(This is a bit long... For a quick summary, go to the end, to the section: "IN SHORT:")

My wife and I -- we met in 1997 in the ppml.org Prince chat room -- really dressed up for this show in Boston tonight. She was wearing a very cool short fur skirt and colorful killer high-heel boots, and I was wearing stripy velvet pants and my tight purple long-sleeve Jean Paul Gaultier T with a big Asian dragon on the front. We were ready to party, and that's what we did.

We arrived at the Fleet Center at 7pm. It's always an exciting environment, the thousands of people walking around a venue where a concert is about to start. There were two separate windows for the fanclub will-call tickets, so the wait was not long for that at all. We were pleasantly surprised with excellent seats in section B, row 3, seats 3 and 4. Third row from the stage, at the side of the FOH (Front Of House: the setup where they mix the house sound), promised some pretty sweet closeup views of the man -- we were definitely ready now

While it took a while for the Fleet Center to fill up -- it's surprising how late a lot of people show up -- they played a variety of Prince and Prince-protege songs over the PA; a very cool and very long version of The Time's "C.O.O.L." for example. The music was being played louder and louder over time, while you could see that the security got more active and nervous at one point.

That's when the music suddenly stopped. The house lights were still on for about 5 minutes and nothing happened while the crowd cheered. It became dark, the Alecia Keys video intro came on (which we couldn't see, since we were so close to the stage), and the band members took their positions on the dark stage.

John Blackwell pounded his snare drum, and "Musicology" was on its way in full force. Nice! Prince rose up from the center of the stage and he walked straight to our side of the stage and gave us all a big warm grin. He looked great. He looked healthy and happy and in the mood for a good show. That first moment in the concert, where you see Prince closeup, is always one of the most exciting moments.

"Shhh" was incredible. What a great live song that is, and what an great moment to see John Blackwell's insane control of the drum kit. It's truly unbelievable what that guy can do. He's a busy man, during the various Purple Rain-era songs especially you could see how within the beat he added various accents via the two electronic pads that were part of his kit. He's an athlete, the way he swings his arms and twirls the sticks!

"D.M.S.R." has a great synth+beat sound in the live version. Extremely danceable. I love the bits of Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" in it as well -- really does sound very good. During this song, Prince accepted a huge bouquet of flowers from someone in the audience in the NPGMC section.

At some point, Prince spotted a girl in the audience (outside the NPGMC section) wearing a purple boa. He pointed it out and she was excitedly waving it around, while Prince said something like: "Oh, that's going waaay back!"

Everybody on stage looked great. Rhonda is a babe in my opinion, and she's even sexier the way she controls the bass as if it's no effort at all. She was wearing a mostly black outfit, with one red sleeve or something. Candy Dulfer looked very good as well. It was great to see her again. Her blonde hair was nicely styled into a bigger do, and she looked fit. I should have brought a Dutch flag to hold up for her Maybe I'll get one for one of the other shows...

Somewhere during the first set of songs, there was a little discussion on stage between Prince and his band about the dress-code being "black with a splash of red". I assume he did the same during other shows? Basically, all band members were wearing mostly black outfits at that point, with an accent of red somewhere -- Rhonda having one red sleeve/glove of some sort, for example. However, when Mike Scott was doing his guitar solo in the spot light, Prince practically stopped the band and questioned Mike's outfit.

This was all a big act of course, but hilarious nonetheless: he asked Rhonda what the dress code was a again. "Black with a splash of red." Right, but Mike Scott was wearing a red outfit head-to-toe, including a big red hat. "And look at those feathers", Prince said, touching Mike's outfit. He wrapped it up with "Old pimps die hard."

Right at that point though, this girl from the audience got on stage -- and remember, this was early on in the show. She was the only one, had a smile from ear to ear and was dancing her heart out, looking great in her... RED shirt and BLACK pants Spot light and all eyes were on her for a good while. You go, girl!

After the show I ran into one of the girls that got on stage during the last bit of the show: she was wearing red (nicely tight!) pants and a black top. She thought she was picked because of her outfit as well. So, if there's any truth to this: try wearing black with a splash of red

"Controversy" was combined with "A Love Bizarre", not with "Housequake" unfortunately, which is one of my favorites songs of all time.

Renato's piano interlude was a bit too... I-dunno... for me, but it gave my wife a chance to sit down and rest her feet a bit Maceo's rendition of "It's a Wonderful World" was wonderful. It was nice to hear Renato play "Sometimes It Snows In April" -- I sang the lyrics on top of what he was playing, but I was the only one as far as I could hear. In HOLLAND however, I know that everybody would sing the lyrics of that song at that point -- how cool that must sound!

For his 12-song acoustic set, Prince came up in an all-red outfit. Also, he was NOT wearing his high heels. He was wearing slightly bulky looking wedge-shaped shoes -- not his best look, but refreshing nonetheless

I loved watching Prince play just the acoustic guitar. He seemed just so relaxed and happy. It was my first time hearing "Prince and the Band", and I loved it. He started it off with some human beat boxing, and the song itself is quite catchy. Also loved "Sweet Thing" and "Black Sweat" very much. A nice surprise was the second to last acoustic song: The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" -- great song to sing along to. Prince has great rhythm in his guitar play and it came out very well in this acoustic set.

I think Boston did a great job of singing along. At least where I was sitting, I didn't hear anybody sing out of tune, and I have *never* experienced that in the previous two dozen Prince shows I have seen. I was proud of us I think Prince was too -- he mentioned something, can't remember exactly what.

I loved the moment where the full band kicks in again on "7" -- it gives that song the power it deserves. Hearing "Pop Life" and "Sign of the Times" right after that were highlights of the show for me. Love those songs, especially live.

Prince guitar tech guy is great: he's always right on cue with delivering the next guitar or walking over to pick one up. Very smooth. Well-trained The light-blue Fender Stratocaster was brought on stage. Prince was going to TEAR IT UP YO!! In a "Whole Lotta Love" there was some very cool guitar work. Yeah!!! Absolutely loved this song. Gave us all lots of energy and the band was tight! The song ended with the most interesting guitar solo I have ever seen. Hint: my handle is looknohands. Prince played a solo on his guitar WITHOUT TOUCHING IT! This was great: he'd put his guitar flat on the floor on one of the catwalks, letting it reverb in all the noise that was going on. He then walked back to the middle of the stage and starting changing the sound in various ways by playing with his guitar pedals with his right foot. This was truly cool! He did some neat stuff there. To finish the solo, he was given a white cloth (again from his well-trained guitar-tech) which he then draped over the string to stop their ringing.

"Let's Work" featured Prince on bass! I have to tell you something: there is not much in this world that gives me more physical pleasure than seeing Prince playing the bass. He's so damn good at it... He was definitely enjoying this bit and showing off his skills. At the start of it though, it sounded to me like the sound mix of Prince's bass wasn't perfect: sounded a bit unclear, but that was quickly fixed, ultimately doing the man justice.

"U Got the Look": very nice. I think this was the song where to my surprise about a dozen girls from the audience came on stage, but without me or my wife! Good for them though All girls looked great and most of them were good dancers too.

"Life of the Party": I don't know about this song. I honestly can't say I like it. It just sounds so derivative. I much rather would have heard "Dear Mr Man" (which is my favorite song from Musicology -- still).

"Soul Man", "Kiss", the party kept going with the stage filled with happy, good looking girls Beautiful sight. I think they let a few more on over time. In the end I counted at least 15 girls on stage. At some point, one guy was let on stage: he was wearing the "Rave in2 the Joy Fantastic" shiny blue outfit, from head to toe, standing on a pair of big silver platform shoes. Prince was also impressed by this guy's funkiness The guy could dance too -- he had the moves and the energy Very happy for him, that was cool.

What was weird was that Prince pushed some of the girls out of the way a few times. We saw it clearly at our end of the stage, when he brought Maceo and the other male horn player over: he pushed a girl back so these guys could get closer to the end of the stage. Also, when he came over with another girl to have her sing a line in the mic, he tapped another girl on the shoulder and hinted to step back. The clearest example was in the center of the stage: Candy started her sax solo and there was this girl from the audience who happened to be standing in the very center of the stage. Prince kind of clumsily pushed her back away from that area to give more room to Candy. The poor girl didn't really understand why he did that to her I think. A funny moment occurred when Prince had finished singing "Take Me With U" (I believe) and then tossed his mic with a big throw towards his well-trained tech guy (who'd be there presumably to catch it perfectly) -- a girl in a blue dress was right underneath the flight-path of the mic and in a reflex she reached way up in an attempt to intercept it. She barely missed it Prince saw this, pointed at her and gave her a big grin

At the end of "Take Me With U" I loved seeing John Blackwell play the beat of "777-9311". I bought his DVD after the show. It was only US$30, while in a local music store here it's being sold for 50. I was planning on buying it, so I am glad I hadn't yet.

"Take Me With U" ended at 10:52pm. It remained dark and there was purple moving light. An encore was sure to come. We saw Prince's mic stand come up in the center, stay there for a while, and then go down again. The band started playing "Purple Rain", Prince came up, he sang one chorus, and then went through various Purple Rain guitar solo routines. All very good, but also all very familiar I'm sorry to say. While he's really amazing all the time, and here too, it didn't blow me away as it has had many times in the past. It felt like he went through the routine but had his mind already with his hotel room and warm bed What was totally amazing though, was that everybody in the audience sang the "oooh-hoo-hoo-hoo!" bits totally IN TUNE!!! Wow, fantastic!

The song ended and Prince went along all four catwalk portions of the stage to bow for the audience. After that he was rolled away from the stage in the black box.

IN SHORT:

My wife and I, and everybody else in Boston, had a great time tonight. The music was great, the band was tight, and Prince looked great and smiled a lot. However, there weren't really any surprises in the set list (how cool would it have been if he played "Bambi" or "I'm Yours" or had taken the keyboard for an unexpected "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore"?), and I missed the show elements that were always so prominent in his earlier tours: especially those really interesting audience-teasing bits (remember "The Electric Man"-portion of the Nude Tour shows, for example). I also thought he didn't interact with the audience as much as I have seen him do on days when he is really ON! Again, it was a good show, but just in those aspects this show just felt a little more 'routine' than 'spontaneous'. The Purple Rain solo was good, for example, but it wasn't anywhere near as exhilirating as I have seen on his birthday concert in 1990 in Hamburg for example, where he did the freakiest stuff in a 20-min Purple Rain version (I think it was that show, anyway -- might have mixed it up). Maybe I am spoiled, but that's how it came across for me.

Prince asked us tonight: "Boston, you have been waiting for this a long time, haven't you?" He didn't come to Boston with his amazing ONA tour, and I still want him to make up for it! Prove it to me tomorrow, Prince

With love,

- Erik
[This message was edited Wed Aug 18 7:43:58 2004 by vanderneut]

Wonderful report...I just lived the whole night again! So many things I forgotten already or just didn't pick up on during the show because I was so estatic! Thanks

And I agree, Purple Rain didn't blow me away like it has in the past. But my friend had goose bumps the whole show and that made me happy. She had never seen him before.

Yes, the "old pimp" act is pretty much a part of the set. It's still cute, though.

This show kicked ass for me. Not only did I not get off my feet, I didn't stop dancing. I was actually glad he didn't slow it down with many ballads. I wasn't about to sit down, and in high-heel boots like I was wearing, standing there is much worse than dancing. I shook my ass for almost three hours, and now I feel hung-over!

Great re-cap, vanderneut. And yes, Rhonda looked hot as usual. Oh my God, when she came over to our part of the stage, I could have died. The woman is so goddamn gorgeous and talented, and I hadn't noticed before, but she's got some seriously sexy legs. She had on red boots under these black lace leggings.....all I can say is, damn.

Rhonda is such a badass. Seriously...the girl has attitude and can PLAY. And I loved how she just kicked back and relaxed on the cushions and played....she is the WOMAN!



edit schmedit
[This message was edited Wed Aug 18 8:17:00 2004 by CarrieLee]

CarrieLee said:

I think he had to cut a few songs cause he went on late. The pearls came down for a slow song, then went up and he came up and did Purple Rain. And he rushed the intro becauee curfew is at 11pm. I think tonight if he starts sooner, there will be more songs and he wont rush Purple Rain..


how cool would it be to do Purple Rain and father's Song on piano for the closer?

DMSR said:

Oh man...I'm not reading any reports from tonights show or tomorrow nights...cuz I think they're gonna be better.

where are they selling that DVD for $50? If you are in Boston you can find that DVD for $14.99 at Newbury Comics and Virgin Records. Ebay for $10
Mark

mkaye8 said:

At Daddy's Music, across from Berklee on Mass Ave. I didn't think of checking Newbury Comics. Thanks for the tip though

- Erik

CarrieLee said:

Ah, I was wondering what those cushions were. I could see her kicking them around, but couldn't figure out what they were. You and DMSR were sitting on that side of the stage right? I remember seeing a guy there with a cool (and new-) looking 1999 Tour T-Shirt on when my wife and I made the rounds to check out the crowd.

We were sitting in section B, on the opposite side.

- Erik

vanderneut said:

I was in section C so I was near you. I was wearing a black outfit and I have brown hair and blonde bangs... my friend covered in tattoos. I could see Rhonda chillin on the other side though!

I have to agree that the show was a little routine. I saw ONA in NYC, which is one of the best performances I have ever seen in my life (according to posts on the .org, others agree) and I was hoping for something as inspired as that. The show was still terrific, it just lacked something. Leaving the Fleet, I gave the show a B. I hope that you are right and that tonight's show is better.

I also think the crowd can do better. In my section we were singing along to every song,some of us had the wrong words and many of us could not keep up with Prince's pace, but we were trying. However, folks sitting two rows behind us were just standing there, waiting for songs that they knew (considering the set list, just about every third song should be known to even the most casual of Prince fans). The noise level was much lower than I expected. Maybe everyone knew that there was going to be an encore, but there was not much noise prior to Prince coming out for Purple Rain. I could definitely image a scenario where he decided that enough was enough and didn't play the finale.

How many of the people here are local to Boston? I have been trying to connect with Prince fans in the area for over a year, but our meetup.com meetings keep getting cancelled and I don't get many replies to my occassional posts looking for signs of life.

I'm local to Boston -- living in the Kendall Square area in Cambridge now. I'd love to connect with some local Prince fans as well -- the more fanatic the better, haha

I'm thinking of hosting a party when the new Widescreen Enhanced Prince DVDs come out later this month. I have a pretty nice home theater setup, with a 16x9 format screen of about 100" diagonal, so I'd love to throw a viewing party at my place. We have a little loft, and can easily have a dozen or more people over for this.

If I can find some of you tonight or tomorrow night, I'll ask you in person

- Erik

vanderneut said:

I'm in, let me know. I live on north shore, but I'm in the city every weekend and used to be a Davis Square resident!

In case anybody reads this before heading to the Fleet Center: tonight I'll be wearing black/white zebra pants with a light-blue belt and a purple T-shirt

CarrieLee said:

At MCI Center in DC last week, P threw down the first night, tore the roof off said sucker the second, and finally dropped the bomb on Saturday (apropos in Trouble Funk's backyard). The funky freshness DEFinitely escalated over the three night stand. Enjoy watching the buildup...I'm already jealous!
[This message was edited Wed Aug 18 16:28:05 2004 by ALLMACK]

POTUS said:

Yes!!!the NYC show was fantastic!!!!on the 2nd night 7/13 there were no special guests but on 7/14 we had the TIME and SHEILA E. The TIME came on at 7:30pm while the audience was still coming in...but it was great!!!!....Lenny Kravitz, Chris Rock and PDIDDY was in the audience on 7/14..I don't know if anyone has any pics of any of the celebrities that were there but it would be nice to see how they were enjoying the concert as well as others...I also heard that JAYZ and MARY J Blige was there on one of those nights...I saw PDIDDY and his sidekick Farnsworth clapping and dancing with the audience when PRINCE was performing...anyway...just thought I would fill you in on that...you just never know who is going to show up at the NY shows!!!!!anyway enjoy the concert!!!!!

CarrieLee said:

We started walking around to look for you, but the while the place was still pretty empty at that point the support act kicked in and we went back to our seats. Where were you sitting last night?

Could you see Prince chilin' in those pillows this time?

- Erik

vanderneut said:

The support act? On Aug. 17th? Was I at a different show?