Here’s my take on last night’s performance (kinda long report, but I know I appreciate getting the blow-by-blow when I'm not able to attend shows)....

The doors opened at about 9ish. DJ Rashida played, but folks were not really dancing. The place was pretty much empty until about 10:30. Prior to that, folks were basically marking there positions on the dance floor, some sitting on the floor (including me!). The show started at about 11:55.

I noticed that there were a lot of unoccupied VIP tables, but I guess that is not a surprise, given the pricing. Also, the show was not sold out and there were people buying tickets for the performance minutes before the show. That was a surprise.

Stymie has already posted the play list on the org, but he left out Cream – which was well done. My personal favorite was Joy In Repetition, which I just cannot get enough of. His guitar work was killer!!!

For the “Play That Funky Music,” white male audience member participation section of the show, he wasn’t successful in getting anyone to get up on stage – he had pointed at some folks, but they demurred. I think people really just didn’t know the words.

Regarding Shelby… Prince announced her as his “favorite artist right now” – the way he used to talk about Tamar. However, I spoke to one of the band members and he said that Prince just met her a few days ago and asked her to sing. She was introduced to him by Larry Graham, whom she’s been playing with.

Overall, it was a tight Prince performance (but not my fav compared to others I’ve seen this year). But it was well-staged and Prince’s energy was high. He seemed to be in a very good mood. As a long-time fan, one hour and 45 minutes is a bit of a disappointment --- guess I’m spoiled. Plus I’m always hoping that he is able to bring in new fans with his shows. I’m not sure if the non-hard core folks would feel that they got their money’s worth for $312. (Though, to be fair, most of the NYE shows in Vegas ranged in price from $200 - $350, including those without any live entertainment! And of course, without one of the most important musicians of the past 30 years!)

I spoke to a few couples who bought the VIP packages and they were extremely happy. (I was a bit dubious re: the value they got for $1,000 each.) In fact, one of the couples got engaged that night right at the 3121 Jazz Restaurant. The ring was brought out on a platter by the wait staff (awww!). He invited some folks to dance on stage, per usual. I think he got them from the VIP section.

The show was over at about 2am. Regarding the after show….

I got the impression that there was not a lot of awareness of the aftershow, but the diehards were definitely on line. For some, when they learned that the tiny jazz room where the band would play was already full, they didn’t want to pay ($20 cover + $20 food/drink min) to sit in an adjacent main dining room and look through a glass door. I would say that the there were about 15-20 tables in the dining room and half were occupied. At this point it was about 3am. My thinking is, if you’re going to fly all the way to Vegas to see him, how can you not pay another $40 to see/hear him jam? You waste at least that amount at a Blackjack table!

For those of us that took them up on it, it was a really chill scene. Folks were excited and I think there was a lot of hope that we’d be able to get into the smaller room. On two occasions, Prince came to the main room … once while playing the guitar and peaking his head in as a tease, and once to chat with the chef at the open-air kitchen. He seemed very relaxed and easy going.. very quick to smile. Some of the bolder among us approached him and he was very gracious… shaking hands and such. Very nice.

The security team was really, really nice, and they let some of us go in and dance for a few minutes here and there when there was space. When that happened, I was like a few feet away from Prince. It was awesome!

An accapella band named Mosaic (similar to Take Six from the 80s) that was very good. They sung a few songs. But then it was basically a lot of jamming. Maceo was there, as were Cora, Mr. Hayes, and Renato. There were other horn players I didn’t know.Whoever was blowing the trombone was fierce, though. Shelby sang a song or two. From time to time Prince would join in on the guitar. Other times he was off elsewhere, in a side room with friends or whatever. It was like being in his living room in his house. Very intimate and low key.People kept wanting more. Finally, Prince just said, "that's a wrap" and he exited.

I have to add, from a restaurant perspective, that there was disappointment over the wait service. The staff seemed to be confused as to what tables they were supposed to be handling. Some people waited a really long time to either place or get their order. Our bill was totally wrong. But hey, it’s Prince. You just got to go with the flow.

So it was a long, but eminently satisfying New Year’s Eve celebration. I don’t regret it at all. He is the man and I can’t get over the fact that he gives us so many opportunities to see him close-up.I continue to be surprised at the extent to which I'm willing to spend money and time to hear this guy play. But I won't regret the memories when I'm fifty-four!

YAY BRING SEXY BACK

WOW!!!! I dont mind long reports at all, I enjoyed reading all of it. Sounds like it was a great time, too bad I couldn't be there, but hope to go back soon. Thanks for the report.

Thanks for the report! I'll be going for the Jan 12/13th weekend (if all goes well).

amazing~ thanx

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[Edited 4/18/07 22:37pm]

thanks for the report!

prince really needs to knock it off with the protege stuff for a while. he was really doing a class job with tamar last year, but when it all came undone i think it kinda hurt his chances of building up another golden tonsilled beauty for a while. unless she's a multi-instrumentalist or can write and produce her own stuff, which would be very refreshing.

wow!! great report! Thanks for taking the time to give us the details. i felt like I was there.

nice report thanks!

Thanks for the review, it's nice knowing he has other artists performing at his shows. I heard Shelby has an excellent voice.

Thank you for taking the time to tell us how the night went.

Thanks for the great review...glad you had a good time.

Jone70: I MUST be missing something here.....What did you just say??

AND What does it mean?? ( The check, String, Etc.)

PurpleSmiles said:

My signature is a quote from John Cage about the French artist Marcel Duchamp (who is the guy in my avatar). Duchamp is the artist who took a men's urinal, turned it on it's side, titled it "Fountain" and said it was art. He also drew a mustache & goatee on a postcard of the Mona Lisa with the initials L.H.O.O.Q. underneath, which pronounced in French sounds like, "Elle a chaud au cul" (she has a hot ass). The other things mentioned in the quote are other objects he made into art.

The last sentence really relates to the idea that by simply CHOOSING a useful object (e.g. a urinal, a shovel, a bicycle wheel) and eliminating its usefulness, Duchamp was theorectically able to turn anything into art, thus changing the course of contemporary art forever. (He was voted the most influential artist of the 20th century.) He is one of my favorite artists and I have this little idea in the back of my mind to write an essay about the similarities b/t Duchamp & Prince. (Both had female alter-egos, all kinds of sexuality in their work and were hugely influential in their respective professions. )

I Duchamp.

Thanks for the update!!

jone70 said:

And I John Cage. I did a sound performance last spring based on his philosophy of centralizing "extraneous" unwanted sounds. Same philosophy as Duchamp but one deals with sound the other object/image. It's about taking what we take for granted and moving it to the center of a statement. I don't see much similarity with Prince though

Anx said:

you should have seen/heard Mosaic though.....they totally blew me away! Zapp's 'More Ounce...' was so very funky..... Shelby is a force to be reckoned with, they way they took an overrated song like Gnarles Barkley's 'Crazy' and made it their own was totally off tha hook!!!
I feel so lucky to have been there both nights!

About the regular 3121-shows: Saturday's was definitely better, although Sunday's 'Purple Rain' & ' Shh' were very impressive and guitar-heavy... Funny, but I was not impressed with 'Joy In Repetition' at all..... the whole theater-thing with one of the twins kinda bored me....BTW, the Twins were hardly there on Saturday.....but at one point, during 'U Got The Look', one of the Twins gave me the look.....even Muse, who was standing in front of me, noticed.....

Thanks for the Report. Very visual and informative. Sounds like u had a gr8 time (im very jealous) Hope u managed to win a few dollars at the tables 2 !!
Happy New Year!

great review