High-Five from Prince Was Highlight of Show (well, one of them)
by June7

So, I show up with my brother and his wife (Marty & Sheila) to Las Vegas to check out Prince’s new venue. We stayed at my cousin’s house – he drove us to and from the event - that was pretty cool.

Anyway, we get there about 8:45pm, an hour and fifteen minutes prior to when the doors open (at 10). The line is long. I search for this “Member Line” I was told about, to no avail. There was no special entry or special line… Prince did not come out and greet us. I was disappointed, because I showed up early specifically to take advantage of the perks of being a member and buying “pre-sale”. In fact, my brother’s ticket was as good as mine, and we purchased it online on the day before the event. We waited through the line for about an hour. In the meantime, I sneak away and drop $20 in a nearby slot machine… no win.

The line starts moving. The guy at the table (yeah, a table set up outside the club, near the line, where all our tickets are kept in an open file!) grabs my envelope after I show him my I.D., it has all three tickets in it. I was expecting two “member tickets” to be in a separate envelope and the recently purchased “general” ticket to be in another, again in hopes that some sort of perk is awaiting me. Alas, it is not. Oh well – we grab our tickets and get ready to go in and secure our spot next to the stage.

The club is awesome. It’s in a round set up. The whole club is a giant circle with the symbol everywhere, as well as “3121” written on pillars sporadically thrown about the place. The main stage curtain is crushed velvet purple with gold trim… beautiful. As hard as I tried, I was not leaning on the stage – I was the second person from the stage… damn! My view was still going to be fantastic, and I couldn’t wait until the show started.

During this time, we take turns getting each other drinks. I went to the bar and asked for three Coronas and three shots of Cuervo 1800. The guy comes back at me with a $65.00 bill! Damn. The shots were $15.00 each. The bartender was waaaay cool, I asked him about having one of the coolest jobs around. The way the club is set up, he’s on a riser directly opposite the stage. He sees Prince for free every weekend! He thinks his job is the best too. Got my drinks – back to the floor.

Somewhere in that time frame, my brother decides to go to the bathroom. It’s about 60 minutes before the show, or something like that. He comes back about fifteen minutes later. He says very coyly, “I just met Prince”. I called him a liar, laughed and turned back around to face the stage and stare at the purple curtains (huh?). He said, “No, really – I did”. He then pulls out a little pouch that ties at the top with a draw string, with the on the bag. In the bag are about ten guitar pics with the symbol on them (white pics, purple on them). He says he returned to the club and stood at the entrance to appreciate the set up. Out of the corner of his eye he notices the very well dressed, thin, pretty boy about ten feet from him. As he’s about to point and gesture something like, ‘hey, you’re Prince!’ to him, Prince walks up to him and says, yeah… be cool, then hands him the bag and pimp walks away! My brother was floored. I was green with envy! I recall a similar situation back in ’95 where he did that to a friend of mine’s husband who was a security guard at the Irvine Meadows arena in Orange County. Damn! I should have seen that coming… I should have been cruising the floor looking for Prince! I was happy for my brother though, what a great story to be able to tell… plus, he gave me about four of the pics.

Shortly after midnight we get full video footage of Beyonce inducting him into the UK Hall of Fame, then, the curtains came up with Prince smack dab in the middle of the stage about three feet from me! I can’t even remember what song he started with! I won’t go through the set list except to say, most of the songs were from 3121, a couple from Musicology, and a whole lotta “B” stuff… including his version of “Johnnie B. Goode.

Here’s something else that I never thought about… Prince uses “crib sheets”. There’s a guy in the “pit” placing laminated lyric sheets on a music stand. These are big fonts about size 20. From my viewpoint, I could see which song was going to be next. I was within arms reach of these sheets, and was sooooo tempted to grab one! I didn’t, but oh, the temptation.

Towards the end of the show, he was tossing scarves from around his neck into the audience. He did this maybe two or three times. It made me think, damn… in Vegas that’s so Elvis!

At one point he was rockin’ the crowd pretty good and was strutting across the stage towards the audience, back and forth. He delayed awhile to the left of me, then looked at me and high-fived me! It was an awesome moment for me! I turned around and looked at my brother and his wife who were all smiles and cheering me on! I was a dork standing there looking at them pointing to my hand, yelling, “did you see that?! (I’m smiling as I write this… oh, and yes… I washed my hand since.)

End of the night – Larry Graham came out to do some fancy bass thumps (damn, if he’d just stay off the mic!) Sheila E. came out and played her ass off… she looks absolutely fantastic! Maceo Parker was featured a couple of times and really took control of the show during Prince’s three costume changes. Prince played a snippet of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”. Interesting.

On another note: The Twinz. Some people here have remarked that they are annoying, and why are they being so prominently featured, etc… I can tell you, they fucking rock. Their background vocals and choreography throughout the show is so energetic and funky!

End of show: One encore and no Purple Rain. I was bummed because this was my brother’s first time seeing him, and PR is one of his favorite songs.


In the end: It was probably my most favorite concert ever. The ambience was all there – it was purple party people everywhere. I met a couple of Orgers, but I don’t remember their names… it all happened so fast.

If you get a chance to see this show at this venue – do so immediately! Go! I may go again while he’s there just to be back in that world. Oh yeah, I spent another $100 at the 3121 Boutique just outside the club. Bring your wallet…

See you at the next gig – hopefully!


(Oh yeah… I snapped some photos with my cellular, very discreetly! They turned out great! Well I ended taking about six… if I can get them to the computer, I’ll post them).

niiiiice

Glad u guys had fun

I had such a great time that first weekend at 3121. I know what you mean when you said...


"I may go again while he’s there just to be back in that world."

oh cool! thanx
post em! post em! post em!

Sounds like it was a great night. Can't wait to see your picture.

I wanna see him! thanks for posting.

wlcm2thdwn said:

me too

what a great read! thanx!

Cool dude glad u had a good time awsome but next time can u take me with u? peace!

Very cool...glad to hear it was a very memorable time for you!

VERY cool story-thanx so much 4 sharing!

First, thank you 4 sharing
Second, it's great to hear the man doing his thing. Sounds like a funky good time in all. I am so glad to hear that Vegas is turning out to be one great gig after another. It's also nice to see P being personal and stuff. Sounds like he's at the top of his game. One negative point, Larry again? Damn!

congrats
thx 4 sharing
glad u had a good time

Snap said:

picture `?? please:)?

Larry was brief... one song.

Prince did give him mad props though, for changing his life, etc...

Prince kept fucking with the guy that was handing him his different guitars for different songs. He was tapping him on the head with his scarves before he threw them out to the crowd... the guy didn't know what Prince was doing... he just stood there like a statue with his guitar completely still waiting for Prince to grab it...

that was such an awesome read- ure brother is so lucky! i wish i could see him- but alas, i donot meet the age requirement. neways, glad u had an awesome time.

that is such a great story june7! i'm very happy for you.

Awesome story!!!!! Glad you had such a fun time. Wow, your brother got the pics and a pimp walk! Cool that he singled you out for a high five. Get it girl!!!

j7 I totally enjoyed reading your beautiful experience and thank u dearly 4 sharing. I'm so glad you and your brother were at the right place at the right time. Damn! I hope I get that lucky when I go

hokie1 said:

Huh?

Wow! That was cool!

I'm glad you had such a great time! What do you mean by "B" stuff?

That's awesome. i cant wait i'm going this friday and satuarday! in fact this is going to be my first time seeing prince in a full fledeged concert! I'm a new fan. but quuickly became hard-core. then only other time i've seen him perform was the GMA show this summer!!!so i'm extra extra excited!

June7 said:

I think because you said somethin' about actually washing your hand afterwards . . . . .you know, something a female would NEVER do

Moonbeam said:

B side recordings

That's freaking awesome!!!

Ahhh I remember that fabulous post-concert high - may yours last and last!

How cool is that? Waaaaay Cooool!!

Very nice report!

Thanks for the post. I can only dream of how much fun you had, even with the disappointments you said you encountered. I hope to see him soon!

Oh man....that is awesome~

I wanna go!!!!