im from nyc and i took a drive down to dc on friday with my girl to see the ona show. show started at 12:10 i beleive.

the warner theatre was awesome...didnt matter where u sat u got a good view...okay before the show started maceo parker walked to the back of the room...nobody seemed to notice...my girlfriend (who doesnt know who maceo is) said to me "oh look theres a guy walking with a saxophone over there" i look and theres maceo walking very slowly on the left side of the theatre to the back. then....the lights go down....and maceo starts as the beginning of the rainbow children starts to be played by the band behind a curtain...when maceo reached the stage the curtain went up and the magic began.

the set list was basically the same as any other night. but for those who havnt seen the show yet and for some reason feel they havnt read a good review...ill go into detail.

the rainbow children - this song kicked ass!!!! The bob george voice sounded great and whent he chorus came in there was energy coming off the stage. then prince does an amazing guitar solo on the guitar from purple rain (not the white cloud). this solo goes on for alittle bit then the song kicks back in skipping the part when he chants "rise". im pretty sure renato had a solo during this song and let me tell u folks out there...this man rules...hes not osmeone you would imagine in the group by the looks of him and how he plays...but he just fits perfectly into this band.

muse 2 the pharoah- for some reason this song was a croud pleaser. everyone seemed into this one. everything prince did the ladies would scream. nice to see that.

xenophobia - what can i say about this song? probably the best song performed that night. all this song does is make u wish u had the album to hear the minute u leave the concert. the horns were great...this is beleive was entirely instrumental and it changed a lot....at one point prince was rocking old school on his guitar...just plain old rock and roll...then he had a woman sit on the stage and he played guitar for her then the song kicked back into how it began. very awesome song.

a case of u - at this point everyone sat down. some left to get a drink i guess. and it was a decent performance...very much like the released version on the music club...when the song changed at the end it gets a little funkier...people responed to that part.

mellow - expected more from this song. still very cool...vocal were amazing. as slow as the song is it felt rushed.

1+1+1=3/rollercoaster - this was a long jam that had every single person in the place dancing. 1+1+1=3 was too short but when he jumped into rollercoaster you didnt care. pricne said he was testing his age on this one. like i said very long jam he had two people come up and dance and they did very well i might add. prince was rocking on this song calling things out to the band...i beleive we got a drum solo by blackwell here and im telling ya he had a lot of people screaming by the time he was trhough.

the other side of the pillow - okay this was cool because it does not resemble the album version at all. it actually sounded a lot like and old tune...like the temptations or something...the music was beautiful.

strange relationship - everyone stood up for this but no one was moving around or singing to the song. i expected more of a reaction. other than that the song was done very well. full version...band sounded great.

sing a simple song - you cant go wrong with a sly song live. croud was so into this one.

la la la means i love u - thsi got better as it went along. at first i didnt realize what it was. the croud singing the chorus was cool.

didnt u know (erika baydu song) - i was surprise as to how many people knew this song. it was very nice...makes me wanna go buy erikas version

when u were mine - prince stated at the beginning of his song that no one would be able to sit throught his one and he was right. everyone stood but again not too many people singing or moving to it. maybe everyone was tired or something...the guitar is this kicked ass and renato just kept showing his stuff.

avalanche - the man called abraham lincoln a raceist and eveyone cheered. never thought id see that happen and it didnt bother me at all...should it? the song itself made u not even focus on the comment...likeeveryone else is saying...the way he sings this makes u wanna fall in love

family name - my lord!!!!! the guitar solo at the end of this put me in my seat...the man was hurting me---too funky

take me with u - what can i say? after seeing this song many times with just the first verse being done it was a treat to see it done in its entirety. everyone sang to this...the band was tight

raspberry beret - prince said this was our real test...and i think everyone sang every single word of this along with prince - and the last verse was done differently than on record and it worked...very cool to see this. one of my favs

santana medley - ive always wanted to see this live and i got my chance. wow...all i can say is wow. prince sent chills down my spine with his guitar playing...renato was a thrill and blackwell was a madman. this ended the set.

piano medley - okay this was cool cuz it was just prince for a while with a pale blue spotlight like he described in the song one night alone. he started off with DO U LIE...very short..just intrumental....okay i froget the order...but he played DIAMONDS AND PEARLS...BEAUTIFUL ONES...NOTHING COMPARES 2 U...ADORE...JOY IN REPITITION...SOMETIMES IT SNOWS IN APRIL...GIRLS & BOYS....HOW COME U DONT CALL ME ANYMORE...this was nice to see...i remember seeing him do this at jones beach back in 97...this was better.

ana stasia - incredible to hear this. everyone was screaming for purple rain but this was just fine. he brought the band back at the end and they grooved slowly on it...he started singing the part he skipped in the rainbow children.

all in all a fantastic show...go see it...its worth the money

Thanks for the review!

Wow, the show sounds awesome!

How was the sound? I know on previous tours people have complained about bad sound sytems, so how does the music sound?

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[This message was edited Fri Apr 19 6:22:38 PDT 2002 by luvy]

thanks, felt like i was there! did he play for 3 hours? with the show starting so late i wasn't sure if he would cut any corners, it sure doesn't sound like it though.

i was also in the house friday night ... and i have to say ... its the most personal i have ever seen Prince.... at one point, and i am paraphrasing ... i think he said something like "thanks for sticking with me the last couple of years ..." like he had had some serious personal demons or something .... he then commented on such friends as larry and tina , etc ...

his comments on the radio business ... i thought ... was right on ....

thanks prince ... for a great night (even tho .. no soundcheck ... or aftershow ... lol)

Great report Flash1

Thank you!

peace!