Well what i can i say? Prince was outstanding,
And i got mega mega lucky.
We got into the arena to check it out a wee bit before the gig started and we were on the top tier, and my sister wasent sure if she could sit up there as she has a bit of a vertigo problem haha but i was still impressed by the views even way back.

[removed per 3121.com request - CarrieMpls]


So we go out to the customer service desk and say to the girl, and ask if there is anychance we can swap seats, but she tells us chances are there wont be any going spare, but she does give us two tickets(which come handy later for my biggest blag of the night!) to get into the v.i.p bar for free as she says its a nice place to relax if we are worried about the height.
So we go down there and sit on the plush couches and knock back some champange at a hefty price. Then i over hear a man on the phone saying Beverly Knight is the support act, so we have one more drink then head up to the seats.But managed to miss her, so before Prince comes on i run out and check if there are seats further down, no joy.So i get back to my seat and by this point there is a mexican wave brewing in the crowd,needless to say the atmosphere took over and my sister soon had no bother standing up and joining in!
Then the lights go down and Princes band start marching out and everyone up on the top tier is standing! and dancing already then Prince appears at the places goes insane! 3121 as the opener really did work!

[removed per 3121.com request - CarrieMpls]

So you all probably know the set so i wont fill u in on that,


Purple rain stage looked awesome:

[removed per 3121.com request - CarrieMpls]


But it gets to renatos break on the keys and i say right i think we should try get down closer, so we get up run down the stairs got the esculator down to the second floor and walked in!!! no one on the door. Prince comes on and starts up nothing compares to you, and now we can see his face and his expresions(i.e. pure joy) without looking at the big screen. We then relize from the second floor it leads straight down to the floor, So we get cocky and think lets just try get closer and see how far we get, and we just work through the crowd till were on the floor and we see two empty seats so we stand behind them and two forgine guys (dutch i think) tell us they have been empty the whole concert, then a security man comes up and says can we go back to our seats, so we take them seats!!! so now were 10 rows from the front as opposed to 3 from the back!!!

[removed per 3121.com request - CarrieMpls]

Encore was totaly amazing, everyone was getting nervous thinking maby thats him done, chants of we want prince start up and cheering then out of no where you hear him strike a chord and he rises out from the middle of the stage and goes into little red corvette - rasberry berret and sometimes snows in april(during which i walked right up the the side of the stage no one said a thing!!) needless to say the place goes wild!
Then Prince dissapears again, everyone is gettin really nervous this time but no one dare leaves incase he returns for more. Then the lights go down again this time everyone really does go wild. And the band kick off a version of Crazy (gnarles barkley) then prince appears again!

So after the last lot of encores we leave, im still beggin to go buy a ticket for the aftershow but we have to meet my sisters friend in a club opposite Indigo2 were the aftershow will be.SO we get in there meet her pal (lots of prince music playing in the backround so the place was packed)
Then i said just sit here im gonna chance it and see if i can get in using just this normal concert ticket and the plain white one which got us into the vip bar.

So i stroll over and walk up to the vip door as theres no que at all, so i get to the first door and the woman lets me through and tells me the man inside will check my tickets, so i get in this guy can barely speak a word of english so i think i could be in luck, and sure enough i just point 2 the letters v.i.p on the bar ticket and in i go!!! Beverly Knight is on stage and i go up and watch for a few songs then i think how are they gonna get in the club, so i go up to a german man and his friends and ask if they will let me have there tickets so that i can go out with them and give them to my sister and her friends and we will give them the tickets back when we get inside, but the guy is having none of it, i mean were the commeradary bettween the fellow prince fans!! But as im tryin 2 explain the situation to this guy my sister and her freind pop up behind me and tell me they managed to get in my spinning the guy some story about how they couldent get in touch with me cause she had my mobile and that she couldent just leave me in there, but my sisters friend knows the guy who owns the club across the road from were the aftershow was( the same one we had been in) so she name drops and the door man just winks and lets them through!!!

So most people in the indigo2 have little faith that Prince will come on, but i work my way to the front just incase.
so then find myself one person from the front, and Berverly has just played take another little piece of my heart (irma franklin song. areathas sister!)
but she then says ive had a request to play that one again by prince so i think hmmmm wait a minute thats odd, hes gotta come out, and sure enough out he comes grinning ear to ear strutting across the stage playing some amazing guitar, Beverly by this point is totaly star struck and the crowd cant belive there luck, he then leaves the stage and everyones thinking, god, i hope he comes back he cant just tease like that haha
And then his band march out and Beverly says i think you all know who these guys are. Then prince joins them!!! and plays for a good hour and half more!!!!!

In the Aftershow! look how close!

Beverly Knight( even from the bar its a good view but of coures i got up front before prince was on!)

[removed per 3121.com request - CarrieMpls]

What can i say best gig i have ever ever ever seen, im gonna try get back down for the last show next month, i need another fix!


and oh yeah his banter was superb tonight, some of his lines from the night:

"im to funky to sleep with myself!" places goes insane of coures

"ive got nowhere to sleep tonight, any offers of a spare room?!" everyone screams at this, even all the men haha

end of rassberry berret "I think i loooove her, I think I loove here, whooo do you love?"
crowd:" PRINCE!!!"

Prince again: "who do you love?"

crowd:" PRINCE!!!"

Prince again! "i love you to!"
crowd goes wild, hes a funny funny man it must be said, everyone was hanging on his every word!


Visted the hardrock cafe the next day,

Me looking very rough(hungover tired windswept! all in the name of Prince )




Princes Purple Rain shirt in the Hardrock Cafe!




p.s. i risked being kicked out so many many times for them pictures! i have some videos 2 but no audio but i have afew on my phone from the after show totaly amazing ones, ill try get them on the pc somehow.

Hope yall enjoyed the read!

sounds like you had an amazing night

Thanx so much, Georgeguitar!!! Almost felt like i was there, wot wid da pics n' all...next best thing. just gotta get myself back up 2 London...all this titillation is killin me!!!

Celeste7 said:

Im gonna try and get myself back down for the last show if i can get tickets!
gotta wait till the start of next month for my wages tho !!!

But i dont mind were i sit, as ill blag it again

Cool thread, rear seen!

Sam 8)

Simply amazing photos and commentary, georgeguitar. Thank you for sharing.

There was no prohibition in the concert hall to use your camera??? I am really really surprised by that. Thank you for taking the risk.

I am flying from NYC to London in a few weeks for the September 13 concert. I know it is going to be fantabulous so I am ready to put on my dancing shoes and party all night!

You will get more tickets! I am praying on it!!

2Serenity said:

Well on the screen in the first picture it says, we request that no one takes photographs or records tonights performance, this show is for your memories.

And i herd a few people got removed for taking photographs, Id say you can risk it as long as your using a small cammera or a mobile phone.

Depends were your seated really when your up high no one bothers, but by the time we were on the floor i was told to stop taking pictures a few times.If you attend the aftershow and prince plays be very very carefull about taking pictures i manged them two but as you can see there not great as i was trying not to be obvious. there was a security man sitting at the side of the stage shining a torch out every now and then to make sure no one had a cammer or phone out!

But am sure you will be able to snap a few no bother, just by sly about it

and i hope enjoy the concert, well i dont need to hope i know you will!!!

Great pictures, thanks

What Awesome Photos!!!

Fantastic stuff, great photos. I feel like I was there

wow great pics and commentary

thx 4 sharing

glad u had a great time

im going on tuesday and i cannot fucking wait!!!
we're on a higher tier but thankfully the stage setup enables great views by the looks of things
and the arena isnt too massive so you can pretty much see whats going on!
im going to try and get onto the ground floor on the break too
have 4 people to smuggle in though we all wanna be there!

Great Pics GuitarGeorge

I will be going on the 1st of sept and am also up on the top tier but only in row C so will be at the front of my block. Judging by the pics you have shared it seems like i will get a good view.

I may try the smuggle routine myself and see if i can get any closer. I will let you all know if i end up gettin arrested

What an amazing experience ! Good for you if those seats werent taken, at least real fans got to sit in them !

prince was FANTASTIC on friday best form ever if you aask me and beverly knight was awsome 2 think it brought best out of the main guy what a great night got back to hotel 5am still bussin now

How nice to have such an enthusiastic thread! Thanks for photos and details!!!

Wow, this thread brought tears of joy, can't wait till my next ones in sept. I've got 4 main & 2 aftershows left, inc the final night My last one was the 7th Aug with the beautiful piano medley, what a brilliant night!!
Thanks georgeguitar, lady luck shines on you

topcat67 said:

i wish i had seen the piano medley, but hell i had more than enough luck for one night your right

i really am gonna get myself back down, bring on the london underground again haha

I STARTED THAT MEXICAN WAVE HA HA HA

I'M SO IMPRESSED WITH MYSELF IF YOU JOINED IN THANK YOU SO MUCH

ahhhhh god damn my pictures are gone

ill need to have words with prince next time i see him
[Edited 8/13/07 17:45pm]

georgeguitar said:

Sorry.

CarrieMpls said:

its cool, your just doing your job:P

its them folk at 3121 that should apoligize haha

wow your hott lol - sorry

yeah, Friday main and aftershows were awesome - really glad you had a great time too !

However, and I don't want to come across as a kill-joy, but why is it that some folk think that they are more important than others? Why do you have to try and "beat the system"?

Just imagine what chaos there would be if evryone thought "yeah, I know my tix state upper tier, but surely I deserve better - I'll ignore these seats and go and try and find better ones!" What if the whole upper tier and lower tiers left their seats to try and blag their way to the floor??

You got a seat, just stick to it - rather than running the risk of spoiling someone else's enjoyment by crowding the aisles or being in their seat and they turn up a little late.

I saw this exact thing happen on the opening night - I was lucky enough to have VIP seats and be in D1 (well, not that lucky, I had actually coughed up the money to be there - as opposed to blagging my way there!) and a couple came and took 2 seats in the row in front of us. A little after the concert had started a different couple appeared wanting to sit at those 2 seats (as they were theirs) but the 1st couple refused to leave (even though the seats weren't theirs). The O2 guy was totally useless and couldn't handle a simple situation which ended up with a fight and the "imposters" being ejected from the arena and the woman, reportedly, being arrested - totally ruined the night for the couple who genuinely had the seats and very much disrupted the enjoyment of many of those/us around them for the 15 mins all of this was kicking off !

Of course, I am not suggesting that had you have been challenged over "your" seats that you would have started a fight - but why not just enjoy what you've got ? - selfish behaviour pees me off and (potentially) ruins it for others !!

just be SATISFIED !

FunkDr said:

Well said FunkDr. My 2nd concert on the 3rd Aug was ruined by 3 fans trying to fit on 1 empty seat in front of me!!! They should have been on the Upper Tier in a better seat than I had on the opening night - which, may I add, was a great seat!

did you miss the point?
they were two empty seats!!!!!
and at the time i purchased the tickets it said nothing about the height of the seats we had, then a few weeks later they put up a height warning.

The way i see it, i just got what i deserved as ticket master are a joke

im sorry if it piss's you off that i got lucky

Negritaluvyu said:

just because u wanted 2 see pictures of prince, and u ended up with bad one of me, dosent meant u can be sarcastic

Hi Georgeguitar,

no, I'm not missing any point - I think you are,though. You happened to find 2 empty seats - the point is you went looking for them with no idea/knowledge that you'd find them. What would you have done if the guy next to them had got it wrong and the real "owners" of those seats turned up?? What would you then have done if you then went back to your own/actual seats to find that someone else was now sitting in them (as they thought they'd try and get lucky and improve their seats) and they refused to move??

I understand how exciting it is to see P, (that's why I've been a fan for over 20yrs and been lucky enough to enjoy c. 40 concerts), and really glad that you had a top night (not p'd at that) - it's the blagging and trying to get something that wasn't yours at potentially no thought for anyone else that I'm referring to.

Same with the pictures ( I haven't seen your pics so not totally directing this at you) - we are all specifically (and repeatedly) requested not to take them, yet some must feel that, (just like the allocated seat ticket), that the request doesn't apply to them and they can do what they want?!? - even though it probably means someone standing or sitting behind them has to put up with a mobile phone being held aloft in front of them when they're trying to enjoy the show. More crucially, it could even lead to Prince deciding not to play any longer and leaving the stage.

Hey - I'm really not suggesting we all sit thru the prince concerts and aftershows with our arms folded and not say a word - far from it - we get's up and have a good time - just should respect others.

Finally - I AM genuinely pleased you had a top night - but reckon it would have been without the sneakin' !!
Peace

FunkDr said:

id have moved if someone was sitting there lol
and if i came back up to find someone in my seats id have stood at the very top behind the rail were some funky dancing was going on

We took a risk, it paid off thats what im all about,
if you dont ask you dont get, same applys to taking a risk , i dont like to be left wandering what if i had done this, what if i had done that

georgeguitar said:

"If they tell me 2 walk the straight line, I put on crooked shoes"!?
[Edited 8/14/07 12:59pm]