Ok I got in a little after 4:30 a.m. after the aftershow at the World ended, so my memory is quite foggy, but here's what I can remember:

New York City has been overlooked for 4 years now, and it was well worth the wait. So was the wait in lines! LOL. Whew, I must say that going to see Prince takes about as much energy and stamina as it must for Prince to put on the kind of show he does.


Soundcheck:

I got there at 12 noon, by which time there were about 25 people in line. Someone had started a list, where folks put down their names + 1 guest, so I guess I was number 50 which wasn't so bad. The first person--shoutout to .ORGer FrankieBones--got there 'round 8 a.m.! (Such dedication. You go!)

The weather held up for the most part, and most folks were respectful of the list that the line had started, with minimal or little cutting. I didn't see or recognize any other .ORGers, other than getwild007. Most people were pretty cool, just talking and laughing, while we vigilantly were on the look-out for Divinity

Luckily took some work with me, and got lots done while waiting. We had folks volunteering to make food & beverage runs, and the atmosphere was overall festive.

At about 5 p.m., they started letting us in little at a time into the Hall. Pretty much an orderly situation from where I was. The venue security had the list that we had put together, which had gone up to about 70 (+1 each), but he had counted off about 350 people by 5 p.m., so not everyone did the list thing. When we got into the venue, there was an incident of someone who had JUST ARRIVED cutting in front of the line and the security used the list we had made up as the basis upon which to excuse her--a small victory.

So far again everything was pretty orderly as long as it was one line. They then let us in, by twos, to pick up our laminate (bring your own lanyard string, otherwise it's $5) and get a wristband.

Once upstairs, order broke down. Apparently the ushers and security people were not on the same page, because there were four lines forming in front of four different entries, so the order that existed during the line up was pretty much moot. Then what happened next threw it all out the window. One of the ushers prematurely opened her door and started to let people in, while the "official" first line had the security who was trying to go by the list that we had made up... but people had already started going in and folks just opened up the doors and bumrushed in.

Prince must've seen the bumrush, so he said something to the effect of "calm down" "take your time." And told that story about how orderly and disciplined the Japanese were when he went there... and how they even gave back the tambourines that were on their seats at the concert because they knew it didn't belong to them. Basically it was a commentary on how we have a tendency to take things for granted and disrespect other people's property here. (As an aside, had this portion--entry into the concert auditorium been handled--like everything UP TO that point, it would have gone smoother.)

Because the NY crowd was so large... we pretty much filled all 15 rows (including the side sections) which I think is about 600 or sow seats at Avery Fisher, it was not as intimate as some of the cities where fewer members attended. So we pretty much just got a soundcheck of performances with Prince cracking jokes throughout. (We had someone yell out "Are you married?" but the rest of us groaned and drowned her out.)

At the Soundcheck, were Renato Neto, John Blackwell, Maceo Parker, Greg Boyer, and Candy Dulfer. I'm not good with set lists, but the highlights in no particular order:

Began around 6 p.m. and ended around 7:15 p.m.

The Ride (with changed up lyrics)
4 the Tears in Your Eyes (with different music)
Alphabet St. (faster version, with the tempo like that remix circulating)
Joy in Repetition (Prince just on vocals)
Extraordinary (with Prince teaching Candy her sax lines)

After the soundcheck, Prince and band left to prepare and they started letting in the rest of the crowd. The seats we had, we pretty much kept by taking turns or by having the folks next to us hold them, so that wasn't a problem.

The Concert started around 8:15 p.m. and ended about 11:00 p.m.

Band: everybody but Candy; Q-Tip guested for a bit (a very small bit) and Larry Graham for the Sly cover (funny story: when Larry and Tine got on stage during that portion, the security at Lincoln jumped up to escort them off until Greg Boyer had to tell them that they were authorized to do that... we were laughing our behinds off at that one. Security was on HIS job LOL)

Highlights for me in no particular order:

The Rainbow Children (amazing guitar work)
Xenophobia (very trippy jazz with images of people going through search procedures in airports)
Muse 2 the Pharoah
Mellow
1+1+1 is 3 into Rollercoaster
Strange Relationship into Pass the Peas
Avalanche (the Abraham Lincoln song--a very beautiful moving song, that has the tone and "feeling" of an old spiritual, what W. E. B. Du Bois called the "Sorrow Songs")
When You Were Mine (the guitar RIPPED and it was the FULL song with bridge and everything!)
Take Me With You and Raspberry Beret (again the full song with bridge and everything!)

Piano Medley (again no particular order):

Adore (amazing falsetto)
Nothing Compares 2 U
Do Me Baby (added on edit, just remembered this one)
The Beautiful Ones
Purple Rain (which he said he wasn't going to do initially, but felt NY needed to hear it for healing from 9/11)
Sometimes It Snows In April
A Condition of the Heart

Anna Stesia in two parts

Aftershow:

The aftershow was at The World (downstairs from WWF in Times Square) which is where George Clinton had played earlier that night.

We got there at around 11:30 p.m. and there was a sizable line. The bouncers at the World were pretty rude and unhelpful and had great difficulty trying to decide how to handle the members/non members thing. They said that they initially had two lines but "people messed it up." I doubt it, cuz they had us standing inside the stantions, outside the stantions, form two lines, then just let us all come through. Really stupid.

The cover charge was $40 for non members, but free for members.

This was a long wait. I think here is where a lot of folks maybe decided it wasn't worth it. But for those who held on and endured til the 2 a.m. entry, it was well worth it.

Again this isn't a set list, only my highlights:

Just Friends (Sunny) with Prince on keys and then guitar, ?uestLove on drums, Musiq Soulchild on vocals, and Candy on sax (very nice when Musiq started vocal dueling with Candy on sax and Prince on guitar)
7779311 Prince on bass (Alicia came out and riffed but didn't know the lyrics to that one) (added on edit; just remembered)
How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore with Prince on keys, Alicia Keys on vocals and keys
The Ballad of Dorothy Parker with Prince on keys and vocals, Alicia Keys on keys (it was just really cute how she kept looking over his shoulder to see what keys to play), Renato on keys (took over from Prince)
Joy in Repetition amazing guitar playing just amazing!
Everlasting Now just an amazing jam

Off an on band members/guests included:

John Blackwell on drums
Ahmir ?uestLove Thompson guesting on drums
Maceo Parker on sax
Greg Boyer on trombone
Candy Dulfer on sax
Rhonda Smith on bass
Larry Graham alternating with Rhonda on bass
Musiq Soulchild guesting on vocals
Alicia Keys guesting on vocals and keys
George Clinton guesting on vocals
Doug E. Fresh guesting on vocals and beat box (pretty nice duel between him and Blackwell)

That's all I remember.

Great shows all three of them. Well worth the $150. And well worth the 16 hours I spent (12 noon Tuesday to 4 a.m. Wednesday).

One last note on Renato: this man approaches his keys like a lab scientist... he's like the 21st century Dr. Fink cuz he was SO into those keys, I mean he put his WHOLE body into playing... hunched over like he got something cookin.

This is a really impressive band. The best I've seen... stripped down set, no theatrics, just music. And Prince couldn't have been happier.
[This message was edited Wed Apr 10 10:15:02 PDT 2002 by NuPwrSoul]
[This message was edited Wed Apr 10 10:33:29 PDT 2002 by NuPwrSoul]
[This message was edited Wed Apr 10 10:51:03 PDT 2002 by NuPwrSoul]

that was the best show and i am glad i joined the club i;ll do it again in june!aint no party like a npg party peace need some serious sleep.

Of all shows, why did i decide to miss this one!!!! Man, I give up!!!!! I am resigning as a Prince fam!
[This message was edited Wed Apr 10 10:27:09 PDT 2002 by SummerRain]

HE RULES!!
UNBELIEVABLE!!
That was the most incredible marathon of a night!!!

Peace and Love to all!!!

Very impressive report. Sorry U had such a long wait during the aftershow. But with 350+ members its gonna be a long wait for sure. Atlanta members I dont think had a problem getting into the show. It was a much smaller crowd than NY by far Im sure. So it was much easier for some kind of order to be carried out. Sure the line was long to get into the club, but they saw our member badges and let us walk right in with no waiting. That was cool. I also agree with U on the fact that for the money, U got a hell of a deal once its all said and done. How often do U get to actually have an up close and personal experience with Prince. I was able to ask my questions, and tell him how much I enjoy his music. Waiting 16 years to say it, the money seemed insignificant. Thanks for sharing the report.

Thanks for the great review NuPwrSourl. very glad thing were handled well and it sounds like it was worth the wait.

Man, the Bay Area show is going to be WORK. We've probably got at least that many members here. At least a lot of us know each other, so maybe we can keep it cool.

Hope he changes the venue from Concord, though. Getting out there early Friday morning, then probably back to SF for the after show...

What am I complaining about,though? Y'all know I'll do it all.

Yeah, everything went pretty smoothly. For so many people it was handled fairly well overall. Just that one moment after we got our laminates, like NuPwrSoul said, and had to wait before getting into the soundcheck...that killed the point of the list and everything else, because it became a free for all. (And there was a little confusion before the aftershow.)

It wasnt really crowded inside the aftershow, though. There was plenty of space. There was a huge line of people behind us when we got in...I wonder if they turned people away at the door after they reached a certain capacity number?? I dont know.

Thanks for the aftershow summary. I gave my pass away to some girl who had nice eyes. Hope she enjoyed the show. Funny, but I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet - Blackwell's nod to Morris Day combing his hair in a mirror while drumming? And putting a stick in his mouth in between beats? Was that something new for NYC, or has he been doing it before?

The aftershow also included(in the audience) Chris Rock, writer Nelson George, Mos Def, oh Gary Shider from PFUNK also sang lead during one of Sly Stone's songs.
I don't think anyone should complain about his performances in NY this time around. He more that made up for everything!!!!

IrishEcho said:

He did the stick between the teeth thing in DC too.

Great report. Glad you had a great time.

Holy sweet fuck>?!>!?!?!>!?!>

THAT HAD TO HAVE BEEN THE BEST AFTERSHOW EVER. Maybe. I just hope a VIDEO of that show appears somewhere!

We need a campaign to npgmc to get a vid of that in thier retail section. You know they dubbed that joker.

It was such a great night, I can't even find the words. I'll be thinking about the "shows" for a long time. PEACE 2 ALL THE MAD KOOL PEEPLE I MET AT THE SHOW AND AT THE AFTERPARTY. ALL U GUYZ R AWESOME!

Very good report and good to hear that Candy finally joined Prince, although she didn't play at the regular concert.

I did notice the same thing in Lakeland ... and it was very subtly cool.

Dauphin said:

I doubt there is any video of the afterparty. The venue had closed circuit cameras and monitors set up around the place. When it first started the monitors were on. A song or two later, they were shut off. Presumably by the NPG.

So theres no more beef between ?uestLove and Prince anymore. I don't really no the story but I thought somewhere I read (also on the remix of Undisputed) that Prince wasn't happy with those guys about talking behind his back and what not.
Nice after party, I second the notion to get video out for it!!!
MS

Did he drop "Family Name" from this particular gig, NPS?

One word, WOW.

By the way, thanks for taking the time to write your experience all out, extremely cool!

Also, seems like Prince is showing Alicia how to be a musician before a star!

You know it would make everyone's day if they put a clip of one of these shows up on the club. Even a picture or two.

I wonder what's so hard about that?

I'm sure it's been requested about a 1000 times.

Let's all write NPGMC and ask for an MP3 download or quicktime (clip or series of clips) of these shows. I'm sure they might aim to please.

Play on now!

Get rid of doug.e!

hes done a lot for hip hop but that was not his place up there!

no more rapping in princes shows please!

The show sure was tight. Unfortunely I missed the Alicia Keys part since my friend had to work the next day. Family Name was included for the person who asked btw...

Supernova said:

He did do "Family Name". (NPS stated above that he's just listing the highlights of what he enjoyed most...not a set list.)

yamomma said:[quote]You know it would make everyone's day if they put a clip of one of these shows up on the club. Even a picture or two.

quote]

I'm sure pictures are coming soon. There was a photographer there at the concert and aftershow. He must have snapped a thousand photos.

Crikey - FRESH report, NuPwr. P-Dogg throo down in DC but it sounds like he throo down, up, this-a-way-n-that for the NYC kroo...

who needs the "big city" hassle..people are shitty,pushy assholes..but you DID get the CREAM aftershow..THAT I would have wanted to see..the Lakeland Show Legend grows..lol

.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 19 5:37:33 PDT 2002 by luvy]

NuPwrSoul said:

Are you gay?