Ok, well wow. I don't know where to begin. I've seen Prince so many times, been to Paisley Park, met him before, sat at the console of his studio, toured his instrument collection, etc. So I am jaded a little. Here goes.

Location: Houston @ the Warehouse Live

Prince and Tamar took the stage a little after 12am and played until about 2:30am. The crowd was cool at about 1600 people.

He was on guitar the whole time and had a nice tight little band of bass, keys, and a female drummer that kicked it pretty hard. Tamar led the crowd well with her Beyonce like moves and beautiful stage presence. Houston is her home town so it must've been nice for her to be here. There were two dancers/backup singers that flocked her sides and they are twins apparently.

Since this was Tamar's show most of the material was hers and I am unfamiliar with it since her album is not released yet. But I will say this, THAT GIRL HAS A VOICE !!! I really enjoyed watching and hearing her. There were several times she just blew me away....like just when I thought she couldn't take that note higher she would or just when I thought she was gonna release a long note she would hold it a little longer. Wow.

Prince was in top form. He was on fire. He is and always has been the most incredible and versatile guitarists I have ever known, which is just one of the many reasons I admire him. He played the hell out of his Telecaster and later a Statocaster. Sure he soloed... almost every song, even if just a little but what really impresses me about Prince is his funk licks. That motherfucker can lay down some funk guitar so hard. In fact I woke up this morning with a little funk riff in my head he played that won't go away. LMAO. Funky bastard.

So some of the songs I know they did were Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) and Prince had some killer solo going and Tamar was hitting these high notes at the same time I got goosebumps !! This was the first highlight of the show for me.

Later they did the song by Meli'sa Morgan called Love Changes and it was such a burning rendition. Just great.

Prince mostly stayed off the mic other than background vox or calls to the band. He did however play one blues number why the girls took a rest making up words about Houston and not having a hotel tonight and how you can stay all night here with him and of course the usual amazing guitar solo.

They also did a dual Michael/Janet Jackson pairing, "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" and "What Have You Done For Me Lately" with Tamar singing the Michael Jackson song and the twins the Janet song. A little trivia for those who don't know "What Have You Done For Me Lately" was written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, former members of The Time, a band Prince put together in the 80's. Prince's funk guitar chops on both these songs made my mind disintegrate.

He then went into Partyman from the Batman Soundtrack...and I was so happy! OMG ! I wasn't expecting that! Wow. Nice surprise.

Somewhere in here they also did Sly and the Family Stone's "(I wanna take you) Higher" which was good.

Then he played "Play that Funk Music (White Boy)" and asked if anyone knew ALL the lyrics...and pulled a dude up onstage...which just happened to be a musician friend of mine Ant Boogie and he got to sing with PRINCE on this song and Ant Boogie knew how to work that crowd. I found out later apparently Ant Boogie got to hang backstage after the show with Prince and the gang. I am still waiting on the details. Amazing for him ! Cool to see him up there. I mean this guy named his son Prince sooooo....you KNOW he is a Prince fan. LOL.

After this they went into a little funk jam and pulled some other people from the audience up there an lo and behold if another musician dude I know K'Monte got up there. K'monte was near a mic so he started inserting some random vocals here and there without stepping on what was going on. Nice job K'monte !

Prince had a little dance contest which included some really funny people trying to work it but just looking funny. Couple of them though could dance. The usual smiles from Prince here.

Last was an encore where Prince played Purple Rain which was another surprise because he generally hasn't been doing that at these shows from what I understand. And that was it.

As always, when I see Prince I feel terribly inspired and so I came home and still reeling from the high, worked on recording tracks for one of my songs. He is truly one of the most amazing performers alive.

The main thing I always come away with is that I need to practice more. Hee hee. Got to get my funk riffs where they belong. On the one!

Oh and for those of you thinking my music isn't funky...just wait. The album I am working on strays from the funk but I will be grinding it hard on the next CD. Dirty Grimy Funk.
[Edited 1/6/09 16:35pm]

Thanks for the report! Sounds like a great night!

Many thanks to bosstones73 for this cool pic:

Thanks for the review and thanks to bosstones73 for the picture.

Sorry I missed you C. I got there at 12:10, hung in the back, then on the side wear the bar was. Got pretty close to the stage for the second half. Also got backstage as I'm sure you've read by now... More later.

Nice Report. I got up on stage in Chicago. being a guitar player it was nothing like seeing him play up close like that. I was a little distracted by the twins. man they are so beautiful I wanted to give them all my credit cards Navigotar keys and everything. Women like that would ruin me(-: Tamar sounds good and is pretty also.

I wish some picture of me and my friends on stage would surface.

missed u at the show peter..saw ant when we were standing in line, then he was near me in the audience...and of course, on stage

yall can read my review here...

Happy for you. Depressed for me..I wasn't able to make the show....

He played PURPLE RAIN?????

It was so good to see you all and enjoy the master funkateer together. Kevin, Louis and Ant all got on stage. PeterV, Ant and I were all at the after party and got to meet and talk to Prince.

Brsugah
Purple Wishes N Computer Blue Dreams 2 U