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Prince's unpredictability is no surprise

By Ricardo Baca
Denver Post Pop Music Critic


Special





"You are about to witness the tightest show of your life."
That's how Prince kicked off the first Philadelphia date of his current Musicology tour.

"This is real music," he told a packed Los Angeles arena. "By real musicians!"

In Boston, Prince played for nearly two hours and 30 minutes.

Prince plays the Pepsi Center tonight and Saturday, and although fans have been told this is the last time they'll hear his hits, what else makes this tour so special (it's a comeback for the purple one), so lauded (it's playing to rave reviews everywhere), so successful (by the tour's end, it will be the year's biggest moneymaker)?

Prince is performing in the round on a stage some have described as a plus sign and others have called a cross. Either way, it's a subtle reminder that Prince is a Jehovah's Witness and refers to his current stage show, purposely lacking tracks including "Darling Nikki," as family-friendly.

"I have a responsibility to perform in a manner that I would like my children to be performed in front of," Prince recently told CBS' "The Early Show." "I just want to be the best human being I can be, on stage and off."

It's a precarious thing to say when you're Prince and half your catalog is all about the down and dirty. "Darling Nikki" has a girl masturbating in a hotel lobby, sure, but much of the grinding between him and Nikki is left open for interpretation. "I can't tell U what she did 2 me/But my body will never be the same," he coyly writes in "Darling Nikki."

Yet Prince is still playing "Shhh" in his current sets, which is saucy with its, "Shhh - break it down/I don't want nobody else 2 hear the sounds/This love is a private affair/Interrupt the flow, they better not dare/Shhh - we gotta break it on down/In the daytime, ha, I think not!/I'd rather do U after school like some homework/Ah ... am I gettin' U hot?/In my bedroom (No!) cuz then we'd have 2 stop."

But as the Musicology tour may have Prince rejecting blatant sexuality, it is also his call for the return of musicianship. The show is all about Prince dissing MTV, radio stations and lip-syncers, saying at a Philadelphia date, "Right about now we need to do some shout-outs. ... I'd like to shout out to MTV - not!" Then he lays praise upon himself and his New Power Generation band, made up of John Blackwell on drums, Greg Boyer on trombone, Candy Dulfer on saxophone, Chance Howard on trumpet, Renato Neto on piano and synths, Maceo Parker on saxophone, RAD. on vocals and keyboards, and Rhonda Smith on bass.

Prince has been opening the show with "Musicology," the title track to his new CD and the tour's namesake. He sets the tone of the evening early on with a medley including "Let's Go Crazy," "I Would Die 4 U," "When Doves Cry" and "Baby I'm a Star."

Some critics and fans have noted that Prince is playing more guitar (and less piano) than he has in previous tours. But almost all have said the tour is the best of the year, oftentimes pointing toward an acoustic set that blows everything else away.

Armed with a purple acoustic guitar, Prince has been playing "Little Red Corvette," "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Cream." Sometimes "Raspberry Beret" and "7" show up here, too.

As for other tracks making their way into his shows: "Shhh," "D.M.S.R.," "Dear Mr. Man," "Adore," "Life O the Party," "I Feel For You," "Pop Life," "Sign O the Times" and "Kiss." The encore is always a potent single-shot of old-school Prince with "Purple Rain."

The artist is also paying homage to many of his predecessors by slapping his own flamboyant style onto the songs of Ray Charles ("What'd I Say"), Led Zeppelin ("Whole Lotta Love"), James Brown ("Shake Your Moneymaker" and "Pass the Peas") and the Rolling Stones ("(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction").

But just as Prince is rejecting MTV, radio and other corporate institutions within the music industry, it's obvious he's willing to work with others - so long as they're doing it on his terms. In the past year, Prince has had high-profile gigs with the Grammy Awards and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, both of which were used to launch the media circus surrounding his current comeback.

It's a smart move, no doubt; but again, it's a bit odd. He cuts "Darling Nikki" yet keeps "Shhh," disses MTV but performs on the Grammys. Prince's career has been anything but consistent, but at the same time, his current nonsequiturs lend much credibility to the theory that this tour is far from the last time he'll ever play "When Doves Cry."

Knowing Prince, he'll likely be throwing down "Darling Nikki" on his next swing through town. Collar turned up. Chest hair prepped.

Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-820-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com .



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Prince

FUTURE FUNK/R&B|Pepsi Center; 8 p.m., today and Saturday|$45.50-$75|through Ticketmaster outlets, www.ticketmaster.com or 303-830-8497

it's a bit odd. He cuts "Darling Nikki" yet keeps "Shhh,"

yep, i saw him the first night in reno and was taken by surprise that he'd perform "shhh" while saying that other songs were too dirty -- i guess there's a fine line between too dirty and not-so dirty, eh?

RAD? Where? She wasn't at any of the shows I went to.....

NewPowerSista said:

and chance on turmpet? there wasn't even a trumpet player onstage!
another example of somebody not doing their homework.....