All I gotta say after last night in Buffalo was WOW! Prince put on a performance that was WAY beyond my expectations. Soundcheck, concert, and an aftershow where he jammed for nearly another hour and a half! Details below.

I walked into gorgeous Sheas Theater in Buffalo anxiously awaiting the soundcheck, not really knowing what to expect. While in line I met several nice couples, one in particular who I would like to say hello and thanks for "the tickets."
One thing I noticed when we were allowed in was that the staff never checked our names against a list...only looked at our tickets and picture ID briefly. Anyhow, you could hear the jamming going on as we were walking in. We were escorted to the front of the stage where Prince, Larry Graham (his first appearance on the tour I think), Maceo, Greg (the guy with Maceo), keyboardist, Rhonda and Blackwell were jamming.

The setlist as far as I can remember was a couple instrumental jams of Larry Graham songs, instrumental for the Work Part I and the Last December. Extended jams on everything...with all the bandmembers soloing. The complete soundcheck was probably close to an hour. I may have missed a song or two. Prince did his usual talking to the crowd piece which was very cool. He asked us how many of us were from Buffalo which received a varied response as the 100 or so people there were from all over. Toronto, Rochester, Western New York, Ohio, etc. Told us how different this show was going to be...he said we weren't going to hear "Kiss." Several people asked him questions...Is he touring Europe...he said yes, He said he loves Toronto and would try to get up there this summer. I asked him if this was Larry's first time with him this tour...to which he replied yes. Another person asked about scalpers to which Prince joked about those people not being raised right...or something to that effect. He really provided alot of opportunities for us to ask questions...for a while he just stood there, shy looking, waiting for somebody to ask him something. I almost think the club members were the shy ones! We should all think of cool questions to ask him! Prince asked how many people attented the celebration and asked us to come up this year. He said he didn't know who else was going to perform but said it was going to be more of him as he didn't perform much last year.

Anyways, he asked us if we knew the song Last December and then proceeded to invite all of us on stage to sing the chorus (In the name of the father...) Almost half the members there went up there (myself included), some shaking his hand. Prince was very intimate with the members, alot of small talk and jokes...I'd be hear forever if I wrote about them all. At first we were not that loud and Prince was joking around telling us we gotta to better. In summary, Prince was just straight up cool. As far as I'm concerned that experience was worth the $100 premium membership. I must say the club members were also cool, I met alot of the people and everybody was extremely nice.

I won't go into too much details about the show as it was somewhat similar to the other I've read with some exceptions. Larry DID NOT perform on the main set but did perform at the aftershow. Prince was very interactive, inviting people to dance, talking to the crowd, etc. As far as the controversial Family Name segment, Prince DID NOT single out people and call them Lynch. He talked about different last names, such as Outlaw, and the origins of such. A quote from Lincoln was projected where he is quoted as saying that blacks should be separate cuz of their inferiority. Prince sang a song about slavery that included lyrics about Lincoln and nobody taking the responsibility for the effects of slavery. It was very moving and I personally didn't sense any racial tension...but that's me.
Prince did perform Purple Rain (first time this tour) during his encore which was mainly a quasi-hits part. Other songs included Girls and Boys, Eye Love U/Don't Trust from Rave (AMAZING), HCUDCMA (call me anymore), Adore, Sometimes It Snows in April, Venus De Milo, and Strange Relationship.

On the aftershow...WOW WOW WOW. I can't believe Prince jammed this much! As tired as I was...he was still going strong. Larry was up there for the first half hour. They basically just jammed. Maceo was up there too...seemed like an impromptu jam session. There were probably only a hundred or so people in the whole place. The club was upstairs from the theater where the concert was. They were charging $30 to get in for non-club members. Prince did The Ride, Beautiful Strange (Tight as hell y'all), Calhoun Square, The Work, Paisley Park. During the performance of Paisley Park he stopped for the crowd to do the chorus to which nobody knew. He stopped and jokingly asked anybody if they knew it. He picked one guy out of the crowd who thought he knew...Prince started playing singing the lyrics leading up to the chorus and gave the mike to the guy who sounded pretty good but messed up a word or two (he knew it for the most part though.) Prince was playfully mocking him and the crowd loved it. I can't even begin to describe the number of times Prince joked with the crowd, casually talked to them both as a group and certain individuals. He looked like he was in a good mood and I gotta give mad props to the people at the show in Buffalo who, despite not hearing the hits, seemed really into the show.

BTW, all NPGmembers were allowed to sit in the first front rows of the show no matter where their tickets were. We were given wristbands and entered in VIP for the show. Seems like, at least in Buffalo, the seating arrangement was handled nicely.

I think I got lucky and had the luxury of seeing one of Prince's best aftershows. I had the time of my life. Again, hello to all the nice people I met and hopefully I'll get a chance to see alot of you again.

Well I gotta go and rest up for the Cleveland show on Sunday

Peace

What an awesome review!!!!! I really feel warm all over after reading it..silly me huh? And that aftershow must have been sooooo goood!!!!! Beautiful Strange, Calhoun Square and Paisley Park...can it get even better then...this is the tour I've been waiting for..WOW and YAY people
I sincerely wish that this tour will hit Europe soon..and do it all over again..do it all over again...

Ahhhhh.... It's reviews like these that makes me glad I'm a Prince fan...I can't imagine being a fan of someone like MJ who doesn't tour very often, and when he does it's all fireworks and poses and windtunnel effects and overkill that you get to see from a mile and a half away because it's being held in a 60,000 capacity stadium....

Great review divo02!

Another fantastic review !!! An aftershow....WOW !!!!!

divo02 said:

I AM SHITTING MYSELF.

I HAVE A HEADACHE.

I actually feel sorry for Nep b/c she couldn't attend, so you know I'm trippin'!!!

This sounds like THE best aftershow EVER - playing three of my absolute favorite songs???!!!! AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!

I can't take it, I simply CANNOT WAIT for him to come to the Bay. He must do an aftershow. HE HAS TO DO AN AFTERSHOW.

THE RIDE????
BEAUTIFUL STRANGE?????
CALHOUN SQUARE?????

OH LAWWWWWD, somebody help me!!!

:X :X

I can hold out until May... I can, I really can...

I don't know what to say.

He canceled the soundcheck in Chicago. Chicago fams had terrible seats. And there was no aftershow...

GREAT review! He did actually say yes i'm going 2 Europe?

owihoo...oh oh, owihoo...oh oh.
All hail the new King in town...PartyMan...

RavedIn2 said:

Only the first 40 something NPGmembers that were in line for soundcheck were given wrist bands & allowed to sit in the first several rows for the show. The rest of us sat where our tickets were for. The Buffalo soundcheck, show & after party we're all AMAZING!

Also, Prince said that he plans to do a Toronto show sometime in the summer because Toronto has a lot of great festivals going on in the summer.
[This message was edited Fri Mar 8 17:02:33 PST 2002 by JohnK]

He did BEAUTIFUL STRANGE ?????

damn...what...ih...ah.. I can't believe it, I'm taking my money, fly to the states.....

DIVO---U went up onstage 2?? I did also, but only after he asked the scond time. What do u look like? What were u wearing? Did u c me? If so, why didnt u HOLLA @ me?!!.....

Actually, it was the first 26 who entered..or something, who got the wrist bands. The first X-amount of people who came through got 2 sit in those special seats right in front, whether they were a club member or not. I know becuz I'm a member and did not sit there. It sucked becuz the people who got to sit there, their seats were basically wasted,unless they found someone willing 2 move.

Im FUCKING pissed I couldnt go 2 the afterparty :grr:

RavedIn2 said:

I am NOT a happy camper.

RavedIn2 said:

Newbie, huh? Oldtimers know the little fuck gets his B-12 shots and rolls the dice to see which fans will get cake and which get turds. Chicago got turds.

Newbie, huh? Oldtimers know the little fuck gets his B-12 shots and rolls the dice to see which fans will get cake and which get turds. Chicago got turds.

Maybe Prince had reasons for cancelling the soundcheck...y'all can be some harsh mothafuckers. He did give 2 shows for you guys didn't he????

divo02 said:

Read that again, y'all...

Divo02,

Prince said he's coming to Europe - please don't change your mind, P, please come, please come! But make it before the end of October because I'm going to be in South Africa in November!!!

I'm soooo excited - and thanks for an excellent review!

It sounds like the tour is starting to run smoothly and the early problems with ticket scalping have been worked out. That's good news for us seeing the show in later cities, but it doesn't help you guys from early cities in the tour.

It's a tough break that Chicago and the other early cities had those problems but shit happens. On top of the scalping and bad seats, you had Prince cancel the soundcheck and you didn't get an aftershow either. Maybe you Chicago guys can try to catch a show in another city and get a soundcheck and aftershow...

Batdance said:

Actually, there were scalpers who approached me b4 I walked in.

"Yo, you got extra tickets?"

Motherfucker, if I had extra tickets, I woulda sold them myself!!!

Someone PLEASE ask him if he is coming to Japan !!!!

and send me an orgnote if you get an answer !!!

otherwise I will have to go the US or Europe to see him....

And ask if he's coming to Australia too while you're at it.

There's a beer in it for you.

Thank you for such a wonderful report, no negativity, just genuine Love for Everybody, that is what I see in Prince, Love for everybody, But you know some people have got to be negative, don't turn a positive into a negative fans, just enjoy. again, thank you, I wish I was there, but can't handle the cold, Hawaii is perfect, thanks.

Great review, sounds like you had a ball!!!!





Can't wait till he comes to England!

Nep2nes said:

Maybe then you could afford to buy yourself a little class

Kellyanne,

Chicago did get a sound check. As far as the scalping, that was a problem. I will try to catch the show somewhere else.

Just for the record...those of you who were at the Buffalo sound check and paying attention, the number of wrist bands were 48...

ok. it was me asking the question about europe. later that
night i asked billy sparks if he will come to europe b4 or
after the celebration and he told me that there is still
not all set and that it looks more like AFTER the celebration.

that with the checking names from the list is not necessary
because on the ticket is the word "music-c" printed that
means this is a npgmc member ticket.

Wundi

btw: all the stuff from prince r verry nice 2 npgmc members!

Excellent review, Divo!
Wasn't that show the BOM-!
I don't have time right now to get into all my impressions now, but you hit most of them. Your take on the Abraham Lincoln/Responsibility song was on-point! I hope he releases that in some form or fashion. An almost stunningly beautiful piece.
What I want to know is if anybody knows the exact quote from Lincoln? I'd really like to know so if anyone recalls, please post it or send me an orgNote. Thanx.