Sooo... we waiting....

Here's what I just posted over at housequake.com...



Bleary-eyed from my room at the Roosevelt... We got down to the ticket area last night around 8:20. They were a bit disorganized but very nice. One of the security guards told us he works for Morris Day and he'll be heading to MPLS next weekend, because The Time is opening in MPLS. There was a paparazzi runway up for the celebs - shockingly they didn't snap when me and my friends walked thru. Celebs that I saw that were in the house last night: Peter Gallagher (O.C.), Chris Rock (front couch), Jessica Biel, Tommy Lee, Eve (we were thinking "Greatest Romance" or "Hot with U" performance but sadly, no), Michael Rappaport. Ok, onto the important thing - Prince.

The horn section and the Twinz entered through the crowd and made a loop through, playing Down By the Riverside as they got to the stage. The band played for about 10 min. and then Prince just waltzed on stage, very casually (he had darted through the crowd about 15 min. earlier on his way backstage). He was wearing a white suit, hair looking dapper as usual. I don't tally setlists because I'm too spaztic when he's performing, but it was a similar setlist to Vegas and last weekend's Saturday show. Opened with Satisfied (Morris had his church hat on!) and took his time on it, coming out into the crowd a time or two, one time I think to talk to the sound guy in back (was hard to see him because he would disappear into the sea of people in the back!). At one point he came back to our area where clearly the energy was and said "Why aren't y'all up there with me?" Prince walked out into the crowd several times and make a circle a couple of times. Some of the other songs performed were Guitar, Take Me With U, Kiss, a snippet of Mr. Goodnight, Lolita, Cream, closed with Purple Rain. Show lasted in total about 2 hours. Band was Prince, Renato, Morris, the Twinz, Shelby, Cora, Josh, and then Greg, Lee and Mike on hornz. We all then waltzed out to the lobby and got situated for the jazz aftershow.

Everything in the lobby had already been setup so the moveover was easy for the band. We sat on a nice comfy couch (my feet were thankful!) but later one of the hotel staff asked us very kindly to move because seats in the aftershow were reserved for VIP. Well, it worked out because we just walked right up to the stage and stood there. LOL.

The aftershow was great - so nice to see the band up close and watch them having fun improvising on stage. Mike introduced the band and then said "The Purple One will be down a little later". I am no good identifying instrumental jazz tracks so I'll leave that to someone else, but the band sounded great and got the crowd moving. Then Prince appeared, wearing his coral colored suit with the buttons on the collar and sleeve cuffs. He was a little "fierce" in his mood (more on that later) and didn't smile too much. He came out and grabbed his leopard guitar and joined in with the band. He was very into the guitar in the aftershow. He played with them for about 10 minutes, much of it with his back to us, and then went offstage again. Band played a little bit more and then Prince was back again after not too long a break. And here's where my $312.10 was worth every penny. He went into a rip-roaring Anotherloveholenyohead, one of my favorite songs. No singing, but that was ok because our small corner of fans was screaming every line. He noticed and would stop playing to let us take a couple of the chorus lines. It was off the hook. Prince was definitely in a mood last night and he took it out on his guitar. We didn't mind. At one point, Renato was sort of looking offstage and talking to someone, and Prince turned around glaring and yells "Renato!", sort of like, get back in this jam. Was pretty funny. Renato did but not too quickly. Anotherlover was joined with Rock Lobster and the crowd loved that. After that, Prince took off and we didn't see him again for the night. The band played for another 20 min. or so and the aftershow ended about 4:15; total time was about an hour and 20 mnutes. We spent some time talking to Mr. Hayes afterwards and just hanging out, decompressing after our Purple night.

OK, now onto some other observations about the venue and show. I am never one to look a gifthorse in the mouth and any chance to see Prince is a gift for me. The Roosevelt is a lovely hotel and the staff were very, very nice. But we found out that Thursday's attendees who had been postponed were moved into Friday's show, so there were probably 400 people in the Blossom Ballroom for the main show. The room has 4 wide, long leather couches set up in the middle of the room, and on the side are leather couches in more of a booth format. The couches are supposed to seat 12 people but if there was a couch with no celebs in it, like the one in back, there were nearly 20 people packed into it. If I had forked over $3121 for VIP I would have been %$&#*! Women were sitting on the laps of their men. The standing room area was at the back and lemme tell you, there were WAY more than 70 people standing back there. Thankfully we got dead center, front in the standing area.

Overcrowding aside, I was more dismayed by the Hollywood crowd. Imagine being at a cocktail party and Prince is playing, but no one is watching or listening to him! I felt like I should shake all the people in the room (standing room as well) and say "HEY! PRINCE IS PLAYING UP THERE!". It was a little surreal. From that perspective, 3121 Vegas was a much better setup. Put the VIP tables on the periphary and let fans or whomever wants to really be in the show down onto the floor. Prince would kick into a new song and the crowd would surge a bit, enraptured for about 60 seconds, and then they would go back to their chatting, drinking and mingling. It was like he was their lounge act or something. I know it's Hollywood and that's the way it is, but I wasn't digging it. Several VIPs on the couch in front of me had their backs turned to the stage, leaning on the couch back in front of them chatting. Anyway, I have to think Prince felt that energy and maybe, just maybe, that accounted for his fierce demeanor at the aftershow. He didn't play any encores at the main show.

Nonetheless, I had a great time as usual and made the best of the bobbing heads chatting in my way all night (VIPs would stand and just remain standing while they chatted and moved around). The aftershow was GREAT and seeing Prince so up close and grinding on guitar made my weekend. Guitar sounded GREAT during the live show. Overall, the sound in the main show was sub-par, a little muddy and definitely agreed with the LA Times reviewer that you can't make out Prince's asides very well. He'd day something and my friends and I would all look at each other going "What did he say?!?!" (like Mary's girlfriends in UTCM in the party scene .

Can't wait to do it all again tonight! The butterflies already woke me up at 9:15 this morning after only 4 hours of sleep. Oh boy...

doesn't sound like quite the extravaganza that the previous week's show was, but i'm glad you had a great time anyway, even with the little annoyances here and there! and thanks for the tantalizing tidbit about the possibility of the time opening next week's MPLS show!

What time did they start for the first show last night...and what time did it end?

Wow Sounds great! Thanks for positng....I wish I would of been able to make one of these shows....Will you be at the 777 show??
[Edited 6/30/07 11:27am]

From last Sunday's show, I loved the aftershow better than the concert. But standing in the GA section...Prince tipped his sunglasses and noticed my legs!! ((blush)) LOL...Thank u, Prince!!!

Did I read that right? "The Time" is opening for Prince in Minneapolis????? Is that what he was saying? That would be AWESOME.

Sbacon...sounds like you had fun!

I just got myself put together after my trip to LA and back. I got to the Roosevelt on Fri afternoon not knowing if the show was happening or not. The word from the publicists was that the 6/28 show was canceled because Prince was sick (word around the pool is that not enough $3121 tickets sold). I get to the hotel and ask the concierge if the show was still happening and she says it is. It's safe to check in. I start wandering around the lobby to see what activity is going on. There is a drum kit set up in the lobby and the sound system is being tested in the Blossom Room. It's on!
I knew he wasn't going on until 12 so I didn't bother going into the lobby until 11. The lobby was jumping with people . . . good vibe. Once the people with white bracelets got though all the hoops of waiting on the street and having your name verified on the list you had the pleasure of standing behind a velvet rope in the lobby waiting to be let in to the Bloosom Room, 5 at a time, every 5 minutes. Crazy stupid! As Sbacon said there were way more than the advertised 200 people in the show. The only thing to do while waiting behind the rope was watch the celebs stop to have their pics taken on the red carpet. Other celebs that I saw not already mentioned by Sbacon were Alanis Morisette (sitting and dancing at the same couch as Chris Rock), Carlos Mencia, Chris Noth, Mark McGrath and Nicky Hilton.
Once I got inside I went to the riser on the house left side of the white braclet area. Great view, albeit a little further back than I would have liked. I felt bad for the booth directly in front of me; $3121 to be squished in and all the way in the back. I don't have much to add about the main show, that Sbacon hasn't already said. When Prince came running through the audience he disappears cause there is no spotlight and everyone around him is way taller than he is. . . ! The setlist was very similar to the previous Sat night show. The only surprise was that Maceo WASN'T there.
As soon as the Bloosom Room show ended, I bolted over to the lobby to park myself in front of that stage. The lobby was very dimly lit by (fake) candles spread out around the room. The band went on around 3:00am so there wasn't much of a wait between shows. The band was ripping while Prince stood up in the balcony to check the sound. He wasn't happy with something so he came down to tweak the soundboard before he went on. As Sbacon said something put Prince in a mood and was he not interacting with the crowd at all while he was playing. He definitely channeled it into his playing. He tore that guitar up like it owed him money! All in all it was a great experience.
Sat AM I got to meet Carrie Lee at a restaurant in the hotel. The only reason I knew it was her was the attention from the waiters who told her she was on their celebrity "keep an eye out for" list. I bet she had a hell of a night on Sat!

Rock Lobster? wtf?

Anxiety said:

This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?

Raze said:

Oh yeah. It is wonderful. One of my favs of the 3121 set list. I always wish he played more of it. THAT cover is

sbacon, thank you for taking the time to share your night with us!

sharkbaiter said:

Was that hysterical or what? I loved those boys, I was so tempted to put them in my suitcase and take them home with me!