Ok, before I begin, here is some friendly advice for my fellow New Yorkers: don't be such friggin slobs! As I made my way down the line to get into the soundcheck along the outskirts of Avery Fisher, I saw so much garbage that had obviously been left by you people standing in line. Bags from McDonalds, empty bottles of Poland Spring, half eaten sandwiches...What gives? You do realize you're in NYC, right? There's a garbage can on nearly every corner and you probably would have found one inside the theater. Would it have been so difficult to carry your trash to one? NYC is dirty enough without your slothfulness.

The second bit of advice goes to two people in particular. Because I have a job that takes considerable preference over a Prince concert, I got to the theater at just before 3:00 pm. Apparently, people had been there since 7:00 am in the morning, & by the time I got there, the line went from the door of the theater, stopped walkway just after the theater and then picked up again along some beam. I got in line maybe 3 or 4 people after this section by the beam started. The line of course grew and wrapped around the corner. Yet one very "rotund" black woman and her male companion with a mint green shirt, glasses & straightened black hair saw fit to cut about three hundred people and joined the group ahead of us standing by the beam, even though the plaza security had said that no more people should go there. Even though there were hundreds of people ahead of them. My advice to these two people: get some class. You make a mockery of common decency and you have no place but with the scum of the earth. Several people noticed that you cut, only a few of which even bothered to deal with your sad and sorry selves and get back in front of you.

On to the event itself. I'm going to leave a more detailed account of the cost & type of the various items on sale to someone else, but I'm sure it was the standard that you've seen at recent shows. Rhonda's CD & The Rainbow Children were available. There is a $30 program. The Xenophobia t-shirt cost $40. There was a blatant ripoff of the Stones' tongue and lip design (minus the tongue) also for sale.

The soundcheck/rehearsal:
I made it in about 5 minutes after Prince came out and started talking and settled into my seat. Prince was talking to the crowd in an outfit that made him look like he should be selling incense somewhere on a Brooklyn street corner. He was very talkative & constantly joked with the crowd - although there wasn't any real Q&A. Lots of jamming eventually segued into The Ride, during which he changed the lyrics to something along the lines of "Some people call me crazy, some people call me all night long, some people call me crazy, some people call me all night long. I wish they wasn't telemarketers, I wish they just left me alone." A bit of the theme from the Beverly Hillbillies segued into Alphabet Street & this led to a bluesy tune I couldn't identify. A very rocking version of Calhoun Square followed. Power Fantastic was the next track (Prince sang & didn't play anything during this song) and this was kind of a surprise for everyone. Here and there he peppered the soundcheck by joking with people still coming in - "Hey, you're late. Can we start now?" That sort of thing. More jamming led to Extraordinary, which he stopped and started again midway through, walking out into the crowd to sing. He took a seat midway through the theater and half the people walking by didn't even notice him sitting there. A Chuck Berry look-a-like got the chance to show off his guitar skills, & a bit into his playing, Prince & the rest of the band joined in. Prince was very gracious throughout the soundcheck. People called for Housequake & Blackwell played a bit of the drum part for that & Irresistible Bitch to tease the audience. We got a reminder that "it's not 1986" from Prince then sang Joy in Repetition from a seat and then (was it 1989, then?), after blaming tourette's syndrome "No four letter words will be heard on this stage tonight" for all his cussing during the old days, that ended the soundcheck.

The show itself more or less followed what everyone else has seen so far:

The Rainbow Children
Muse to the Pharoah
Xenophobia
A Case of U
Mellow
1+1+1=3
Roller Coaster of Love
The Other Side of the Pillow
Strange Relationship
Jamming
Larry Graham appearance (he just sang...thanks be to God)
La La Means I Love You
Jamming
Rhonda & Prince's duet
Q-Tip appearance
When You Were Mine
Avalanche
Family Name
Take Me With You....

I'm tired. I'm going to bed now! Someone else can fill you in about the rest of the show and afterparty, which was held at Club World, I believe.
[This message was edited Wed Apr 10 1:46:30 PDT 2002 by IrishEcho]

Sounds like crap. I'm glad I didn't go.

$40 for a fucking t shirt?! That guy really has issues

whatever evil white male. I just got home from the show, and it was the shit. It was the best show I have ever been to. the soundcheck was the bomb too. I will give a more detailed report tomorrow I am tired.

misschestylarue said:

My words exactly

I must say that the "new" fan-friendly Prince is amazing. The atmosphere of the soundcheck was light & friendly.. Was pretty funny to see the man goofing on people as they walked in. After reading about shows at other venues, I was concerned about the seating arrangements. However, after the soundcheck, we pretty much kept the same seats (as long as you had a jacket on your chair or someone watching it for you you were ok).

I didn't bother with a set list but I was glad that Larry only came up for 1 song. I was in awe when I heard the opening of Anna Stesia... what a great song!!!

The best part of the day was waiting in line..... I got to meet some pretty cool people. Once someone mentioned the org I found out I was in line with Bosco, ItalianCutie, Div02 & Hedwig.... It was pretty cool to put some faces with the names. Thanks to all for helpling pass the time in line with your conversation.

It's late & I'm sure I'm missing one hell of an afterparty.....

The only question I have is: WHERE WAS CANDY???? Why bother to introduce her at the soundcheck if she's not playing in the show????
[This message was edited Tue Apr 9 22:50:44 PDT 2002 by BobGeorge67]
[This message was edited Tue Apr 9 23:07:40 PDT 2002 by BobGeorge67]

I just back also.....had an incredible time, 5th row. sound check was amazing, and he was totally funny- busting people coming in "late".
I also want to know what happened 2 Candy????
Am sure I'm missing an incredible aftershow at the World, we sat in the car out front for awhile debating the idea, but the line was so long, and I'm very tired and have to work tomorrow. (We sat long enough to watch his equipment get unloaded!-just torturing myself:)) However, I didn't know G. Clinton was there until signing on here and that may have pushed me over the edge to stay!
I got on line around 3 also, right by the same break in the line mentioned--I must have been right next to you! (short blond, I was with a taller blonde, we sat on the ground a lot:))
anyway off to sleep now...
oh btw, $30 for the pink tshirt, $30 for programs...i saw but didn't buy a $25 keychain and $90 ear piece and I think all the other shirts were $30 or 40.

I've seen lots of rumors on this site (I mean the old Prince site) that Prince has tourettes syndrome, but this is the first I've read that he acknowledged this himself.
Anyways, the shows sound great, and I can't wait for him to hit Concord, CA!!!!!

He could have been joking about his tourette's condition - it was that kind of atmosphere. But I hardly think that it would be very PC of him to do so, this being NYC & there being so many psychotics/tourette's cases he could potentially offend.

IrishEcho, where's the baddabing in your report? Don't get me wrong, I'm (kinda) grateful you wrote it, but there's hardly any zest in your report! It's all so dry and stale; no joy, no wonder, no positivity at all.

Did you actually enjoy the bloody show?!

gubbins4ever said:

I thought I'd leave out the general fan-style gushing, which I find difficult to stomach, but you apparently thrive on. I apologize for not considering this the best night of my life, for not wanting to name my children after the members of Prince's band or road crew, for not using manufactured adjectives like "fantabulous" or anything of the sort. Instead, what you have here are the facts. Well, a good portion of them, anyway. But yes, I did enjoy the show. While not the best Prince show I've ever seen, Prince's casual attitude and borderline humanity during the show made it a night to remember.

Thanks for staying up late to send us your review

IrishEcho said:

Sounds like you had a shitty time or maybe just a shitty seat. You call yourself a prince fan yet couldn't take off of work one day? The show was great and the aftershow was just as good. There: didn't want to use any general fan-style gushing, To tired to write anymore. Who doesn't agree with Irish Echo? Pleas do tell.

misschestylarue said:

It was the shit. The after party was amazing.

frankiebones said:

Why does it sound like I had a $#!^^% time? Just because I stuck with reporting facts, & left the opinions to people like you? You'll see more of the fanatical gushing as more reports stream in, I assure you. I was in the ninth row center, which I would hardly consider a bad seat. What difference does it make to you, anyway whether I enjoyed myself or not? That's right. I'm not going to take off a full day of work just to stand in line for a concert. Why? Because maybe I'd like to use my vacation time to, well, I don't know...travel? Spend time with my family? What's it to you? Oh, and what exactly wouldn't people agree with in regard to my report? I listed most of the songs played & a good deal of what was said during the soundcheck. All factual information. There's nothing to disagree with. Your "review" on the other hand: "The show was great and the aftershow was just as good" can be dismantled and disected by any number of people who disagree, with your far from in-depth assessment. Oh, by the way, I was also rather tired when I wrote that (as I do mention above), and I managed to summarize the night quite a bit more effectively than you did.

frankiebones said:

i really makes me wonder how some people can judge the level of a Prince Fan. as long as someone enjoyes his music i feel they are already ahead of the game.

thanks you for the report and taking the time out to write it after the show.

You're welcome.

Yes..great show!!! Though I would have preferred a little less standing in line. If only cause I hurt my back last week and that made standing up a bitch. But standing in line with Prince fans is never boring.

BUT..all in all great show. 4th row, off to the right. My ears will be ringing for the rest of the day I think.

Had to skip the after party unfortunately. And yeah..where the heck was Candy during the show? She's there's during the sound check ,but that's bout it.

His band was tight. The new keyboardest (new to me) did great job. Oh god not Larry again! And Prince really should have done the show from the back of the theater for a song or two. That would have been funny.

Yes..those slobs in the front of the line could have dumped their garbage. And it's to bad Prince can't just tell people to turn to their religion rather then to turn to a specific version of the Christian bible. But let's not get into that discussion again.

Great show....and the afterparty was INCREDIBLE...

to the NPG member that hooked me up with his pass for the afterparty because he wasnt going, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

To the short bald guy with glasses and the 6' Amazonian blonde princess on his arm...I will envy what must the size of your wallet the rest of my life.

abbstrack said:

everybody who went keeps saying the afterparty was amazing and incredible -- will somebody please elaborate???

also i would like to say that i don't think you can judge a person's fan level by whether or not they take the day off to go stand in line for a concert. not everybody is able to do that but they are still just as sincere and real of fans.

Leave Larry alone. Recognize talent or zip it. Larry Graham is a genius and a kind person to boot.

thanks for the report IrishEcho.

No problem...I'm sure someone will fill in the blanks.

everybody who went keeps saying the afterparty was amazing and incredible -- will somebody please elaborate???

the afterparty

this was my first prince show ever, so i didnt know what to expect with the afterparty...it turned out to be one huge jam session...

prince jammed with the likes of george clinton, doug e fresh, musiq (soulchild) with ?uestlove of the roots on drums, and alicia keys..damn, i know im forgettin some others)

him and alicia did how come you dont call me....it was beautiful...

they opened up with joy in repition...and from then on it was just magical..prince closed out with everlasting now...all in all a magical nite

I have nothing against Larry Graham. He's talented & deserves respect for his work of 20 some years ago. But it's been there done that. I've seen him with Prince 4 times already...and last night, all he brought to the show was a deep voice and that white suit. I would have prefered some more of Candy.

abbstrack said:

Sounds like the afterpary in NY was worth it. The after in DC was not good at all. He did come with Mani and Larry and Larry's wife. He stayed in VIP the entire time and did not talk to anyone in VIP except the people he came with. For all that, he could have stayed in his hotel. I was really disappointed. And yes, before anyone says I'm bitter because I wasn't in VIP, I WAS.

any signs of Maceo or was Najee playing horns?

I saw Maceo in New Haven, CT on Sunday night. Awesome show

JoeKelley said:

Maceo & Greg Boyer played during the show, with Maceo taking the opening walk down the aisle. They were joined by Candy during the soundcheck.

How was the Jam with Questlove ? I mean how was the feeling between them, given all this tension there has been over the past year or two ? I love ? so much!

Thanks.