Well what can I say....

We are both hammered, and it's 4.27am. Tonight's aftershow was incredible! Beverley Knight would have made it for me, with a stunning 90 minute set, but then our man came on stage at around 1.30-2am and the place went crazy! We left just before 4am so imagine what a night we had. P was in a groove tonight I've never seen b4, and it was a damn privaledge to b there. Seriously I am too tired and drunk to give you the full rendition of the set 2nite, but believe me when I say it was worth it (and more). Don't ya wanna come...31....21!
[Edited 8/10/07 20:33pm]

OMG - Now THATS what i call an aftershow!!!! Beverly Knight was incredible and looked totally in seventh heaven when Prince and the band joined her on stage. Prince was on FIRE!

We are being spoilt rotten in London - and it's just getting going.
ohhhhh funky london!

midasG said:

Its almost impossible to type and I'm going to find this utterly indescribable!

WHAT A NIGHT! Its 5.30am and that was absolutely in my Top 5 (and this was my 52nd Prince gig, to give that statement some context!)

Firstly, he was completely incendiary and looked like he was loving it on stage tonight at the main arena show. I was at the last one (Tuesday 7th) and that was fantastic, but this show was better, much better (though, I'll leave the concert details for its own thread). But, with this gig going so well, I thought, no PRAYED that he would probably be inspired to play the aftershow.....

Walking around the arena towards the IndigO2 club for the aftershow, I got chatting to a nice girl called Candice, who claimed to have been shown a list showing which afershows he was playing at and tonight's wasn't one of them - I treated that info with suspicion and felt undeterred, as this is Prince and absolutely anything can, and usually does, happen.

Its quite a nice venue, with a great sound system and, being a musician and a bit of a rig freak(!!) I went over to the sound-desk to have a look at the equipment.....and standing there next to the engineer, mid line-check, is Mr Hayes!!! I grinned, said hello, congratulated him on such a great gig and asked if he's been enjoying the London shows - he said he'd been loving it. So, I said "Are you going to be performing tonight then?". He replied, "Its a good possibility, yeah!". "And what about the man himself?", I asked - he laughed and said, "I assumed that was who you meant!", so I explained that an NPG performance would be satisfying enough and that Prince would be the icing on the cake. He was really friendly, earthy and looked sharp - he was a pleasure to talk to.

Beverley Knight came on around 1.15am and was sensational - it was a confident and assured performance, but its crowning moment, for audience and Beverley alike, was when Prince just floated on from stage left , with guitar and performed with her. It was obviously a complete surprise for her as she said at the end of the song when he left the stage again, "Oh my God, that is such a dream come true for me here tonight" and was crying - it was a great moment.

So, all credit to her, she follows it with a hard-funk number (really can't remember what it was right now!) and, mid-way through, Prince's horn section shuffles along the front of the stage, playing a beautifully tight riff and the crowd go wild, not just for the musicians, but that they can taste a Prince gig coming

Then Shelby and the twins come on, the 2 Dunhams and you've then got Beverley's band and Prince's jamming on the same groove and then, of course, Prince appears and the place erupts. As they jam out through the songs, Prince eventually directs bits of Beverley's band to stop playing, and they go side stage and enjoy the gig. But Beverley stayed onstage for the whole gig and sang her heart out.

It was great - I seem to remember people saying he's not played for long, stopped after 1 song for photography and that he's only played guitar and not song - well, tonight was a bona fide Prince aftershow performance. I was dead centre about 3 rows from the front and it was stunning. And not just covers, or jams but a great version of Controversy, Alphabet Street, 3121 and, uh, brilliantly A Love Bizarre - he dropped the band down low, strummed on the guitar and clearly wanted to see if the audience knew it From what I could see and hear, MOST of the people in that place were singing it, and singing it good

Lots of amazing guitar, fabulous singing, the band having a great time and Prince was mostly about 10 feet away from me - it was great As i said, Top 5

There are too many good bits to mention and I'm real tired now, but that was a night I'll cherish - can't wait to read other people's experiences of the whole night. Friday the 10th saw the tour move up a gear, in my opinion, and I'm going again for the next 2 gigs (Saturday and Tuesday, with aftershow), so I just can't wait to see what happens next

Oh No. Let's hope we get the same treat tonight. Worried now

midasG said:

I agree totally, great night. Just got home at 7:30am so I will write more when I've had some sleep

Prince, my favourite male singer of all time and Beverley Knight, my favourite female - and I wasn't there! Hope that she converted some of you into fans last night who had let her slip under your raidar in the past. Going tonight, Bev has another gig elsewhere so she won't be there again tonight (heard she is doing one or maybe two more dates though) - but I am seeing Prince for the first time tonight - so I'm mega excited and will see Bev again on her own tour in November. This is turning out to be the best (and most expensive) gig year of my life!

midasG said:

So when 3121.com say Prince will not be at the aftershow - they actually mean he will be at the aftershow. Now I'm confused....any clues about a show on Tuesday 14th?

That was the best aftershow performance I have ever ever been too, its was totally fantastic. Great hearing Alphabet Street again. Beverly Knight was fantastic too. The best Prince experience I have ever had.

anybody got a full P set list for the aftershow, it must have been awesome. I was at tuesday and that was meant to be the best. I guess the man has upped it a nothch again.

midasG said:

Ha Ha, prince puts up a notice saying he won't play, and the he does!....should have ecpected that really!

Beverley Knight has been a big Prince fan for years, she'll be chuffed that she got to meet him...she's a great singer, and what footage i've seen of her live has been awesome...but the tunes themselves aren't always that great....i always thought she could use a better songwriter behind her...collaboration possible?!

theartistirl said:

From memory, Love Bizzare, Chaka Khan Sweet Thing, Albhabet Street, Controversy... I'll think of more.

iloveannie said:

We HAVE te get the same tonight!!!

10.28am.....now hung over.....brain is scrambled.....and all I can remember is EVERYTHING WAS SIMPLY OUT OF THIS WORLD. When the fragments starts to piece themselves together I will try and remember the set list from the aftershow.....I know 3121, Controversy, A Love Bizarre, Sweet Thing and Alphabet St. - man, there must be more.....it seemed like it would never end
[Edited 8/11/07 2:32am]

Sounds like an awesome aftershow

But wait, did I miss something or did 3121.com not tell people that Prince wouldn't be playing? I feel for anyone who had a ticket but decided not to bother when shown that news...

sooo glad i went to tues aftershow,b4 all this 'will he won't he' stuff started..we had a fab night.going again 2nite and have no expectations of prince showing,just going to enjoy a good boogey!
it's beginning to annoy me that some people get a great 2 hour show with this man and then expect him to play again at the aftershow like it's a given! the worst that can happen is you get a funky dj,a great support act and meet some cool people....wish i had seen beverly night tho..i think she's one of the best brit female singers we have and her and prince,2gether...i'm jealous you guys got to see that.
going to my 1st main show 2nite too,can't wait!

Hearing all this... I haven't manged 2 go yet, but 2nite is 1st night this tour.

I'm getting goosebumps just reading all this.

Hope we're in 4 some real fun 2nite!

This was my first latenight aftershow and it was unbelievable!! Beverly Knight came on about 1:15 with a selection of songs including Shoulda Coulda Would, Take a little Piece of my Heart.Ive seen her before solo and with Jamiroquai but tonight she was on fire. The highlight was when Prince came out and jammed with her band before his band came out, she could not believe her eyes and it certainly was the "greatest day of her life", a track which went into Luther's Never Too Much. Later on she and Prince sung a clip of Rolling Stones' Miss You.

At 2:15 during Make It Back / Chic's Le Freak Prince and his band came on to perform a blistering set including Sweet Thing, 3121, Alphabet Street, Controversy, Rock Steady, A Love Bizarre (amazing!), clips of Miles Davis Tutu, Blackstreet's No Diggity before finishing abou 3.30am. It was an awesome night, the music didnt seem to finish, track after track with prince stripping it down for some funky jams and audience participation. And to be about 5m away was amazing. I just hope someone recorded it?!

This is what its all about, late night jam sessions like no other. Better than Koko? Most definitely! An unforgetable night, and can't wait for the final night's Aftershow!!

Tim
PS Security was v tight, 5 people next to me were escorted out by security for taking photos

i wish i was old enough to go to the Aftershow

I wish I wasn't too old to go to the show....

CONtroversyyyyy

Agree with you all, a really great show. Last night was the only gig I can get to so I booked the aftershow not really expecting him to play, thinking it would be a bonus if he did.
I went expecting nothing and received a damn sight more in return. After some folks complaints about previous acts at Indigo (although I would personally love to see Dr John), the choice of Beverley Knight was inspired. She is familiar enough to a British audience, even to an oldie like me who's just heard a few of her hits. The crowd seemed to be enjoying her performance and there were no "Get off, we want Prince" kinda comments.
Beverley Knight is a HUGE Prince fan so the sheer excitement written on her face was quite funny & touching. She looked like she had all of her birthdays and christmases rolled into one with a jackpot win on the the lottery for good measure. She proved her Princely knowledge by knowing the words to A Love Bizarre. Respect!
This was the first aftershow I've been to in 12 years so I consider myself lucky to have been at the (so far) best Indigo show yet. So folks, my advice would be to get down there without any expectations. Just chill out and enjoy the evening, if Prince plays then your night is complete. London is lucky to have Prince there for all this time, you should be sharing him with the rest of us He is truly spoiling you, aftershows too!?!
I remember 20 years ago, if Prince did play an aftershow it was only media people and celebs who got in. There was no way us mere mortals would get a sniff, slowly he started letting in his real supporters but even then it was a case of knowing the right people and hearing whispered rumours. Nowadays anyone can get in and it's kinda taken the excitement and adventure off an aftershow and I think some folks are beginning to demand a performance. Like I say, he can spoil us too much sometimes

10TH AUG JAM OF THE YEAR unbelievable 3.20 am and prince still rockin WOOOOO WHAT A GIG

I blagged it in for free to the aftershow!!!!!
Man it was amazing totaly unreall,
i can rember one more song that no one mention,
Aretha Franklins - never loved a man,
they totaly tore that up and prince played some mean blues licks!


http://prince.org/msg/12/239046

thats my review (with pictures) and ull see how i managed to get in

sounds so amazing!
yay for you guys! enjoy!

absolutely amazing.
Beverley was great i even managed to pinch her bottle of water when the stage was getting really busy.It was a health and safety issue more than anything else

To add some stuff about this one:

All hail to Beverly Knight for making this aftershow happen. She is obviously a fan, and knew exactly what to do to get Prince to come out. She was really brilliant, projecting exactly the type of persona, highly energetic, sensual, and respectful towards Prince, that Prince would fall for hook, line and sinker.
She had the crowd chanting P.R.I.N.C.E, I KNOW WHO I CAME TO SEE, and the roof went off the place. There was no way Prince was not going to show up, Beverly worked her fine behind off to make sure of that. So thanks girl, we owe you.

Prince was so energized by what Beverly had prepared for him that we got an aftershow that I can only compare to those that i have witnessed in the late 80s and early 90s.
How long is it ago that Prince played a full, 10 minute version of a Love Bizarre, anyone? Prince was truly all over the place, dancing more than he did in the main show, and had us chanting BEVERLY KNIGHT till 3.45am.

The venue was litteraly on fire. This was easily my best Prince concert ever (saw him 7 times, first in 1990). The level of energy was simply amazing. I was at the Marquee aftershow 5 years ago. Friday night just felt completely different. Everyone was just having the time of their life.

i could cry- i went to the friday 3rd aftershow fiasco- the only show i could go to. don't think i should read any more posts about fantastic aftershows....