Tonight's show was incredible! Absolutely incredible!!!

The lights dropped at about 8.45 and suddenly we get DMSR from Houston of all places played on the screens which gets the crowd up and dancing. Being underneath the screen I couldn't tell whether it was filmed at one of the London shows until he started shouting out Houston every five mins. LOL. The crowd were on their feet stamping and clapping straight away.

Then suddenly it drops out and Prince appears out of nowhere, on his own, guitar on and gives the first few lines of Little Red Corvette and the place explodes.

He grinned, looked around and began strumming the start of Raspberry Beret and the volume went up a level and you could see him going "oh, OK - it's gonna be one of *those* nights is it?". He goes into Sometimes It Snows... and this little Prince fan almost fell to the floor - the three songs I love, that I missed on the opening night - he starts the show with. I mean, hello!

Then the first real surprise - the London debut of ICNTTPOYM - that's when I looked around and thought to myself "is it fanclub night tonight?" as everyone was really really into it.

The show was seriously leaps and bounds ahead of the others I've seen (Weds and Fri) and you could tell he was seriously enjoying himself. There were no long gaps, no costume changes and he even couldn't wait until the end of What A Wonderful World to get back onstage, running on and wiping the sweat off his trumpeter's forehead before bounding over to his keyboard set up that had been set up over on the curl of the bit of the stage.

The keyboard medley was sublime. You could hear gasps as he started each new song - Condition Of The Heart was beyond beautiful, Diamonds And Pearls almost brought the roof down and when he got his groove on with I Wanna Be Your Lover and then brought the rest of the band in to keep it going you knew that this was something special.

He dropped Lolita and Crazy, and to be honest - the show was all the better for it. Controversy was, again, a million times better than the earlier shows with the audience getting right into it. The Housequake chant was joined with points to "the freaks on this side" and for once he got up a) fans that could dance and b) a white boy who not only knew the words to Play That Funky Music, but could actually sing. He got a high five from Prince at the end and you could see he was really impressed with him. Dude, if you read this - fair play to you matey - you did bloody good. Even the horn section took time out to give him respect. Heh. Prince then went on to mock some white chick who he led to the point of the stage to dance with him and was in such a playful mood that the crowd cracked up.

Lets Go Crazy was awesome - they seem to have sorted out the lighting far better now and Purple Rain, whilst quite restrained in length, was prefaced by a shout of "I love singing this song" by P and then the best vocal rendition of it I've heard for years.

The encores seemed a little confused as the techy guys brought out the percussion and mic-stands for the support band at the start of the main encore, only to take them all off again quickly. LOL. Thankfully tonight there was none of the protracted delays between encores and it seemed to me that Prince just didn't wanna waste a second - he played until 10.59pm - a telling sign.

Prince treated us to bass, guitar, piano, even playing a little of Renato's keyboard during one song (Controversy perhaps?)

The "Oh Funky London" chant actually worked, the mexican waves before the show got everyone in the mood and he played one of the hottest versions of If I Was Your Girlfriend I've ever heard. He kinda kept Musicology and Black Sweat to a decent lenght tonight, seemingly realising that whilst many people might not know them, they will get into them a bit. He started some old funk song on bass, facing the back of the stage and got shortly into it and stopped going "oh, I forgot you don't know that one" and switched to his guitar and did Pass The Peas. Heh.

Odd thing about tonight - no Shelby for the entire show. Hmmm. Weird. Bad thing about tonight - he barely went round the back. I felt *so* sorry for the people in the F blocks.

Great thing tonight for me personally - I swear I was in the best seat in the arena. Listen to me folks - Block 111, row C is the NUTS. You are eye-level with Prince for the whole show, you have room to dance and when he comes over to that side you are literally 5m from the man. I am sooooo glad I got tonight's ticket!!!

God... everytime I think back a couple of hours new highlights pop into my head - Do Me Baby! OMG. Somewhere Here On Earth! OMG. Alphabet Street! OMG.

Sorry if this is all a bit stream of conciousness, but tonight;s show is what I think people hoped for from him, and sadly, those who went Friday, didn't get.

Tell you one thing though - those lucky mofos going to the after show tonight are in for a treat. By the look of him earlier - he wants to play all night tonight!

It was really a beautiful night! Wish i could have lived the experience! He excels by the night! So looking to Friday and Saturday night (17 - 18 th)now!!!!
[Edited 8/7/07 17:25pm]

Cheers for the review - but bloody hell! That set list is incredible. Being a sucker for a good tune, the addition of ICNTTPOYM and Alphabet Street is very cool. And I had been thinking it was a shame he hadn't been doing the piano medley. So not only did he, but he did with a great mix of stuff - especially The Beautiful Ones and IWBYL.

Shame no Anotherloverholenyohead or Girls and Boys, but hey - I don't think any night is going to get them all.

thanks for posting! The Saturday gig was way better than the Friday, and better than the wednesday too (though i did think the wednesday was pretty good too if only for the excitement of opening night!)

But yes, the sounds and lights had greatly improved on the Saturday, aswell as the show...and from what you written, it looks like it's staying that way!...I'm not going again till next tuesday though! Damn!

Stereoboy, we were in the same row! What seat number were you??

man you are lucky, i hope this is a sign of things to come, im going on friday !!!! cannot wait now!

SquirrelMeat said:

I was 323 - the last seat on the aisle. Perfect for dancing about and a lightning dash to the lav.

This sounds so freakin awesome. Brings memories back of 7/7/07 his piano set made me cry.....bloody good!!

Prince kicked ass tonight!!!!! I was in D2 and went to Wed and Friday nights show,but this was so far the best without a doubt! Kill joy security needs to let us enjoy ourselves at that venue though. If i want to jump up in the isle and dance let me!!! Whoever that was trying to get the crowd sing a chorus of funky London,until the security guard put an end to it,we were singing with you!

Wow what a night

stereoboy said:

Lol! I was the guy who you let past sitting on the the other side ofther two women next to you!

It must be me then...easily the most disappointing Prince show I've seen in over 18 years of seeing him live. The sound was absolutely horrendous and the venue itself is soulless. The show's Vegas origins don't sit well with me...I could have done without the karaoke as well, just plain tacky. He needs to get rid of the crowd "members" on stage after one song...and you can't tell me that some of them weren't planted (i.e. the singer and the ridiculously fit girl dancing...anyone there will know who I'm on about).

On the plus sides, the guitar and piano medleys were superb, and about the only times where the sound was good. What did piss me off was the amount of chatter going on though throughout them, which I'm afraid is a very typically London thing these days (and it wasn't as if I was that far back, being in block 110).

For some reason, it didn't engage like other Prince shows have. Having said that, an OK Prince show is still a very good show by any other act's standards.

Omfg I am ridiculously excited now!

Thanks for the review - it was fantastic and really captured the spirit of the night - cheers bud!
[Edited 8/8/07 1:36am]

ok its 9.30am. Ive now had 4 hours sleep. I was front row of the aftershow. TOTALLY AWESOME. Prince and the band and Groupo Fantistco(?) played for a resounding 2hrs and 30 mins. This was one seriously funky, guitar jaw dropping crazy aftershow. Prince was loving every second of it and had a big smile across his face for much of the show. IM too tires to type and more, my ears are ringing like crazy and Im going back to sleep for another hour with a grin on my face.

CrystalBalls said:

Couldn't agree more... This was the best show and the aftershow was ridiculous.;ly good. Can't believe I was lucky enough to be there. The only down side isthat I am AT WORK!! All of you moaners need to get happy and enjoy the shows for the rest of the run..YAY

ladymisskat said:

Bullshit. It's my prerogative to post my opinion.

Mong said:

Some people on here don't think you are allowed an opinion, unless it thinks everything P does is majestic!

SquirrelMeat said:

I know! Prince is too good to turn a sizable part of the evening into something resembling a hen party down at the Dog & Duck, complete with karaoke.

Mong said:

Yeah, sorry I forget. Prince is shit and needs to start doing everything I say. You are of course entitled to an opinion. Just as I am. I is just being sarcastic like mate.

Yawn

Mong said:

You like Just Jack?

I thought Prince's energy was sensational. Musicology was so tight and funky. I'm glad he reserved the best show so far for my only concert. But I did have words with him beforehand so at least he listened.

SquirrelMeat said:

Ah, cool! Heh. Bit late, but hi!

stereoboy said:

It was 'Give It To Baby' by Rick James. The whole performance was faultless, but I'd have loved P to complete the song - I love P on bass.

Yeah, I read that on Squirrel's review *blush* sorry, I was one of the ones who didn't know it.

Unless he managed it on Saturday, that's the first show where he got a large proportion of the crowd to jump up and down during Housequake. Flashbacks to Ray Of Light at recent Mads shows

Mong said:

A bit overly negative I feel, but I agree with the crowd comments. Prince was killing last night and there was always people going up & down the isles. It must be soul destroying for him to see that - the isles are all lit and he must notice. The girls in front of me missed 10 minutes getting chips & lager, they'd have been better dancing, they needed the exercise.

andymacfunky said:

I always wonder how people keep going in and out of shows like that.. We started off the night in a corporate box that our friend sorted out for us, but RAN to our normal seats so we could boogie without the suits

Hi I agrre last night was amazing , after seeing prince many times over 19 years last night was the 1st time for my 13 yr old son , and i was so glad it was last night we went ! When they played house quake and the whole arena were jumping up and down singing it made his night . We had great seats lower tier block 116 but it was so annoying that people were constantly going up and down stairs to get get drinks etc i don tget it , you go to see a concert so stay and watch the concert !!!!!1

I was there, and thanks for the accurate review! What a show. BTW, I got tickets on the floor, block E1, 8 rows from the stage, the day before the show. Although it was round the back/side of the stage, we had a ball. Didn't mind at all that he only came directly over to us a few times; we had a great view at all times. Just wish I'd never taken those sets in the upper tier - totally different show...Highlight lastnight - bluesy version of Beautiful Ones.

Added bonus last night, as we tried to leave, a stressed-out bouncer held us back, as the black flight-case carrying P himself was brought down our row and out of the arena - like a funky coffin! Got to shake hands with Maceo too. Anyone one who hasn't seen Maceo live with his own band, should also make the effort - he's a legend...

Nice write up by Stereoboy! This was my first night (another 2 to come in September) and had a great night. Was on upper tier and most people were on their feet - he got a real party atmosphere going, especially in the middle part of the show and mixed it up really well.Like he said, this was Old Skool!
The sound at times where we were was not great but hopefully is better on lower tier for my other gigs!
The little man really seemed to be enjoying himself and the crowd lapped it up, I think most fans there loved the setlist, he managed to squeeze in so many hits. The piano medley was beautiful - Do Me Baby, Beautiful Ones, wow. Other highlights a really funky version of Controversy and If I was Your Girlfriend was superb. Wasn’t a great fan before of Musicology but that was funky as hell too.And of course never get tired of Purple Rain. (although you always want him to keep going and do that neverending guitar solo). And can’t forget Maceo, he was on fire!
Could go on but anyway was just so good to see him again, it’s been too long! Can’t wait for the other shows

BRILLIANT SHOW!

Great piano section and opener. Prince was on blistering form throughout.

A fan and casual crowd pleasing night.

I've been to 3 now and all have been different. The guy is unbelievable.

Nice write up mate.

Alphabet Street. I forgot about that little gem. Along with I wanna be your lover, it's a song I always hoped he would play, but never expected. Genius.

Oh, add Diamonds and Pearls to that list too.

Controversy was sheer brilliance again.