Getwild did a great review too! We must have been typing away at the same time tonight.


PRINCE - L.A. SHOWS, MARCH 27 - 28, 2009

Whew, what a weekend! It's Monday night and I am still coming down from my purple high. Let's get started...

Friday - The Tonight Show
I flew in Friday morning for the Tonight Show. There were lots of fans already in line, many of whom had slept out overnight for tickets (and had slept out for the previous shows on Wed and Thurs). For those of you that don't know, Prince played three nights in a row on Leno. I saw a lot of Bay Area fans (Bobby!) and a lot of fans I had seen when down for the two previous LA shows. So after greetings and catching up, I headed over to guest relations to see what was up with my ticket. I won't go into great detail but it wasn't until later in the afternoon that they seemed to be organized. There were two lists - one for the studio taping, the other for concert only. Prince's performance was set to be on the outdoor stage that they set up just outside the studio for Friday performances in the late Spring and Summer. So the member tickets were for concert only. Fine by us! That's what we were there for after all. During the afternoon we could hear Prince and the band soundchecking. All told I think they were out there for about 2 hours. We couldn't see them, but we could hear and dance to them! Just the band to begin with, then we started hearing Prince on guitar and vocals later in the soundcheck.

Around 3:30pm, we lined up separately alongside the regular Tonight Show attendees and once they were all let in to the studio, they let the members into the concert area. I was about 20th in line with my friend Cody. They led us to the stage and we headed for the right side. I got up there and there was one gap left in the front against the barricade - woo hoo! So I slipped into my spot and waited for the fun to begin. While we were waiting, we saw Fred Yonnet (harmonica) and Morris Hayes (keyboard) pop on stage to adjust a few things. We all waved and said hi. During our wait, security kept us apprised of the timing and informed us that a couple of people were kicked out because they used their cellphones. TIGHT security! We were told that once the show inside got to the last commercial break, then the studio audience would come out and fill in the rest of the show area and Jay would intro the band's performance.

Around 5:30, Jay Leno came out and got ready. Prince walked out on stage as well to a ton of cheering (so much that he sort of motioned like "ok, ok, shhhh"). They cued Jay and he did his intro, and Prince and the band went into Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel Wonderful off the new Lotusflow3r album. I won't go into too much detail about the actual peformance since you can see it on nbc.com, but we got a lot of love from Prince over on the right hand side. During the performance, Cody got us started with a "Freaks on this side" chant which Prince picked up on. He brought his mic over and leaned it down for us to sing into. He was in a good mood and the band sounded great. Towards the end of the performance, the women from the Honey Collective ran up on stage and posed as "fan dancers". Basically Prince brought his own attractive posse of women who were made to look like random fans pulled up on stage. One of them had a very cool shirt on - let's hope we see that in the merch booth soon. But I guess Prince didn't want to chance pulling unpredictable fans on stage during a nationally televised, live performance, LOL.

After Feel Better, Prince walked off the stage but mouthed to us "I'll be back!" and sure enough, he returned to give us some more. The Mercedes Benz signage that was up for the taping was taken down, so let's hope these extra songs end up on lotusflow3r.com at some point. He went into Crimson and Clover which sounded great, and then closed out the set with Play that Funky Music White Boy. Here's where it gets really fun...

For this number, Prince likes to have a funky white boy from the audience come up and sing. My friend Cody has been on stage multiple times for this one. So Prince said "I need somebody to sing this" and many of us motioned to Cody who was standing just behind me. Prince followed the motioning and shook his head like "Nah...". But we kept at it and after one more "Nah...", Prince finally gave Cody the head nod and he jumped up on stage. He went to the mic and did a great job, with Prince strumming away on guitar beside him. Cody was the only fan up there! When he finished the first verse, Cody danced off to the side a bit and let Prince have some fun on guitar. As he finished his solo, Prince walked across the stage and lay his guitar in Cody's waiting arms. I thought Cody's head was going to explode! After that, Prince just strutted offstage, giggling to Morris and kind of shaking his head (probably to the effect of "Can you believe these fans I have???!?!"). The band was still wrapping up the song and Cody thought Prince would come back out for another song (Hollywood Swingin' was up on the lyric monitor). But Prince did not reappear and Cody heard the band winding down, so he took the opportunity to, well, play some guitar! First he started moving his fingers up and down the neck. Thanks to the effect that was on, it sounded like Cody was really doing a great solo! Then he got bolder and actually put the neck down and held the guitar normally and began strumming. It was awesome! The fans loved it and even started chanting "Cody! Cody! Cody!". And as the band finished the song, Cody grabbed the guitar neck and brought it down on the 1, ending with the band. It was great - a wonderful fan moment. Cody did awesome and was quite the hero afterwards.

After the performance, about 15 of us headed over to Acapulco across the street to have a meal and let the traffic die down. We were all buzzing about the next night which was going to be historic!

Saturday - Pre-show
For those of you that are just tuning in, Saturday's agenda consisted of Prince performing three shows in one night. Yes, you heard that right - 3 shows back to back (he's done it before in Vegas and Minneapolis). And to top it off, he'd do it with 3 different bands. The venue was L.A. Live which is a complex that consists of restaurants and music venues in downtown Los Angeles. Over the course of the night, we would move from one venue to the other, all within very close walking distance. I had been able to get tickets to all three shows through Lotusflow3r.com, so I was ready for a fantastic night. I would not be disappointed.

We arrived at L.A. Live around 1pm and met up with Cody to have some lunch. I figured I should get a good meal in before the marathon began. After lunch, we ran into Cora heading into the Conga Room so we chatted for a brief moment. We told her we were really excited for the night. Later on I saw Morris Hayes and Fred Yonnet headed into the Nokia Theater (venue #1). The L.A. Live venue was done over in Prince with scrolling billboards, giant screens playing his Target commercial and overall purple goodness.

After lunch we headed over to the fan club will call and there were about 20 people already in line (incl. Lory and Rita who flew in from Italy! Buon giorno!). We knew at that point that fan tickets would either be in the pit directly in front of the stage (standing room, unassigned) or in the orchestra section (assigned seating). However we didn't know yet which we had, so we figured we should wait out because if we did get pit tickets, we wanted to be near the front for a good spot. It was hot out there, about 82 degrees, so when I went to get some water, I got a pleading phone call from Mrs.Nelson (my concert companion) asking that if I came across any umbrellas, I should snatch them up. LOL. So I found a Ralph's about a half mile away and did just that. Those and the gallons of water consumed got us through the next few hours. After changing in the car into our concert attire, the will call line was finally set up and starting around 5:15, we picked up our tickets. The line was not very organized; they really need to work on that for the future. Everyone was very nice, but didn't really know what was going on. Don't they know we Prince fans STRESS over this stuff?!


Show #1: Nokia Theater (capacity: 7,000)

When we finally did get our fan club Nokia Theater ticket, it was in Orchestra - Row Z. Z??? We were astonished and bummed. I guess we had been spoiled by the old NPG Music Club when Prince would just block out the first few rows of a venue, making sure all the fans were close. Well whoever did it this time missed the memo on that, so club members were strewn throughout the orchestra section (we were surrounded by ticketmaster ticketholders). The pit was entirely club members, I would estimate about 100 or 150 max made it in there. As much as we tried to be big about it and pretend it was no big deal, it hurt not to be up close!

We were let into the doors of the Nokia Theater but no further - turns out Prince and the band were still soundchecking. The lobby of the Nokia Theater really got full as people milled around, wondering why the heck they couldn't get into their seats. About 7:15, they finally let us in (keep in mind Prince was supposed to start at 7:30). Once inside, I was shocked at how cavernous the venue was. Not in a bad way, it was really nice inside, but from Row Z, Prince was sure to look like a munchkin. Thankfully they had really huge hi-def screens on each side of the stage. Before the show they played promos for the theater and ran Prince's latest Target commercial on the screen periodically. Meanwhile a lot of Prince music was playing out over the PA system, including PFUNK which was very cool. The fans were keeping the party going. Throughout the orchestra section there were pockets of people dancing to the music. I don't know if it was Rashida DJ'ing but it was definitely one of her mixes. At one point we heard the crowd clapping - Magic Johnson was being taken to his seats (at least HIS seats were further back than mine!).

Finally, the music stopped and the lights went down. And on the screens came one of Prince's new videos, "Chocolate Box". They played the whole video. I have to say it's one of his random videos that made no sense to me, but whatever - it was nice to see it in full since I had been having site problems trying to watch it.

After the video ended, we heard the opening to Purple Rain and the crowd screamed so loud - I thought the roof would pop off! The curtains parted and the band was all on stage, ready to go. Prince came strolling out to center stage where the Lotusflow3r graphic was centered behind him and then walked up to his mic. The band went right into Ol' Skool Company. The setlist from the show is below so I'll just detail some of the things I remember from the performance.

Prince had on sunglasses (which he took off after a couple of minutes - I think he likes the first photos to be with them on, black pants, a black top with some gold adornment and a gold necklace. he was wearing his white "tennis shoes" and we noticed a new ring on his left hand.

The stage was enormous but there was a great backdrop to fill the space. The left side was a shot of Bria, the middle was the Lotusflow3r graphic, and the right side was some visuals of the rocks and other adornments on the website. Morris had a red rock formation in front of his keyboard setup. There were also large disco jellyfish hanging on each side of the stage. Overall a very colorful, cool set that looked great as a backdrop (esp. on the screens).

Right from the get-go, Prince had sound problems. He spent the first song or so directing the sound crew to turn this up, turn that down, bring up the mic, bring down the guitar, turn down the side speakers, no turn them up... He was working it and not in a good way. In the past I've seen these kind of problems completely ruin his mood but as he said later on, "This is my Celebration and I'm not going to let nothing bother me". And he stuck to that, working through it as best he could, never losing his temper or his fun mood. He even teased on the sound guy at one point saying "This is why he hides behind the curtain where no one can see him" and later on saying in response to something the sound guy did or said "I hear you my brotha" with a smartass emphasis on "my brotha". Whoops!

The band went into 1999 which we thought would be a decoy and segue into another song, but he played it and got us to the "Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb" chant. Controversy was hot - Prince even jumped up and down when he cued us to. It was fun to see the entire band jumping in unison - Wireimage captured a great pic of him and Fred both airborne. Controversy was its usual funky fun but due to the sound issues, it just fell a little flat at the part where the band funks it up after the "I wish there were no rules" chant. In addition to Prince and the band not having sound on stage for them, there were issues with the house sound as well.

If I Was Your Girlfriend was a pleasant surprise and got the crowd really excited again. During all this, we're watching his every move up on the hi-def screen which was glorious. Prince looked great - rested, happy, relaxed, having fun. Funny faces, funk faces galore. At one point he was solo'ing on a song and it was like he remembered "Oh yeah, I am supposed to make a funk face" and he proceeded to completely exaggerate his funk faces, making fun of himself.

Early on in the show, Prince explained that "we are trying to do three shows tonight". We were like "trying???". LOL

Between songs, Prince would sometimes walk off and try to sort with some of the sound issues. During the biggest (planned) break, Fred had a great solo on stage with Morris. Reminiscent of the part on the Musicology tour where Prince would leave the stage in the hands of one of the horn players.

At one point between songs, Prince asked us "Hmm, what should I play." which led to lots of shouting. Then he said, "Do u ever feel, like, you have too many hits?" This sent the crowd into cheers and he said "Well, that's how I woke up this morning". After teasing us with some song names, he launched into Kiss.

During Play That Funky Music White Boy, Prince brought up several dancers from the pit. No one on stage wanted to sing (not even Bobby) so another guy was pulled from the crowd; he looked sort of like Chris Martin from Coldplay. He clearly knew what he was doing as he strutted across the stage and did the song really well, not even needing the lyrics. Prince was impressed and said "That's how it's done! We don't ever have to do that song again. Now get off my stage!". [Note: Cody was back in Row V; if he'd been in the pit, I am sure he would have been up there again!].

After that the fans stayed on stage and they did "Hollywood Swingin'" with Prince running from one end of the stage to the other, cajoling the crowd to sing along (Hollywoooood Swingin'). I think he realized getting 7,000 people to get it together was challenging but we managed alright. In further testament to Prince's playful mood that night, he walked behind a woman who was dancing. And you know how you walk behind someone and then as you pass them tap them on the opposite shoulder so when they loko, you're already gone? He totally did that to her - it was really cute. Even cuter was on the screen I cuold see she had her flourescent green earplugs in! A bit later, Prince called her up to sing next to him on the mic. Wow! After the song ended, it was time for the fans to file off. But before they did, he must have hugged about 8 of them. I don't know how it started but that was a first - I have never seen him hand out hugs like that. Love that little guy! One woman even scooted back and managed to plant a kiss on his cheek.

I don't know what song it was, maybe If I Was Your Girlfriend... He walked over to the left side of the stage and sang a couple of lines to a fan in the pit. Haven't seen that in a long while. Again, further illustration of how engaged he was with the crowd.

For the later part of the show, Prince changed into a very colorful shirt that had what I think is an Obama image on it. It looked like Obama's head (and ears) but the face part was a swirl of color. I've included the pic - you decide for yourself.

At one point, Prince stopped and talked to us for a little bit. He said he really loves this next song and wants to play it because it's really what this night is all about. He then went into the Beatles' Come Together. It was during this song that he ended up abandoning his own mic and sharing Shelby's because of sound problems!

Oh and Purple Rain was very different that night. The guitar intro was nothing I had ever heard and from Dr. Funkenberry's live report, I guess the song was in a different key? It was a little trippy.

At one point he told the crowd "I got 2 more to go but I want to stay here all night!" He also gave a shoutout to Jehovah while he was on stage.

As he headed offstage before the encore, he took time to slap every hand that was outstretched from the pit. I've seen him slap a few on his way offstage, but everyone? He was really in a great mood! I likened it to how he was when Musicology kicked off in Reno - the huge crowd and love that came from them really gets to him.


At this point, Mrs.Nelson and I looked at each other and were like "Should we head to the Conga Room for the next show?" We compromised and moved further up the aisle, closer to the exit. As we did, Prince came back out and they did Let's Go Crazy, complete with the "Yip yip yahoo!" chant that I love to hate. That song ended and we decided it was time to make our move. We found out later there was one more encore, including Glamorous Life with Sheila E. It was only the second time I left a Prince show early and darn it, he got me again! LOL

We jogged across the courtyard of L.A. Live (where they were blasting Prince music and people were just dancing and having fun) to get to the Conga Room, the second venue of the night.

BAND: C.C. Dunham, Josh Dunham, Fred Yonnet, Morris Hayes, Shelby J., Liv Tyler, Elisa Fiorillo, Prince

SETLIST
Ol' Skool Company
Crimson and Clover
1999
I Feel 4 U
Controversy
Shhh
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Kiss
Play that Funky Music White Boy (with audience member)
Hollywood Swingin’
Harmonica interlude
Come together (Beatles)
Purple rain

Encore:
Let’s go crazy
The Bird
Jungle Love
Glamorous Life w. Sheila E.


Show #2: Conga Room (capacity: 1,100)

Because Conga is a much smaller venue and it was general admission, we hustled over there to get a decent spot. We'd been there a couple of weeks before for the State of the Black Union show so we knew what to expect. We had been given wrist bands by the fan club for shows 2 and 3, so we hoped there'd be some kind of member benefit associated with it. No such luck. However the line was short as they had already begin letting people in. We got inside, hit the restroom and bought some water. We ended up about 4 people back and what turned out to be directly aligned with Prince's mic on the right hand side of the stage. Woo hoo!

We saw Prince's crew jogging back and forth on stage, hustling to get ready. Michael B's drums were set up stage left and near that, Sonny's mic and stool. Morris' keyboard was setup in the back but we wouldn't see him until the encore. For those of you not familiar with Sonny and Michael, they were part of Prince's original NPG band back in the mid to late 90s. What Prince considers one of his favorite bands. This was a different lineup from the first show.

After waiting for about an hour and change, Sonny and Michael came out on stage to loud cheers from the fans. Then Prince's guitar tech (a new one BTW since the Conga Room show) came out with his "Sonny" guitar and held it over his head, pumping up the crowd. Then he held it at the ready for Prince to walk out and strap it on. Man, we were close to Prince! So nice after the Row Z in the first show.

As I mentioned, Prince's mic was set up stage right. I guess he needed some distance from the bass and drums. He spent the first 5 minutes or so doing a little soundcheck. Not surprising given the problems in show 1. But the sound was great in the Conga Room and after telling Sonny T. (on bass) to scoot up on the stage ("You can't be hiding back there! Move on up. I want you all to see my brother"), and asking who was smoking those funny-smelling cigarettes, Prince launched into, oh my god, it took me a minute, I'm Yours! Holy crap that was cool. I knew right then we were in for something special. Complete with the breathy "I'm Yours" in the chorus. Oh...my...god. Great stuff. The three of them sounded tight and were having a great time playing together. Prince was smiling, making eye contact with Sonny constantly. They were really feeding off each other.

Colonized Mind was next, only the third new song of the night. From there he tore into Chaos and Disorder which was mindblowing - I was screaming the lyrics at the top of my lungs. Every song they did in this set was heavy, heavy guitar, funky bass and smashing drums. Powerful!

Prince took time out to tell a couple of stories about his two bandmates. The first was about Sonny T. (Sonny Thompson) whom Prince had known growing up in Minneapolis. Sonny is older than Prince, maybe by 5 years or so. Prince said that they were all out buying records when they were kids, but Sonny was the coolest thing in the neighborhood. He then described how Sonny, back then, had a guitar just like Prince was holding (hence him naming it "Sonny") slung on his back, along with a gun in his bag. "And the problem was he was only 14". Prince just cracked up at that as did Sonny. And audience member must have yelled something like "You must have been so cute" because Prince responded back with "No, I was a real punk back then!" and laughed. Sonny seemed to really enjoy that comment.

A little later on he told a story about Michael B., the drummer. He started off with "It was the Diamond and Pearls tour, back in the day, I remember it well" (hamming it up with his tone of voice). Prince went onto say that he ended a song and then went offstage, but came running back on stage to go into the next number. He described himself as not knowing who was where or what was going on - he was focused on the next sound. So he gets to the mic and starts the count for the song, 1,2... but then he hears all kinds of thumping and crashing behind him and through the speakers... Michael B. is struggling to get back to his drum kit in time! Prince finishes the story with "he didn't make it back in time". It was a hilarious visual, imagining Michael B. flustering back to his drum kit (he's a very large dude). You can tell Prince knows how to clown on his friends. But it was very endearing; throughout the night it was clear he considered these guys to be like brothers to him.

They took it down a bit and did a rocking version of the Beatles "With a Little Help from my Friends". As they ended that, Prince asked us what he should play next. Someone (I later learned it was Cody on the other side) yelled "I Like It There". Alrighty then! Prince launched into I Like It There which sounded great. We'll never know if Cody was clairvoyant or if Prince did an impromptu version. Michael and Sonny would certainly know how to follow on that one.

Prince also did an interesting version of All Shook Up. And then, oh my, he did Empty Room, starting out solo on his guitar and then Sonny and Michael coming in later. Love love love that song and as always it was great to hear.

As you can imagine, most of what Prince played was not known by the crowd. For most of them, it was their FIRST Prince show of the night. So I am sure they were a little confused by the setlist (Where's Purple Rain dude?). But we loved every moment of it - a hardcore fan's dream come true.

He told another story during the show (so many stories - he was extremely at ease that night) that started out with "It's about Tamar". He said it was a story he had only told to Bria Valente (Prince's latest protege and girlfriend; one of her CD's is in the new set). Well our ears perked up on that one because Tamar was a great singer he was helping promote a couple of years ago (but is no longer working with him). He mentioned how when she went out on tour, he backed her up on guitar. During that time, he fell back in love with the guitar and that led to a lot of the new music he was releasing.

He did one of my all-time guitar favorites, When U Were Mine which is just such a great jam. No one can sit still when that's being played. That segued into Guitar which was excellent! This song is so great live and he loved the fans singing along to "But not like I love this guitar!". He sang that one all the way through as was the case with most of the songs.

At one point, Prince thanked Sheila E. "for letting us use her building". During the encore, I could see Sheila standing offstage watching.

I don't know what song it was but Prince pretty much mimicked an orgasm on/with hus guitar during one song. He was holding the guitar up, holding a note and he thrust his hips and sort of moaned "Uh...Uh...Uh...Uh". You get the idea. It was H-O-T. I thought Mrs.Nelson would melt into the floor right then and there.

Oh yeah, Prince can multitask too. Early in the show he got thirsty so he walked back to the drum riser to get some water. He played his guitar with one hand while taking sips with the other. Such talent!

After the band left the stage, they returned with Morris Hayes and Fred Yonnet in tow for the encore which was "Dreamer", the fourth and last new song of the night that would be played.

Overall, this show was fantastic. As a fan, I loved the more obscure tracks that were played and loved watching the interplay between Prince and his bandmates. You could tell there was a genuine love and respect for one another, and that they just have FUN playing together.

From there, we bolted out the door and up the escalator to Club Nokia, our last venue of the night.

P.S. - My friend ran into Larry Graham at the Conga Show.

BAND: Michael B., Sonny T., Prince; encore incl. Fred Yonnet and Morris Hayes

SETLIST
I’m Yours
Colonized Mind
Chaos and Disorder
A Little Help From My Friends (Beatles)
I Like It There
All Shook Up (Elvis)
Empty Room
Peach
Spanish Castle Magic (Jimi Hendrix)
When You Were Mine
Guitar

Encore (Fred and Morris Hayes join the band):
Dreamer


Show #3: Club Nokia (capacity: 2,500)

When we got to the club, there were people already lined up and unlike earlier at the Conga, they had not let anyone in yet. I would estimate we were about 100th in line, not too bad. We settled in for the wait, figuring they would be doing some soundchecking before we would get let in. All told, I think we waited out there for about an hour but could have been a bit longer. Like the Conga Room, there was no special member line.

We entered the club and headed for the floor in front of the stage. The layout of the club was very similar to Indigo2 in London, except there were more seats in the balcony. They had a strange process for the floor; everyone who got in there had to get another wrist band because I guess they limited the amount that could go in there. So imagine several hunded people trying to siphon through two small openings that have a single security guy at each, putting on wristbands. It was chaotic. Once we were on the floor, we ended up stage right about 2 people back. Another great position. The stage was all set up and ready to go.

For this show, Prince would be playing with yet another band. This time is would be some of the band members that were with him during the early 2000's for his One Night Alone and Musicology tours. Rhonda Smith on bass, John Blackwell on drums, and Renato Neto on keyboards (Renato has been with the band off and on since then). After about maybe a half hour or 45 minutes of waiting, the band came out and took their spots to lots of cheers from the fans. It was great to see them on Prince's stage again!

The band began noodling around, nice jazzy groove, stretching out a bit. They wound up going into, oh my goodness, Under the Cherry Moon! They then weaved into I Dream About U which was nice. It was clear from the start this show was the real 'aftershow' with a laid back vibe and jazz tint to it. After their instrumentals, Prince came out on stage to lots of cheering (for some folks this was their first show of the night). The lights were beautiful on stage and they lit up well his outfit of black pants with black heels, a black ruffle shirt and a silver-sequined long sleeve jacket. Mmm, delicious! He looked as fresh and as happy as he had in the first show. He had a fair amount of glitter on too - glitter eyeshadow and some sprinkled on his sideburns. Only Prince!

Early in the show, someone must have whipped out their camera in the middle because as he was getting ready to go into a song, Prince looked at them and said "Come on now, don't take my picture. Just enjoy the show". Of course he gave them that adorable smile which probably made them snap even more pics!

Prince then began playing his guitar and went into.. Are you sitting down fans? When I Lay My Hands On U. Nope, not a typo! I thought Conga Room's setlist had blown my mind! For this show, Cody was next to me so we spent most of the night looking at each other going "He is playing THAT?!?!?!" Unlike the released track, this version was more subdued but still seductive as hell. After he finished Lay My Hands, Cody yelled out "Thank you!" Prince turned around, looked in Cody's direction, pointed and said "You're welcome". Right on!

Throughout the show, Prince would let the band stretch out and extend the jams. Sometimes he'd leave the stage for a bit (probably to deal with sounds issues too) or he'd park himself stage right near us and just listen, tap his toe, hang out. He was really enjoying himself. At one point, he came over to hang out and listen on our side and he leaned over and shushed us, as if to say be quiet and listen to Renato! He gave Renato a lot of solos during the show.

Journey to the Center of Your Heart was another wonderful surprise. Never thought I'd hear that one live! I think for this one he sat on stool but it was the only time that night. By this time, I didn't know what to expect. This night just kept getting better and better for the fans!

Oh wait, it just got better. The Sun, The Moon and Stars? Really, Prince? Really? Oh my god, too much! Love love love this song and hearing it live was magical. His falsetto killed. I think I was grabbing onto Cody or Mrs.Nelson at this point in sheer excitement.

Prince took some time offstage and Renato treated us to an instrumental of "Sometimes it Snows in April", another one of my all-time faves. Like the first show, the sound has some real issues in Club Nokia. The speakers near our head were atrocious; there was a background buzz in all the speakers and for the first time ever, I had to plug kleenex into my ear on the side that was facing the speaker. If I hadn't had kleenex on me, I think I would have eventually moved because the sound was tearing up my ear. At one point while another band member was solo'ing, Prince came over to our side which was flanked by a wall of speakers that were facing into the stage. He leaned up against them, listening intently. It was later on that he would mention the buzzing we were hearing.

Prince then came back out and went into When the Lights Go Down (OH...MY...GOD). Topped that off with I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore and I was done for. Where would he take us next? I hadn't heard some of these songs on my own iPod in a long while (and I usually listen on random!!).

The setlist really speaks for itself if you're a fan. I could go on and on about how I ooh'd and aah'd over every song he played and the look os disbelief crossed my face each time. The real gem of the night was "In A Large Room With No Light" which has never even been released and is only heard on bootlegs. Of course Prince knew this would drive us fans into spasms which it did. Even a lot of the fans did not know this song!

After that jaw-dropping number, the whispering started about Chaka Khan coming down from the balcony. Sure enough, she walked out on stage, looking the best I have EVER seen her, and joined Prince for "Sweet Thing" which sounded sensational. She sang it really well and kept her tone in line with the night, mellow and sultry. After they finished, Prince gave her props and then said "You want me to sing now, after all those runs she did? R U serious??" with a big smile on his face.

As I mentioned earlier, this last show was plagued with sound problems too. At the beginning of one song, Prince got feedback from his mic and oooo, did he make a mean face at the sound guy! At one point, Prince took some time to make his point about the sound problems. He apologized for the buzzing and said to take it up with Randy Phillips and XXX XXXX (sorry don't remember the other guy's name), because they are AEG and they own the joint. He then went onto say that he had seen Alicia Keys at the venue and it was one of the worst sound he'd ever heard at a show (though Alicia is a genius he said). He said y'all spent so much on the venues, the seating, these beautiful lights. Fix the sound and I'll play here every night...for free! But if not, I'll have to keep charging my 3 million dollar fee. Prince then led us in an "A-E-G" chant (though he had to say "Not AIG, A-E-G!").

Insatiable and Scandalous were performed. Oh my, way too sexy. Thank u Prince for playing these. We love you for it!

Prince played a lot of different guitars in this show - Sonny, his Hohner, the orange one. On one song, John just tore it up on his solo and at the end, threw up his sticks which completely cracked Rhonda up. This was one show where Rhonda just could not stop smiling; she spent a lot of time looking out into the crowd, smiling. At another point in the show, Prince asked us if we could stay all night (Yes, of course, just say the word!). He then said his only thing tomorrow was the Kingdom Hall at 1, but other that he's good to go. LOL! At another point in the show, Prince was shaking a percussion instrument (looked like a cylinder, about 8 inches long). He made like he would throw it into the crowd saying "U want this? U want this" and lo and behold, he launched it!

It was clear that Prince was having a great time like us and during one number, I think it was Nothing Compares 2 U, said 'What a night, huh? I couldn't have done it with out u."

From there we went territory that was covered with this band on the Musicology tour. Beautiful Ones led it off which sent the entire crowd into a frenzy and shivers up and down my spine. Even if you're only a casual follower, you'll remember that song being in Purple Rain. Complete with the awesome Prince screams we love, and great punches by the band. This segued into Nothing Compares 2 U with us screaming and pointing at him on the "U" part. It was a great end to another stellar show. My mind was completely blown, done, kaput. And unexpectedly, Prince came out with the band and took bows at the front of the stage. Never seen him do that before either!

Band: Rhonda Smith, John Blackwell, Renato Neto, Prince

SETLIST
Under The Cherry Moon Instrumental
Dream About You Instrumental
When I Lay My Hands On U
Journey To The Center Of Your Heart
The Sun, The Moon, & The Stars
Sometimes It Snows In April (Instrumental - Renato)
When The Lights Go Down
I Love u, But I Don’t Trust U Anymore
She Spoke 2 Me

Encore:
Large Room with No Light
Sweet Thing (w/Chaka Khan)
Insatiable
Scandalous
The Beautiful Ones
Nothing Compares 2 U


Overall, the night felt like the '02 Celebration redux. It was great to see all the fans come together and to see Prince having such a great time and reaching so far into his catalog for tracks that he knows make us go crazy with delight. Yes, you can evaluate each show on its own but I really think you have to look at the entire night and when you do that, it's a resounding success. He played three shows to about 11,000 people, with three fantastic bands, and had a distinct setlist and feel for every show. Yes, some casual concert attendees probably felt ripped off by the obscurities on show 2 and 3, but you also have to look at this from Prince's perspective and vision. I thought the middle show was dead on and the last show, some One Night Alone mixed in with Musicology, was brilliant. The last show was clearly a come down moment, meant to show off his jazzy, sultry side. It all worked great IMO and I had a BLAST! So many great moments and memories - I was ready for fourth show. Thank u Prince and the band(s) for an amazing group of shows!

WWWWWOOOOOWWWWW!!!!!
alot to read but good review thanks!!!

who was the guy in that big purple hat with the symbol painted on his face in the audience friday on the leno performance?

what a fantastic read and review !!

Next time, hopefully, The Dutch Invasion will be there as well

also ... run into Larry Graham !!!

and ... glad to read Rita and Lori were there ... how come I am not surprised

All shook up? Was that a special request? or in honor of a guest I wonder.....
cute... or maybe just to acknowledge someone's presence....The world may never know lol
[Edited 3/31/09 17:14pm]

Hey the casual fans got their "HITS" tours, its time for a new material/RARITIES tour

LETS HOPE!!!!

Cool review. I was the second fan he hugged and after that I saw a whole group of fans waiting for their hugs. I was astonished to actually receive a hug back!

Mitchurb was there and I was not? Gotta be kidding me. I bet the club member seats will become more organized once he goes on tour. Great review. I should have come.

Thanks for another great review. I was at all three shows also, but could never put it into words as well as you.BEAUTIFUL. I would just like to add that it was cool seeing Ice Cube and Cuba Gooding Jr. at the first show.Cuba could not stop smiling or dancing, and Ice Cube was bobbing his head the whole show.The Conga Room show was the best I have ever seen Prince do.I am not saying that the other 30+ shows were not amazing also,but being a guitar fan,this was a dream come true. THANK U PRINCE!

japanrocks said:

Nice to see you

mitchturb said:

i am just jealous actually.....glad u had a good time.....first prince show?