LIVE REVIEW
Purple Reign
At the Schnitz and the Roseland, Prince had Portland under his power.

Not everyone can pull this off.

From its surprise announcement to the cheers that welcomed the star's on-stage condemnation of birthdays, holidays and Christmas, every aspect of Prince's Tuesday night show at the Schnitz spoke to a special kind of power. Two decades into a defiantly odd career, the world's horniest, weirdest, funkiest Jehovah's Witness remains Prince. Like black truffles and a good mattress, he's worth any amount of trouble, and he knows it.

From a stage tricked out like an '80s pimp's bedroom, Prince's bone-cracking funk band (keyed by sax firestarter Maceo Parker) produced a suitably lush two-hour-plus performance. Prince carefully gave each member of this musical hit squad props, handing over the spotlight and even the mic for short showcases. He left no doubt about who ran the show, however, as he preached his very special ministry of funk, soul, sex and God to a congregation hungry for his love. No one else would dare mix odes to the joys of the Nasty with pleas to love God Above with Prince's abandon--and no one would get away with it, either.

Slyly, like the tease he is, Prince slipped chapters from his canon into the mix, letting the crowd do most of the singing on "Raspberry Beret" and going solo for a climactic "Purple Rain." Selections from new album The Rainbow Children and a montage of classic soul covers sounded equally at home, and equally devastating.

"Don't make me sweat this suit out, Portland," Prince begged at one point. But you knew from the start that his bespoke red three-button ensemble didn't stand a chance--and that went double for every halter-top and button-down shirt inside the fusty wedding-cake of a theater.

Prince aftershow sets are legendary. Those who packed the Roseland for Wednesday's first three hours now know why. The band launched into a graduate-level exegesis, featuring 20-minute funk marathons and obscurities from deep in the Purple Songbook like "Paisley Park" and "Joy in Repetition." Prince kvetched about a fan bugging him for an autograph, but he showed just how generous he is with his public where it counts--on stage. Caryn B. Brooks, Zach Dundas and Jeff Rosenberg

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