First, thank you so much to Anxiety, Gav/Turn It Up, the org and HQ, and Prince and his people for this wonderful opportunity. To say this show was incredible doesn't even begin to do it justice. I'm totally on a high from it.

Prince played for about three hours, minus a roughly 15-minute intermission in which Dave Chapel jumped on stage and did improv standup (hilarious). The band was tight, which is a given, but they managed to be so impressive, so amazingly good, that it can't be overstated.

Prince closed with a huge set of hits that had everybody jumping, dancing, and singing--The Bird, Jungle Love, The Glamorous Life (with Marva on vocals) and A Love Bizarre.

I'll post more, but just wanted to post this initial report. And let me say, I wish I had the ability to capture just a fraction of the excitement we all felt at this show. I'm not doing it justice at all in this report, but I'll try to do better. But hey, it's 5 in the morning, and I'm spent from dancing my ass off at this show.

Here's an incomplete set list. I'm missing some, and this isn't in the right order (sorry, I didn't take notes; it's just from memory). Somebody help me; there were a bunch of other songs played.

Crimson and Clover/Wild Thing
Let's Go
Come Together
7
Controversy
Girls and Boys
3121
Can’t Hide Love
Long Train Running
Red House
Musicology
Shhh
Sexy Dancer/Le Freak
Partyman
Cream
Miss You
Honky Tonk Women
1999
Prince and the Band
U Got the Look
Brown Skin
In the Morning
Stratus
I Want to Be Free
Alphabet St.
What Have You Done for Me Lately
Purple Rain
The Bird
Jungle Love
The Glamorous Life
A Love Bizarre
[Edited 10/14/08 5:31am]

Thanks for posting, mate! You know what we, far away junkies, need; INFO!

I bet you will sleep VER sound tonight.

how can a show that lasted that long b so lame with a setlist of songs he's been doing since 2004, 2006 and 2007 with no change at all?

L4OATheOriginal said:

He said he didn't write everything down. From what I've been told already by a couple of the peeps who went... the after set/concert was the better set... time wise and song wise. There was a lot of jamming going on which is also why the song list (even once printed in full) may not seam to fill three hours.

But... IDK... I just can't imagine a three hour jam session by Prince as being 'lame'... no matter what he played..

L4OATheOriginal said:

True, for a man who has such an impressive catalog of songs (& claims to have even more unheard of cuts), he hasn't changed his setlist much.I'm glad I stayed home & watched a freaking Star Wars cartoon.

viewaskew said:

i am 100% sure that if you were there in person you would have had a good time. how is staying at home better than rocking out at an aftershow jam? reading a setlist may seem boring but being there in person is a whole different thing.
[Edited 10/11/08 6:02am]

I suppose it was for a charity crowd....but it's true, the spark definitely seems to have gone.....

eireboy34 said:

how do you know the spark was gone? were you at the concert?

BigDaddyHQ said:

it can b lame as others have said that with his vast catalouge of music, he's sticking 2 the same setlist 4 2 years now with no changes. sure there are more covers but we're talking about prince's music. that's lame.

wonder505 said:

from what i'm hearing about how the event was conducted, yeah i can say i'm glad i stayed home as well and with that price of admission ..even happier that i didn't go.

try 2 understand that diehards r getting sick of the same songs over and over ..

Just woke up still a little tired. Only see one forgotten song ...the show started great with:

Crimson & Clover followed by
LET's GO ! (Cover of the CARS tune) Great combination.

Also don't forget MUSICOLOGY!!!!!.

Between both shows....5 hours of Pure FUNK.

One funny note..during the first show, Prince walked briefly into the crowd and
asked if anyone wanted to interview him. I quickly replied "Who's Fluffy?"
He immediately started to laugh and then went back on stage and repeated the question to Josh Dunham who also started to laugh. This is proof positive that Prince is in tune with what goes on on these boards. So when you read this Fluffy.....thank you for a great experience and 21 nights in NYC sounds great!
[Edited 10/11/08 7:28am]

i mean jesus christ already... enough with these cover songs...
if the stocks didnt crash, i may have wasted my $$ to hear the same set ive heard a million times and some other people's tunes.

hey prince, why not really surprise the crap out of us and sing songs like:
mountains,
all day all night
shy
reflection
the word
resolution
FURY!
last december
i like it there
hot thing
oh and how about a full version of when doves cry for once?

at least the horns are gone.

man, i am getting frustrated!

Efan said:

if u can describe it, it ain't funky!...
colour me Jealous!
thx

scrambledeggsaresoboring said:

so many songs, so little time...nice list btw!

Did Dave Chappel curse?

2freaky4church1 said:

he's been to too many prince parties, i bet he didn't. he's probably been put in the purple time-out corner too many times already.

viewaskew said:

don't judge the show like that - it was actually a really great aftershow !! I've seen Prince a whole lot of times, lost count, but even if you hear the same song - it always sounds fresh & a bit different. His energy was great, the band was on top. Had a great night! Now I wish I could have slept more than the 3 hrs I got.

2freaky4church1 said:

YES - Chapelle cursed. He said the F word. after about 3 seconds he realized he cursed and apologized - for offending Prince's religious beliefs. He said something to the effect he's just used to doing seedy nightclub acts, although he doesn't perform anymore.

He was going on, funny, and then asked "is he coming back?" because I'm really not supposed to be doing this, I'm just here like you.

wow, you guys seem to of had such a fab night, were you really close to prince near the stage? i think the setlist was great, it must have been amazing for you all, you were so lucky to have been there. Any news on any more shows coming up?

LOL...Yeah, I was there for both shows...Prince basically just tore down that stage...This is a 50 year old man, yall...His guitar was talking to folks...lol...Insane guitar display...Zone like playing...And he had an harmonica player come on for a few songs...His current band was the tighest I've ever heard it: just a drummer, a bassist and a keyboard player...Very stripped down...

BUT: The second show was one of the best Prince gigs he's ever done...One white affluent cat turned to me and said "I think I just saw something historical..."

Hell, his first show was 2 and a half hours...and the second was 3!!!!.....He had those rich people going nuts, jumping up and down...

Girl & Boys, U Got The Look, Controversy, Purple Rain, Sexy Dancer, &, Purple Rain, Cream, Alphabet Street, Shhh, 3121, Musicology, 1999....And then there was the covers...

The Cars' "Let's Go"
Crimson and Clover
EWF's "Can't Hide Love
The Stones' Honky Tonk Woman and Miss U
Ohio Players' I Want To Free (Prince: "Sugerfoot messed me up back in the day...his Afro was and it leaned to the side! How could u compete with that?!"....lol)
Stratus
a little Chaka
Jimi's Red House (not Purple as he usually does...)


And then he had the nerve to do some Time and Sheila E songs...He busted out Jungle Love, The Bird, Love Bizarre, and The Glamorous Life....Just insane...

Prince: "You guys really don't want me up here!...I can be on this stage all night!...I keep telling yall I got too many hits!!!"


Man, I don't know what to say after this one...

aubergine said:

Yeah...u guys really had to be there...That shit was a party, not a concert...There was nothing to complain about...and trust me, I've been very vocal about some of the lackluster shows Prince has done...But this shit was just crushing...Especially the second show....Insane guitar....

Dying to hear more. Bravo to all who got in.

TOMEEBOY said:

Thanks for reminding--can't believe I forgot those songs. I edited the set list above.

One quick thing about The Glamorous Life, a song I never get tired of: Since there was no horn section in the band, the bass was really slamming on this song, and the keyboards seemed downplayed as well. Never heard the song performed this way, and it worked really well.

The setting was really cool. Only about 200 people jammed in to that room, we were all close to the action and everybody was having a great time. It was perfect.

Prince's voice was as good as I've ever heard it. In fact, I talked about it with a couple people. He was hitting some really great high notes and did some of his screams.

For those who care about this, he was wearing a white turtleneck with an ascot and never once seemed to break a sweat.

He ended with a chant of "Tell me who in this house know about the quake!"

Oh, and Cora--man, she is fierce and sweet. To me, she stole the show just as much as Shelby or Marva did.

L4OATheOriginal said:

lame?????

Efan said:

I was wondering how they arranged it. Did Morris play synth horns on it? who did the hook?

Or was it more like just bass and drums and them singing the lyrics over it?
[Edited 10/11/08 10:28am]

GaryMF said:

Hey, Gary! Morris definitely played the synth horns; sorry if I didn't make that clear. It wasn't a stripped-down bass and drums version. It was just that the bass was more accented and funky on it than the original and it caught my ear. It sounded great!

eireboy34 said:

The spark is still very much there. You have to be there to be a part of the experience, and at this point, it surely doesn't seem like that spark is ready to burn out anytime soon, especially if you're not part of the flame that keeps the spark burning.
[Edited 10/11/08 10:57am]

aubergine said:

LOL Prince used to use the F / MF word in so many of his songs...Of course my family is conservative so I don't use it around the house but it does not faze me anymore when I hear it. No one takes the meaning literally.