During the soundcheck while jamming on Xenophobia, Renato started making scary bending synth parts, and Prince said "its not Halloween, Renato"

Prince started a reggae riff during the soundcheck. The horn players had a huddle and seemed to figure out a new horn line on the spot, which amused Prince.

When Prince sat down at the edge of the stage to do the little Q&A, he said something about having really good talk at the Kingdom Hall earlier that day. Someone asked which one? (naming streets), and Prince said, "I don’t know, some nice brother turned us on to it, and he showed us how to get there."

A very nice guy tried to give prince a religious booklet of some kind, and Prince turned it down saying, "I just read the Bible."

After three club members sang "Last December" while Prince accompanied on guitar, they stood there. Prince joked that they were "supposed to bow and go (offstage)." They all filed back down. One guy stopped and whispered something (probably about JW stuff) right in Prince’s ear. Prince joked that he had asked, "Do you really want me to go?" The audience laughed, and the guy shot back, "He’s got jokes too."

Prince also told that ‘whispering ear’ guy "we’ll talk more about that later, come see me after the soundcheck." Prince had a religious pamphlet of some kind given to him.

When the "Purple Curse" lady held up her sign (I have a story 4 U) Prince asked, "Is it a long one?" she said yes and he shot back, " Can’t you tell the abbreviated version?"

The purple curse lady (she has had extremely bad luck trying to get to his concerts in the past) asked Prince if he could sign her unused Purple Rain tour ticket, he said, "I stopped signing things since I started studying the Bible"

She then asked if he would sing "International lover" (the song that got her into Prince) and he said, "since I’ve started studying the Bible, I’ve stopped singing those songs"

Prince then got swarmed by a few people who asked to shake his hand. The bodyguard stood by and (not Aaron) was on high alert, stepping forward and putting his hand up to his chest every time someone made contact with Prince.

A lady asked to hug Prince, and he said "No, I’d probably get in trouble for that, but I could shake your hand."

Prince ask the club members, "don’t you want to hear anything new?" when they shouted old obscure requests.

Prince seemed a bit tired at the soundcheck, but then appeared completely invigorated during the show.

During the course of the show, we could hear Prince saying stuff to Takumi off the microphone like "no no no, not that one…. that one," to indicate he wanted a particular guitar. He would also communicate with Takumi with little eye rolls and nods while he was singing.

When Boyer comes up right to the edge dead center and blows these single huge dramatic roars on his horn, we could actually here the un-amplified horn clearly.

We could also clearly hear Prince singing right in front of us unamplified, because of the proximity.

We thought the sweat was going to hit us off of Maceo.

Candy Dulfer was such a sharp vision… this anglo-euro-nordic-feminine-beauty playing these strong urban phrases with a look of honest bliss.

The horn players seemed to be having a great time doing little synchronized sways and were playing… as in, children playing.

Prince and Renato have a lot of musical in-jokes going on between them just like Prince had with Morris Hayes.

During the horn solos by all the players, Prince seemed to have expression of disbelief and approval over how good these cats were.

The whip noise on the fourth beat during 1+1+1 is 3 just thunderously slapped you as if to say "THIS IS FUNK"
When Prince made a statement about God having an important name ("Jesus said, hallowed be thy name") someone yelled "Jehovah!!!" behind us.

On songs like "Do Me Baby" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover", Prince seemed to conveniently let the audience sing the nastier implications like "…(only one you) come for" and "Do me."

Towards the end, Prince said "It’s an exchange like this that makes my life worth living" (referring to the energy of the audience reaction to the energy of the performance) and it came across with real feeling, not canned bullsh*t.

The Purple Rain performance at the end seemed to be a genuine loose meandering thing. Prince called for "someone get Maceo" and it took Maceo a little bit to get back on stage. Prince did not play guitar on Purple Rain. He played keyboards. No guitar solo!

Prince did not do the splits once during the show.

Prince did not wear his standard boots with little steel heels. He wore these white "Luke Skywalker" platform shoes with rope fringe all over. He wore all white, a blouse like shirt with a vest over it. White cowboy hat. Very conservative, layered, and covered.

Prince’s Ibenez semi hollow body guitar had an old marker inscription on the back that I could only read portions of. It said., "To P. Park…..best wishes…."

The beautiful cool girl who got to sit on the pillows onstage, Karen, got up to leave and Prince stopped her saying "No, no… stay there" She stayed for a few more songs with a dazzling smile that was pure eye candy. Good choice Prince!

"Xenophobia" built up a dark powerful mood that showed how "bad" this show was going to be.

"Pass the Peas" was so playful, funky, and active with Maceo, Boyer, and Prince jumping to the mic and trading vocals, that you had to smile and laugh. A truly joyful performance.

When Prince says something about "Abe Lincoln was a racist" using a beautiful melody within the context of the slow bluesy ballad that is "Avalanche," it almost feels pornographic. Very entertaining.

"Free" sounded huge and fresh in this context. Like a Beatles song suddenly crept in and changed the mood.

After the end, Takumi had to deal with some guys trying to steal guitar picks and even the little spray can. He called for security "Would you guys come over hear and help me watch my station, this guy keeps taking stuff"

One guy (the guy who tried to hand Prince a religious pamphlet) picked up a guitar pick. A guard told him, "Put that down…. PUT…. THAT….DOWN." This dude acted nonchalant and very slowly put it down as he continued to study it

Takami, the guitar tech, is amazing. He is constantly watching Prince, the audience, and security. He is quickly trading guitars when Prince signals a change. Once he hands Prince a guitar, he has to tune the discarded one with an electronic tuner at the foot of the stage. He then sprays the strings up and down the fretboard with some kind of little spray, holding a towel to block it form getting on us. He also has to keep blindly turning the pages of these oversized laminated (lyric?) books at the edge of the stage as the show progresses. He keeps Prince's guitar cables all straight. He even helped to clear out chairs at the front to make way for a wheelchair bound club member. He also would turn around and tell us to look back at the balconies so we wouldn’t miss the horn players soloing up there. He let us touch the guitars. He passed out the percussion to the audience members. He did it all in a suit with the most friendly gentle voice.

nice read..thanks starboy...

I don't understand this one: OK, so Prince can't sing "International Lover" because of his religious beliefs, but yet he can sing "Do Me Baby" - even if he allows the audience to sing the innuendo parts???

I guess I'll have to listen to those songs to figure out if I'm not remembering something about "IL" that is racier than "DMB".

Just going by memory (I haven't listened to either song in ages) it seems like "Do Me Baby" is more salacious than "International Lover". ::::

wow, thanks! that was a great review!

i've heard so many nice things about Takumi from so many different people. Prince must be so glad to have that guy working for him.

and..Prince wore a cowboy hat?? hmm i don't know why but that makes me laugh.

and people -- QUIT TRYING TO STEAL STUFF FROM PRINCE!!! NOT COOL!!!

starboy126 said:

No doubt he was looking for a bookmark for his religious pamphlet.

Thanks for the interesting read,

Brendan

Supernova said:

I don't think its question of which song is racier. My guess is that in Prince's mind it's hard to sell "International Lover" as a great sexual encounter within marriage.

Just speculation, though, and certainly not my opinion. I think sexual encounters between intelligent, mature adults are quite healthy and beautiful.

Brendan

.
[This message was edited Thu Apr 18 22:19:57 PDT 2002 by luvy]

starboy126 said:

:O

Alright, if he wears tie-dye in the Bay Area I'm calling the cops!!!

Hey thanks Starboy. Glad to here the different highlights of each person that attended. I can't wait for the concert tonight.

Much Love,
LoLinex

For the record, it wasn't a cowboy hat. It was a white fedora.

It must be really annoying for Prince to have to deal with people trying to hand him religious pamplets and whispering in his ear.

Since the reports came out about him studying the Bible with JWs, it seems as if these JW folks are coming out and forcefully making their presence known in Prince online forums and apparently at the shows.

I mean what was the whispering about? If you don't know Prince as a personal friend, why would you think you have the right to whisper in his ear?

And people swarming him to shake his hand? Come on now! You cannot do this. Prince is a guitar and keyboard player. He can't do too much hand shaking. Some people squeeze really hard when they shake hands.

Your account is pretty on point! Now, not to say that your post implied this in any way and just so you know, I'm not for a lot of those feel-good "PC" terms. Excellent choice of words considering what your could've written (eg. some handicapped chick not to be confused with... ). It was nice meeting you, I think. Was that you? Let me just say that being "bound" isn't always a negative depending on who/ what you are bound to/ by. Besides, I wouldn't have been surprised if a little "laying on of hands" by Prince did the trick. Did I say that? Fortunately (more so for him), I passed on the opportunity to shake hands with him for fear I would act like total nut.

It was nice that those bold enough, got to tell Prince how much his music has meant to them over the years. God knows... It was cool being just about front and center so I could see the expressions and the interactions. Prince and Renato were cuttin' up! Not to take a thing away from all the males on stage, but Candy and Rhonda put it down!

I gotta say, "Thanks" to Takumi (and for the record, I put that tambourine right back in that box without hesitation! ) and EVERYONE else who had my back at the show including but not limited to Julie, the "purple curse" lady and her husband. Hope you had fun at the next show.

NPG Music Club Membership: $100.00
Member Concert Pass: $125.00
Top Ramen Noodle: 8 for $1.00
Prince's smile: priceless

starboy126 said:

that was me, Madcute... write me... I can hook you up with cool Prince stuff!

Great report starboy....and I am glad that you gave shout-outs to Takumi. He is a great guy that does an excellent job! I was at the show and loved every minute of it....getting front row seats to a show like that is so excellent, too. I thank Prince for that.

great review starboy!

Novy said:

That's an angle I hadn't thought of. Thanks, Brendan.

gatorgirl said:[quote][color=blue:ab8c496682]Great report starboy....and I am glad that you gave shout-outs to Takumi. He is a great guy that does an excellent job! /quote]

Had to joke Takumi about his suit when he was here in detroit. dude has some mad skills he gets the job done. couldnt believe it when Prince bounced a guitar and he mad a one handed grab, completed whatever work was needed and had it back in P's hands on the one. very nice to talk to 2

Fantastic fragments, Starboy! It felt like I was reading a series of scenes from a manuscript for a film. Nice imagery and choice of words.

Baby, Your A Star(Boy!)

I love me SOME JAPANESE LONG HAIRED GOD.. TAKUMI I LOVE YOU>>> ARE YOU LISTENING... all dressed up in a suit! HUBBA HUBBA! watch out baby i'm mauling you in LA!!!

SpaceCity said:

WHEEEWWWWW!

*****

hats:

Cowboy hats:

awesome report!!

AmethystAngelMPLS said:

so true...how would u like it if p came up in yo crib and attempted 2 steal sumfin of yours??? that's just plain stoopid!!!

CalhounSq said:

hey, i think he'd look kinna cute in a cowboy hat....that is, if it ain't 2 stetson-licious...then it'd be a definite !

I talked to Takumi in NY while he was getting tickets for some friends of his. I asked him what his job was like and he said it was hard work. Then I asked him what Prince was like to work for and he said that he's really nice but he makes you work. I guess this is obvious stuff but interesting. In Kansas City, Takumi had to work down in the pit, right in front of the front row. Before the show he apoligized that he might be in our way and I was like "we will gladly get out of your way". He was really nice. He handed out the guitar picks after the show. He seemed to really get into a few of the songs, esp. Rasberry Beret. Later.

NikkiDarling said:

umm... seems really obvious to me, but i don't think those pamphlet givers were JW... probably of other denominations, hoping for a good debate... 'cause wouldn't he otherwise have access to all the JW stuff, if he were JW?

OH sorry to make you share fandom w/ a bunch of JWs... cheese some of us have been fans for a long time, cherie. now we have something more in common w/ him... R U jealous?

great report!

its thhe little details that I like to hear!!!
every show is special in its own way.

Takumi is super sweet, always nice, never cops "tude" and works hard for the money!!

props and pounds for Takumi!!!

Finally got to read your report Starboy, its great sounds like a good time!


Adore~

This was very informing and well written. Thanx alot starboy!

Ahh..it was ok