I drove down from Detroit, Michigan. I arrived in Chicago around 7:00 PM. There was a small NPG line in front of the Congress Theater. The atmosphere was so festive. The Chicago police rode by and started bumping “It’s hard out here for a Pimp” from the Hustle & Flow movie. Everybody just died laughing and so was the police. They came back a few times and did again. The time passed pretty quickly because the fans were all talking. A lot of people from the fan sites were finally able to put a name with a face for the first time.

When the doors opened I headed for the front side of the stage. It was great I was so close to prince that I could touch him if I wanted and see every note that played on his guitar. His effects pedal board was right there. For my other fellow guitar players the pedal board was as follows: Line 6 Modulation Modeler. Boss pedals: Vibrato, Octaver, DD3 Delay, Flanger, Ds-2 Distortion, Blues Driver. White Cry Baby Wah Wah pedal. His amp was two Mesa Boogie combos. His Hohner Telecaster is all scratched up. You can tell that he spends more time playing it than polishing it (-: He was not wireless. He used a coiled monster cable.

Prince managed to be in full control of the show but play a supporting role on Guitar and vocals. He is the best showman. He treated us, as you probably read by now, to licks from Bambi and other classics. They played Love Changes and other Old school R&B tunes like Love Rollercoaster. Sorry I don’t have more set info between looking at the Twins, Prince playing guitar, and Tamar was pretty blown away.

Prince had a lot of energy and moved around a lot dancing and playing his guitar.

Tamar and the twins gave an awesome performance. Tamar and twins came to my side of the stage and I often melted from the eye contact that I had with them. At one point one the twins came over to us singing and she actually pointed at me. Later when Prince said bring some people on stage she came back and brought me and my friend Frank (Xogenous17) up on stage. I thanked prince for doing that. Prince was so cool. I think he noticed how much my friend and I were watching his fingers on the guitar so he turned to us several times while we were standing in back of him and let us watch him play. He made the coolest face as he played.
Prince put his guitar down and turned to walk back stage. The sudden move startled me and tired to move out his way. He actually said, “your OK excuse me” and went and got an orange guitar and came back.
I could not believe I was onstage with the twins and my favorite guitar player in the world. I was a little saddened that Tamar was busy on the other side of the stage so I had no contact with her while we were up on stage. I kept one of the guitar picks that prince dropped. His name is on it.

The show was a great R&B meets Tina Turner style Rock. The twins did Janet Jackson’s What Have U Done For Me lately and that sounded great also. Tamar has a first class R&B voice and all the confidence and stage presence to go with it.

When the show ended Prince handed his orange stratocaster guitar to the crowd and walked away as they played with it. I guess security came and got it later. That was so cool that he would do that. He really looks out for his fans.

The only low point for me was a drunken female fan that pushed her way unfairly past the ladies in back of me and then hugged on to me trying to push through to see Prince. She even cut my face with her fingernail when trying to grab past my head at Prince. She also was touching me in ways that she should not have been. If she wanted to see prince that bad she should have got there early like we did. She told the people that she was my boyfriend. During the bands intermission change we were able to get rid of her somehow. It was so rude she only cared about herself. I wish my girlfriend would have been there to pull her off me (-:
If anybody has any pictures that they took please share them. I would like to see myself up on stage with the band. I was the tall guy behind prince.

Robert Welch
the_one_md@yahoo.com
AKA Bassmaniac Prince.org
AKA Guitarmaniac Housequake.com

bassmaniac said:

i was wondering what they were playing when they passed...and yeah, that shit was hilarious! and great report, btw...i'm trying to think of all who were onstage now, to figure out what you look like...you weren't the brotha in dreads with the hendrix shirt on, were you?



remember the edit
[Edited 3/1/06 10:00am]

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Thanks
I was the tall brotha in back of Prince with the light brown leather jacket and Platinum Cross around my neck and the big smile on my face(-:

It was good to see you and Frank make it on stage. I was really happy for you guys. You all "have to" make it to Berlin for the cd release party on the 26th. You'll have a blast!"


(it's me the 1 in the red coat that was talking 2 you in line)

stillw8ing said:

Hey how are you girl? Thanks.

Is the party in Berlin Germany?

bassmaniac said:

Very cool...even though I don't know how to play guitar, I like hearing all the details about the technical stuff.

bassmaniac said:

No, that's the name of the club in Chicago.
Sorry, I know how that can confuse a person that's never been. Guess that means you have to come check us out and be in the know.

stillw8ing said:

Very positive...Thanks for this.

Hi, I was standing right behind you and was equally annoyed by the drunken woman.

Dang, you are tall, btw, I didnt know you were an orger or I would of asked if I could stand in front of you (did I mention you were tall?)

Rose (whitey with red hair who got up onstage and danced!)

ReverendHubert said:

Thanks. Yes I will be trying to make the party at the Berlin Club. I will be flying back from Florida that day.

rozilla said:

Hello Rose. It was fun

This is one of the nicest reports I have ever read! Thank you so much for taking the time to tell us about your experience!


It sounds like you had a phenominal night!

this is weird, because i keep reading about all of these instances of folks encountering drunk women at the show...me and my friends had to deal with two of 'em, i figured that they were the only ones. i guess not.

Also, we are sorta kinda neighbors. I am in Ann Arbor

bassmaniac said:

rozilla said:

Way Cool(-;