GDB said:

theAudience said:

Realtor said:

I'm glad to hear that. I'm telling you, the girl was hilarious. She was coming with Seinfeld-type one liners for 30 minutes straight.

You KNOW you were the first person I thought of when I saw the thread, because of what you said earlier in the day via the net. I was like...uh oh.....wait til theAudience sees this.

I was not fortunate enough to ever see Jimi Hendrix live. I came into this earth just a tad too late, but I have watched tapes of his performances and listened to his music...not the kinda guitar player you wanna short change or even (after trying to clean up the bs) suggest that the press made him into something that he was not. From my vantage point, Jimi Hendrix has always been underrated and underappreciated.

Yes, she was quite quick.
I was talking with her earlier about her exasperation over the inability to improvise on flute despite years of classical training.

The description of her angst was priceless.

Well my temperature rose as soon as I saw the Hendrix thread title.
Since i've just started posting here again after a long absence, I almost took the bait and responded.
However, I quickly remembered past threads along these lines just in time to restrain myself.

I'll have this conversation with you but not the poster.
First, a comparison is being made between a live performance you've actually experienced and a DVD.
Next, a technical discussion of the two as guitarists is well beyond the scope of this particular message board.
It's just not that type of party.

What I will say is this.
There's a major difference between an emulator and an original innovator.
I'll leave it at that for now.



Music for adventurous listeners


tA

You are a wise man (or woman) Audience! That was my goal--to capture you (or your attention with a controversial titile. But thanks for admitting I at least rose your temp

funkylust said:

GDB said:

Thanks much for your recap of the vibe from each set.

No problem! Where you tall dancing man?

Funny...no, that was NewFunk, I believe. He was directly in front of me to my left shoulder...next to him was PhoenixFire. I had a perfect viewpoint between the two of them...very fortunate given how difficult it was to see in there. Completely unobstructed Prince from head to toe for 98% of the night, dead center.

I see you edited your post...NewFunk wasn't wearing a hat, that must have been someone else.

[Edited 5/27/11 0:56am]

GDB said:

funkylust said:

GDB said: No problem! Where you tall dancing man?

Funny...no, that was NewFunk, I believe. He was directly in front of me to my left shoulder...next to him was PhoenixFire. I had a perfect viewpoint between the two of them...very fortunate given how difficult it was to see in there. Completely unobstructed Prince from head to toe for 98% of the night, dead center.

I see you edited your post...NewFunk wasn't wearing a hat, that must have been someone else.

[Edited 5/27/11 0:56am]

haha, if I were that close to Prince and had that exact view ... it would not matter what he played because I would be in a total trance, just mesmerized by his beauty.

Dreamer20ten said:

GDB said:

Funny...no, that was NewFunk, I believe. He was directly in front of me to my left shoulder...next to him was PhoenixFire. I had a perfect viewpoint between the two of them...very fortunate given how difficult it was to see in there. Completely unobstructed Prince from head to toe for 98% of the night, dead center.

I see you edited your post...NewFunk wasn't wearing a hat, that must have been someone else.

[Edited 5/27/11 0:56am]

haha, if I were that close to Prince and had that exact view ... it would not matter what he played because I would be in a total trance, just mesmerized by his beauty.

Exactly. Has anyone else noticed that when he starts to shred guitar, he makes a series of "O" faces. You know what I'm talking about... as if he and the guitar were.... um... pleasuring each other.

I saw this up close at the HOB. The man may love his fans but not like he loves that guitar

UltraLash said:

Dreamer20ten said:

haha, if I were that close to Prince and had that exact view ... it would not matter what he played because I would be in a total trance, just mesmerized by his beauty.

Exactly. Has anyone else noticed that when he starts to shred guitar, he makes a series of "O" faces. You know what I'm talking about... as if he and the guitar were.... um... pleasuring each other.

I saw this up close at the HOB. The man may love his fans but not like he loves that guitar

I was actually thinking about this the other day. I'm almost positive he copped that whole "O" face from Muddy Waters. Go watch some of his live shows from his later years. Prince literally looks like he's impersonating him.

You could emulate worse though.

He'll do Muddy's facw when he looks to the sky and he also mimics Jimi a lot. This may be TMI but my GF said that when I play, I make the same face as when I'm...in the moment. Ahem.

JoeZeo said:

I was at the midnight show, and I have to say I loved it!!! I got in line around 10:30pm, and I was 4th behind 3 lovely ladies (including Jo - hi Jo!). They let us into the Foundation Room around 11:15 or 11:30pm, and all of us immediately bee-lined to the back of the room where the instruments were set up. There was no stage, no velvet rope - nothing was separating us and the place that Prince would stand a few feet away. It was a little surreal. I've seen some intimate Prince shows, but this, by far, was the best.

People started trickling in behind us, and there we stood for almost 2 hours or so (sorry if my timing is wrong, but I wasn't writing any of this down). We chatted amongst outselves, and exchanged Prince stories. We were all very civil. But then the 2nd show must have let out, because then a slew of people came into the Foundation Room, and some proceeded to jostle and push their way through the crowd and even a few dared to push themselves in front of us - the ones who had been standing in the exact same spot for over 2 hours. Not cool.

I somehow still managed to hold my spot - even turning back a drunk guy named Mike, who was either from Iowa or Minnesota - depending on when the story suited him. But then Morris Hayes made his way through the crowd and deposited about 4 girls right in front of me (and others) and told them to stay put. And there went my prime view of the stage. But luckily, I'm 6' 4" so I could still see over the girls Morris brought up.

Soon after the second show ended, Renato Neto and John Blackwell came up and noodled around on their instruments, making sure everything was working right. A little after 2:00am, Renato, John and Ida came out and started on a mellow jazz tune. Then Mike (Philly) Phillips starting soloing on the sax, and by the time he finished, the song had morphed into an all out jam.

Prince came out, and the band continued to jam while he did some last minute tweaks with the soundboard operator. A little bit later, he took over Ida's bass and sent her away. Pretty funny. Anyway, the show itself kind of went like that - Prince would jump from guitar, back to bass, over to keys, back to guitar - just doing whatever moved him. And he treated the stage like his personal mixing board. A wave of his hand and a point of the his finger had Renato stop on the keys to give way to Philly on the sax. I looked around a few times and felt like I was watching some band jam in their mom's garage - it felt that small.

So small, in fact, that more than a few people wanted to kill Mike (the drunk guy from Iowa/Minnesota - not the saxophonist Mike Philly). Mike, if you're reading this, you're a good guy, but I came to hear Prince, not you. Let's just hope if a taper did make it to that show, he/she was standing far away from you. Telling Prince to play a song for "Cool Rapids, Minnesota!!!" was funny once. Twenty times not so much.

Here's what I can remember/discern from the setlist. Sorry it's not complete, but the songs did sort of run into each other. And my memory ain't what it used to be. There were definitely others...

Instrumental Jam (sound check)

I Wish

Outstanding

Which Way Is Up

Working Day & Night (at least I think it was that with Prince on bass)
Hollywood Swinging/Love Rollercoaster/Play That Funky Music (medley)

Waiting in Vain (sung by ? - she was gorgeous whoever she was)
More Than This

Controversy

It Takes Two

Rude Boy

Encore: Stratus

I'm not sure, but something might have pissed Prince off during "Stratus". He very abruptly signaled the band to stop - and they did on a dime cuz you know, they're tight like that - and then he ushered them each one-by-one off the stage like they were late for their next gig. As soon as he helped John get around his drum set, he followed him and waved his hands like "That's it." I don't know if someone took his picture again or he heard yet another futile request for "Purple Rain", but they disappeared real quick. It was a little strange.

As for the show itself, I can see how people in the back could be disappointed. If you couldn't see that Prince took over Ida's bass, then how could you react to it? But that is almost the inherent problem with seeing Prince. He sort of wants these small aftershows to be like a house party, that everyone ignore him and just dance. But the problem is you can't help but be drawn to him. Watching him work the guitar - and the BASS!!!! - was awe-inspiring. It all seemed so effortless, so fluid... so FUNKY! And watching Ida watching Prince was cool too - she was loving everything he was putting down. It was a great moment, but one that's lost for those in the back.

I think when you're that far back - like I was for the Conga Room show a few years back - you just have to treat it like a house party and dance your ass off. Because the Conga Room is still one of my favorite shows EVER, and I didn't see a damn thing.

But I'm glad I went. I felt the show was definitely worth the money. I've seen Prince around 40 times - 8 of those that this last Forum stand - so I really look forward to the jam sessions. It's nice to see him and the band try to relax, have fun and surprise themselves. And I think Renato and John are two of the best musicians he's ever played with. So it's always a treat to watch them interact with Prince.

Anyway, if anyone has corrections to my setlist, please help me out. And if anyone knows what charity that show was for, that would be cool to know as well. In true Prince fashion, he neglected to tell us that before he rushed off stage at 4:15am...

[Edited 5/26/11 18:48pm]

[Edited 5/26/11 18:55pm]

Spot on review! I was on the left side (by Renato) at the bar about 2 people deep. I was at the 2nd show but left a little early to get up to the Foundation room. Had gotten my ticket earlier and was told I didn't need a wristband for the last show, but was told I did once I got to the Foundation room. Went back down to 1st level and got my band and headed back up again (all in heels!!). HOB was more than a little confused about procedures.

First half of the show was unbelievable! Freestyle jamming with Prince leading everyone almost like an orchestra maestro. They are quite the tight group but I think Prince’s moods and quest for his vision causes him to direct more than most would in a jam session. There was interaction with the crowd, quite a good vibe between artist and music aficionados.

Second half of the show was where the entitled people began to push their way through the crowd. Mostly women, some Foundation room members and Live Nation plus ones. There was a older woman in front of me with a cane with a friend to tried to protect her from getting pushed & trampled. At this stage of the show, there were way more than 100 people in the foundation room and it started turning ugly. It seemed like that was when Prince turned the show over to Shelby and Andy and hung back more. I fought the urge to leave, frustrated by the crowd and their disrespect.

At the end of the show, Prince was playing guitar at the end of the bar in my line of sight. Some of the girls pushing there way up close and something went down where Prince actually talked to someone in the audience and looked like he touched or grabbed their arm??? Appeared to tell them to wait and seemed to be motioning them back with his hands. Don’t know if that led to his anger, but the show was over shortly after that.

Although the setup and the venue were taxing, the music was magical. My best take away is when Prince sang “More than This”, heartfelt and definitely look right at me and the crowd. Euphoric!!!