Rio, sorry I missed meeting you last night....I got to meet Lolinex and Betsy. Maybe next time or at the celle. I was surprised to find that members took up 6 full rows, plus the orchestra pit. I thought there were maybe 20 of us here in Big D.

Speaking of the attendance.....5 mins before showtime...it seemed to be less than half full (mustve been 3/4 in the balcony) on the floor, but as soon as the music hit....it was packed!

The show was very tight....he seemed a little thrown off by the Dallas crowd sitting down at various points (slow songs and songs MOST didn't know, it happened 5-6 times). He even kinda taunted the crowd with....."I dare you to sit down on THIS"...and proceeded to tear it up even more. Needless to say, folks weren't sitting for long. Otherwise, I must admit I was shocked at how many MEMBERS didn't know the songs P played (even the non P songs had people stumped). I guess I'm used to big city concerts.....ones where theres no such thing as sitting and seemingly EVERYBODY knows the words and music. Nevertheless, he jammed his lil azz off last night!

The only problems during the show were the idiots who kept trying to sneak up to the member section. The usher (who BTW, partied along with us) and the cops were constantly shining their flashlights on us to verify our laminates and wristbands, plus pushing someone back up the aisle EVERY 5 minutes. After a while it became a constant distraction. Otherwise, I'm quite happy with the concert (BOOOO!!! to no soundcheck). I do wish he had featured Rhonda and Blackwell a bit more.....with a talent like Blackwell...I'd give him a solo on almost every song!

Although I'm not from Texas by any means, I guess their state moto is pretty true; "All things are bigger in Texas!"
What a phenominal show! I'll attempt to bring to light how our show went last night from beginning to end, including what I can remember from the song list.
Dallas' song list was as follows...
- The Rainbow Children
- Muse to the Pharoah
- Xenophobia
- Mellow
- 1+1+1=3
- Roller Coaster
- ?
- Strange Relationship (Long, Max. Audience Participation)
- LaLa Means I love you (Absolutely Awesome, Beautiful)
- When U Were Mine (Greatly Played, F*ckin Cool Guitar)
- Avalanche (So Damn Funky)
- Family Name
- Take Me With U (Dallas Rocked this Song Out)
- Raspberry Beret (Long Ver., Great to see Live or ALIVE!)
----- Encore
- Piano Solo with just Prince on Stage (Costume Change)
- Do Me Baby
- I Wanna Be Your Lover
- Adore
- The Beautiful Ones
- How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore
- Nothing Compares to U
- NPG re-enters to perform a 10 minute funky-ass version of
Anna Stesia.

OK, so there was the song list as best as I can remember. Seems to be pretty much the same as NYC.
The show was slated for a 9pm start. My wife and I arrived at 7:30 to get our ticketmaster tickets and were immediately impressed with the Dallas Music Hall. It's a Beautiful concert Hall, with the seating to be around 3'000 seats (Approx), all the ushers were set up in tuxedos and with the intimate size of the hall, I knew it was gonna be a great show!
The tornado that occurred in Dallas I guess did cause some problems as far as the sound check went, or so I heard, but the concert went off without a hitch.
Gates opened right at 7:30pm, there was only 1 memorabilia stand set up, but with the size of the venue, it didn't seem to be a problem with anyone. I bought my wife a program ($20) and a black ONA T-shirt ($25) and was pleased with the shirts look and the books layout.
Our seats were in the first row of the balcony, and I couldn't of been happier with them! $85 bucks a shot, but we still were only 100 ft. from the stage, and had an excellent view of evertything that took place. The acoustics in Dallas were phenominal, the stage layout was very scaled down, but very pleasing to look at. Looking at the stage, he had pillows on the floor on both sides by the speakers. Renatos' 3 surround keyboards were set back and to the left with Rhonda and her bad-ass stand-up thin bass to the right. Prince's mike was of course front and centered and John Blackwells drums were behind him by 15ft. Joined with John on a small stand to the right were the NPG horns (Maceo, Candy and Greg). To the right and front of the stage was Prince's station (Keyboards, piano).
I was amazed that at 8:45pm, it looked to me that the arena was only 3/4 full, but maybe the tornado delayed some people in their arrival. But it was jammed full by startime 9pm.
The lights go down, Dallas f*ckin explodes with screams and clapping, the music starts, but no ones realizes where the show is beginning. From behind the audience, Candy Dulfer is walking down the middle isle, playing some jazzy sax, with only 1 bodyguard fronting her, all the way down to the stage! Excellent intro I thought, and knew there'd be more intamacy to come. The curtain (Redish/Purple) is raised and Prince and the NPG begin to destroy Dallas with his "Real Music by Real Musicians" nightly theme.
Prince is decked out in black bell bottoms, black heels, black shirt and a Gray 3 button double breasted jacket. The playlist followed, but throughout the show, I noticed a lot of things that were very cool, very funny, kind of ironic, and I'll explain what I saw.
The show had a great mix of people (Black, White, Puerto Rican everybody just a freakin'), from all different ages, race and dress styles. I did see that chick who I believe did some hand signals during the sound check, and continued to do them during the whole show. All I can say is, what the f*ck was that? She had on tan silk pajama bottoms and a long tan/red kimono that reminded me of the clothes Maude used to wear on her tv show. Don't really mean to dog her, but she did stand out from above.
Prince did his, what seems to be a skit for him during ONA, "is it better to receive or give" statement to an audience member from the NPGMC orchestra pit (sat maybe 30 people), who she then replied "GIVE!" Of course, Prince then sayed "Then why don't you give up your front row seat to that brother right over there?" He then pulled her onto the stage, escorted her over to the pillows on the left side of the stage, and played a nasty 2 or 3 minute guitar solo for her. Wasn't sure if she was gonna make it, she was very excited about her being up on stage with him, but contained herself and was very gracious when the song was over.
During one of the other songs, Prince brought two others onto the stage with him, one being a guy from the orchestra pit who was very funny, very into the concert, and showed it with his good dancing and attitude during his short 15 minutes of fame. The chick he brought up there along with him was a different story. My wife and I noticed her when she walked in before the show. I thought the hand signal chick stood out, but my goodness, this purple dressed thing was a beacon of Ho' if I've ever seen one. That tight ass purple one piece tank top bell bottom gold belt wearing jump suit was something to behold! Obviously she was bought some huge breasts (God bless her), and I'm not so sure that @ss wasn't purchased somewhere either! But what struck me, and I'm not so sure Prince could see that when he spotted her sometime during his show, nor could he tell from his vantage point or in the dark, was, damn, she obviously frequented plenty of supermarkets before the show aired last night. She took forever to get on stage, although she was about 10 rows back when she began her obvoius quest up front, and when she got there, she took another 2 minutes to warm up. But when she did, good gaw'd, she just shook her hips back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Again, God bless her. Prince didn't acknowledge her at all, but did smile at the guy who was almost standing next to him by this time, and I believe let him sing one high ass note on the song that was being played.
The guy was great, the lady wasn't. "prince yelled out "I'm afraid of you man!" and the Dallas crowd loved it! Prince allowed another NPGC member during his show his chance at Princedom and had him sing, scream rather, "CALL ME!" on "How come U don't call me song." Very hilarious to see, but the guy, a big guy at that, did very well and Prince commented on his high note also.
Overall, I just think the show was phenominal! A lot of interaction with the band, Prince and the crowd. At one point, Maceo was up in the balcony, a few feet from me, playing a sax solo and Prince was just diggin the reaction between us, him and his band. That seemed to be a running theme throughout the show, include the audience and react to them. Great theory and perfectly executed.
The WNPG radio show was very nice, Prince made a comment when Greg Boyer had a trombone solo "This one is for the big ladies", that got a great laugh from the crowd, as well as his Erika Baduh (misspelled I'm sure) statement where she was in the car when it wrecked was also very funny.
Just a lot of small things that made this show for me my favorite Prince show yet. This is my #4 (1999, P.R. and JOTY) concert but my wife's first Prince show. Frankly, I'm surprised she came back with me! She's always been a fan, but damn, now she's wanting more and more. OK by me!
So, in closing, L.A. I hope he has some funk left, cause we took alot of it from him in Dallas. But knowing Prince, you guys will be alright.
Enjoy YOUR concert, cause I damn well loved mine. Thanx Dallas!!!!!
[This message was edited Wed Apr 17 15:54:35 PDT 2002 by MN96146]
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hey, could someone tell me what "ushers" means?

Hi, could anyone tell me what kinda drums and cymbals John uses? I'm interested in the brands, types, sizes, finishes etc. Does he use also electric drums or drumpads?

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