Have U Been 2 Paisley Park?

Tell us ur Story!


[Edited 9/9/09 6:32am]

nah

Yep been there many times.... I'd like to hear the stories of those who were at the park during the late 80's early 90's those infamous parties



pre-holy Prince days

Don't really have a story but I recently went to Minneapolis and chilled outside of Paisley Park, took some pictures, lol.

Yes... only from the outside on 7/7/07

pplrain said:

COOL! Thanks 4 All The Pics!

pplrain said:

And after they called the cops .... I said to folks don't go inside ( trespassing ) stay off the grass next thing here comes Chanhassen police dept

StudioA said:

i went to the 2001 celebration - the most amazing week. going inside paisley park was fascinating, the studios, the hall with all the awards, gold discs, etc etc.

and of course the concerts themselves - prince (obviously), george clinton, maceo, the time, common, alicia keys, erika badyu, nikka costa. prince guested with all of them at some point.

goodbourn said:

NO WAY?!?

YOU were at the "Celebration"? So, did you talk to the Director Kevin Smith? Did Prince make you guys play games and wasn't there an overwhelming amount of Religious talk there? How did you get selected to be a part of the Celebration?

StudioA said:

i was a member of the NPGMC, applied for tickets and got them. i actually took my mum with me, she was as excited as me!!! on arrival, we were split into groups and listened to the latest album - the rainbow children, cool to hear it before release, kind of like a listening party. saw kevin smith, but did not speak to him.

to be honest, i only went one time during the day - the main reason i went was for the shows at night. actually spoke to prince, maceo, larry, george clinton, alicia keys during the night shows. amazing.

Did you have to sign a non-disclosure agreement? How many people also attended as guests? Do you know what happened to the film footage. Kevin Smith was told it was going to be used as a recruitment video for the Jehova's Witnesses. Did you know that at the time?

i did not have to sign anything, but was searched by security and went through metal detectors - no cameras, phones, recording equipment allowed.

if i remember correctly, condition of ticket issue was that any film footage i may heve been in was owned by Paisley Park, but most of the filming was shot during the daytime, when i was not there.

i did not know Kevin Smith was filming until i saw him there, at that time i figured he was just making a regular documentary/music video of the fans and the music.

goodbourn said:

Go to YouTube and do a search for these key words "Kevin Smith Prince" and watch the 4 part video of Kevin Smith (at Kent State) talking about his full experience at Paisley Park and with Prince. Let me know what you think after you watch it. Very interesting.

managed a rap group in illinois, moved to mpls with group ( we were friends) in 90'. Stopped there on our first mini tour of MN. that included winona and st.cloud state. First day there we met Levi in the parking lot and he was so cool. After living here a year tearing it up on the local scene we were befriended by Tony Mosley. We talked trash to him about hoops, how MN cats cant ball with IL boys and the battle was on. We would play GameBoyz 3 on 3 all the time on the hoop near the garage where Prince would sometimes come in rocking the canary yellow BMW. I've also been in the boiler room where Gameboyz kept a dorm sized fridge, folding chairs and everything prince banned on premises LOL. I've been there at After hour jams courtesy DJ Jules, and i've actually walked away from prince cus he jammed so long i realized i had to be at work in two hours.

i went to all the cellys and the 2004 "mini celly". i was one of the first in the doors for the very first tour at the first celly and a photo of us entering was posted on the official website

the first time i went to paisley park was my first time ever leaving the uk. i arrived in mpls the day before the celly, and went to paisley at about 8am. i used to joke that when i went to paisley park everyone would know about it, it would be on the news and everything, we filmed footage of the drive to paisley and going past and into it. when we turned up there was a tv station broadcasting live from the parking lot as this was the first time prince had opened the doors to the fans like this. there were a few people there early, waiting to get the laminates, but mostly foreigners who didn't speak good english. i had hooked up with two girls from dallas, and i was from scotland, so when the interviewer came over he had a great story about a guy from scotland hooking up with dallas girls, and because i could speak english it helped. so i was on live breakfast tv getting interviewed at paisley park at 8am on the first morning i woke up in another country! they made me sing a bit of purple rain and dance a bit and chat and stuff. the cool thing was that i went to the tv studio later and they gave me a copy of all the footage they broadcast, without the ad's and non prince stuff, so i have a proshot recording of my first time at paisley!

i was also interviewed for a couple of radio stations, another tv station, and i was mentioned on the front page of the entertainment section of the star tribune, which i kept, so i have some great video and photo evidence

when i went to paisley it was about 7 months since i last saw prince and the band play at two seperate tv shows in the uk, one on the friday (TFI Friday - which was on npgmc) and one on the saturday for the tube apocalypse (where i also met and shook hands with paul mccartney from the beatles, met robbie williams in the hotel bar when prince was there, beveryley knight, skunk anansie etc), and i chatted with the band and larry in particular for a while, and bumped into prince backstage at the tube, and spoke to him when he was onstage waiting for his timeslot. when i was in the foyer i was chatting to some people and bumped into a girl i had met at a gig two years previously in london, and as i was talking to her morris hayes came over to say hi to her as she had moved to mpls, and morris recognised me from the tv show and we were chatting about it, as prince called me a bootlegger for mentioning unreleased songs, but only joking, and i was told that prince played the TFI friday performance at the paisley parties and mentioned it to morris who said it was a great gig. after speaking to morris for a bit, he dissapeared so i went to the npgmc/l4oa room (the smaller room), and about 10 mins later i noticed prince come down the stairs and run behind the soundesk with a vhs tape, and he put it on and it was the TFI friday performance! morris obviously mentioned it to prince and prince got the tape and put it on!

so i'd only been at paisley for the first time for a few mins and was on live tv and radio, and in paisley about 30 mins before seeing prince put on a video of a tv show we were both at, and i remember he was looking at the projector screen watching it, and so was i, and i was thinking "is this really happening?". before going to paisley i used to wonder what it was like, and now i'm here and prince is a couple of feet away from me watching a video of a show we were at, i was front row at and prince high fived me

i remember later in the day, my first full day outside the uk, and going to a supermarket for the first time, and it was weird cuz they had lots of the same stuff, but different brands, like how on the simpsons they use phony brands, so it was like an acid trip. and about 10 mins inside a woman came up to me and said "your the guy from tv", with everyone watching her, she had watched the tv channel from her hotel before going to paisley and recognised me. i was famous in america! living the american dream!!!

the first nite was the 7th june so prince's birthday, and as a surprise, macy gray did a secret performance after she played the target centre or somewhere downtown, and macy was at the height of her fame then. she was just at arms length singing. everyone was so tired so weren't clapping much. she asked what was up with that and she was told we had been there since 8am and it was 2am now, so she understood! then the band played part of you can make it if you try by sly and the family stone as an intro to "i'll try" (or whatever the hit was called) and prince jumped out of nowhere onto the keyboards and started jamming on it and everyone screamed, and macy wondered what was going on, but the song medleyed and prince got confused and left stage before macy turned around!

i think it was the following celly (could have been the first) that i was hanging around outside paisley and there were maybe about 20 fans there and someone came out and said that prince invited us to a rehearsal, so we went inside and waited at the door for a bit, hearing him play, as i was about 3rd in line, and after a few mins we were let in for maybe 30-40 mins to watch him rehearse with the band, he did bambi and dorothy parker i remember, in the main soundstage with just about 20 people there. that was really something else

at the xenophobia celly (the second one), he also did his first ever accoustic show, with norah jones opening for him (alicia keys played the previous year, with eryka badu and common amongst others - at one point i was standing watching common, and i turned round and prince was standing next to me watching, i dunno how long he had been there, probably ages, i just turned back round and let him be in peace, i think he was cool hanging with the cool people who didn't bother him), and the following night he had a rock nite which was really great. the following nite the AC broke down so he took us to the movies to see minority report. our car was right behind princes limo and we went on this convoy at 2am from paisley to the cinema, like something out of the movies. i wasn't sure if prince was really in the car or it was a decoy, but when we got the the cinema i saw prince get his own popcorn from the stall, and then the band and sheila e all came past me. also one other nite maceo came on just after midnite and played literally for about six hours. the place was full when he started, but come 6am there was literally about 20 people left, and about half of them were literally lying on the floor. even the guy on the soundesk had his legs up. the next day prince asked who stayed till the end, and only about six hands went up, and he said even he went to bed!

i was also part of the first group for the third celly, so we were the first fans to be played the rainbow children album before anyone had heard it. we were given lyric books, which we read before hearing it, and we thought the lyrics were crazy. after they played the cd we were asked what we thought, and i got up on the mic and following on from what some people were saying, i said something like it's embarassing to tell people you are a prince fan cuz of the name change and crazy outfits and weird stuff, and i though TRC sounded more like a stage show musical than an album, and as i was talking someone shouted out "are they filming this" and i turned round and silent fucking bob was there with a camera guy. the first time i went to mpls i went to my first ever mall and somehow it felt familiar, i later found out the eden prairie mall was where they shot mallrats, so it was like silent bob had turned up at paisley. the last person you would expect at a non swearing paisley was silent bob!

the other thing about paisley was that you went inside at about 8pm in the evening and came back out at about 6am, so in the middle of june, you never saw any darkness as it went dark and then light again by the time you came back out. coupled with the time zone change, and the fact that prince's personal timezone is completely different, your body just doesn't know what time it is, so you are constantly tired and feel like you are stoned. there is no alcohol or smoking or meat inside paisley, so you just have water inside

during xenophobia, there was a night that i ended up in the studio with prince and the time and 5 other fans. prince, terry lewis and morris day were mainly doing the talking, for 2 hours from 4am to 6am. we were just sitting on the floor in studio b and hanging out. at that time in the morning you are so tired, so it felt like a dream. i didn't sign any release forms or nothing either, but to keep the peace the fans there made a kind of pact "what happens at paisley stays at paisley". the next day i had a t shirt on saying "sinner" and ran to the bathrooms as i noticed the hall was empty, whereas it's normally busy all the time, and as i ran i nearly ran into prince who looked at my t shirt and gave me a funny look, as only a few hours before he was telling us all about jehova, and i had a sinner t on!

i also went to paisley in the summer of 2003 when the NEWS cd was being played one track at a time over the 4 days, as i was expecting a secret gig at paisley, but we went and nothing was happening. i think there was a party at first avenue we went to instead. first avenue is a cool place to party

in 2004 i went for the 3 st paul shows with paisley aftershows, and they had the studios open during the day again. the aftershows were realy great, and i got to dance onstage at one of them. i've been onstage at loads of prince gigs before, as i'm usually always front row, but onstage at paisley when prince was jamming old skool cover versions was particularly cool

the security guys at paisley were also cool, really nice guys. i have really great memories of being at paisley park. i even got to dj there for a bit, with damon and adonis (the gameboys) getting people to dance. as i dj at all the main prince nites in the uk, it was something else to get to dj at paisley. i was about to dj at first avenue one night as brother jules was late turning up, but he turned up just as i was about to go on

the one time i did have to sign a release form at paisley was to shoot hoops with the gameboys. i was completely useless so i had to sign a form in case i killed someone with a ball. i also played some other ball games as they had a volleyball net up and all sorts of stuff. oh yeah, i also got to see and touch and play a teeny bit of some of his instruments, that was cool. i played a couple of chords of nothing compares 2 u on his batman piano thats worth more than my house

yes - back in 1992 - it was a great weekend in mineapolis - have been to Paisley Park and First Avenue ... wow long time ago

unique said:

Very cool and great read!


I want to do a pilgrimage to PP too, someday!
[Edited 9/9/09 3:53am]

unique said:

WOW, Thanks for the kewl story!!!

I sent a couple letters there,

I used to hang out pretty frequently from 95-99. The best times by far were the concerts/parties in '95. I think he called them Love4oneanother. Being able to see all of the Come, Gold Experience, and Exodus material performed live was PRICELESS.

utopia7 said:

I was there for the early 90's parties. What do you want to know about them?

4 the 7-7-07 concerts me and some friends went. As we got out the car 2 take some pics, Prince's bodyguard came over 2 us and said we had 2 leave.Prince was in his limo and was waiting 2 go 2 the concert at Macy's.Once he told us Prince was there we of course asked if we could say hi 2 him but the bodyguard said no and that they couldn't leave until we did.He was cool about it tho and said he was telling us what Prince told him...

unique said:

Your story was really UNIQUE!!! Thanks a million!!!

Yea my wife and I attended the very first Love4oneanother show. Was a very good week for us. We was there on vacation and was in uptown and came by the prince store and people was hanging down the sidewalk. We had no clue what was going on. We just thought this was the norm to get in. So we got in line and once someone said there was a show on sat night and this is the line for tickents we was floored. Coming from Memphis Tn to vacation there and this to happen WOW. So we got tickets. Sat night came, boy was we excited. Wife choose a red dress with see thru breast area. We got to paisley park about 7 or so and got in line. We got in about 11pm lol. What a beautiful building. LA Reid was there also. The show was awesome and loud lol. Gold experience stuff was great. Never will forget

I wrote this when I got back from PP in 2002...long, but captures the experience as closely as I could remember...I actually took notes

Xenophobia: 7 Nites Alone With Prince 2002- One Fans Paisley Experience
General Info: Xenophobia, Prince's 3rd annual week-long celebration, at Paisley Park, Chanhassen, MN
Dates: June 21, 2002 thru June 27, 2002 Prices: $250.00 for the entire week, includes all daytime activities.
This year, the celebration was only open to NPGMC members, plus one guest, who also had to pay $250.00.

Day 1, June 21, 2002
Opening Act: Maceo Parker (9pm-11pm)
Prince (11:45pm- 2:20am)
Setlist: The Rainbow Children
Muse 2 The Pharaoh
Xenophobia
A Case Of You
Mellow
1+1+1=3/Love Rollercoaster
The Ride/Alphabet St.
The Other Side Of The Pillow
Strange Relationship
Sing A Simple Song (W/Larry Graham)
La, La, La Mean I Love You
Didn't Cha Know
When You Were Mine
Avalanche
Family Name
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
The Everlasting Now
Joy In Repetition (Encore)

Day 1 was great. At 10am, we lined up at Paisley to get our week-long pass. The morning was plagued with severe weather, with lots of rainfall. Once we received our passes, into Paisley we went. No phones, cameras, recording devices of any kind were allowed inside. The inside of Paisley is astounding, it took my breath away. Just as we entered, to the left side is his store, which sells concert t-shirts, perfumes, CD's, posters, candles, skull caps, etc. To the left of that is a hallway, which leads to the main entrance of Paisley, called the Atrium. The hallway is lined with blown-up pictures of Prince, categorized by years, starting in 1979. All great pictures of him, I smirk thinking that Prince is one vain s.o.b., but i wouldn't have it any other way. Across from the pictures, awards are lined up along the wall, nicely displayed. Two rooms lead off of the hallway, the first is the Paisley Museum. This room contains Prince's various guitars displayed on the walls, along with some of his songs' lyrics framed for all to read. Many large pictures of him in concert also are displayed. One of his piano's is in the center of the room, and a percussion set that i notice is from the Sign O' The Times era is off in the corner. This room leads into Prince's indoor basketball court, which is set up for pictures. For $5.00, i took a polaroid on Prince's black motorcycle from Graffiti Bridge. All money made from the sale of polaroids was being donated to charity.
The 2nd room off of the hallway is Studio B. One of 3 studio's in Paisley, studio B is where Prince recorded SOTT. Unfortunately, it is somewhat outdated, technology-wise, and Prince now records in Studio A. Studio B was blasting a recent One Nite Alone concert on the speakers. Throw pillows were tossed all about, and ppl chilled, listening to our hero. Studio B is so named for the "blacklite" room, which is towards the back of the studio. Couches, loveseats, awards, and still more pictures of Prince are in the blacklite room. I notice a rather large, and very good painting of Miles Davis in that room. In the actual studio, Prince's father's picture is displayed, along with 2 very nice sculptures, both made of flourescent lighting, one is the "Symbol" and the other is a portrait of him. Another of his piano's is in the studio.
Continuing down the hallway, it opens up into the Atrium. Spectacular!! It really must be seen to be truly appreciated. Colors on the walls are the first thing that catch your eye. Every wall seems to be a different color, and his gold, platinum records are all displayed here. They seem endless. I wander upstairs, where i find his pool table room, covered in purple felt, of course. In this room, i see the first of two paintings that Miles Davis painted for Prince, both of the abstact variety. Very cool! Upstairs, there is the conference room and a huge birdcage, which houses 3 doves. Downstairs is a cafe, complete with barstools and counter. Prince is said to have his breakfast here on most mornings. Outside of the cafe is a sitting area with plush sofas (Prince's taste in furniture is very good, he has abstract pieces everywhere). In the middle of both sofas is his "symbol", on the floor, in marble, huge. At the very front of the Atrium is his front desk, with a large(everything seems to be on a large scale) portrait of him behind it, from the Emancipation era. A very nice display unit showcases his Oscar, for the Purple Rain score, among other awards and plaques. One of my favorite pieces on display is the cover of a comic book that featured Prince, I own this comic myself. Again, it is done in large scale and is framed nicely. Studio's A and C are in this area, but is closed to the public. Unfortunately, someone tried to take something out of the refrigerator, security caught them, and the Atrium was closed to us for the remainder of the week. By the way, security was EVERYWHERE the entire week.
Back at the entrance, right across from the store, are 2 concert halls. The first, called the NPGMC room, has a small stage straight ahead, and a large screen projection TV to the right. Again, very nicely decorated, as only Prince's mind could do. A very nice room to chill and watch video's (They played the Rave special and SOTT most of the week). Next to that is the large concert hall. It's huge, fitting at least 2500 ppl. This is where all the concerts were held all week. Very large, state of the art, speaker sets are hung from either side of the stage. The walls and ceiling are covered with a black velvet material, from which blue stars sparkle. Very nice atmosphere for a concert. They set up a VIP seating section to the left of the stage, and Prince watches all the show's from a black sofa, which is set up at the rear of the hall.
There really isn't a bad seat in the concert hall. Very intimate.
Prince's concerts were all great.....he is very good at what he does and flows from one instrument to the next with ease.
Suffice to say that the man is amazing. Maceo, on opening night, was very good. In my opinion, he played about 30 mins. too long. He had me feelin the funk, then pulled out the flute, and there is only so much of that that i can take. Keep in mind, it was the first night, and we were in line, STANDING all the while, since 6pm. The concert hall didn't have seats. So we stayed on our feet from 6pm to 230am. Too long. Maceo's son, Parker, also sang and rapped on a couple of numbers. If this wasn't the opening night, when we were all so anxious to see Prince, and if there were chairs, as there were on following nights, then Maceo may have faired better in my memory. Out of the seven performers, I rated Maceo's performance 6th best.

Day 2, June 22, 2002
Opening act: Sheila E (9:15pm-11:15pm)
Prince: (12:30am-1:30am)
setlist: The Rainbow Children (Instrumental)
Power Fantastic
Extraordinary
Here On Earth
With You
Pearls B4 The Swine (Instrumental)
The Ghetto (cover)
Sweet Baby
When The Lights Go Down
Strollin'
Gotta Broken Heart Again
You've Got A Friend (w/Sheila cover of James Taylor)
Pop Life( encore)

Day 2 was Hot!! Not just the performances, which were also, but the temp was scorching. The previous days storms had taken out the air conditioning unit for Paisley. Sheila E held a seminar in the small concert hall from 2-4pm. She was very interesting, telling us stories on how her and Prince met ( i didn't know that they met way back in 1979) and how she learned to play from watching her father play. She would stand in front of him and learned how to play mirrored image. She now still plays backwards, but it works for her. She is very elegant, and has aged very well. Definately one of my favorite parts of the week. Her show was very good. She still plays concerts now, and hasn't lost anything on her percussion. She said that she doesn't play most of the Prince penned tunes anymore, but you could never tell that she didn't. She played A Love Bizarre, Neon Rendevous, Hold Me, Glamorous Life, etc. Her solo's on drums were astounding.
I rated her the 2nd best performance by an opening act for the week.
After her performance, we were asked to leave the building so they could repair the air conditioning. We went and partied outside, where they had an outdoor stage set up. There were give aways, and everyone stayed in a joyous mood. After an hour, we were let back inside, where Prince was already performing. He apologized for the problem, and apologized to Sheila, saying she showed her professionalism that night. He kept saying that he was going to make it up to us....that we were going to the movies, on him. yeah, whatever. He played for about an hour, the highlight was when Sheila came back on stage and sung, You've Got a Friend, the James Taylor song, with him. He dedicated it to her for her loyalty. Very emotional moment. Understand, that i've always felt that they belong together, have a sort of vibe about them that only 2 musicians can share. They've both went seperate ways, but it was very nice to see them still performing together, and very satisfiying to me that they are still best of friends. After the encore, Prince told us to follow his white limo to the cinemas.
What?? Is he serious? So, at 2:30 am, on a Sat night, which Paisley had dubbed , Pajama party night, we all drove to Chanhassen cinema, which is only about 5mins away, and watched "Minority Report", with Tom Cruise. Prince rented out 4 of the theatres, and sat in one of them to watch the movie with us. The movie let out around 5am.....and we were off to sleep. What a night!!

Day 3, June 23, 2002
Opening Act: Victor Wooten (8:15pm-10:30pm)
Prince:(11:25pm-12:40pm)
setlist: Days Of Wild (w/ Larry Graham)
The Jam (w/ Larry Graham)
Dolphin
Sign O' The Times
The Work, Pt. 1
Paisley Park
Renato's Keyboard Solo
Peach/ "It Ain't Ova" jam w/ Damon Dickson

Tavis Smiley, whom i had met the previous day, lead a group discussion on record company practices, racial inharmonies, and various other topics in an open forum. Very interesting, and i'm glad i attended that during the day. As we arrived, the room was somewhat filled, so we scooted along the back wall to get a better view. I made my way to the soundboard panel of the room, and quickly looked to my right, there was Prince, decked out in a very nice, custom made, as all of his clothes are, purple suit. He was standing only about 5 ft from me! I didn't dare say anything to him, but rather listened to the discussion, and snuck a few glances his way. He was with his wife, Mani, who is just as small as he is. She is very beautiful, the pictures that ive seen of her do her no justice. She is 24, he is 44.....hmmmm.
Victor Wooten, was VERY good. I'm starting to see that Prince has very good taste in talent. The band, which consists of Regi Wooten, and another brother, plus a solid, and funny, drummer, is great. They play funk, and cover hendrixs and Black Sabbath. Imagine, Ozzy being played at Paisley! I would definately recommend this band. Victor plays bass, and Regi plays lead guitar, both have a unique style. I rated this band 3rd best of the week. Check out "Hormones in The Headphones" if u can.
Prince took his cue from the Wootens, and brought out some of the funkiest funk that he's done in awhile. He brought out the band from the back of the concert hall , and worked they're way to the stage. The audience had to break away, to form a lane, and i happened to be at the front of the line. Cool, once again, Prince was only mere ft from me! Day's Of Wild made my day! Prince doesn't curse anymore, because he says that children often come to his shows now. I was impressed with his reworking of that song. As U may know, Day's Of Wild is not, by any means, a tame song. Another Great Nite!

Day 4, June 24, 2002
Opening Act: Norah Jones (8pm-9:15pm)
Prince: set 1 (9:45pm-10:45pm) set 2 (10:55-11:40pm)
setlist: set 1 (Acoustic, Just Prince)
Don't Play Me
Whole Lotta Love ( Led Zepplin cover)
7
Tangerine
A Case Of You
Pink Cashmere
One Kiss At A Time
Atphabet St./Beverly Hillbillies theme
Girls & Boys
Motherless Child (cover)
The Truth
"Guitar Playin man" Jam
The Other Side Of The Pillow
She Loves Me 4 Me
Peach/ "It ain't Ova" chant
Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do
Forever In My Life
Last December
Set 2 (plugged, w/ Band)
A Train/Strollin'(Instrumental)
How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?
Diamonds & Pearls
The Beautiful Ones
Free
Starfish and Coffee
Sometimes It Snows In April
I love U, But I Don't Trust U Anymore
Prince and The Band (New Song!)
Xenophobia/"Bustin' Loose" chant

Norah Jones is sweet. Apparently, she's a young songwriter who plays piano and has a soothing voice. Somewhat country, with a little blues and soft rock. Her and her band played a short, but very good set. She seemed a bit in awe of playing at Paisley, mentioning it a couple of times. Shes doing very well on the charts, and i expect great things from her. I rated her 5th best of the week.
Prince, oh my god! Finally, an acoustic set from the man. He went on for an hour by himself.....all at once funny, singing and playing perfectly. If Xenophobia is released, this is the one you want to see! They taped the last 5 days, so i'm hoping they release it soon.
The thing that left a great impression on me was the level of loyalty, and party-hardy fans that Prince has. After the concert, we headed for the booked hotel, and had a karoke night, all Prince songs of course. What a blast! Fans from all over the world traveled to MN this week. I met ppl from Holland, Spain, Denmark, Japan, Canada, Sweden.....what a treat!

Day 5, June 25, 2002
Opening Act: Bernard Allison (8:15pm-9:20pm)
Prince: (10:30pm-12:25am)
setlist: Prince guitar solo
Bambi
Whole Lotta Love( Led Zepplin cover)
Something In The Water(Does Not Compute)
The Question Of U
The One
Jazz Jam
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Ain't No Sunshine (Bill Wither's cover)
She's Always In My Hair
The Ride
Alphabet St.
Blues Jam
Elephants & Flowers
All The Critics Love U In New York
Beautiful Strange
Calhoun Square( Encore )

We took this opportunity to head to Minneapolis and check out First Avenue, the club where Prince filmed Purple Rain. We snapped plenty of pictures, and even got to go inside First Ave. The club is legendary for the performers who have played there. We had lunch downtown, which, by the way, was sprawling with ppl, at 1pm on a weekday. Detroit could learn a lesson from MPLS. We then headed for the mall of america.....HUGE, insanely so. Bernard Allison was great. He's a young guitarist, now residing in MN, who brings to mind Hendrix's playing. He's totally blues, and wails on his guitar. He is known for his playing of the 'steel guitar'. He did a couple of Hendrix's covers. During one of his solos, he played while walking down the aisles, making his way back to the Prince sofa. Prince, funny as ever, picked up a bottled water, and splashed him down, then took his towel, and fanned Bernard, implying that he was just too hot!
Bernard's bass player had a solo, afterwhich, he shouted, off the mic, "U SEXY MOTHERFUCKER!", not cool, considering that Prince doesn't allow any cursing at his place, and that there were kids in the front rows. I rated Bernard Allison 4th best of the week.
Prince, having a laid-back show the previous night, went full guns this night! This was his ROCK/BLUES show. My nite was made from the start, with BAMBI being played in full. Prince has been known to cut off songs, and not give full versions during his concerts. Full versions of songs was just another treat for those who attended. ICNTTPOYM was totally reworked, played at half speed, and given a noticably bluesy flavor.

Day 6, June 26, 2002
Opening Act: Musiq Soulchild (8:30pm-9:40pm)
Prince: (10:50pm-1:25am)
setlist: The Rainbow Children
Muse 2 The Pharaoh
Money Don't Matter 2night
Xenophobia
A Case Of You
Mellow
1+1+1=3
The Other Side Of The Pillow
Strange Relationship
Sing A Simple Song (w/Larry Graham)
La, La, La Means I Love You
Didn't Cha Know
When You Were Mine
Avalanche
Family Name
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
The Everlasting Now
Day's Of Wild/"Soul Child" jam w/ Musiq (Encore)

Where do i start? Musiq Soulchild, while an addiquite singer, didn't blow me away. First off, he doesn't play any instruments, which is fine, but compared to the other performers of the week, he was a couple steps behind. He's a young man, and still has to work on his stage presence.....just being onstage, with a cool outfit doesn't cut it. The energy of the crowd wasn't right, and i blame it on his show.
When Prince came on, he explained that Musiq is a young man, who doesn't follow his peers, by cursing or rapping, but instead does old school R&B. Ok, that's cool with me, but still, the show was weak...i rated him 7th of 7 performers for the week.
Prince once again played his One Nite Alone show. The story was that they didn't get a chance to get it on film before, and this was more than likely going to be the last time that they played that show. So, we get the ONA show .....again. Eric Leeds, Prince's sax player during his SOTT era, joined him on stage, as did Najee. The show, muscianship wise, wasn't a disappointment, just the fact that we had seen it already this week. The first nite was understandable, because alot of the european crowd didn't get a chance to see it. Anyways, the show ended on a high note, with Days' Of Wild

Day 7, June 27, 2002
Opening Act: Rachelle Ferrelle (9:15pm-11:30pm)
Prince: (12:05am-2:10am)
setlist:Najee Flute Solo
One Nite Alone
Adore
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Do Me, Baby
Condition Of The Heart
U're Gonna C Me
Empty Room
How Come U Don't Call Me, Anymore?
Nothing Compares 2 U
Speech
Shake!/AUTOmatic/ Shake!
Manic Monday (sung by audience member Connie)
Soul Sanctuary
God/ w/Kip Blackshire, Musiq, and Rachelle Ferrelle
Last Decemeber
Purple Rain (Encore)
Anna Stesia (Encore)
"Party till the sun comes up" jam

Rachelle Ferrelle.....If you get a chance to see her live, take it! She's rated #1 of all performers this week, in my opinion. Her show was enlightening, she has a wonderful voice, full of many sounds that eminate from her soul. She was full of the spirit, and it came across in her performance. She broke the audience members down into 3 sections, and had each section sing they're own line....she kept it going for 15 mins or so. This was my first exposure to her. She's known as a jazz vocalist, but is so much more....excellent show.
Prince, came out in a white outfit, with a looooong train following him. I'm surprised he didn't trip over it all night.
At one point, he announced that it was karoke night at Paisley, and asked who could sing. He called Connie out of the audience, and told her that he was gonna play a song, any song, and she would have to sing. Cool? cool. He then played the opening keyboard part of Manic Monday. He had his book opened up for Connie to help her with the lyrics, but she turned it down. She killed it, and a very impressed Prince gave her his own ovation. Empty Room is an unreleased gem that the crowd went nuts for. Anna Stesia is a very spiritual song, with the chrous asking everyone to sing, "Love is God, God is Love, Girls and Boys love God Above" It all fit into the perfect show to close the week. I left feeling refreshed, even after an exhausting week!

These were just the shows that i recapped....there was so much more to the experience. The purple friends that i met were great. Prince offered a workshop given by various musicians most days of the week. Those usually went on from 2-4pm, at which time the place was emptied to get ready for the shows. They had outdoor volleyball set up , along with a couple of roll away hoops, and food and drink stands.
After the concerts, a DJ would spin Prince jams, remixes, till 4am. Then it was time to party in the hotel rooms! The last day, there was a BBQ orgainized by some San Fransisco fans...about 50 ppl showed up and it was a blast.
I remember waiting in line for one concert, and I see a purple Prowler pull out of the gate. Prince drives by, with the top down, as the crowd goes nuts. During one of his long jams, Prince asked us if we wanted a copy of his jam, we of course said YES!, he said, "Cool, i'll slip it to u". The next day we were handed a CD single of the Days Of Wild live in Montreal song. Just soooo many stories. Thanks for taking the time to read One Fans Paisley Experience.

I wish he would do the celebrations again .... unless he is really sick of us. I heard some fans were behaving badly during the celebrations..

I never made it to Minnesota until 2001. I looked in the front window...no one was there.

All I ever wonder when I see this place on the internet ( and I'm assuming that is the only(unfortunately) placeI will see it), how the hell does this man finance this place? It must cost a fortune

jcurley said:

I'm pretty sure it was bought and paid for when they built (something like 12 million). The upkeep must be pricey though...but, if he rents out the studio's, that would help to fray the cost.

impossible... =(