Gingerbrad man was song he sang adlib to the music of ? of U. When he introduced Cyndi Lauper he stated that we have a "mother in the house" possibly referring to the fact that she has a teenage son. They go way back.....don't forget she covered When U Were Mine on her She So Unusual album in the 80's

[Edited 12/29/10 22:12pm]

The previewed setlist was mostly, but not exactly, what transpired. Here's the complete list:

==========

Prince - Welcome 2 America

December 29, 2010

Madison Square Garden, New York City

Start 9:17pm

The Beautiful Ones (with dance by Misty Copeland)

Let's Go Crazy

Delirious

1999

Little Red Corvette

Uptown

Raspberry Beret

Cream

Cool

Let's Work

U Got the Look

The Question of U

Purple Rain

[wardrobe change]

Kiss

She's Always in My Hair

If I Was Your Girlfriend (with Janelle Monáe)

Encore 1

Piano Medley

Do Me, Baby

I Wanna Be Your Lover

How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore

Sometimes It Snows in April

Encore 2

Jungle Love (with Cyndi Lauper)

End 11:02pm

==========

Condition of the Heart and Controversy were not performed.

eogan said:

The previewed setlist was mostly, but not exactly, what transpired. Here's the complete list:

==========

Prince - Welcome 2 America

December 29, 2010

Madison Square Garden, New York City

Start 9:17pm

The Beautiful Ones (with dance by Misty Copeland)

Let's Go Crazy

Delirious

1999

Little Red Corvette

Uptown

Raspberry Beret

Cream

Cool

Let's Work

U Got the Look

The Question of U

Purple Rain

[wardrobe change]

Kiss

She's Always in My Hair

If I Was Your Girlfriend (with Janelle Monáe)

Encore 1

Piano Medley

Do Me, Baby

I Wanna Be Your Lover

How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore

Sometimes It Snows in April

Encore 2

Jungle Love (with Cyndi Lauper)

End 11:02pm

==========

Condition of the Heart and Controversy were not performed.

He played about 10 secs of Condition of the heart when he went to the piano for the encore..didn't sing the song..but he definitely started playing chords from it and then he went into something else. also...The question of U music was playing but he sang the gingerbread man lyrics which I have never heard before. Is that new?

StevenAnthony said:

...... I'd LOVE to see that piano medley though.

You can hear it here

OK SO I swear he has to read the org because we all requested ? of U about a million times, and he actually freakin did it... blew me away I almost died. The Piano meadly was so good! I wanna be your Lover was so hot...the whole thing was beyond hot... and I liked this show better than the one on the 18th. The crowd was Super Hyped. Cyndi Lauper was phenominal with Jungle Love! Prince was just so far beyond on top of his game tonight that there's no words to describe it. My personal favortie part tonight was ? of U eventhough he didn't actually sing it... All that talk about puddles got me all kinds of crazy. Remember that part?

Also, side note, did anyone else see the 20Ten candy bars for sale? Ha My friend bought one for me! It was awesome. Oh yea and a PRINCE arm Sleeve...

This was possibly the greatest concert ever, hands down.

Great show.

Opening acts:

- Mint Condition had a solid set.

- I was not familiar with her before, Janelle Monae is off the hook. She has serious vocal chops and I will be checking out her music. Thanks, Prince, for showcasing her talent.

General comments:

- Comparing tonight's show to the 12/18 concert made me realize how much more prominent the back-up singers were last time. They worked the crowd more and spent more time time alone onstage. I'm glad that wasn't the case this time around, though his duet with Shelby was good last time.

- As for tonight, the crowd was very high-energy and Prince got down. Sold out venue. I would say it was less of an old school audience, though... not so much of a traditional funk vibe --- the audience wasn't really feeling Uptown or Let's Work as much as the other songs.

My highlights:

- New Little Red Corvette arrangement. He's slowed it way down at the end so that there's a haunting "slow down" sing-along from the audience. Very cool.

- The Gingerbread Man song (sung to what started out as the Question of U) -- it was genius. He had the whole audience eating out of the palm of his hand.

- The dance solo at the end of Kiss. Leave it to Prince to come up with his own interpretive dance number --- letting it all hang free, literally.

- SAIMH. So glad he did this song, though I think most of the audience was a bit lost. I love that he brought Janelle Monae up to sing on it with him. They had fun together.

- Piano medley for encore. I'm a sucker for Prince on the keys. I just wish it were longer. He began with the instrumental of Condition of the Heart. I was shocked when that morphed into Do Me Baby. I thought his religious beliefs forbade singing that song. And I Wanna Be Your Lover, for that matter. But I'm not complaining.

Sidebar:

During U Got the Look, I believe, Prince unbuttoned his shirt to expose his entire chest and stomach. Now, mind you, I don't know when he last did that. He has made comments in the past about "no one wanting to look at old skin." He looked very good, but it seems he thought better of it and buttoned back up to expose only his chest, as usual. I thought that was kind of funny, though.

Final verdict:

I'm glad I went and am considering taking my sister with me to see the 3rd show as well. Damn, I guess I'm giving him all of my $$.

I'll start by saying that I thought Janelle Monae was interesting but her rendition of Smile was awful. As for Prince, performance wise the show was great, but.....well it would have been nice if he didn't play so many of those hits that he supposedly played for the last time several years ago. Compared to past shows, this one was kind of stale. And yes, it's an arena show so he needs to play some hits, but the man has 30+ albums. Couldn't he have come up with a better variety? Compare this set list to some of the songs we got on the Musicology tour. The only really interesting moment was the Gingerbread Man song. For about 5 seconds I got excited when he started playing Condition of the Heart, but after a few notes he goes into Do Me Baby. And did we really need two Time songs? I'm glad I went but it would have been really nice to hear some songs I've never heard him play live before instead of the same songs I've been hearing since I first saw him live on the Purple Rain tour.

svgtom said:

I'll start by saying that I thought Janelle Monae was interesting but her rendition of Smile was awful. As for Prince, performance wise the show was great, but.....well it would have been nice if he didn't play so many of those hits that he supposedly played for the last time several years ago. Compared to past shows, this one was kind of stale. And yes, it's an arena show so he needs to play some hits, but the man has 30+ albums. Couldn't he have come up with a better variety? Compare this set list to some of the songs we got on the Musicology tour. The only really interesting moment was the Gingerbread Man song. For about 5 seconds I got excited when he started playing Condition of the Heart, but after a few notes he goes into Do Me Baby. And did we really need two Time songs? I'm glad I went but it would have been really nice to hear some songs I've never heard him play live before instead of the same songs I've been hearing since I first saw him live on the Purple Rain tour

Dont wanna seem rude.. so I just kinda erased what I said lol

[Edited 12/30/10 23:19pm]

unbelievable 4 encore performance. he kind of slipped us by saying before the first encore that msg has a silly curfew. lol.

the man is a miracle!

i was lind of "eh" with the opening acts. i liked the musicology tour when it was all him except for the surprise morris day and the time shows.

monet is extremely talented and her band is brilliant, but it's just not my thing.

the 1st band was extremely talented as well, but just not my thing.

my wife was thrilled when cyndi lauper was on the stage and belted out a few notes.

thats her thing, but she was great.

i wish prince would just play for 4 hours. lol

The 1 concert I don't go to and Prince opens his shirt!!! WTF!! MY LUCK!! Here's hoping he does that on the 18th.

If he sings Dirty Mind instead of teasing I will go NUTS!

altavista said:

Great show.

Opening acts:

- Mint Condition had a solid set.

- I was not familiar with her before, Janelle Monae is off the hook. She has serious vocal chops and I will be checking out her music. Thanks, Prince, for showcasing her talent.

General comments:

- Comparing tonight's show to the 12/18 concert made me realize how much more prominent the back-up singers were last time. They worked the crowd more and spent more time time alone onstage. I'm glad that wasn't the case this time around, though his duet with Shelby was good last time.

- As for tonight, the crowd was very high-energy and Prince got down. Sold out venue. I would say it was less of an old school audience, though... not so much of a traditional funk vibe --- the audience wasn't really feeling Uptown or Let's Work as much as the other songs.

My highlights:

- New Little Red Corvette arrangement. He's slowed it way down at the end so that there's a haunting "slow down" sing-along from the audience. Very cool.

- The Gingerbread Man song (sung to what started out as the Question of U) -- it was genius. He had the whole audience eating out of the palm of his hand.

- The dance solo at the end of Kiss. Leave it to Prince to come up with his own interpretive dance number --- letting it all hang free, literally.

- SAIMH. So glad he did this song, though I think most of the audience was a bit lost. I love that he brought Janelle Monae up to sing on it with him. They had fun together.

- Piano medley for encore. I'm a sucker for Prince on the keys. I just wish it were longer. He began with the instrumental of Condition of the Heart. I was shocked when that morphed into Do Me Baby. I thought his religious beliefs forbade singing that song. And I Wanna Be Your Lover, for that matter. But I'm not complaining.

Sidebar:

During U Got the Look, I believe, Prince unbuttoned his shirt to expose his entire chest and stomach. Now, mind you, I don't know when he last did that. He has made comments in the past about "no one wanting to look at old skin." He looked very good, but it seems he thought better of it and buttoned back up to expose only his chest, as usual. I thought that was kind of funny, though.

Final verdict:

I'm glad I went and am considering taking my sister with me to see the 3rd show as well. Damn, I guess I'm giving him all of my $$.

From what I understand, he dedicated uptown to the late-Teena Marie. That jam harkened back in the day when he opened 4 Rick James "Fire It Up" tour w/ Teena on that same bill.

teiemka said:

StevenAnthony said:

...... I'd LOVE to see that piano medley though.

You can hear it here

omg it was amazing .. i made my parents name my sister tracy cause of that song... and even weirder my mom died in april two years ago and it was snowing at her funeral... that song meand so much to me...

I wasn't there but if I would have saw Prince shirt unbutton... I would have said its ok.. play those old songs lol

Prince is showing off that hot body some more I see!! Gosh I wish I had been there. He looks great, he should be proud. Sounds like this show was amazing and he did some awesome songs. Can't wait for pics and video clips!!

I live in the UK and when I heard Prince was touring the states I was kind of jealous. However, having seen the set list I gotta say (and I never thought I would say this) but it all sounds a bit SAMEY...this is pretty much the basis of the gigs he has been playing the past seven years.

It certainly reflects the core songs played at the 21 Nights at the O2 in London (although clearly many of you guys in the States didn't get to see that set of shows).

It just seems so odd that Prince has always been so excited about his new music but never bothers to promote it and instead focuses on material that is over 20 years old!!!!!

While the overall consistency of the newer albums IMHO have not been as good since around 94/95 onwards (depending on when you consider TGE to have been recorded rather than belatedly released) there has without doubt been many wonderful songs in the past 15 years.

So why not play more of them?

The 21 nights gigs had a decent sprinkling of newer songs (including those from Planet Earth) - not every night but some. For me these were the highlights as it reminded me of the heady days of of the 80s when you heard new songs played at concerts, sometimes as the bulk of material!

I used to get cross when people said Prince was becoming a nostalgia act - but on the strength of the MSG set list I am starting to agree.

What a shame

[Edited 12/30/10 2:24am]

jaypotton said:

I live in the UK and when I heard Prince was touring the states I was kind of jealous. However, having seen the set list I gotta say (and I never thought I would say this) but it all sounds a bit SAMEY...this is pretty much the basis of the gigs he has been playing the past seven years.

It certainly reflects the core songs played at the 21 Nights at the O2 in London (although clearly many of you guys in the States didn't get to see that set of shows).

It just seems so odd that Prince has always been so excited about his new music but never bothers to promote it and instead focuses on material that is over 20 years old!!!!!

While the overall consistency of the newer albums IMHO have not been as good since around 94/95 onwards (depending on when you consider TGE to have been recorded rather than belatedly released) there has without doubt been many wonderful songs in the past 15 years.

So why not play more of them?

The 21 nights gigs had a decent sprinkling of newer songs (including those from Planet Earth) - not every night but some. For me these were the highlights as it reminded me of the heady days of of the 80s when you heard new songs played at concerts, sometimes as the bulk of material!

I used to get cross when people said Prince was becoming a nostalgia act - but on the strength of the MSG set list I am starting to agree.

What a shame

[Edited 12/30/10 2:24am]

I've got to agree with you on this. Now, I'm sure had I *been* to the show I would have loved much of it, but most of these songs I don't listen to anymore.

For a show that's called W2A and no America? A song or 2 from 3121 would have been nice. I'm hoping his next project will be progressive and forward thinking.

Smittyrock70 said:

altavista said:

- Piano medley for encore. I'm a sucker for Prince on the keys. I just wish it were longer. He began with the instrumental of Condition of the Heart. I was shocked when that morphed into Do Me Baby. I thought his religious beliefs forbade singing that song. And I Wanna Be Your Lover, for that matter. But I'm not complaining.

Sidebar:

During U Got the Look, I believe, Prince unbuttoned his shirt to expose his entire chest and stomach. Now, mind you, I don't know when he last did that. He has made comments in the past about "no one wanting to look at old skin." He looked very good, but it seems he thought better of it and buttoned back up to expose only his chest, as usual. I thought that was kind of funny, though.

Final verdict:

I'm glad I went and am considering taking my sister with me to see the 3rd show as well. Damn, I guess I'm giving him all of my $$.

Did he actually sing Do Me Baby and I Wanna Be Your Lover, not just play the music of the songs? WOW!!! That is great!! Something really must have changed, because these songs together with an open shirt (which was a huge surprise already at some concerts in Europe recently!!) ... it seems he had not done any of that for a long time! He seems to enjoy showing his sexy side again more! Good for us!

Oh, and I would also be happy to give him all of my $$ if I lived in or near NY, because these concerts just sound awesome!!! Happy that I did get to see him in Europe, of course, but I can never get enough of seeing Prince live! (At this point I just don't have any $$ left, that's why I am not in NY right now. )

[Edited 12/30/10 3:39am]

AMAZING SHOW!! Prince is such a force of nature! It would have been nice to have heard some more 'unexpected songs', but since this was only my second Prince show, I'm fairly easy to please I guess

He sounded phenomenal, and looked HAWT. Holy ShakeWeight Batman!

[img:$uid]http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc1/Joyinrepatition/54ba3f5d.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc1/Joyinrepatition/ce76d449.jpg[/img:$uid]

Okay, first, the show was G-R-E-A-T!!!! I loved it. My first time being in Madison Square Garden, my 15th Prince show and a first for my honey who went with me. What was cool was there were a lot of my friends who are indie musicians that came to check him out as well. A few of them told me they wanted to see him live and study him. That's what I'm talking about. I'm telling you Prince inspires so many. Highlights for me:

• The new version of Little Red Corvette,
• The Beautiful Ones
• If I Was Your Girlfriend-oh how I love this song live
• Question of U with the Gingerbread man take on it,
• She's Always in My Hair-first time hearing it live
• COOL-always a party song, Uptown, How Come You Don't Call Me, the piano medley's of Do Me Baby and I Wanna Be Your Lover.
• Prince opening his shirt-ALL THE WAY -YES!!!! And him being a little more sexual these days, telling that fan "can I touch you there" and all that.

Janelle Monae won me over, she is great and I want her CD, and as always Mint Condition, oh that band is sooooo tight!!!!! I love it.

I know a lot of fans complain about the setlist, but I went to the December 17 IZOD show and though some songs are similar the two shows feel different. The IZOD show had its own vibe and so did the December 29th show which is why I enjoyed and happy I went to both.

[Edited 12/30/10 6:10am]

[img:$uid]http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc1/Joyinrepatition/098f4a1d.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc1/Joyinrepatition/2a8b5f44.jpg[/img:$uid]

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jaypotton said:

I live in the UK and when I heard Prince was touring the states I was kind of jealous. However, having seen the set list I gotta say (and I never thought I would say this) but it all sounds a bit SAMEY...this is pretty much the basis of the gigs he has been playing the past seven years.

It certainly reflects the core songs played at the 21 Nights at the O2 in London (although clearly many of you guys in the States didn't get to see that set of shows).

It just seems so odd that Prince has always been so excited about his new music but never bothers to promote it and instead focuses on material that is over 20 years old!!!!!

While the overall consistency of the newer albums IMHO have not been as good since around 94/95 onwards (depending on when you consider TGE to have been recorded rather than belatedly released) there has without doubt been many wonderful songs in the past 15 years.

So why not play more of them?

The 21 nights gigs had a decent sprinkling of newer songs (including those from Planet Earth) - not every night but some. For me these were the highlights as it reminded me of the heady days of of the 80s when you heard new songs played at concerts, sometimes as the bulk of material!

I used to get cross when people said Prince was becoming a nostalgia act - but on the strength of the MSG set list I am starting to agree.

What a shame

[Edited 12/30/10 2:24am]

Couldn't agree more...."Washed Up Singer"

Astasheiks said:

Couldn't agree more...."Washed Up Singer"

If a "washed up singer" can pack a large venue like MSG and have people on their feet practically the whole show like last night then I guess being a "washed up singer" is not a bad thing at all.

[Edited 12/30/10 6:21am]

wonder505 said:

Astasheiks said:

Couldn't agree more...."Washed Up Singer"

If a "washed up singer" can pack a large venue like MSG and have people on their feet practically the whole show like last night then I guess being a "washed up singer" is not a bad thing at all.

[Edited 12/30/10 6:21am]

Exactly! I think that there aren't many people who go to the shows who see Prince as a "Washed Up Singer"!

Fantastic pictures, thanks for sharing!!

wonder505 said:

Okay, first, the show was G-R-E-A-T!!!! I loved it. My first time being in Madison Square Garden, my 15th Prince show and a first for my honey who went with me. What was cool was there were a lot of my friends who are indie musicians that came to check him out as well. A few of them told me they wanted to see him live and study him. That's what I'm talking about. I'm telling you Prince inspires so many. Highlights for me:

How did your friends like the concert? I am always interested to hear how non-fans like his shows and it thrills me that most of the time they find Prince amazing!!!