Prince
Musicology Tour
with Special Guest
Morris Day and The Time
Wednesday, August 24, 2004 - 7:30 p.m.
Wachovia Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


7:57 p.m.
Intro

White Two-Piece Suit, Black Shirt, Black & White Italian Tie, White Shoes

Wild & Loose
Fishnet
Oak Tree
Jerk Out
Get it Up
Cool
777-9311
Gigolos Get Lonely Too
The Bird
-----
Jungle Love
8:46 p.m.



9:18 p.m.
Intro: Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame Video

Red Suit Coat with Asymmetrical Tail, White Pants, White Open-Chested Shirt, White Boots with Sequinned Heel


Musicology
Let's Go Crazy
I Would Die 4 U
When Doves Cry
--Kiss
Intro: 1999
Baby I'm a Star

Interlude: Renato Neto

Red-front and White-back Two-Toned Shirt and Pants set, White Pants, White Boots with Sequinned Heel

Shhh
D.M.S.R.
--Crazy In Love
Pass the Peas
No Diggity/Lean Back (Featuring Patti LaBelle)
D.M.S.R. (Reprise)
Intro: A Love Bizarre/The Glamorous Life
I Feel 4 U
Controversy
--A Love Bizarre
Interlude: Greg Boyer and Maceo Parker
--Housequake

Interlude: Renato Neto
What a Wonderful World: Maceo Parker and Renato Neto
Sometimes It Snows In April: Renato Neto

White Shirt, White Fringed Pants, White Boots with Sequinned Heel


Intro: Sometimes It Snows In April
Little Red Corvette
Peach
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Raspberry Beret
???
Prince and the Band
Alphabet St.
Sweet Thing
Intro: Adore
Adore
Intro: I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
Satisfaction
7
Pop Life

Sign O' the Times
Let's Work
Interlude/Bass Solo
U Got the Look
Life 'O' The Party
Soul Man
Kiss
Take Me With U
--Theme from The Andy Griffith Show
--Hollywood Swingin'
--Theme from Sanford & Son
--777-9311/Onedayi'mgonnabesomebody
-----

Maize Suit Coat with Asymmetrical Tail and Criss-Crossed Lapels, White Shirt, White Pants, White Boots with Sequinned Heel

Call My Name
Purple Rain
11:38 p.m.

-- Denotes songs performed very briefly as a part of the previously listed song.

I was distracted after Raspberry Beret and didn't get to listen to the song that followed it. Does anybody know what it was?

anyway...

Commentary: "Philly, y'all have no idea what I'm about to do up in here," Prince announced with the spirit of a Baptist preacher moved by the proceedings at hand. "Last night in Philly. I think this gon' be the night, y'all."

And it was.

He is the King. And he shall reign forever and ever.

This was the last of a three-night stand in Philadelphia, yet the crowd had the energy of a typical opening night crowd. True Funk Soldiers were in the house fa sho'.

I'm still amazed at how he can deliver a flawlessly impressive show night after night, seemingly effortlessly. He is incredible beyond words.

Before Prince's show, they played a long string of Prince and The Time hits to get people in the mood, as they have done all along the tour.

For some reason, Morris Day and the Time didn't start right at 7:30 p.m. as they have done in the handful of dates they've opened for Prince. The delay was made up somewhat with a shorter break between them and Prince. But ultimately, and despite adding songs to his typical set list, Prince still managed to cut approximately 15+ minutes from his show--very carefully and unnoticeably in order to end the show around the typical time for this line-up. I'll address how he cut the show as I proceed.

Prince and the band entered through the audience while the video intro played. Moments later, he rose from center stage in a cloud of smoke, and then strolled to each side of the stage to greet and check out the audience. The audience was loving it.

He flew through so many songs, and he snuck in snippets of songs within others. Even a die-hard fan could miss some of the riffs he played if you're not listening intently. So, if I missed any, don't be mad.

The first half of the show was fast-paced, uptempo, and high energy. The acoustic set, which started with brief chords from "Sometimes It Snow in April," allowed a much needed break from the jumping, dancing, and shouting that we were doing. And just when you thought he was almost done, he ran through another high-energy set, and then an abbreviated encore.

Fortunately, seeing this show afforded me the chance to hear songs like "Pop Life" and "Call My Name" which have not been played consistently in earlier shows. Wow.

There is STILL no better Prince song than "Purple Rain." Period.

The stage was shaped a plus sign (YES!), with four mini-runway platforms which jutted out to each side of the arena. A dull purple carpet covered the stage. The band members dwelled in lower areas between these platforms if they weren't performing on the main staged.

There were two decorative fans behind drummer John Blackwell's area which are shaped like ghetto-fabulous car rims. Also, what appears to be the set list is propped up in the center corner near keyboardist Renato Neto.

He once again used a gold microphone and gold mic stand and a black version of his classic gun-shaped microphone.

He also used many familiar-looking guitars, including his leopard printed one and a beautiful purple acoustic guitar for the acoustic set. He used a hot candy apple red and white bass for his brief bass solo. He also brought out his shiny, purple glymph symbol-shaped guitar in the final set.


Highlights: For "Let's Go Crazy," white confetti strips and metallic purple streamers rained from the ceiling to get the party started. Definitely a classic, beautiful sight.

During "When Doves Cry," saxophonist Candy Dulfter handed him a large white fedora with a red ribbon around it, and he put it on. Whenever he does this on tour, for some reason you get this nervous feeling tht he might be about to do some sort of Michael Jackson bit. You know better than to think he'd do something like that, so you're cool, but the fedora always makes the thought cross your mind. Am I the only one who's felt that way? At any rate, the crowd loved it. He ended up tossing into the audience later on.

During "Shhh," the band sat down on plush velvet chairs which were scattered about the band areas.

During his brief "Crazy in Love" bit, he said he couldn't shake it like Beyonce because he didn't have enough ass. "I wanted to hit that joint, but I ain't got no booty. Can somebody lend me some booty?" Then keyboardist Chance Howard came over and gave more booty than Prince could have ever asked for. You had to be there.

He skipped the "The Way You Move"/"Freaks On This Side" bits he has done in past shows.

For "Pass the Peas" Prince invited an older woman on stage to have fun with the song. She was wearing a white t-shirt with the infamous Lovesexy-era logo "YES" on the front.

After "Pass the Peas," he performed a cover of Blackstreet's "No Diggity" with Chance Howard singing lead. Then, Prince invited a woman on stage to dance with him. And I'll be damned if it wasn't Philadelphia's own Patti LaBelle. The crowd went wild when they realized who it was. The next thing we knew, she was TURNING IT OUT! She was dancing all over the stage, having fun with the crowd, and shaking what her mama gave her. Then Prince gave her his black pistol microphone and she started her customary Patti hollering. The crowd was loving it. About 8 times Prince said, "What's her name?" We said, "Patti Patti!"
Then, Patti started singing the infamous chorus from "Lean Back" by Terror Squad and was leaning back! We were having fits! Here is a 50+ R&B diva dressed in a white pants suit on stage with Prince doing the 'lean-back'! I wasn't mad at her! It was all that!

The "D.M.S.R." Reprise was cut shorter than usual.

"Controversy" was amazing. And similar to the New York opening night show, though still not as well, the crowd achieved the dancing in UNISON with Prince that they did in New York. He had us leaning forward, bringing it back up, leaning forward, bringing it back up. Later in the song, Prince started singing Sheila E.'s "A Love Bizarre."

Later in "Controversy" Horn players Greg Boyer and Maceo Parker entered the stage wearing academic caps and gowns while playing a little interlude. "School's in, y'all!" Prince shouted. Moments later, Prince said "Can't nobody mess with my band," then the music stopped, Prince feigned emotion and plopped down onto one of the chairs on stage. A band member came over and tried to drape a purple velvet blanket over him while he visibly and emotionally dealt with how great his band is. Classic. However, there was no waitress and food sequence, nor a fan invited on stage to partake in such food. He also did not use the Rolling Stone magazine which features him on the cover as he has done in past shows.

Maceo Parker and Renato Neto performed "What a Wonderful World" instead of "Georgia On My Mind," which had replaced the former in many shows recently.

During the acoustic set, he performed "Peach," a song from The Hits/The B-Sides which I had not heard performed in years. Though he has recently been performing it interchangeably in his acoustic set. "Prince and the Band", a commentary on the music industry and his own struggles and evolution from a business standpoint, received overwhelming cheers.

For "Adore," he began playing it and then stopped. He asked if we were sure we wanted to hear it, and we were like duh! So, he started the song over but didn't sing it completely. After "Adore," Prince started playing the opening chords of "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man." But he stopped abruptly after a few bars saying "Nah-nah. I don't wanna do that right now." He never returned to the song unfortunately.

After "7," the usual ending song for the acoustic set, he performed "Pop Life," and the crowd was loving it!

He completely skipped the medley section which normally features:

"Dear Mr. Man/Whole Lotta Love/Interlude: John Blackwell/Whole Lotta Love Reprise"
OR
"The Question of U/The One/Fallin'/The Question of U Reprise"

This definitely shaved 8-10 minutes off the set time.

Security folks hand-picked about 15-20 women to come on stage and dance during the high-energy set that included "U Got the Look" and "Life 'O' the Party." The latter song featured a cool dancehall breakdown.

Chance Howard led a rousing rendition of "Soul Man," which has been performed interchangeably with " Knock On Wood."

After "Take Me With U," he said goodbye and left the stage. All was dark except for an image of his glymph symbol rotating on the video screens. People screamed, chanted, and stomped their feet for what seemed like six or seven minutes. When he finally came back for his 'encores,' he rose again from center stage into a cylindrical chandelier of beads hanging from the stage ceiling. Long white streamers also descended from the stage ceiling.

Instead of the dramatic renditions of "The Beautiful Ones" and "Nothing Compares 2 U," he performed a pretty straightforward "Call My Name" to save time. Four top-half mirror balls spun on the edge of each corner of the stage during this song. Fabulous!

The final song. "Purple Rain." Over 10 minutes long. Classic, amazing, breath-taking. With is shiny, purple glymph symbol-shaped guitar in hand. He performed like it was his last performance in life. We sang, we screamed, we cried. Everyone was on their feet. Prince really let us have it as we joined him in singing the soprano ad libs near the end of the song. Definitely an emotional moment. And then, he was done. He bid farewell to each side of the audience. He and the band quietly left the stage.

As the ending chords of the song continued on tape, I noticed a stage equipment storage box emerged from the 'rear' end of the stage and was rolled into the aisle. They rolled it all the way to the back of the floor and out the side exit. What's wrong with this picture? Can you say, 'hmmm'?

Usually Prince exits on foot through the crowd with the rest of the band. Why they 'clearly' opted to get him out in this manner, I don't know. Maybe it's been done on other dates, but it's the first I've seen it.

Then, the house lights came on. The smoke cleared and people began leaving to the sounds of the final chords of the song which ended an electrifying show in an oh so peaceful way.

The band exited on foot through the crowd.

We slowly, quietly left the arena... drained but full of just what we wanted and even more of what we needed. This, most definitely, was a beautiful night.

THANK YOU!

Great tour but VERY FORMATTED - not much left to chance....almost everything (confetti / jokes / comments) are all pre-planned.

THANKYOU said:

Ms Patti is 60! Go on with ya bad self!


great review, I wish I was there!

Kissmequick said:

Thanks for the great details and the Song you missed was a few short lines from Patti Labelles "If only you knew"

This was my second Philly show (I went to Sunday's show). I think last night's show was by far the better of the 2 that I attended. I was really surprised by the energy of the crowd. The place was on fire. PATTI, you are and always will be BEAUTIFUL. I was so happy when she came on stage. I think I was the first in my section to recognize that it was her.

I want to send a shout out to Pork Chop, i was happy to see you again last night. Keep in touch.

Peace and B wild

Thank you so much! It was absolutely amazing, there are no words for it, and you summed it it up. Thank you for the setlist!

nunatak said:

YUP.

One reason the show may have started late: huge delay on 95 North because of some motorcade (could it have been ... ?). Set lots of concertgoers back half an hour or so.

Glad I caught the show, though I agree everything is a bit too scripted (except for the part where P dropped the mike stand!).