Okay, I'm on borrowed time here. We're sitting in this skank-ass internet cafe slash souvenir shop slash t-shirt stand slash catchall. But it looks like there haven't been many decent reports yet and we're still famming at the mouth. And we'd like to share some of our good fortune with you.

Good Lord, where do I begin!?

SETLIST!!!!

Saturday May 27 (phoned in from me to Dayspring)

soundcheck:
some drum noodling, including When The Lights Go Down and some Madhouse song
Every Little Step (Tamar)
Not Gon' Cry (Mary J. cover)
Thank You For Lettin Me Be Mice Elf Again (Sly)
Elephants & Flowers
Don't Play Me
Calhoun Square
Peach (Sacrifice of Victor-like version)
piano noodling (bits of Empty Room heard)
Under The Cherry Moon
Love 2 The 9's
Diamonds & Pearls


then the show started with some insane instrumental on some weird asian instrument that Nathan, Ian and Ivy had never seen before

the Tamar set:
Every Little Step
All Night Long (Mary Jane Girls)
Milk & Honey
Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You (Aretha)
Love Changes (Mother's Finest)
When A Man Loves A Woman (Percy Sledge)


Prince set:
3121
Lolita
Satisfied
Black Sweat
Kiss
Joy In Repetition (with snippets of the Cross and others)
Anotherloverholenyohead
Rock Steady (Aretha)
Love Rollercoaster (Ohio Players)
Play That Funky Music
It's Ecstacy When You Lay Down Next To Me (Barry White)
Be Happy (Mary J)
What Have You Done For Me Lately (Janet)
Partyman
Red Headed Stepchild
How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore
If I Was Your Girlfriend
some funk jam
Fury
Purple Rain
Let's Go Crazy

Sunday May 28...

Soundcheck:

What Is Hip? (Tower of Power)
Don't Play Me
Work To Do (Isley Brothers)
Beautiful Strange
Peach (by Moonbeam)
Love Rollercoaster (Ohio Players)
A Case of You on piano (Joni Mitchell)

Strange Percussive Instrumental intro


Tamar's Set:

Stay With My Baby (anybody know who this is by? it's great!)
Every Little Step
All Night Long (Mary Jane Girls)
Milk & Honey
Never Loved A Man (Aretha Franklin)
Love Changes (Mother's Finest)
When A Man Loves A Woman (Percy Sledge)

Prince's Set:

EMPTY FUCKING ROOM!
Red Headed Stepchild w/ Tamar (???)
Don't Play Me
A Case Of U on piano
Computer Blue!!!!!
Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)
something we're not sure of...
The Cross/Christ
Elephants & Flowers
Bill Collector's Blues
The Ride
Anotherloverholenyohead
Ice Cream (introduction of his new guitar)

break (costume change)

3121
Lolita
Satisfied
Black Sweat
Kiss
Joy In Repetition
Fury
Te Amo Corazon
instrumental break
Housequake intro
Rock Steady w/ Tamar (Aretha Franklin)
Don't Stop Til You Get Enough (MJ)
Erotic City teaser
What Have You Done For Me Lately? (JJ)
Partyman
Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry)
It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me (Barry White)
Be Happy (Mary J. Blige)
Hollaback Girl (Gwen Stefani)
I Wanna Take You Higher (Sly & the Family Stone)


I think I'm going to post this in sections, just in case we get cut off. This ain't cheap!

to be continued....

first

The ugly...

I'll start with the not so savory morsels. Against my better judgment, I still decided to make the trek out to Vegas. As many of you know, I've been having some really bizarre health issues lately and was recently in the hospital for some treatment. Our flight out of Detroit was at 7 in the morning and we had to be on the road by 4. I tried my best to get to bed early, but my heart was acting up again. I got NO sleep. This is typical every time I travel somewhere, but this time was especially rough. I almost decided to cancel at the last minute, but my bro threatened not to go. I wasn't about to have all of us be out $1000 each, so I took my chances. Ivy didn't fare much better - toting her breathing machine, hella turbulence and the most enjoyable cab ride of her life. Moonie's still getting over his mono and immigrating in less than 2 weeks. Needless to say, we were a hot mess and showed up in Vegas as The Walking Wounded. Workin' up a crack sweat!!!

lilgish said:

bitch!

GangstaFam said:

That sounds like FIRE right there!!!!!

shit, wish i could've gone with you wish i could've afforded it. oh well. we busted our asses here all holiday weekend while you guys were living it up in Vegas


sounds like a great experience. now get the hell out of there!

Christ, that is an awesome setlist.

Sorry to hear you weren't feeling better for the concert, Gangsta.

It sounds like in spite of it all, you had a great time. THANK GOODNESS

Thanks for posting!

The miraculously good!

The Gods of Concert Mojo were smiling kindly on our group this weekend. We arrived at the venue around 2:45 on Saturday. The line was fairly short. Luckily, there was a cold front in town and the temperature was down to near 80 instead of the typical 100 with a beautiful breeze for most of the night. Ivy worked her usual magic with the crowd, making friends left and right. Is there anyone this woman doesn't know!? Tamar's sister was quizzing the audience about various Tamar trivia. Ian won a single of "Holla & Shout" for knowing that it's supposed to be her next single. Shortly after we arrived, they graciously allowed club members to pick up our will call tickets, so that we could grab a bite or whatnot.

I was really concerned about the General Admission aspect of it all. I get faint sometimes just from standing in place, and I knew it would be impossible to make it through the whole show that way. Moonsongs had the clever idea of leaving my hospital band on to see if the venue would allow me to sit somewhere. I spoke with security about my condition to see if someone would take pity on me. They told me there was not seating in the entire venue other than the $1000 VIP booths and a few bar stools where you couldn't even see the stage. But a very gracious man told me he didn't want anything bad to happen to me, so wouldn't you know...he set me up right in front of Prince's gear.

The club was very small and my travelling companions won't agree with me, but I thought it was pretty nice. Prince was leisurely hanging out in one of the booths near the back of the dancefloor dictating very specific details to whomever was onstage at the time. I recall hearing instructions like "Lower on the 160," "Too boxy", "Turn the baby dial down" and things of that nature. Nobody in the audience could decipher any difference from all the tweaking, but it was just remarkable to hear Prince work it all out. I guess that's why we're on the floor and he's onstage.

Ivy introduced us to her beautiful friend Aliya (Babynoz), who became our partner in crime the first night. What a pleasure! Anyway, I turned around to ask my friends a question and happened to notice Prince standing right behind us!

Here's a brief transcript of our conversation....

GF: Hey Prince!

Prince: Hey!

GF: How are ya?

Prince: Good, good.

Prince: Do you really think it's safe to be there? (pointing at the giant-ass monitors next to our heads)

GF: (pointing to my hospital band) Well, I just got out of the hospital and they put me here so I could have a seat. I wasn't about to miss this.

Prince:

BabyNoz: Is it dangerous?

Prince: Do y'all have any earplugs?

GF: I grabbed some tissue from the bathroom.

Prince: You should put that in your ears.

GF: I just want to thank you for having us in the beautiful, small club.

Prince: Thanks for coming out.

Romera: Are we in your way?

Prince: Naw.

Moonbeam: Thank you for doing this Prince. And God Bless You.

Prince: Likewise. (big smile and he walked backstage)


DUDE!!!!!
[Edited 5/30/06 0:06am]

endorphin74 said:

This is coming in several installments.

HobbesLeCute said:

Actually, by the time I got to sit down, I felt better than I have in 3 weeks during the whole show.

GangstaFam said:

Prince has that effect. I was having a shit week when I first saw him live, but once he got on stage all was well.

GangstaFam said:

ps, YOU TALKED TO PRINCE!!!

rock star moments happening all around lately!

I talked to Tommy Barbarella yesterday.

He wanted a quarter.

Sorry to hear that you weren't feeling well.

Thanks for taking time out to post your experience. I'm glad you had a wonderful time.

The setlist...

Ivy, Ian and I (3I), were talking before the show about songs we'd really love to hear that night. One of the first Ivy mentioned was "Elephants & Flowers". And everyone knows that Moonie's got a thing for "Peach". I've been playing "Love 2 the 9's" all week and that was near the top of my list. Would you believe it...we heard all 3 during the soundcheck!

From the very beginning, Prince was in a fantastic mood - smiling, laughing, cracking jokes with everyone. Ivy could tell early on that Prince knew who he was playing for and felt very comfortable with the setting and the crowd. He kept joking with the soundguy and immitating him "One Two, One Two Dude!" He kept giving him directions and then the soundguy told Prince to do something. Prince joked, "Oh thank God you're here. How could we do this without you."

They weren't kidding in the email that was sent out about this being a BLISTERING GUITAR EVENT. Boy was giving me guitar facials all night and I was just lapping it up. His guitar pedals, mic stand and platform were directly in front of us. I live for no frills Prince and I can't think of anything in this world that thrills me more than seeing him sing and play guitar. And he couldn't be separated from his Hohner and new strats all night. I loved him for it.

Thanks 4 the Report Gangsa
I know u had to have a pen & paper to write every thing down [set list]
Kinda sucks if u did, cuz u miss parts of the show.
Unless u have a RainMan memory
I realy didt think i/we were gonna miss any thing great, with the shows
Sounds like mabye i/we did...
Again thanks , Hope your feeling better

GangstaFam said:

You're making me wish I had spent the $312.01 plus airfare and that is no easy task.

All right all, I'm taking over with our new hour-long timecard.

Saturday's show..

Based on all of the Tamar hype, I was a little skeptical about her chances for success and her merits. Having heard a few of her songs, I wasn't expecting much. However, I was totally blown away by her abilities and her stage presence. The girl is very talented and I think it is quite a wise move for Prince to be introducing her to his fans to cultivate a strong hardcore audience for her. Her vocals are incredibly heart-felt, passionate and captivating, and the girl can move in heels! Those legs are more than just pretty! Her rapport with Prince is really clear and their chemistry is charming. It's also nice to see Prince willing to share the spotlight to such an extent with a yet-to-be established artist.

Several times during her set, Tamar stared right at me, bellowing into my soul. The twins were oh so flirtatious and entertaining. The one on our left wore a permanent funk face whenever she sang! In all honesty, I can't fault the performances at all. I was fully enthralled throughout the entire set, from soundcheck, to opening harp-thingy guy, to Tamar, to Prince. I was eagerly anticipating the new songs, trying to envision how they would translate live. I was not disappointed. "3121" was a mystical masterpiece, complete with provocative twin twirling, fan waving and the requisite Japanese robes. It really was a crowd pleaser. "Lolita" was another crowd favorite as Prince sexed it up with the twins. It screams "Release me as the next single!" I was most impressed with "Black Sweat", as its electronic chug must have made it a difficult live cut to perform, but it came across very well.

Of course, the old favorites such as "Joy in Repetition" and "Anotherloverholenyohead" were ecstatic highlights, with effervescent guitar flashes and amazing crowd participation. The covers section kept my attention more than most usually do, particularly "Ecstasy/Be Happy". Prince was very playful with those who were allowed to come on stage, dubbing them "Bon Jovi", "Soundcheck Sylvia", "Al Pacino crossed with Count Dracula" et al. I think Prince was endeared to Nathan having heard of his difficulties, and he really gave him a good show, playing right in front of him quite often and intentionally throwing his towel to him. It was nice to see him get that extra love.

Toward the end, the twins were handing out items to the eager crowd. I was jumping in anticipation, hoping to get a pin or something. I made a complete fool of myself trying to procure one of these highly coveted gems, finally being given one only to discover that it was a cookie. A fuckin' purple frosted cookie! We wanted to take a picture of it to show it in all of its glory, but I accidentally left it as a tip to the waiter in Denny's after the show.

Did Prince really sing "Empty Fucking Room"? or was it "Empty Room".

Toward the end, the twins were handing out items to the eager crowd. I was jumping in anticipation, hoping to get a pin or something. I made a complete fool of myself trying to procure one of these highly coveted gems, finally being given one only to discover that it was a cookie. A fuckin' purple frosted cookie!

Okay, that part was too funny. I could see people diving thinking they were getting something special.

HobbesLeCute said:

Co-sign!
You're so luck!
Get better soon!

The next night had several more goodies in store. Having slept for several hours after our Princely vigil, we all felt more rested and prepared for Sunday's festivities. We were able to meet several more cool people while in line, including the one and only jseven, John from San Bernardino, Lori and Rita from Italy (SEXY!) and Carolyn. You could hear Prince soundchecking ahead of time, playing "Work to Do" and "Get on the Boat". We all were eagerly anticipating the show after the previous night's thorough ass-kicking, and once we finally got in, Nathan was again able to secure a spot at the front of the stage. Prince immediately launched into the soundcheck, delivering the goods, particularly the hypnotizing "Beautiful Strange" as Romera can attest.

After "Beautiful Strange", Prince launched into the opening chords of "Peach" and I went nuts, having loved the song. Prince soon asked for someone to come up on stage to sing the vocals. Although several women screamed their desire, Prince joked "The song ain't called 'Kiwis'! I need a guy up here." Nathan started screaming and pointed at me and I jumped in my enthusiasm. Prince smiled and called me up on stage! Before I get into the details of the experience, I must add that it was particularly special because in high school, I performed a live version of "Peach" during a lip sync contest in nothing but my boxers and a funky hat. The song was one of the very first to make me a diehard fan and I used to play it before every event during my track meets. Subsequently, being on stage with the best band in the world to sing that song was rapturous.

Once on stage, I fell into an immediate groove, as if I was preparing for this for ages! I did my best to do justice to the song and managed to remember all of the words. The very coolest moment was after the second verse, knowing that Prince was going to launch into a wicked guitar solo. I screamed in preparation and pointed in his direction and that mofo rocked the mother! I headbanged my approval and shook my ass to the "Hot pants can't hide her cheeks" part. I was also able to flirt with the crowd a bit which was quite fun. You'll be happy to know I didn't perform the revised lyric, "The Bible's the only book she reads" version. After the song ended, I gestured my gratitude to Prince and the band and was ushered off stage, beaming with utter jubilation. I had performed one of my all-time favorite songs with Prince! Better yet, after I got off stage, Prince joked to Raul (one of the security guys) to give me some money. To my chagrin, 5 minutes later I was rewared with $40, with which I treated my companions to lunch! Thanks for the meal, Prionce. I wasn't sure if I had made a fool of myself on stage, but several people lauded my efforts, and one even was convinced that I had sung professionally before! I suppose all those karaoke contests have paid off!

tollyc said:

He did say "ass" during "Don't Play Me"!

wonder505 said:

I didn't even get to eat the fucker!

Moonbeam said:

During "Empty Room" he said he was thinking of a word that rhymed with "witch" but he wanted to remain a good Christian.

After the delirious joy that I got from the soundcheck, I was on cloud 9 for the remainder of the evening. Everything else was just a bonus. And to my delight, we were treated to blistering versions of "Empty Room" and "Don't Play Me" on an electric guitar, a cool twist on the original. Then when he launched into "Computer Blue" while bathed in blue light, I was stunned to the point that I didn't recognize "Something in the Water" which is my very favorite song of all time until the second line! He was alone on stage for maybe 10 minutes during this segment, and the icing on the cake was "The Cross", yet another one of my favorite songs of all time.

Although many of the songs were repeats from the night before, I still really dug the performances and felt grateful for later additions like "Te Amo Corazon" and "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough". When Prince teased us with "Housequake", he asked for audience members to be invited on stage to dance, and lo and behold, I was lucky yet again! My ass my grooving for what felt like an eternity up there, flirting with the twins and imbibing the spectacle. I'm glad I wore my blue suede shoes, which Ivy didn't step on! (She could do anything but that!) Near the end, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders and it was Larry Graham working his way to the stage. Tina also graced us with her presence. After we left the stage, I was deliriously happy. My sore feet could not have withstood much more pounding. I was able to buy a brown "3121" T-shirt (I'm wearing that sucka right now!) and compliment the chick turning the lyric pages on her awesome hair (think Leather Tuscadero meets Joan Jett with blond spiky punk rock).

After the show, I was able to meet Rebecca and Toni from NPGMC at Denny's and we busted our guts laughing in the collective exhaustion of the night. We returned to the hotel and I drifted to sleep with visions of Princeys dancing in my head.

Ian, you're always worried that you have a bad voice but you sounded great up there. Honestly.

And I'm glad you changed your outfit to the silver pants and blue suede shoes. You looked the part and were totally sharp!

I wish we had video of this.

Moonbeam Rocks!
I bet everone on the org would like to see you perform Peach.

GangstaFam said:

I just came