Am I really the first to post?

Friday night 1/26 - Prince seemed to go through the motions most of the night, but there was no vibe from the crowd. Mostly tourist coming in to hear Little Red Corvette. I was unimpressed w/ the show because I had seen much better out of him.

Saturday 1/27 - OH LAWD! Now this show is what makes me a Prince fan through and through! He was in a great mood. Shelby Johnson blew up the mic on a few songs. Will.I.Am (from the Black Eyed Peas) was in the house and came up for a few songs. Larry Graham cut up on bass. It was a big old love fest. Prince was playful, seemed happy and interacted quite a bit with the crowd. At one point he got down off stage and walked through the crowd. He went and sat in some unsuspecting person's booth and I believe he stole a napkin from them. Then he jumped up on the console of the soundboard and layed down on his back for a while. The crowd gave him much love and you could tell that he took that energy and gave it right back in his music. It reminded me of a show at the Fillmore in the Bay.

The highlite was the white dood who was pulled up on stage to dance during EveryDayPeople. Prince called him "Napoleon Dynamite" and he started singing "get satisfied!" "get satisfied!" into Prince's mic. He did the robot.

And can we talk about the ever-so-funky after party performance? I got absolutely no sleep but it was all worth it. He wore my ass out.

I'll do my best to report the Saturday night set lists, but I know it's not in order:
3121 Club
3121
Lolita
Black Sweat
Tambourine
Forever In My Life
EveryDay People (w/ LG)
Thankyouforlettinmebemyself (w/ LG)
Life Of The Party
Funky jam session
KISS
Satisfied
Musicology
I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man

encore
Purple Rain
Let's Go Crazy

Aftershow jammed from 2:30am til 5:30am. (If anyone can add to this list please do. I was dancing most of the night):
4 or 5 jazz tunes w/ horn section
Prince joins on guitar for a little jam
Sweet Thang (Shelby on vox)
Te Amo Corazon (Instrumental) - girl from the video was in the house
When A Man Loves A Woman (Shelby on vox)
The Jam
3121 (w/ will.i.am)
Crazy
When The Saints Go Marching In
Get On The Boat

I highly recommend being cool at the after-party. It's a very small room and over zealous fans will get the boot if they don't behave. Just steer clear of his space and feel the music. That is the best way to enjoy such a treat.

I got my Prince fix!

thanks 4 the report! did someone actually get themselves thrown out of the aftershow???

Thanks for sharing. It's frustrating to read posts that talk about Friday night shows being weak and Saturday shows being strong when I have tix for Friday the 23rd. Are the tix any less expensive to see him go through the motions? NO So put it out there P. Maybe the vibe wasn't there because he wasn't "on" too.... It's called synergy...

runt66 said:

I went Friday the 19th and thought the show was fantastic!

runt66 said:

Right? I'm gonna be there the 9th and the 9th only. Please, Prince -- I'm haulin' my ass to Vegas at great expense. You betta brang it that night!

shagsgrl said:

could not agree with you anymore...although i tried but could not get a hold tix for sat nite's show. i was very dissappointed in the set list for Friday nite. the set list just did not make any sense. i knew that sat nite was going to rock.

my suggestion is for folks only planning to go to one show...attend the sat nite show...!!!

i thought Friday nite's show was of the "after show" type...

...and when was the last time you went to a prince concert and said he played for "an HOUR and 45 minutes"...???

i'm sorry. please don't flame me...!!! but if i never hear purple rain or lets go crazy at another prince show...i'll be just estatic...!!! matter of fact, go a head and put that whole album away, back in the vault...!!! trust me, no one is going to be dissappointed or say, "aw man, that show sucked...he didn't do purple rain...!!!" NO ONE IS GOING TO SAY THAT...!!! i will give credit where its due. he still plays it with as much enthusiasm as if it were 1984!!!

i loved lolita, anotherloverholeinyourhead, "what's my name...prince and the band!!! jam, broken heart...

having said all that, i'll go again...ON SAT NITE...!!!
[Edited 1/29/07 8:00am]
[Edited 1/29/07 8:13am]

Unfortunately, Saturday night is not an option for some of us. And I can't tell you how bummed out I'm getting hearing that the Friday night shows are being phoned in -- having paid $700 for tickets on 2/9.

a few weekends ago i missed the Friday night show but caught the Friday aftershow, the regular Saturday show and the Saturday aftershow and loved it

Will I Am said in the new Rolling Stone he wants to work with Prince and probably will after he works with Michael Jackson (and i'm guessing he is doing that now in Vegas)

the restaurant isn't doing great business and i'm willing to bet this is why the price of the aftershow went up to $50 but it is still worth it

now the box office at the Rio told me both shows were sold out when i was there this Friday....meanwhile tickets were still available through ticketmaster

the Little Red Corvette crowd are the Vegas tourists in town with nothing better to do than go see the Prince show.....but i bet they don't get satisfied when he does new stuff, rarities and covers....but be warned because you will see them there drunk and complaining and pushing their way up front

I went on a Saturday in November - great show! I just went this past Friday night - also a great show....Very different experiences, but still great!!!

I think if you have seen him more than a few times (and some of us true FAMS) tend to get "spoiled" and don't enjoy the experience as much as we should.

Friday or Saturday - go and relish in the fact that you are there and just embrace whatever he decides to do.

PurpleD said:

...i don't know if "spoiled" is the right word...although i understand what youre saying. i think expectations are always high. i could live with him playing for "only" an hour and 45 min, just give me what i want in terms of a decent set list. when he opens (Fri nite) with "Joy in Repetition", that's got "after show" (vibe) written all over it...

i'm not at all complaining about the playing, the band, his energy, or the performance in general. i guess i just didn't get the set list i wanted...

bottomline is GO and ENJOY...

xbey said:

The show we went to he played less then 85 minutes and he was off stage for 10 minutes and it was a Saturday (January 13th I have a review in this forum).
[Edited 1/30/07 7:24am]

Sorry to hear you felt that way about Friday night... I was there and I thought the show was Fantastic!!!! Dont worry fans which night you see the show won't make a difference....after all you ARE seeing Prince right?????

adoreupurpleone said:

I agree, Prince will not disappoint. I saw him two nights in a row and both shows were great.

lovemachine said:

i dont want to be that guy that "beats this to death"...but i just read your review. your show's set list looks just a bit better than the fri nite my wife and i went to.

i'll just say this...everyone has a favorite actor or artist that's either been in a bad movive, or made a bad painting, or bad album. considering what we all paid for a ticket (and i'd probably pay more), your hotel stay, dropping off the kids (if you have any), all your expenses, etc.,

Dont worry fans which night you see the show won't make a difference....after all you ARE seeing Prince right?????

...i need just a little more than that.

PS i do wish people traveling to vegas to see the show travels safe, and has a great time. don't get me wrong...wifey and i had a great time... if he's still there in april, we'll be there...SAT NITE...jk...!!!

i don't understand this whole thing about friday night being worse than saturday. they were both different isn't that the great thing. he didn't play identical setlists like normal concerts. and your right friday night had an aftershow vibe. isn't that why it is so cool. it's not a big stadium concert for the masses but a short sset at his club with a long fun aftershow in his restaurant and always different.

i really like the friday night. he wasn't in as such a great mood but he did tear up the guitair more with joy in repeatition, 7, come together and cream. i actually found saturday to be more poppy and trying appeal to the vegas crowd. the biggest difference was his mood because he had so many friends there on saturday. both shows were about the same length too. stop your complaining. prince put on a great show both nights. you can't expect him to do identical shows every night (this is a good thing). sorry for the rant but i thought friday night was amazing and different to saturday night

I have to diasagree with the assesment that Saturday was better than Friday--I had WAY more fun the first night. I was in the very front, stage right, and he seemed to be in a bad mood because his equiptment wasn't working correctly (although I will state that this is a thesis and not gospel). Secondly, the people I met on Friday were way cooler. Everybody in my immediate vicinity was a die-hard Prince fan who had seen the show multiple times already. Saturday night I was surrounded by mostly curious tourist-like people who wouldn't know Lolita from Girls and Boys. Personally, no matter what night you go, I think you'll get people who just STAND there and look lost. Period.

Thirdly, and most importantly, my extra-tall ass GOT TO DANCE ON STAGE WITH PRINCE!!!!! Oh sweet Jesus, you could've killed me then because I was going to die anyway!

Also, despite some straight-up cutting going on in line, I really appreciated the ultra-intimate vibe that the afterparty had. Prince went around to each and every table (even those outside of the jazz room), passing out Watchtowers, shaking hands and talking to people. The music was spectacular and Shelby shut it down that night.
So, while I also immensely enjoyed Saturday night, Friday night was nothing to sneeze at.

Full report to come soon.