Here's a short review of the concert last night.

My friend and I were a tad late to the show as the lines were long and I had to make a last minute scramle to hide my backpack in the bushes, cuz no large bags are allowed in the venue (thaks fotr the heads up! ) Also our seat were ...ok. Lower level...NOT main floor. Apparently the Colluseum has ther own club tickets...so they were on the floor. I didn't think that was very fair....though I did get a good view of him and got to do the Anx thing (seeing him in 2nd row and then seeing him further back) which, after a few minutes I realized I could see the whole stage at once...which was cool.

We get to our seats to find Morris Day and the TIme in the Middle of a set! The Freeekin TIME! They were awesome! Full as life and very playful..lots of strutin and pimpin. Jerome looked great! Don't know all of the songs but they did play Giggalos get lonely, The Bird and Jungle Love. The girls dancing on stage couldn't keep up with Morris and Jerome, but they all had a good time. YEA!

Prince's show was pretty much what we have seen so far. A bit more jamming than usual. He invited up some girls in the beginning to dance...and boy could they! He also threw out several things to the crowd. Prince and the band seem energetic, but also a bit like "ok we gots 3 more to do...let get it through" Candy especially looked like she was done...more walking than strutting.

The set list was pretty much the same. Stand outs were, Pop Life, The beautiful ones (which was way too short) Pass the peas, The Rules (it's the new twins in my bed/telemarketer Blues song) & U got the look. He did 4 songs from Musicology...which was great. ANd Shhh was amazing as always. Not much guitar work like that one though. I do have to say that U got the Look and Life of the party are great live...though I am not that fond of them on disc. And I got to see Bobby of the Dream factory get on stage and dance his ass off. They normally let girls...but I knew if there was a guy to be picked, it would be him. (BTW Bobby is a great guy, super friendly and REALLY supports Prince and his music).

Anyway, I am a bit drained still. I have now had my fill...for this year . Sorta happy it's over and that some of the hits will be put away for a bit (oh he'll pull them out every once in a while). He's had a GREAT YEAR and TOUR. He looked genuinely happy and I can finally see his angst regarding real music by real musicians. Most can't even hold a candle to him.

Till the next tour!

Very cool show. I also had the traffic jam/late entrance/'Wow, it's the Time but I missed half of it' experience. To me, I was very pleased to find a lot of changes from the June 2 show. I also had way better seats, so that may be one reason it felt so different.

It's hard for me to give a review, but a few highlights were:

Near the beginning, Prince and that woman from the audience dancing and jumping like crazy on stage together.
Prince ripping it up on the guitar Jimi Hendrix style.
Prince jamming on the bass later in the show with Rhonda.
Prince's longwinded, fun and mildly controversial prelude to On The Couch during the acoustic set.
Call My Name
Pop Life
Candy's beautiful sax

That band is so tight and the musicians are awesome. I love the whole package -- superior musicians who love playing together. What could be better?

Yeh! Goin tonite!!

This was my fifth show of this tour and it was one of the better ones I have seen. Of course, The Time's addition to the show was a wonderful surprise and, yes heartbeatocean, the girl steppin' with P was awesome. In fact, I had to give her props after the show..by far the best dancer/Prince interaction I have seen so far this year. Other highlights: the Stones' Satisfaction, the dancing Pimps, and I swear Prince busted out some of Van Halen's Eruption...the three song encore was nice but P. Rain was a bit short. All in all, another great night of Musicology.

I went! It was my first time ever! I was up in section 110, but I'll be in the members section on Saturday in San Jose. Prince was AMAZING - my favorites were the acoustic set (Little Red Corvette), DMSR, and Purple Rain. (HA! So sue me, I've never seen him before!)

Ohmygod! And he played Let's Work!

My seats were good, but I was near the entrance so I was surrounded by a bunch of drunk a-holes. Really unpleasant. I had to literally fight someone for my seat. And somebody barfed in a cup and on the floor outside of the bathrooms!

Seeing the Time was such a great surprise - Jerome looks like a short Michael Jordan now! Rhonda had on some scary bondage stuff, and Candy looked GORGEOUS. I also loved Maceo's tribute to Ray Charles. Everybody missed it in my section because they left to go get more alcohol, hahaha.

I'm so pumped for Saturday! And hey - was that Gigi (SxyRican) dancing up on that stage last night?? The girl in the sparkly tube top, white pants, and white hat? I thought I recognized her!



Speaking of San Jose, I've got a question for all you Prince-concert-experts; how far in advance do you usually show up for the member seats? Does it pay off to come like seven hours early and stake out a place in line for first dibs on seat? (well, not really seats, more like a standing area.) When my boyfriend saw him for the ONA tour in London, he showed up around 2 pm and there was already a line. Problem is, they opened up the reception area when it got closer to the concert starting time, and the line dissapated - six hours of standing around for NOTHING! I know a couple of ya'll - at least - have seen him in San Jose already this year. So should I save my time and show up around 6, or does it really pay off to come early?

I'll be bussing it from Fremont to San Jose (boohoo), so I would love to know in advance. Speaking of which, anyone interested in carpooling? Meaning dragging my boyfriend and I around, haha. I'd take BART up to wherever you are and we'll pitch in for gas! It's worth a shot!

p.s. I am totally drained of energy today, the concert was THAT good!

say what? the time played last night? where the hell was I?





and natty, org me your number....i lost it..

and if prince pulls up another pleasantly plump black woman on stage, im gonna throw a show at him.....

sosgemini said:

Hi Natsume and Sosgemini

Sos...You were probably in line like was . We missed the first 6 songs...They were really bad sending the right folks to the right line and getting us in.

Natsume...the HP pavillion is bigger and the floor is too. All of the member seat should be on the floor. and no ticket seats are totally random. They already have them in evelopes. Well not exactly random...Some of the hardcore get better seats I think...it's all who you know. But I would get there on time as he may have opening acts like last night.

Natsume said:

No, just go on over there - the box office is open daily from 10 - 3 and then at 5 p.m. - no need to wait in line for hours. The seats are pre assigned for members in an envelope w/UR name on it.

In Sac we walked right up, got our tix, no line.

superspaceboy said:

hi super!!



Thanks for the info. I haven't been to the Oakland Arena in ages, and it's such a nice little intimate setting, awww. The HP Pavillion is a huge monster and I don't like it as much, but it's another chance to see Prince! I'm just worrying about my height... I'm 4'11" and last night it was a PAIN being so short! I had to stand on the chair to see over all the tall people in front of me. I'm considering wearing heels and going through the pain just to be able to have a better view. But it's not that bad, considering we're all going to be staring upwards like baby birds, lol.

HumbleOne said:

THANK GOD for not having to wait in line in the sweltering heat for hours! thanks, humbleone!

If you go to the restaurant at the arena, you don't have to wait in line...AT ALL, just order something/anything and then go straight to your seats. Some NPG'ers are meeting there before the show on Saturday at 5:00, at least that's the latest I've heard.

Natsume said:

From what I recall, I could see him perfectly...even though I was sitting behind Renato and had a slighly obsturcted view (though I had my own little Prince TV going on...which was a small cut out I could see thru to the center of the stage. Keep in mind you are not going to see Prince that much...except when he comes to your side of the stage. You'll see him often...but not like last night. But you'll be closer to him..and if you get front row...you might get on stage.

Performance: A

Song selection: B+ (I can do without the covers, more passin' them peas, and excessive camp - ie song for the "fellas")

Sound: D (the Arena has rarely sounded so distorted - section 109)

Crowd energy: A (Oakland - nuff said)

Members seats: D (felt like a nonmember in 9th row, section 109 - low risers on a corner of the stage)

Morris D and The Time: C- (made me sad - retire the songs and the mirror, guys)

Best song of the show: Shhh

okay..this seating thing has me concerned.....who is on the floor? i just figured that the floor was filled with other npgm members who bought there tickets faster then i did..but i see mention of "venue clubs" and vip....

i have been in the second tier at the two shows i attended (sac and oak).....

sosgemini said:

I was on the floor in Oakland, Section E, Row 4, Seats 3&4. I bought the tix when first available on NPGMC and I have only been a member since the first week of February. For one of the June San Jose Shows I was in Row 7 of Section E. (Truth be told, I would prefer a seat just off of the floor and immediately adjacent to Ronda's side of the stage, but that's me). The other three shows I have been to on this tour were the 2 HOB shows in Vegas and one of the Fillmore shows in SF, which were general admission. On Saturday night, I will be in the bleeders with the hoi poloi.

BTW - where is CalhounSq's review of the Oakland show? I am starting to get concerned.

sosgemini said:

I can't be sure. At the previous San Jose show at the beginning of this tour, I was on the floor w/ member seats - 26th row on one of the side floor sections (there was definitely a "front" for that venue, even in the round). In some ways, my riser seats last night in Oakland were better.

So in Oakland, I was on the riser section, even though I was among the first (hard to know for sure) to buy tix within minutes of their going on sale. Maybe they later fill the envelopes in no particular order - sounds like a Prince approach to keeping things fair and discouraging frenzied fan behavior - that's fine with me. The other possibility is that Oakland floor seats were held for others - that does not seem Princely to me, more like Ticketmaster crap. The most likely situation is the one I've feared - when everyone becomes a member, the privileges are less apparent.

sosgemini said:

Outside in the bar line with me and my date? Can you top this: we were debating whether to wait or go sit down, and heard the music, and I assumed it was just a tape! I even told her "wouldn't it be funny if the Time were really out there, and we were in here just dicking around in this line?"

Then we headed for the doors, and I'm like...there's a guitarist on stage!!! We ran in JUST in time to see them take a bow and leave. ARGH...

After that, superb show, of course. Anyone know if a DVD's in the works?

TheMax said:

http://www.prince.org/msg/13/114210

sosgemini said:

Try being a member and your tickets not be there. Thats what happened to my sister. No tickets at the club will call line.

I bought Oakland tix through NPGMC, and my seats were in the FIRST ROW, directly in front of Rhonda. My friend also got NPGMC tix for the San Diego show and her tix were in the second row, directly behind Blackwell. All the people around us on the floor were NPGMC members. The NPGMC does put club members in all the floor seats around the stage, exactly as promised.

Stax said:

ROFLMAO!!! Dude, I've been up to my neck in Prince since Thursday Here's a blurb though, thanks for the concern!! I'll be cool after tonight

*****

Just a few things, gotta rest up for the rest of my Prince marathon

I had a fantastic night, as I knew I would! THE TIME!!! I'd never seen The Time before, nice surprise! Morris had to be mighty hot w/ all those clothes on - Jerome sweat his suit OUT I feel a little more complete now since I was too young to attend the triple threat tour back in the day! Hope to see Sheila @ one of the SJ stops (then I'd really feel complete!)

The energy was SO good tonight, Prince was really feeling it! Dancing, smiling - one of the best versions of Shhh ever!! I'd never heard the "Rules" thing before - hilarious!! I loved it!! And for the record, I think Sunday SHOULDbe sports day! As long as it's basketball Prince sounded fantastic & looked GORGEOUS... wearing the shirt open a little didn't hurt none either!!

I have to say I miss Q of U/The One/Fallin' That was my favorite part of the show, he always KILLED it! (Yes, I saw the show twice already in June, lol) But no complaints! I just miss it, twas nice... Come to think of it, did y'all do SOTT tonight?

Had no idea Maceo sings!!! I really loved the tribute to Ray Charles - I thought he would do it all horn but my boy got on the mic & did it so nice! He is indeed THE TEACHER (nice touch w/ the caps & gowns)

Blackwell - what can I say about this man? ((((HUG)))) I'm just so proud of him for finishing out this tour. I saw his t-shirt during PR & it just broke me. He plays w/ such joy, I just wanna hug him twice! He's fantastic...

It was kinda nice being off the floor & seeing what comes on the video screens. I felt more connected to the band as a whole b/c the cameras did the close-ups of Ronda/Candy/Renato/Chance/Mike (Scott, right?) Good to see everybody get some face time And it's WONDERFUL to see the acoustic part on the monitors. All the little nuances of his performance - the smiles, the jokes, AWESOME to see all the details you miss depending on where you are. I'm loving this!!!

P should get a chair that can roam all 4 corners of the stage I wanna see all up in his face while he's singing

Alright, off to bed, resting up for day 2. Awesome, AWESOME night!! See y'all in SJ!

TheMax said:

One of the mods at the NPGMC forums posted, "The tickets are fulfilled at the venue and in a random order. When u pick them up and when u ordered them are not a factor."

However, for the Indianapolis show and the second Seattle show, I placed my order immediately after the presales started. What did I get? Front row both times.

But for the first Seattle show, I spaced the presale until about 90 minutes after it started. What did I get? Ninth row on the side. And a woman next to us said she placed her order around the same time.

At least at these two venues, I suspect that the box office was given a list of presales ordered by sale time, and that they simply put the tickets in the envelopes accordingly. In other words, the sooner you placed your order, the "better" your seats.

BTW, here's a little trivia for you. Every Ticketmaster ticket has a number followed by the letter "X" after it somewhere. The "X number" is how Ticketmaster determines the "best available" seats--it's looking for the lowest possible X number. My front row tickets were "1X" (Indianapolis) and "2X" (Seattle 2nd night).

CalhounSq said:

Your alive! I was getting worried but I figured that you were on a marathon this weekend. Thanks for the report.