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Review: Audience has to move to Prince's music


By A. TACUMA ROEBACK
Staff Writer

Thousands of people had no choice but to swivel their hips and bob their heads last night at Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Prince concerts have a way of forcing you to move. The same could be said at last night's remarkable event.

The diminutive funk master proved, once and for all, a little axiom that only applies to him and a few great entertainers: If they don't force you to party, then you probably don't have a pulse.

Prince gave a generous number of golden musical moments. The sounds from him and his exceptional band varied from the slinky, organic grooves of the new-school Musicology to the acoustic revivals of past pop hits like Little Red Corvette.

The pop superstar went on a little after 8 p.m. and delivered a final eulogy to all party-pooping wallflowers.

''I don't know what you heard, but you're about to spend the best night of your life,'' Prince declared.

Dressed in a swank, urbane white cowboy suit, leather fringe and all, Prince took up residence on that stage. In other words, he rocked it so hard that he could've had the audience paying rent by the time the night was over.

Precious moments included the aforementioned suite of acoustic hits. Synth-driven anthems like Alphabet Street were rendered into brittle pieces of blues and folk music.

The smash U Got The Look was dressed up in muscular rock. It was more metal than melody, and that was a bit of a downer. But it worked anyway.

A star like Prince, who possesses a massive catalog, easily could've sat back and churned out his hits one by one, effortlessly. But that would've been too lazy of him. Instead he takes bits and pieces of music from the ''pop stars of now'' and incorporates it into his set. There was his band's redux of the famous chorus from the Beyonce smash Crazy In Love.

It's here that homeboy did his own version of the Beyonce booty dance.

He incorporated Outkast's smash hit The Way You Move as he urged members of the audience to dance with him on stage.

The height of the evening was when a few folks, including a notable musical giant, joined Prince onstage to dance.

Prince and his band the New Power Generation launched into a brilliant cover of Sam & Dave's R&B classic Soul Man. The forceful horns propelled the jam and George Clinton, Mr. Funk himself, danced all over the four-tiered stage. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the grandmother who hopped on stage and put on a dancing clinic.

The dazzling light show that accompanied the music was another plus. Faces of this near-capacity crowd were bathed in purple, yellow and warm red lights.

White confetti and purple ribbons streamed down as young girls stared up at the big-screen projector. Some looked at the stage with wistful eyes. Most were just bobbing their heads and moving their bodies.

Best night of our lives? I don't know, Mr. Prince, that's a strong statement. But you went a long way to deliver on that promise.

I was there and all I can say is that I danced from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. straight. Oh my god...Thank you Prince! Aftershow was S L A M M I N....Maceo...Renato...Rhonda....John....on and on til the near break of dawn..... Ya'll just gonna have to go see him...if you'd like me to share any highlights feel free to ask, but AHHH I'm still trying to come back to Earth.....

My wife and I were there last night and Prince ROCKED Nashville to the core last night.

This performance was my favorite of the 6 other times I have seen Prince including the Memphis Lovesexy 88 performance.

The NPGMC also came through with front row stage seats .Very Pleased with the NPGMC.

All kinds of country music folks were there too. We had better seats than Amy Grant and Vince Gill who sat several rows away.They were all rocking by the end of the night .


AWESOME performance people !!!!

For the ladies, Prince was wearing a white suit with fringes open at neck. Lookin so fine..
The show was awesome. we had front row. Thanks 2 NPGMC.....
And I would be remissed if I didn't comment on the swanky grandmother onstage. Well there was 2 of them, but only 1 brave one. she jumped up onstage.... And I saw her grabbin/Huggin all over George Clinton. I am sure that was the best nite of her life..... Thanks Prince..... Baby... U got the look Come to Louisville