MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I met Sweet and LadyFunkSoldier also. It was so awesome. Post our pic, Miguel!

Oh man! It's been 3 days since the show, and I am still on cloud 9! I brought a little notebook with me to scribble down the setlist, but I'm glad it's already posted because my notes are pretty messy! The concert was awesome, but there a few other things that made the night a great one, so I'll talk about them too if you don't mind the long read. The entire experience was incredible because I got to meet so many wonderful people. I went to dinner with some fellow orgers which was the FIRST time I've ever talked to so many people who liked Prince as much as I do. No joke. For once, my love for Prince helped me fit in rather than stand out. It was a wonderful feeling.

Oh Sheila! That woman rocks my socks off! Not only is she totally bad ass, but she looks fatastic! I am truly in awe of her, and it was such a treat to see her perform with her family. Maceo's set was cool too, but I have to admit, I wanted to see me some Prince! When Prince casually walked onstage at the ends of Maceo's song, the crowd went nuts! He looked so happy, confident, relaxed, and smooth. He had on a white suit with a black shirt (barely buttoned, of couse) with white heels. He turned up the sex appeal with the slow bluesy version of Satisfied ( and the hilarious extras at the end). It cracked me up when he said "Good night Las Vegas!" at the end of Girls and Boys (I think). Vegas is a hard habit to break, I guess.

The highlight of the concert for me was when they called ladies to the front, so they could pick some dancers. Let me tell you, some of those women were FIERCE! I could have lost an eye or had my hair ripped out by those girls! I got to the front, but wasn't chosen. Some girls didn't wait to be invited, they just climbed up on stage. Well, I'm not agile or light enough for that, so I stayed on the ground. It was still a thrill to be that close to Prince. I was just a few feet away, watcing him play some smokin guitar. At one point, he looked at me, and my heart skipped a beat! He also walked to my end of the stage, and I practically came face to face with his awesome high heeled boot. (Sorry, it was truly fammy moment for me). I was sad when the security guy told us to go back to our seats, but I'll never forget the awesomeness of being that up close.

On a negative note, the sound guy at the gig deserved a big spanking! (and not the good kind) When the speaker started crackling during Shh, I knew there was going to be trouble. I wasn't too surprised when P stopped singing mid verse, and busted into an intense, angry, somewhat avant garde guitar solo. It was if he was saying, "Fix it. NOW." The sound still wasn't quite right for the remainder of the show, which was disappointing. The rest of the concert was still a lot of fun. Renato was cool as a cucumber, Shelby sang beautifully, and Prince thrilled me with Gotta Broken Heart Again, Pink Cashmere, and If I was Your Girlfriend. ("It's so sexy in here, somebody's gonna get pregnant! You don't understand, it's Ovulation Station right down here.") The encores were a lot of fun. Shelia and fam tore it up again, and one of the twins was on percussion during Love Bizarre. Prince changed clothes (if anyone cares) into a red shirt with black embroidery on the cuffs and on the front, and donned a red fedora. I snapped a couple photos at the end. They're not very good (I didn't use flash, because I didn't want to get caught), but I'll post them on Thursday (if it's ok with the mods).

I was sad to see the concert end. My ears could only hear at about 35% and my throat was pretty torn up. That meant I had a good time, right? When we left the theatre, we got some nice postcards that advertised the concert. I was happy to have a little souvenir. Before the show started, I had talked to 2 sweet girls on the concert staff about getting an event poster or even one of their staff t-shirts (which had a photo of Prince on the back). They didn't think they would be able to get me one, but they were going to try for me. I hung around the theatre for a good 45 minutes, and finally, my girls pulled through! They smuggled me a shirt that advertised the Traveling Through Life series, and it had a picture f Prince, Dave Matthews, and Christna Aguilera on the back. I gave the girls some money, because I didn't want them to get in trouble for giving the shirt away for free. They were so kind, I hugged them and told them I would never forget them.

The post-concert excitement continued when I met Shelby, The Twinz, and Mr. Hayes as they exited the theatre! I was so happy to meet Mr. Hayes, because he was in the NPG when I first became a fan. He gave me a big hug, and I told how I'd been a fan since 13, and that I was so excited to finally meet him. He is such a sweet guy. I took pictures with Shelby and Mr. Hayes, which I will also post soon. Shelby happened to mention which club the band was going for an afterparty, so some adventurous cohorts and I sort of, um, headed over there. It was a scene right out of "Night at the Roxbury" when the bouncer told us we couldn't get in if we weren't on the list! We hung around outside for a while, and even heard Erotic City playing inside the club. We saw one of the twins come outside, and she said she would let us in if it were up to her, but Trevor had to approve everyone. I was bummed, but then Renato came outside for a smoke, and I just had to shake the man's hand! Now he is one seriously cool dude. I told him how much I enjoyed his playing, and that I recently bought the same keyboard that he has. He told me it was a very good piano, so I'm glad I made the right choice buying it. He also said that the sound at the gig was not good, but he agreed with me when I told him that it's tough to play a rock concert in a theatre. He said, "I wish we could have played some jazz," and I wholeheartedly agreed. I talked to him a little more before my buddies and I decided to wrap it up. It was after 1am, but I still would have stayed up til dawn if it meant prolonging such a wonderful experience.

Thank you to Prince, his band, and my new friends for making this a night I will NEVER forget!



FINALLY! Here are some photos of the evening. Unfortunately, my camera was not behaving, and the flash didn't work half of the time. The concert photos are pretty blurry. I didn't want to move closer or use flash, because I didn't want to get caught. Enjoy!

Here is the outside of the beautiful Orpheum Theatre with the sign announcing Prince's performance. It was a welcome sight.


Here I am with fellow orgers Yabadabajudith, Babooshleeky, Jaynoonan, and Xplnyrslf. (Joanne and Phil, where were you guys?)


One of the many, MANY posters they had up at the event. Would it have killed them to give me one?


OK, blurry concert pic time. I hope you can an idea of what was going on. He looks lovely in red.


I think this one looks really cool.


Prince taking it off. Well, just the guitar.


Shelby and me!


Here I am with the fantastic Mr. Hayes! Why oh why wasn't my flash working?


Here is a scan of the super cool postcard they handed us on the way out.


And here is the t-shirt those girls smuggled for me. I am so grateful to them.



Ok, that's it! There is a photo of Miguel Gomez and me, so I'll have to ask him to post it.
[Edited 5/24/07 10:40am]

Thanks for the pics Rani.....we gotta do that again!!! Us hangin in the alley was hilarious but we almost did it!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention some funny Princely moments that happened during the rest of my CA vacation. When I went to pick up my rental car at Enterprise the next day, I was making small talk with the agent, and mentioned that I went to the Prince concert. As it turns out, Prince rented his vehicles from them too! I told the guy I saw them use a white van and a bug black SUV for the band members. He said, "Yep, those are ours." So I told him, "If it's good enough for Prince, it's good enough for me!"

I drove down to visit a friend in San luis Obispo. We were walking around downtown, window shopping, when I heard "Kiss" playing in one of the taverns. And, when I went shopping in San Francisco yesterday, "When Doves Cry" started playing as I waited for my Jamba Juice. Prince was everywhere!

UCantHavaDaMango said:

Yeah, on the way to the concert I was listening to a Prince CD, and when I took it out, Little Red Corvette was on the radio

I was like

Thank you so much for posting those pics by the way.
[Edited 5/24/07 19:28pm]

maybe some of bay people can hit Seattle for a show and you can have us runnin around alleys in downtown Seattle I'm game!

jaynoonan said:

We can dress up in ninja outfits, run around with walkie talkies and say things like "Christopher Tracy is on the move"


M

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I can see it now. We could wear dark purple arm bands to distinguish us from the other Ninjas that hide in Seattle alleys!


[Edited 5/25/07 8:34am]

12 minute video of fans dancing onstage during "Sing A Little Song" and "Thank You":

http://www.vimeo.com/clip:196953
[Edited 5/25/07 12:40pm]

TheRevolution said:

I think I heard one of my screams!!!

I totally loved hearing him tell the fan/dancers to "Back Up" again

OMG! that was awesome!!

Okay this is strange but did anyone feel touched seeing him stand with Sheila in the beginning. I know they're just friends but they look good together, especially knowing they've known each other so long.
[Edited 5/25/07 14:25pm]

OMG! that was awesome!!

Okay this is strange but did anyone feel touched seeing him stand with Sheila in the beginning. I know they're just friends but they look good together, especially knowing they've known each other so long.
[Edited 5/25/07 14:25pm]

wonder505 said:

Not strange at all. Actually at the end of the night he held out his hand to Sheila on the way off stage. They both walked hand in hand. That was really cute.

M

babooshleeky said:

*girls on stage talking to Prince*

"Yeah I love you back, now BACK up!"

*audience laughter*

"That ain't funny, don't you laugh"

*more audience laughter*

"Alright, just for that, second verse!"

*Prince jams on guitar and resumes singing*


Good god, I love this man. He's such an aweosme ad-libber. His concerts are always so spontaneous and personal; each one a unique experience. Awesome moment right there.