After reading these articles...I don't know...were you there? Tell me about it, please.
[Edited 9/26/08 7:39am]

Yes, it was absolutely incredible and more. It was everything you'd want it to be, I have so many great memories of it, I attended 4 main shows and 3 aftershows.....and I was lucky enough to meet Prince, too.

One of the highlights of my entire life for sure! The band were tight as hell, Prince was on point, the reportoire of songs chosen was incredible, the aftershows were just amazing, jamming until the early hours.....then catching the night bus or boat across London with friends....

The whole experience was just mindblowing. I had so much fun.

I was there for 7 of them and yes, it was. Good to hear the hits again after so long ('98 was the last time he did a hits heavy tour here), some great live firsts (for me) - Something In the Water..., I would die 4 U(both on the piano!), Morning Papers, Love Bizzare (awesome encore with all the lights up). And then there were the aftershows - I only caught two but with Beautiful Strange, Empty Room and Partyman, I went home well happy.

The last night was better than all of that. Atmosphere was incredible as soon as the lights went down. Great set, Did When U Were Mine as an encore (which I'd requested on this site the day before).

The other cool thing was that everyone went - All my friends who'd never seen or been into Prince went to a show and they were all blown away. Papers were full of him, it was the event of the summer. Prince was cool once again - the whole Slave thing finally became a thing of the past.

All in all. A great summer (and the tickets were cheap!!!)

21 Nights

Yes it was ALL THAT and more!! I only went 2 nights, 2 main shows and an aftershow, WISH I could have done more. But it was amazing! First the O2 is a fantastic venue, lots of great facilities, food, hundreds of loos, fast service etc. The main shows were incredible, and the aftershow was SUBLIME! I've never heard music like that in my life, anywhere, anytime, just goes straight into your bones, and your soul, and takes you to another level. Prince was on great form, he really engaged and worked the audience, and truely seemed to love every minute of his time in London, he covered all angles as best he could, and tried to give everyone something. Tickets were SO cheap and there was a huge amount of goodwill towards him here. The whole of London was buzzing with it last summer, there was a huge amount of excitement and anticipation in the air.

I will NEVER forget leaving on the last boat on 6th September after the aftershow, which was definitely one of the best nights of my whole life, only around 10 of us on the boat, sailing through an eerily silent London, gazing back at the O2 all lit up purple, and just feeling like I'd experienced something incredibly special and that I never wanted to leave, and wishing it never had to end....
[Edited 9/26/08 8:26am]

It was an absolutely incredible 2 months especially for any of us who lived locally. I'd often be at work one lunchtime browsing Ticketmaster and see the last minute front block seats up - quickly ring a friend to check if she wanted to go, and off we went after work every few days, sometimes for an aftershow too, get half an hour sleep and back to work again. Exhausting, but it was worth it all. No way we would have done that if the tickets were those ridiculous prices every other big star likes to charge. All in all I got 9 main shows and 5 aftershows

We were spoiled rotten because looking back, some of those aftershows were the best we've ever seen from anyone, but at the time it was just a once or twice a week ritual... and probably not that more expensive than other people spend down the pub in one night!
[Edited 9/26/08 8:28am]

i can only speak from a view of just listening 2 the shows and the few shows on dvd...

WHACK!!! the main shows were just like the musicology tour hardly nothing new with a bevy of greatest hits material. the sampler set was just plain embarassing. the twinz need 2 set thier asses down and prince needs 2 replace them with the quickness. one of my biggest gripes about the main shows was the stage. prince had one of the dopest designs 4 a stage and imo it wasn't fully utilized. having all the band members in the O of the symbol, was stupid. they looked like they were on top of each other. now i understand prince doesn't move on the stage like he used 2 and i've accepted that, but 4 a massive stage like this, one would have hoped more dancing would have been involved by prince instead of him walking up and down the stage playing his guitar.

the aftershows were cool as hell tho, tho 2 many cover versions of songs. but at least they breathed life.

You had to be there...anyone travelling from out of London made a day/weekend of it; most of us hadn't seen him in years. To be able to get that close (even at some expense) was one of the best things I have ever done. The main show I went to was as good as any I have ever seen. The book/disc to me is just chock full of good time memories. Missing out on an aftershow is still driving me mad a year later.
As you can gather I think it was "all that".

vivid said:

i 4 one MISS those slave days cause at least he was looking 4ward and not looking in2 the past glory shit. i would have loved a 21 nights of new material or latest material type of show.

It was definitely all that and then some. I went to 7 main shows and 13 aftershows and I know people that went to every main show and every aftershow. I just loved the whole summer - it was a fantastic event, I'd been to Vegas twice and that was wonderful but sadly I was alone so getting to spend the summer with P and my friends was just the best - I don't think they believed me just how good Vegas was - so to be able to share it with them all was just fabulous. I can't tell you how good it felt - and got to meet him briefly on the last night - almost thought i had died and gone to heaven - just wonderful.

i wish he would do 21 nights in New York i would go

It was great !

All in all , I was positively surprised. Still,there were a few things I could have done without ,namely :

- that teasing with the sampler, accompanied by pushing some random (?) buttons for a "dramatic" drum effect, ruining classic songs such as When Doves Cry and She´s Always In My Hair, continously saying " Y´all ain´t ready for that!"
Stupid ! Just stupid. Why does a perfectionist and probably one of the best, if not THE best live artist on this planet, feel the need to butcher and play down his own songs and disrespect his own legacy ? I mean,either play them, or don´t ,or play a piano version....but that sampler set was just stupid.
If someone could have brought back the Prince of 1985 with a time machine,I´m pretty sure he would have kicked current Prince´s butt BIG TIME .


- rearranging some songs in a way that didn´t really suit them,like If I Was Your Girlfriend....or delivering them in a way that didn´t really match the content of the song ( you know, singing sad songs in a bombastic,cheerful way, with no real emotinonal tie whatsoever....like the song I mentioned above).

Other than that,it was a wonderful experience,though not as good as the 2002 Celebration at Paisley Park, which will always have a special place in my heart.

I´m just happy that he´s still around,happy and healthy and still looking like he did 20 years ago and not like some other washed up rockstars who have let themselves go. And the London experience,especially the Indigo aftershows, reaffirmed my belief that there is still a lot of raw energy and creativity inside of him,though restricted by himself for various reasons.

Thanks Everyone! Now it sounds like I need to get this book just for the aftershow disc.

KoolEaze said:

not THAT WAS ALL THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS ..21 nights can't even touch that atmosphere

I wish I could've gone, but roadie jobs are hard to come by these days, u have to be willing to wear a mini-skirt to climb the truss or u're not welcome.