Hello All You Purple Heads!

I know lots of you have been waiting for a detailed report so I will do my best but before I do, I need to get a few things off my chest:

Waiting In Line: Many of us arrived to wait in line at 3:30 or so per the info provided by the Empire Ballroom and NPG. We were told we would be let in by 4 PM, soundcheck access at 5 PM and then the common non-npgers would be let in by 6 PM. As you can well imagine, no such luck. Because of sound issues and what appeared to be a longer than expected wait because our special someone had not arrived yet, we got in at 7 PM. I don't mind waiting in line and actually expected Prince not to be on schedule, but next time, could the fans get some water or better yet, could someone let us know why the longer than expected wait?

NO MORE General Admission Shows: PLEASE Prince, no more of these shows! For those of my fellow NPGers who surrounded me up front by the stage, you know what I mean. For many hours, we dealt with non-npg fans making their drunk way up to the stage. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about having fun but I shouldn't have to deal with pushing and shoving which occurred on throughout the entire set.

Did I Mention the $1,000 Fee If You Wanted to Sit At A Table? I know it's Vegas and it should be expected but MY LORD!

Ok. So On To The Show...

Sound Check: I can't remember the exact set list but the following songs were played: Elephants and Flowers, Don't Play Me Love 2 The 9s and a few Tamar tunes.

Tamar Show (with Prince on Guitar and Backing Vocals): Please see any of the previous Tamar reports. I believe it was the exact same show. Tamar is quite good live and has a strong voice. The Twinz also offer nice eye candy and seem to work well with the whole Tamar/3121 feel.

Prince's Set: Again, can't remember the exact order but here goes: 3121, Lolita, Black Sweat, Kiss, Satisfied, Joy In Repetition, Fury, a Tamar Medley, Partyman, Anotherloverholeinyohead, If I Was Ure Girlfriend, Fury, Purple Rain and Let's Go Crazy.

I know I've forgotten some so if you are reading this and you were there, please feel free to ad. One thing I will add, Prince was having a blast last night! Celebs in attendance (or the ones I saw): Sheila E, Larry and Tina Graham and possibly Common(?).

I hope that gives you all a bit more info. Peace and B Wyld.

Camille71

So he played a 2 hour set and half was Tamar and half the songs were covers.

All for $312.10. Seems like great value

Thank you for sharing the details

Camille71 said:

I hate that shit too



DAYUM!!



Okay, mostly cream worthy How was Black Sweat live? Did it play well?

DAMN, I would have loved to hear Dont Play Me, Love 2 the 9s & Anotherloverholeinyohead ESPECIALLY... GRRRRR

Hope you had a good time, thanks for the info

I did think that Prince would do something extra special for this show... but apart from the soundcheck and the addition of a couple of his own songs, it's not that much different from the Tamar featr. Prince shows which were only $31.21! For the extra cost, even in Vegas, you could have expected more. Except it's Prince and we should all know what he's like.

metalorange said:

I agree. I am kind of surprised at the similarities between his show and Tamar's show. The high ticket prices definitely warranted a better set list.

I would like to know why P is doing so many covers. I thought the covers on Tamar's tour was to showcase her voice, but I guess that wasn't the case since they are apart of his set also.

Does anyone know if he is doing all the singing on the covers or is it Tamar? Also, did P do any dancing?

PurpleCharm said:

sounds like he ripped his diehard fans off AGAIN !!

The setlist is 'okay' at best.

Some of these 'rare' tunes like 'Empty Room' and 'Joy In Repetition' were played on the European leg of the 'One Nite Alone' Tour. Nothing much new here really.

I'm sure I would have enjoyed it had I been there, but I'm seriously questioning whether I would have wanted to spend $312.01 for that set of songs.

And whats with the covers? The man has hundreds of rarely played, classic songs. Why the F**k doesn't he just play them?!! I know he may enjoy these cover-tunes but for a $312.01 ticket price he seriously needs to think about what the fans want to hear.

That ticket-price simply does not allow for self-indulgence. People expect to be literally blown off their feet for that kind of cash.

Thetan said:

I don't know about that first show, but the second show setlist sounds crazy.... "Dont't Play Me" Elephants & Flowers" "Computer Blue," "Empty Room", "Housequake," ?????Sounds like a killer show to me...

murph said:

The second show sounds more interesting from reports I've read, but it is worth bearing in mind that some of those tracks were just snippets, just a line or 2 and a groove on the guitar before switching to another song, not full songs. The set-list can often lead people to think he's doing full versions of each of these sons, which apparently he didn't.

Yes, the Sunday setlist sounds much better.

I think it would have been a killer if the encore had been performed and they had not been 'chucked out'.

Saturday gets an A and Sunday gets an A++. The main reason I think was that Prince and the NPG were a little more prepared. I mean he started playing after only half the line walked in on Sunday, compared to waiting an hour after we walked in on Saturday. But it was interesting to see the look on his face Saturday when we walked in. I don't think he was happy with the sound people at all. Tamar was amazing both nights. The twins were awesome as well. They really need to take this show on the road.

PurpleCharm said:

He sang, unfortunately, on most of the covers. He danced a lot more than I've seen him do in a long time and looked great.

I agree wholeheartedly , this was just another performance of the Tamar shows step for step and song for song. She performed for at least an hour if not more when you factor in that she was front and center on most of his songs and all of the covers as well.

Now, don't get me wrong I loved her performance and the Twinz I think they're all very talented. But this was billed as a Prince show so that's who I want to see AND hear. They should have had Tamar be a true opening act like GCS the night before at the Time show. Do your set then get off the stage or sing backup in da back.

Everytime I got my Prince groove going, here she come. I was in Heaven during Joy in Repetition and just as I was about to cry, here comes Tamar, disturbing my Princely groove.

Now WTF is the deal with all the covers??? I counted 11 covers. Doesn't that seem like a lot for someone who claimed recently, on Ellen, "I don't listen to the radio I make new music when I want to. Do you listen to other comics?" You are a prolific musical genius and you decide to charge folks $312 for the pleasure of hearing you play tired disco songs. You have 1000s of songs and THIS is what you choose to perform???

I'm not whining about the wait in line (since 2:00 pm to get in at 6 when they said they'd let us in at 4, one guy actually went there right after the Time show at 2am and waited at the Empire Ballroom all night, now that's dedication or just plain ole crazy AND IMHO the energy at the Time show was way higher and more fun even though Prince only showed up for two songs) the expense of the ticket, plane ticket, hotel room, etc. but I must say it was way too much Tamar since I'd just seen the same show a few months ago.

It was great to see Prince, he was awesome danced his ass off, and played his guitar till I wept, but it would have been nice that after going through all that for a two hour show if it was just him or mostly him performing on stage without the distraction of Tamar and the Twinz taking away from his time.

I think Prince does a lot of covers because they are fun for him. Those are some of his favorite songs. If you did a concert, don't you think it would be fun to do covers of your favorite Prince songs? It is just him having a good time, and mixing things up.

FunkiestOne said:

I can understand doing covers at an aftershow, but again considering the expense and how it was billed as an "historic" performance, so many covers seems a bit excessive to me. Also, I don't remember him doing so many covers during Musicology and hardly any in previous concerts I've been to so it took me by surprise.

SCNDLS said:

Prince has often done covers at aftershows, perhaps he thinks of the 3121 club as something similar, a relaxed small environment, not a full-on proper concert, even though the ticket price should really demand a full-on concert. I don't think there's anything wrong with Prince doing covers as such, it can be pretty interesting, such as his version of Whole Lotta Love, but we all know he has so many songs he has never played live or older songs he rarely plays and such concerts with really hard-core fans could be the perfect place to air them.

God.
Prince has a problem these days giving the stage to everyone else but himself....and the damn cover tunes?????
If I want to see a cover band I'll go to some backwoods bar in Mississippi.
I've seen some good Prince shows and I've seen some really awful Prince shows. The bad ones are the ones where he does snippets of hits and then has every other damn member of the band play the whole show....and the cover thing??? Good lord, he has to stop.
Play your music Prince. It's good music. No more fxxxin Rollercoaster!!! The song wasn't good then and it's not good now!
[Edited 6/3/06 19:29pm]

Come on people... who cares if Prince did a few covers... HE performed them.. he put his own spin on them and he was right there in front of us doing it... we got some B-sides, some rarely heard-live tracks and Prince dancing... it was AWESOME!!! He had a good time... I had a good time...the crazy people dancing and singing on stage (on Sunday) had a good time... seems like some folks are NEVER happy... get over it and stop hating... less critique and more LOVE for one another!!!