On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 6:01 PM, Alan Dicker wrote:

On Saturday, March 28, I was lucky enough to attend all three of the LotusFlow3r.com launch party shows at the Nokia Theater properties at the Staples Center complex in downtown Los Angeles, and here is an account of that experience.

The previous Saturday, I was able to score tickets to the third "Club Nokia" midnight show via the monopoly currently known as Ticketmaster (and their nearly $25 per ticket "convenience fees"), but the first Nokia show and Conga Room shows sold out before I could get them. When the fan club site opened on Tuesday, I was able to get a ticket to the first show, but Conga Room was sold out before I could get one. It was announced that he'd be playing with 3 completely different bands over the course of the night. I was really excited about the possibility of seeing Michael B and Sonny T play with him as the "New Power Trio", but didn't know what show they would play at. I hoped for the best and headed down to the Nokia area. The three shows were billed to be 90 minutes each, beginning at 7pm, 9:30pm and midnight.

When I got there, there was a line at the back of the building for will-call tickets for fan club members, which went pretty smoothly. I was disappointed that for the first show, many of the fans were sitting towards the back of the orchestra section (the theater was actually pretty big...around 9000 capacity, I'd bet), and that only a few people got to be in the general admission pit area, right in front of the stage.

I figured that the first show would be mostly "greatest hits" material, since it was the biggest venue of the night, and I was correct in my assumption. I went with my friend who though is a casual Prince fan, is a huge music fan, and he was not disappointed. He came looking for good music and an interactive performer, and he got that. Me, on the other hand, after having been to more than 80 of his shows, was looking for not only great music, but some stuff I've never seen before. For the first show, I guess one of two weren't bad (I got the great music part ).

Here was the setlist for the first show:

Old school company/2001/Frankenstein
Crimson and clover
1999
I feel 4 u
Controversy
Shhh
If I was your girlfriend
Kiss
Play that funky music
Hollywood swinging
Little wing (harmonica solo)
Come 2gether
Purple rain

Encore 1:
Let's go craZy

Encore 2
The bird
Jungle love
Glamorous life (with Sheila E)

At about 7:40, the lights dimmed and the video screens on the sides of the walls showed the new video to Chocolate Box, which is also available on the Lotusflow3r website.


Afterwards, the first riff of the song Purple Rain came on, and then was sped up to launch into the new song "Ol' School Company", which was way shorter than the version he did at Avalon a few weeks ago. The band for this show was Josh, Cora, Mr Hayes, Frederick Yonnet (harmonica) and background singers Shelby J, Liv Warfield and Elisa Fiorillo (though Elisa was only on stage for the first few songs). Prince emerged in a black and white outfit, after giving high fives to many of the people in the front pit.

At the end of Ol' School Company, the backing singers sang the "ooh ooh ooh"'s from "2001", a song Prince used to do circa 1997-1998 (except this time, Prince called out "2009" instead of "2001"), and then a short version of the Allman Bros. 1970s instrumental "Frankenstein".

After that, Prince told the audience that, in spite of the bad sound (one of the speakers in the area that I sat in was out, and it was noticeable throughout the show), he would do the best he could and play "the best show of the night" for our audience.


Crimson and clover followed, sounding just like the album version (I kinda hoped he would go off on guitar on this song but sadly, never did). Next was a full version of 1999, played complete for the first time in a long time. The song worked well with the audience, as he even did the "mommy, why does everybody have a bomb" line.

I feel 4 u, Controversy, Shhh and If I was your girlfriend followed, all sounding like they did when he played them at 3121 in Las Vegas.

He asked the audience what they wanted to hear next. "Delirious?" "When Doves Cry?" "Pop Life"? "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night?" (I wanted to hear the last one), he teased us before launching into "Kiss."

For the impromptu jam of the night (which for the minute seems to be Prince's favorite song), he invited audience members to dance on stage and went into a 10-minute filler of Play that funky music which included an audience member who sang the song (and did a really good job of it, I might add). For me, the highlight of the song was calling audience member Bobby from the Bay area by name. LOL! Kool and the Gang's Hollywood Swinging followed, which was more or less an audience chant along with the chorus, and then the dance thing was over. When the song ended, Prince shook hands and hugged a lot of the girls as they were leaving the stage....something I've never seen him do before. Has Prince mellowed out? Also missing from the stage (at least as far as I could see) in this audience participation segment was any sight of a bodyguard. Usually, when he invites members on stage, there is a guard someplace close to him, tailing him around. But not this time.

The song ended, and Prince shouted out "Little Wing", which was a harmonica solo by Frederick Yonnet that Prince used to change clothes (he came back in a long sleeve black t-shirt that had an outline of a person on it, possibly his body circa Purple Rain).

Prince announced to the audience that he doesn't make music, but that he is music, before launching into a different sounding "Come 2gether", a cover of the classic Beatles tune. The final song of the set was a slightly faster-tempo version of "Purple Rain", for about the 60th time I've heard it live. The regular set ended about 60 minutes after it began.

A few minutes later, the band took the stage again for a rearranged "Let's go Crazy", and then left again. The audience, probably feeling gipped that they only got about 65 minutes of music, was screaming for Prince to come back. And he did, but he said that he'd only play if everyone stayed and danced.

He played a medley of "The bird" and "Jungle love", both with him on lead vocals, and then Sheila E. came out to sing Glamorous Life with him, smiling and playing guitar.

Throughout the course of the night, I was able to score a ticket to the Conga Room show, so I made a beeline out of there after Sheila played to get to the next show.

I'll have to admit...I was pretty disappointed by the show...I hoped to hear something new and I was let down. Prince did give a great performance (even though it was shorter than the advertised 90 minute shows), but I felt he could have mixed it up a little more. Prince has said before in interviews that he doesn't ever want to be a nostalgia act, but with a setlist like the one he played at that concert, it could have fooled me.

Celebrities spotted at the show: Dave Winfield, Rick Fox and Magic Johnson (who took pictures with a lot of people before the show).

CONGA ROOM

When I got to the Conga Room (which was immediately after the last show had ended), the fans had already gone in and the club was already more than half full. Intro music played over the PA system that was exactly the same as what played before the Nokia Live show. Conga Room supposedly fits 1600 people, and looking around, many of the people at the show were not fan club members (or even Prince fans per se), but rather wannabe socialites who paid top dollar for the tickets from scalpers. I was excited when I got into the club that the stage was so small, and that there were basically just a drum set and guitar stand set up...THIS WAS GOING TO BE THE SHOW WITH MICHAEL B AND SONNY T!!!! Woo hoo!

The show started late, around 10:15, and lasted about an hour. However, unlike a lot of the shows that I have seen him play, this show contained no "filler" material and was a great, coherent, rocking set.

Following was the setlist for the show:

I'm yours
A colonized mind
Chaos and disorder
Help from my friends
I like it there
All shook up
Empty room
Peach
Spanish castle magic
When u were mine
Guitar

Encore:
Dreamer

From the opening of this show, I knew it was going to be good, as he opened with his own circa-1979 never before played "I'm Yours", which was mostly instrumental but he sang parts of. I was nearly ready to leave right after that song, thinking I had my money worth with just that one tune, and I had a smile on my face that pretty much took up my entire head. I kept imagining him playing the song with the big afro that he had when he originally wrote it in 1978, especially when I watched the one that Sonny T now has. He said to the audience that he didn't play his guitar much during the first show, so he would make up for it in this show, and he more than did that. Michael B's drums sounded awesome, and he seemed to be having as much fun up there as we were having in the audience.

The new song "A colonized mind" followed, and sounded surprisingly good (and more rocking) than it did on the record. Prince commented on how when he was growing up, Sonny T was the coolest guy in school, and how he used to carry a guitar with him everywhere he went.

From one rocking song came another, the rarely played "Chaos and Disorder" that sounded better (and Prince even remembered the words this time!) than the live version he had on the home page of 3121.com when it was still around. Prince was definitely "ON" when it came to his guitar...this show was awesome!

An extremely bluesy version of the Beatles "Help from my friends" followed, which sounded sort of like the music to "Satisfied" and which could have been how Jimi Hendrix would have played it. It had a different tempo than the original version, and was plain awesome.

A silent lull came over the audience after the song, and someone shouted out "I like it there", so he played it, a full version with vocals, and it sounded great too....Prince was rocking out on guitar...

A redone cover of Elvis Presley's "All shook Up" redefined the song as his, as Prince sang every lyric and really appeared to have a good time playing.

A couple of long guitar solos opened a complete and rocking version of "Empty room", which was different than I'd heard it before (much more rock). During the show at some point, he mentioned that the only one he has been sleeping with lately is his guitar, I think it was at this point, and he even fake appeared to be sad about the loss of a lover as described in the lyrics.

Rock versions of Peach (sounded like the versions of the song he was playing in London in 2007) followed (Prince sang about all the lyrics, and instead of "titties" bouncing, "Thangs" were bouncing instead, and he also skipped the line about "her hot pants coming out her cheeks".

A cover (complete, and with lyrics) of Jimi Hendrix's "Spanish Castle Magic" (which was appropriate given the rock nature of this show followed, and then he went into a short guitar solo that became "When u Were Mine." He ended the set with the appropriate "Guitar" before leaving the stage.

For the encore, he came back with the New Power Trio, plus Mr Hayes and Frederick Yonnet to do an awesome version of "Dreamer" that he'd rocked 2 days earlier on the Tonight Show. And with that, the show was over.

I was looking around the crowd during the show, and it appeared that most of the people there didn't know any of the songs that Prince was playing and weren't really that into the show. One guy standing next to me was also really drunk and decided to try to pick fights with many of the people around us during the show (including a couple of women) and surprisingly wasn't escorted out. It's really a shame that more of the fans couldn't have gotten into this one.

He complained about the sound at this one as well though, throughout the show. He said that in spite of the bad sound, he was going to play anyway, and that there was some tech person behind the curtain that needed to help him tune his instruments.

Spotted in the audience were Ron Wood (of the Rolling Stones), Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall. I had hoped that Ron Wood would have played Miss You with him, but sadly this didn't happen. He also thanked Sheila E for letting him play in "her house" but I never saw her, and she didn't play at that show.

I will have to admit, I really enjoyed that show a lot...I mean, it was one of the best ones I've seen him play. He was telling stories, he was pretty interactive, and he was just plain happy to be there. But for all of the smiling that Prince did, those fans who knew his music were probably smiling more. In fact, I think I was physically glowing after the show (this was truly a guitar hero's dream!) to where I said to my friends who were saving a spot for me in the line for the third show that I would have been happy to go home, and to have paid the entire night's ticket money for just that one show. Apparently though, I had no idea that the setlist for the next show was going to be even better and more random.


After the show ended, I went to get in line for the last show. The line was huge, and they hadn't let anyone into the 2600 capacity club. Apparently there were several shows that night at the Club, and it took awhile to clear it out. It was midnight before anyone got into the club, and when we finally did get in, it was a major league disorganized situation. To get onto the floor by the stage where Prince was playing, they held everyone back to where people were pushing to get through 2 narrow doorways. People were getting trampled upon, and the people kept coming into the club. By the time that Prince took the stage at almost a quarter to 1, many of the people in the long line outside had not yetbeen let into the club.

The band at this show was made up of, in my opinion the best touring band he's ever had with John Blackwell on drums, Renato Neto on keyboards, and Rhonda Smith on guitar and mandolin (I think that was the instrument she was playing).


Here is the setlist from the concert.


Under the cherry moon (inst)
Dreamin about u (inst)
When I lay my hands on u
Journey 2 the center of your heart
Sun moon and stars
Sometimes it snows (inst)
When the lights go down
I love u but I don't trust u
She spoke 2 me

Encore
In a large room with no light
Sweet thing (with chaka)
Insatiable
Scandalous
Beautiful ones
Nothing Compares 2 U


It was clear from the first few notes of the show that this was going to be a jazzy show, and it was, with the opening instrumental jam on Under the cherry moon, and following tune, the Dreamin about u instrumental. Prince was not on stage during both of these songs. When Prince came on stage, the band was jamming on a strange instrumental, and then Prince took the microphone and started singing "The voice you're about 2 hear wasn't meant for transmission...." OMG!!!! They're playing "When I lay my hands on u", I realized, and apparently I was the only one in my section that knew what the song was. This is one I have always wished he would play live, because I figured he would just wail on the guitar at the end, but unfortunately he did not do that during the song. He pretty much sang the entire song though, and the vocals sounded amazing.


Next, he sat down on a stool at the center of the stage as Renato led the band through Journey 2 the Center of Your Heart, with his crisp vocals permeating the walls. Again, looking around me, those who bought tickets on ticketmaster were looking unamused, At the end of the song, Prince did a long instrumental jam, wandering on and off stage at will. Here was another moment where I was so thrilled at the randomness of the setlist that I was ready to go home happy right there and then. But the streak of songs he's never played before continued, with the Sun Moon and Stars from the Rave cd. one of my favorite songs from that cd, and one I never thought I'd hear him play. Again, his voice sounded crisp, and it was obvious that he was enjoying the randomness of the setlist.

After three never-before-played songs, apparently he needed a rest so he left the stage as the band took over on an instrumental version of Sometimes it Snows in April that featured solos from everyone in the band (man, do I miss Blackwell and Renato in his band!), and then he went into the rarely played "When the lights go down" from the Vault, sounding better to me than it did when he played it at the Celebration at Paisley Park in 2002.

Focusing on his vocal, he did "I love u but I don't trust u anymore", also from the Rave CD before ending the set with the never-before-played "She spoke 2 me" which included a long instrumental at the end of the song letting each band member sharpen their instrumental chops. Every song that he sang at the show was done complete, unlike the medleys that he's done in concerts so many times in the past, and I know that those who were into his music could not help but be in heaven.

Five minutes later, the band came back out for their encore, and started jamming on a groove that sounded like Pop Life. Then Prince started singing "Alannah drew a picture in school today..." OMG! OMFG!!!!! It's In a Large Room with No Light!!!!! The random 1986-era outtake that, to this day, is unreleased. I was nearly delirious...I couldn't believe he was doing that song. He sang most of the lyrics to the song, and even made a funny face when he did the refrain to the song "la la la la la la, sha-la-la-la la la la". . The end of the song featured a really long instrumental, jazz style. I can't believe he just played that song.

Like a kid that just stole candy from a store, Prince entered the stage again after going back stage, but this time with Chaka Khan, grinning from ear to ear. Chaka sang "Sweet Thing," with Prince happily playing guitar along beside her.

Next, Prince did "Insatiable", which was fairly complete, before doing a bit of "Scandalous". The Beautiful Ones followed, including a couple of a capella parts that I had never heard him do before. He ended the show with Nothing Compares 2 U.

Many of the people in the club, just like the Conga Room, did not appear to be more than casual fans, with several people screaming "play Purple Rain" throughout the entire show. Luckily those people didn't ruin my awesome time. Prince, again, complained about the bad sound and even named the 2 guys who own AEG, and that he would play these shows every night for free if the sound was better there. But since it wasn't he was going to charge them 3 million dollars.

Anyway, off to bed now, but what an amazing night with 2 unbelievable shows!

Tune in next hit...

Great review thanks for posting!! I'm so jealous that i wasnt able to go to the Conga Room show, but i did get to go the Club Nokia show and i have to agree JUST FLIPPIN AMAZING SHOW!!! Luckily i was up front and center so everyone around me was hardcore. I never heard anyone yell out "play purple rain" which i think i would have thrown my shoes at them if i heard that.

Nice one getwild, adding yours to my archive! thanks!

gettwild said:

No the answer is simple - he is a 50 year old man who still enjoys getting his hands all over those lovely young ladies

So Getwild, U're the reason I had to call myself Comegetwild. lol.

Touche.

great review.....thanks

jaypotton said:

Absolutely!

And that was a good review - thanks!

BTW....'Frankenstein' is by Edgar Winter, not the Allman Brothers

Thx for the review. btw I found this little snippet...includes a piece of Im yours

http://www.youtube.com/wa...URXlgzX5Xs

We were thinking the same exact thing at Show #1 when he hugged and shook hands with almost everyone on stage - never seen that level of physical interaction before

Also, I agree with you wholeheartedly about Blackwell, Neto, and Smith being one of the tightest bands he has ever performed with. I was thrilled when we walked into Club Nokia and saw them on stage. Ahhh, them paired with Maceo, Mike, and Candy during One Nite Alone & Musicology was simply amazing

Blackwell's drumming is mindblowing.

Great review. I felt I was reliving the experience with your descriptions...

jaypotton said:

I have never seen him hug his fans before, so yeah it was a bit but he did say something like if you show a little love it comes back four fold.

I also went to all 3 of the LA shows (after flying in from England!) and your review sums it up pretty perfectly. I actually probably preferred the Conga Room show to the last show, mainly because I was about 8ft from the stage (and about 3ft from the VIP room and literally stood next to Sheila E, Eddie Murphy and CC Dunham!!). By the time I FINALLY got into the Club Nokia show there wasn't a hope in hell of getting near the front, but at least I had a pretty good overall view of the whole thing from towards the back. Large Room was INCREDIBLE and has been my favourite unreleased track since I first heard it about 20 odd years ago. My jetlag started to catch up with me towards the end of the show, but I stuck it out to the end

THANK YOU for posting all of these details!!
I am so happy for you getting to see those shows!
You are a lucky !!