastic Cool. Boy are you Lucky. I wish I saw the shows in Japan . They sound Amazing.

u bastard!!!
haha im so glad u had a great night...need the boot now
u got on stage with Prince,thats amazing 2 me...& u sed u were gonna tell him 2 "Release IT!" & YOU DID!!!
haha,talk 2 u soon mate

oh thanx 4 the review,brilliant,thanks a million

some people r sooo lucky! eye didn't know u played bass, u shouldn't keep secrets fron the grease!

Sunshine of My life an Eric Clapton song?
So far i know it is from Stevie Wonder! Or does Eric have a song with the same title?

Great report. Finally something to read from the Japanese tour.

Sunshine of Your Love actually
the Edit function is a great thing hehe

I didn't even knew that Eric Leeds was there in Japan... did he play all the shows? I guess Candy is not there anymore, so there was just Eric and Greg Boyer, or there was at the same time Eric Leeds and Maceo?

FunkyStrange said:

Well folks...there's your answer to the question of where our Xeno CDs are...Prince obviously changed his mind, or just decided he didnt want to send them out...He didn't want to listen to what the record companies said, and he DAMN SURE dont wanna listen to what WE say, so...there ya have it. Either don't join the club next year, or shut up and take it.

Great report! Thank you!!

FunkyStrange said:

oh lawd,i lOVE that song!
what i would give 2 hear P play it,he would b better doing this than Whole Lotta Love i reckon.

FirstAvenue said:[quote]FunkyStrange said:[quote]"You NEED to release the Xenophobia album"! He said
"What are you ... My manager?" everyone laughed ..hehe I said
"Yeah I`m your manager and you HAVE to release that album !" He said
[quote]

Hey Billy...dont worry about it

CalhounSquare said:

The whole show there was

Eric Leeds,
Maceo Parker And
Greg Boyer

It couldn't have been any better !

Thanx Funky for the great report sounds like
you had a great time no a funky go time

excellent report my friend ( ya dirty lowdown princewatchin smelly bastard from hell)

c'mon..tell me ...you were gonna play "frank and the nee naws" on the bass weren't ya?





[This message was edited Thu Nov 28 17:23:10 PST 2002 by MrBliss]

hehe Frank and the Neenaws LOL

I was thinking about Lovesexy
thats a cool bass riff

that or Temptation ...