Well I'll try not to ramble on and bore you so here goes.

I arrived in Vegas @ 9:15 am and caught a taxi to the Aladdin Hotel. I arrived @ 9:40 and went directly to the concert hall. Outside was a table for the NPGMC members to receive their bracelet for the show. I was #73 and thought what a bummer (There were club members waiting since 3 am is what I was told) Anyway I begged the front desk to let me check in early and it worked At that time I had already been up Almost 21 hrs. I took a quick nap that was less than hour, and went down to line up for the soundcheck.

While waiting to be let in I met some amazing fans (Matt, Jeremy "J7", David, Louis, Patrick. And a really cool guy named "Deeter" from Germany). He had seen Prince in 4 shows in Europe and flew here to see the Vegas gig. I'm also forgetting a lot more names, sorry! They started letting us in...

So they start letting us in by our # on the bracelet. What a complete joke this was! Some security person yells out to all of us "line up in the order of your bracelet" So all of a sudden a few hundred people start yelling the # out to see where they go. It was a zoo for about 10 min or so then it got under control. Members were still confused a bit, but we all got in Prince security could've made this transition much smoother if they wanted to.

We get in another line to receive our laminate, and then get into another line to wait for soundcheck. This is where my luck turns into pure magic

While in the so-called line a lot of us are chatting about Mr. Nelson. (I met a cool couple from Japan~friends of Tuna) All of a sudden we hear Prince speak into a mic. Well there was a huge curtain covering a walkway down to the stage. A hotel employee was coming out and left the curtain partially open. There was Mr. Nelson all in black w/a long white tie on. He was sitting at the keyboards talking to the band about? I was about 100 yards away so I couldn't hear him speak. On stage was Ms. Costa, Sheila, Eric Leeds, Rhonda, Reneto, Greg, Maceo, JB, and Prince. They jammed through a few songs, and practiced the show opener. Prince, Sheila, JB all took turns on the drums. This looked great at the opening of the show.

Only a handful of us got to see this part of the soundcheck
because the line was so long and the security kept pulling back the curtain. (I'd say I saw about 70% of the soundcheck before they even let us in so I feel really lucky to see so much

There were cameras all over the place, but the Director didn't really seemed to know what she was doing. They filmed us while we were waiting in line, and took a few members to the side. Some of the questions she was asking was: How do you feel about Xenophobia? How do you feel about file sharing? Then they filmed everyone cheering and yelling. (Yes I'm a complete dork the filmed my tattoo)
Some of the members were getting shall we say?? DRUNK!!

After waiting FOREVER they let us in. Everyone ran to the front rows quickly as their feet would let them. I ended up in the 8th row?? Right next to the stage. The seats were in a big semi-circle. I was in the last seat next to the stage A GREAT SEAT for being #73! Prince came out and did very little talking. (Prince and sheila were both in the same outfit) Prince picked up a bass and KILLED it. The soundcheck was really short They jammend and then Prince just walked off stage without a word. That was it?? (Gettoff has the setlist on his excellent review)

So I sat and chilled for a while and talked w/2 club members who were really nice ( Sorry I forgot your names) Princes DJ played a killer mix of old Prince tunes while we waited. Some of us danced and sucked~ME. I went to use the restroom and I ran into Reneto Really nice guy! After I came back I saw Eric Leeds on the side of the stage, and I went to talk to him. He didn't say anything but smiled and said thank you. (I told him it was great to see him play w/Prince again).

The show started and it was unreal! Prince was all smiles and singing perfection. I'm only going to mention the songs and parts that stick out the most. Like I said before Gettoff has a great review w/a setlist. I was shocked to hear prince sing poplife so early in the show, and a great version. His guitar playing lit the house on fire. He brought out so many of his different guitars it was amazing! "The blue angel" "habibi" and just played them like magic. The songs that stood out the most to me were: The ride, The Beautiful ones, Power fantastic, Gotta broken heart again, The ladder, and sooo many more. None of these were in any certain order. Whole lotta love was Psychadelic and sounded great!

Prince asked Maceo to bring some dancers on stage
Maceo pointed right at me and signaled me up. HOLY SHIT!!!
So there I was this white boy from Seattle dancing behind prince. Prince ripped this guitar solo and he walked over twards me and I started fanning him off. PLEASE OH PLEASE let this be on the DVD Not bad for having #73.

Well the concert came to a close and my night was done. I was at 30 some hours with no sleep so... I SKIPPED THE AFTERSHOW. Yes call me crazy but I passed out. This one of the best parts of my life. Thanks sooo much to Prince and the band, it was a blast. Sorry if I cut the last part short, but I've had 5 hours of sleep in 2 1/2 days. And I can't keep my eyes open..sorry if the spelling sucks!

PS I only played $5 and lost Oh well

hi brother,

here is the german guy. just got back home and went straight for the org. great report but i couldn´t believe u skipped the aftershow. it was great to meet u and all the other beautiful people (jeremiah, sophia, muse2nopharoah, ...) that are into the little funky man.

and funky he was that night. i was so happy with all the shows that i saw in europe in october - but this las vegas gig was da bomb for me. - worth every step of the long way.

loved it, thank u and good night.
need to sleep real bad

I, too, cannot believe you skipped the aftershow. But hopefully it will be out on DVD!

Thanks for the great review.

I like how they've adopted OUR numbering system. I wondered if any of the official peeps had noticed our very civilized self-organization at most of the ONA shows.

Doves,
Mel!ssa

Last time he was in Vegas the aftershow was great but the people were drunk, and it was crowed, and not very comfortable..

HEY!!

It was me and my husband that you were sitting next to! I am so glad that you told me your org name, because I don't know if we exchanged our real names.

It was really nice sharing the concert with you. Go ahead with your bad self, and the robot!! It was cool that you got onstage. We should all be in the video atleast a few times, because the camera lady was taping us dancing ALOT throughout the whole concert!

We were wondering if you made it to the afterparty. Almost 2 hours of unbelievable funk!! My feet were killing me from all of the dancing though!! Prince was also handing out See's Candy. Of course we both got a piece.

Thanks for the report! Keep In Touch

I like how they've adopted OUR numbering system. I wondered if any of the official peeps had noticed our very civilized self-organization at most of the ONA shows.


Just wanted to say that the lady who was running things works for Prince. In my opinion she did a fine job. We were told to be back for the line up at 2, and then after we got our laminates and green wristband we had time to go and eat or what ever. When asked about the aftershow she explained that we would have a seperate line and the our guest would have to pay while we were free and that laminate could be purchased as we were in line.

I found no waiting at 54 and was able to leave and comeback as I pleased.

Yup - Vegas went well and this should show Prince's Organization that the NPGMC members are polite and behave!

aladdin said:

DEETERRR
So glad to see you made it home!! I enjoyed meeting you!! Hope all is well!!! what a beautiful night!!! talk to you soon!

yes girl, all is well.
u were part of my beautiful night - just want u to know.
enjoyd it so much. h+k

the name is dieter