I was the second to last row in block 102 - level with the left side of the symbol stage - great all over view.

Those of you panicking and swapping lower tier tickets for floor tickets - I'd advise against this! The stage is really high and those on the floor were all straining on their toes to see over it and as someone else said above - he spent much of the show in the middle. It's so high that virtually no-one was up against the stage, they were all standing back to be able to see.

Although saying that - the sound might have been clearer down there - but the lower tier gives a brilliant view.

How excellent was Take Me With U going into Guitar. Man, finally the crowd woke up!

Anyone else notice when he was prowling round saying "I gotta find a lady to sing to" that his stage hands put up a little table and two stools on the stage in the dark and when he didn't pull anyone up from the crowd they took them down again and he just carried on with another song stood in the middle of the stage. Very odd.

He also performed Raspberry Beret and Sometimes It Snows In April on his own and the full band came back for Get On The Boat.

The show was just brilliant. The man is a genius!

my ticket for 7th is floor...so i might have to rock some high-heels on!! lol

Oh, and DMSR was really just a tiny little bit stuck in the end of Girls And Boys and we got the Maceo solo version of What A Wonderful World.

I went with my hubby and 8 year old girl and we loved it. Hubby has been afan for 20+years and we were in the lower t 103 and had a great view. Ahh and we got all the oncores. you will love it,

Anxiety said:

Ha Anx. The soung sounded great live, though like other people have mentioned, the mix in the arena was shocking! His vocals were way too low in the mix so much so that you could barely here them at some points.

I also left before the encore as they were telling people to leave, but to be honest, I would rate that gig as ok, about a 4.5 out of 10. I just couldn't get into it, maybe it was the sound or the crowd. Also the twinz were baaaad. Yeah they have a lot of energy, but the flag waving during Purple Rain (one of them could barely wave the flag!), the Thunderbirds style dancing during one of the slow numbers, and the wheelie shoes during Planet Earth were all cringe moments for me. I enjoyed it more when they weren't on stage.

The arena is great and anyone on the lower teir will have a good view, but those on the floor will have a nightmare unless they get near the front or are very tall. The worst has to be the upper tier though, that is REALLY high up.

I thought the crowd took ages to warm up, it wasn't until about 5 songs in that they started to really make a lot of noise.

Highlight for me was the "not bad, for a girl" comment during a drum solo.

asg said:

Sweet....Very nice photo!

Rico said:

Sounds like they have some kinks to work out, but it was a worthwhile effort overall? Thanks for the info!

Anxiety said:

Yeah I think the sound levels and the setlist need to be tweaked quite a bit. I though starting with Purple Rain was really odd and kinda surprised most people. It was the quitest "wooo hooo hooo hooo" I've ever heard at one of his gigs!

Rico said:

that flag waving sounds like a hot mess, by the way

setlist

but on a serious note and i know this is not the forum 4 it, but just a heads up ..a bridge in mpls has collapesed and cars have been trapped, and in the river.

i'm sending a special prayer 2 those that have either family memembers or know folk in mpls that they r okay

Anxiety said:

lol yeah it was! If you can imagine, they were on each side of the stage. One was waving it way over her head and in huge arcs, the other had it at her waist height most of the time, as if she couldn't handle the weight. And then, to cap it all off it kept getting caught on something so she had to keep stopping then build the momentum up again.

But if you think that was bad, the wheelies circling Prince during Planet Earth was really embarassing. It was like someone had let their kids on stage.

Rico said:

i...ya know, i can't even imagine that. and i don't wanna.

I guess that a lot of people missed the encore. I know I did. Like a lot of people I am going again so next time I will wait around after the house lights have gone up and see if he re-appears.

stereoboy said:

Excellent show!

There was mayhem in the arena when Prince came back to the stage for some
extra encores after the house lights had already gone up and half the audience
were on their way out of the arena. People running back into the arena, people
running down the aisles to get closer to the stage. Security were in a panic
cuz I don't think anyone was expecting it, and there were fans jumping over
barriers etc. Plus for the encores loads of people had their cellphones out
recording the performances.


It's also worth mentioning that Prince played pretty much full versions of all
the songs with no medleys and quite a few extended jams.

Anyway, here's a more accurate setlist...

Purple Rain
Girls & Boys (including some D.M.S.R. lyrics)
Satisfied
Cream
U Got The Look
Shhh
Musicology
Controversy
I Feel For You
What A Wonderful World (Instrumental: Maceo & Renato)
Somewhere Here On Earth
Lolita
Black Sweat
Kiss
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Pink Cashmere (including The One U Wanna C lyrics)
7
Come Together
Take Me With U
Guitar
-----encores 1
Planet Earth
-----encores 2
Crazy (sung by Shelby J.)
Nothing Compares 2 U
Let's Go Crazy
-----encores 3
Little Red Corvette (solo)
Raspberry Beret (solo)
Sometimes It Snows In April (solo)
Get On The Boat (full band)
Le Freak / One Nation Under A Groove (full band)
(sung over the music to Sexy Dancer)

.
[Edited 8/1/07 18:42pm]

BorisFishpaw said:

Thanks for the complete set! This is what I like to see.

sarkozyiszeman said:

Come someone say 'greatest hits'?

sarkozyiszeman said:

Why does Prince do that??? Annoying. For the Macy's concert. He said Good-night and left the stage and I left to go get tickets for 1st Ave (they were sold out grrr!) He had then come back and played a couple more songs.

You must always wait for the lights to come back on, that means the concert is done. I know for next time.

asg said:

Can I ask what seats were you in when you took that pic? View looks pretty good

BorisFishpaw said:

Thanks for that! Even just Little Red Corvette at the end would be fantastic. I was thinking it was a shame there was no Sometimes It Snows In April - but then I read he did do it and Raspberry Beret.

Plus more from the band, including Get On The Boat (which I love).

Also read there was (at least some of) A Love Bizarre in that last encore?

Was the show 2.5 hours in total, or 2.5 hours up to Let's Go Crazy, and then another 30 mins or so for the last encore?

And on top of all that the aftershow sounded like a good one too...

Can_not_wait.

Yeah, the very very very very last song was "A Love Bizarre". Don't believe whoever said the arena was empty for the surprise encore, by the way. Loads of people flooded back in and the place was rockin'.

OH MY WORD!!!

Going to the show on Saturday and I've rushed into work just to see how the show went last night. I don't think I could ask for a better setlist....its like Prince knows exactly what my fave tracks of his are and chose to play them all, even the more obscure tracks like Shhh....please, please, please play a similar set on Saturday.

Best of all?? He turned up to play the after-party!! Yaaaayyy!!! I so hope he does the same on Saturday!!!!!

iain said:

2.5 hrs total - started at 8.30 and finished by 11.
Taking out waiting between encores and the intro it was 2 hrs 15 mins of actual performance.

pplrain said:[quote]

sarkozyiszeman said:

Not true. The house lights did come on. We watched all the band except Prince leave the stage and walk up the aisles and exit the venue. Security ushered people out of the venue. Then he came on and did five more songs. God knows how long he expects people to wait.

BorisFishpaw said:

aha! so the studio version of this we've been hearing lately is most likely a rehearsal recording.

sarkozyiszeman said:

Did no-one hear the highlight jam of the evening??? Chic's Le Freak ???? Had everyone left by that stage?

you know, nick cave does that at concerts sometimes...he finishes a show, lets the houselights come up, and about 20 minutes later does a "secret" encore for all the stragglers remaining in the house. i guess it's a special treat for the super-diehard fans or something. so maybe prince did that on purpose?

sarkozyiszeman said:

Was he reading my heart or something? Why, why why could I be there? Argh! It sounds amazing!

pplrain said:

That's usually the rule but not last night.

The house lights came on and people started leaving, as you would.

We were on the floor in row 7 and made it all the way out of the arena, which took a good few minutes and after we had left, he came back for the 3rd encore with Little Red Corvette etc. We didn't even hear it start up again, so we must have been well cleay. There was a long time between the lights coming on and him starting up again.

When someone in the aftershow queue told me he had done more, it was really annoying as the lights coming on usually signifies the end of the show.

However the same person also told us that he knew the promoters and that Prince would definitely be showing at the aftershow, so we were soon smiling again.

Anxiety said:

Thinking about it, I'm wondering if Prince just got the timing of the show wrong and suddenly realised he could have stayed on stage longer. The lights went up about 10:35 if I remember correctly, so he could have played for another 25 minutes as I heard the health and safety cut off time is 11pm for the gigs.