Eye Am Here London, Where are U?

After finishing the opening night with the unexpected third encore which I watched standing 5 weeks away from Prince , it was time to head down to 02 for a cracking 2nd show and what a show. Friday night and the crowd was chilled, Prince arose from the elevator mid stage @ 20.40 wearing cream and black, walked down the symbol ramp with a huge smile and his arm open wide before proclaiming “London, this is gonna be a long night”
Before breaking into a bluesy jazzy Satisfied. The crowd (of which many were drunk for some bizarre reason) loved the opener and no sooner has the tune dimed the lights were up & the 4 ladies were on stage & taking court in their positions for Cream and U Got The Look, two tracks that would be frequently and feverously played through out the 21 nights.

This was followed by Musicology/Funky Music/Wonderful world, the latter was truly amazing and appreciation of musicianship was brought to a whole new level. One of the highlights of the 21 nights and you may have seen the video on 3121.com was the brilliant Joy In Repetition – the song was accompanied by some fantastic choreography by Prince and Nandy and for a moment it was 1988 all over again and we were on the Lovesexy tour wit Prince & Cat !

Two other tracks to get a rare outing during the main shows Another Lover & Peach were great with heavy guitar which was followed up with Lolita and the Black Sweat which was awesome as it was during every main and after show. After Eye Feel 4 U & Controversy, I believe my personal highlight of all the 7 main shows I saw was this version of Purple Rain, it was truly moving. I have seen Prince perform this live on 20+ occasions but tonight that song truly moved the audience and was so emotional ( of course eye cried !!) The following nights Purple Rain performance had similar structure and energy but there after the song was cut from a 14 to 9 minute performance and the long intro was dropped.


The amazing Shelby brought da hose down with Crazy / One Nation and Prince re-joined the band for second half of this performance. Shelby has a presence unlike any band member Prince has ever had before, I look forward 2 my next Prince show and pray Shelby is there. More Shelby stories another day.. LGC and Take me with you followed and the night was wrapped up with Guitar. Now guitar was played on opening night and went down a storm, this was the bomb, it was excellent and the crowd loved it. It was an extra long version with mind blowing guitar solo at the end.

So all in all a 10 out 10 performance with Joy, Purple Rain & Guitar the highlights of the night and probably of the tour.
C U Soon – 5 more reviews to go including my hi-five with Prince, watching the show from VIP area, meeting Naomi C and Shelby sings Sade’s “Cherish The Day “ just 2 me


Setlist


Satisfied
Cream
U Got The Look
Musicology
Play That Funky Music Wild Cherry
What A Wonderful World (Mike Phillips & Renato instrumental intermission)
Joy In Repetition
Anotherloverholenyohead /Rocklobster B52s
Peach
Lolita
Black Sweat (with bass solo)
Kiss
I Feel For You
Controversy (included Housequake chant)
encore 1
Purple Rain
encore 2
Crazy Gnarls Barkley(Shelby J. vocals, including One Nation Under A Groove chant by Prince)
Let's Go Crazy
encore 3
Take Me With U
Guitar

riverjones said:

Only 6 months late

I have waited 16 years to go and see Prince in concert, and finally had the honour to at the O2 Arena on the 1st of September. It was truly amazing.He kicked off with Lets go Crazy, I was also pleased that he played one of my favourates Strange Relationship. I would love to see him again, but unsure if he is coming back to England to perform again.The concert was everything I hoped for. Pure Talent.