The O2 Arena 17th August 2007

When i first saw Prince in 1990 it was during the nude tour which metaphorically meant musically he was stripped down to his bare essentials playing classics and tracks from the current batman soundtrack. Moving on to 2007 and this is not a dissimilar scenario. Having witnessed the introduction of O+> during prince's 1992 tour and the diamonds and pearls era though the soon to be very significant symbol was only a lighting rig at this point. In 1993 it was the O+> album and tour b4 1995 and the gold experience which i heard played live b4 release due to the well publicised difficulties. Subsequent tours i have seen involved in 1998 "jam of the year" involving new collaborate larry graham from sly and the family stone and a fairly intimate and for some an all too brief 2002 appearance at the hammersmith apollo as continuation of the one nite alone tour which saw Prince at his intimate best.

At the press conference for "21 nights in london" prince was quoted as saying he was doing the extended stay at the O2 to enable more people to see him and carry on what he had been doing during his "3121" residency at the rio casino in las vegas.

I arrived early to take in the atmosphere and cheekily employed one of the many staff in O2 t-shirts (this one was female, irish,pleasing on the eye and had a O+> necklace on) to give me a brief tour. After pinpointing a suitable eaterie out of the vast selection available i plumped for the bizarrely named "s and m" cafe? Anyway moving on a few hours and after finding my feet at the complex including a trip to one of the main pubs "The slug and lettuce" which was beginning to brim up with the early evening concert going crowd i made my way to the arena. Everything is well signposted as i passed the virtual beach and i entered the arena at the appropriate point or letter as it shows on your ticket including an escalator ascent not forgetting a copy of the "planet earth" cd to pick up on the way and it was down to my seat. Now the arena itself is very compact and i found myself seated very handily from the stage and with at the time now approaching 7:50pm at the end of the aisle with the row to myself. The first thing you notice at any prince concert is the cosmopolitan audience for example the row behind me were predominantly american and to my far right a noticable dutch contingent. The support act tonight was mya who starts off with hit "What cha gonna do" and then "ghetto superstar" her big hit with pras michel and i am pleased as she is one of my favourites. Her 2 hooded male co-dancers and 2 female singers rip up the stage with their moves as mya shouts "how y'all doing 2 nite are you ready 2 dance". Promoting her new album "Liberation" mya wearing black leggings and a dazzling chain imbedded top, fingerless black gloves and matching wristlets she asked us all to break it down before singing album track "ridin'".Mya then mentions how it is an honour for her to appear on stage before her favourite artist of all time. As she played track "escape" also from liberation which was a more rocky number and has mya mentioning how you feel when you need to get away (i presume a relationship not a weekend break!) she then asks where all her soul sisters are by playing the 2001 moulin rouge inspired and labelle classic "lady marmalade" (this was not the first jam of the night!). After a quality performance and at about 8.30pm the singer, actress, record producer, songwriter, model and dancer left the stage to make way for the anticipated main event with a now pretty full arena. I rushed to the bar and decided to pass on the £12 champagne on offer but i found generally all drinks are reasonably priced anyway and i don't think you need to pay more than £3.00 for a beverage. Back in the arena and the screens clearly advising on no recording of tonights performance as it was for your memories and at just after 9 with my row now full of some very attractive woman following at least 4 "mexican" waves the screen then reverted to a video clip of the uk music hall of fame tribute to prince with soundbites from amongst others former bandmates wendy and lisa and michael bland as well as pharrell williams, actress and director of his "te amo corazon" video salma hayek and joni mitchell. As beyonce proclaims here is "the incomparable prince" and with the band poised (prince appears amidst a transparent curtain) we are into the classic1999. In white shirt and trademark flared trousers/heels it was then "take me with u" complete with singers shelby and the cool afro'ed marva king. Australian dancers nandy and maya (not to be confused with the earlier mya!) with there flowing dresses and suppleness literally glided across the stage as prince played "guitar" from the planet earth cd before breaking it down for "Shhh" from the gold experience and a true gem of seductive proportions. Musicology followed which had most people including myself now breaking in to a sweat akin to 20 minutes into a gym workout (nothing new here this is prince!) This track is very james brown orientated and along with maceo parker (who played with james), mike philly on saxophone, lee hogans (trumpet), greg boyer (trombone), c.c. and joshua dunham (drums and bass respectively) with keys from mr hayes and renato neto it was reminiscent of the 60's and 70's j.b.'s!

Prince goes into covers mode now and a pretty hot version it is of wild cherry's funk fest "play that funky music" with the twins (dancers nandy and maya) now in full flow. Our main man then announces "you english girls are so pretty i'm going to have to change my shirt" and with a maceo solo of "satisfied" from 3121 prince tells him to be careful as he will "make someone pregnant" cheeky!!

Never one to miss an opportunity and after seeing a few nifty movers in the audience prince invites people on stage including julia stiles (the actress from save the last dance) Matt damon was there also (well prince did attend his premiere in the week!) and other noticable attendees included brett anderson from suede and me?

Hits follow with Cream, U got the look complete with his 2nd of 3 guitars of the evening. The first his trademark O+> one and now for the proclaimic song "7" it was a peach effect fender (his leopard print one was to follow!) An "alright" medley and not for the first time audience participation with beatles "come together" and prince stating "u know i've got 2 many hits " "can you stay all nite" and most people would have said yes if it wasn't for the 11pm curfew at the O2!! Now to right of stage it was piano interlude time starting with "little red corvette", "diamond and pearls","the beautiful ones","raspberry beret", "sign o' the times" (phew!) and prince again confirming "i told u i had 2 many hits!" .Then "pop life", the intro of one of his most famous b-sides (paisley park) "She's always in my hair",part of "alphabet street" and a sample of "when dove's cry" which then segues into a full version. Now wearing customary purple clearly silk shirt and matching trousers it was more or less the song that started it off " i wanna be your lover" at which point i glanced to the 5 ladies in my exclusive row who were gyrating, flirting and generally enjoying themselves including one who was celebrating a birthday! Another 3121 track followed "black sweat" and then signature tune "kiss" with prince changing lyrics to "u don't have to watch big brother" to get an attitude? Does he mean Brian and amanda or ziggy and chanelle lol! The piece de resistance came next "purple rain" which after 21 concerts i heard for the first time and as soon as i heard the opening chords the hairs stood up on the back of my neck and after an indeed rapturous version prince made his first main exit of the evening. I reassured the rather exciting mid 20's birthday girl next to me that he would be returning and what an encore "let's go crazy", "i feel 4 u" very 1980 and the classic "controvery" interspersed with the stomping groove "housequake". Then after 1 hour and 50 minutes where i rarely sat down it was over and although there was a brief crowd rally for a further encore that was it for the night. Well he is doing 21 nights here.

Carl_m
[Edited 8/18/07 4:52am]

Cool! Thanks for the recap on a wonderful night! I thoroughly enjoyed it - can not wait to see him again!

No problem! Nor can i! Going on the 9th (main and aftershow's) and after last night i am now in full concert mode I've been buzzing all day!

Me too, I've been on a high since last night! Im going again on the 21st for both the main show and aftershow. Would love to fit in another one before that, but its doubtful.. Aw well, at least I got to see him last night, ahhh!!!!

It was a WILD night at the O2...

It was a phenomenal night for me as my first gig at the O2 with more 2 come but the whole experience was quality and the setlist was more than i could have expected and the seats were just right as well!