Neversin said:

esteban78 said:

Support act 2nite is young Belgian singer Selah Sue

http://www.youtube.com/wa...txGj-NAqLs

Oh great, just what we need, a fucking nails-on-chalkboard, screeching child pretending to sing...

That'll be a waste of an hour in which Prince could've just played something other than the same old shit...

Neversin.

Glad you weren't there ...

ok ... let's see what I can remember from last night ...

1. It was clear from the first second that he came to Belgium to enjoy himself. As he kicked off Controversy everybody was on their feet and I don't think a lot of people sat down for the whole 3 hours.

2. He makes everything look so easy. While I'm aware that all songs are very well rehearsed, it seems like he chooses the playlist on the spot. If you see a show from any other artist, you can be sure that any show on the tour looks pretty much the same. With da man, you're never sure. Last night he was inspired and ready to bring the funk ... and he did. I'm still trembling like a leaf thinking about that.

3. I love the fact that he brought John Blackwell ... is he like the best drummer ever ??

4. The bass duel was a moment I'll never forget.

5. I'm still on a high

6. The girl with the tattooed back in block 123 : you are smoking hot.

Well, first off all, this was my first Prince concert and even my first concert in a big stadium. So I guess you could say I was pretty enthousiastic

As you can see, it's a long read...
In case you have seen me, I was that 15-year-old kid that danced and clapped all night in block 126. If you were that boring person that only partied during the hits stood who next to me, excuse me for ruining your evening

First off all, I guess I was the youngest person around there. I guess the average age was 30 years older than I am. Time to promote that music through Youtube, Prince!
And what also amazed me were the people that were at the gig. I saw people that looked like they could be part of the SGP (the Dutchies will know what I'm talking about...)

But anyway, the concert. At 8pm the opening act started and we didn't know there would be an opening act. Bit of an anti-climax when that girl started playing. She tried, and she obviously liked Prince as well, but the genre was completely different and the audience kept seated and didn't really clap when she was finished.
Then we had to wait a while. Prince was supposed to start at 8:30, but showed up at 8:45. And then the fun started!

His background singers began with the Lord's Prayer with the Controversy backing, Prince showed up, he told us we were in the funkiest place in the world and played funky guitar and sang Controversy and the entire audience began partying. I remember from the big screen that I thought he looked pretty pissed off, and he yelled at the sound engineers to turn to volume up a couple of times. He melted later on, I guess he was just not pleased with the sound quality just like me, but I'll come to that later. He played a full version and then turned into that Sexy Dancer / Le Freak mix, which I know by now due to the concerts I've heard. Nothing spectacular, but still good fun. He returned to a bit of Controversy and after that went into Uptown. That was a nice surprise for me, I like that song, and he sang it in a falsetto that made me wonder whether he will ever age, because he sure hasn't yet. It still sounded like the '80s to me
After that he went to Raspberry Beret, but I don't remember that too much. I guess he did a short version and I guess he did a solo. Either a solo in Raspberry Beret or Cream, which came after Raspberry Beret and I remember I found that solo a little boring! I felt like he only cared about Controversy and didn't really try after that, and I personally feared I was not going to be blown away as much as I hoped for!! But I'm not saying I didn't enjoy myself then, but I had a little "is dit 't nou..." feeling, as we call it
But aside from the solo, Cream was overall really good and I enjoyed hearing it. Then he went to Cool, which I had only recognised from the text on the big screen. It was a nice song, I enjoyed it, but forgot soon afterwards because he started Let's Work! My gawd, that man can dance!! He and Shelby moved their feet like mad! I'd say he's 25 rather than 52 And the song was awesome, but a bit too short, I had hoped he'd done a longer version! He did U Got The Look after that, which was a nice party song again, that anyone in the audience knew, so we all started partying together. When the song was over, he went off stage and gave the lead to the background singers. One started Free, which was beautiful, but then the other two started as well and I had the feeling they tried to blow each other off the stage. I felt they missed nuance, and it was the only part of the concert I didn't really enjoy. Oh, and the sound was a bit too high there as well. They did a medley of songs I didn't know (turned out later Pearls B4 The Swine and Love... Thy Will Be Done) and then Prince returned and started Shhh.
I never liked that song, but once he started I could enjoy it and I noticed (seemed to me) the sound had improved and I when I took a look at Prince I saw he looked more relaxed now. And then he played a guitar solo and I remembered I found his guitar solos until that song boring. Not this one. This one was not boring... And for me, the real, blown-away fun started here!! He played that guitar like a madman, sliding up and down the neck of his guitar and playing with so much emotion! That really was one of the songs I enjoyed most. He then went into She's always in my Hair, and while I was still in awe because of Shhh, I didn't realize how rare that song was, and when I did realize, I started clapping and dancing again. He played it long, not a small snippet, but a full song! The only downside was no one in the audience except for the Golden Circle knew the song! It was quite fun to see that really everyone in the Golden Circle moved their hands and outside of the Circle no one did, but it made me feel quite alone though
Then a medley started of Let's Go Crazy and Delirious, and the audience seemed to have waited for that and went nuts (they hadn't heared a hit for a maybe half an hour, so I guess they needed one ), after that 1999 played and I enjoyed it (not one of my favourites, but still).

And then Purple Rain started. I've become bored with the studio version and with everything I've heard on the bootlegs, but when you're part of that, wooow. 14000 people cheered and applauded when Prince started the song, and when he started the solo (which was really good btw) all people sang the high "oo, oo, oooh" chants. The person next to me must have been really pleased, because that really was the only time I didn't sing along, because I couldn't reach that high with my voice. But really, those 13999 singing really gave me goose bumps. I guess everyone that has once been to a Prince concert will know what I'm talking about and all the others don't, well thrust me, just Purple Rain will be worth your ticket
After that, he did Kiss, a really funky version, and I guess it was my favourite up-tempo song of the evening. After that Prince went off stage, at 22:30, and there was no encore-shouting whatsoever. So I was thinking, well, he'll do one or two encores, but that's it, if the audience isn't shouting for him. He did came back, and he did Sometimes It Snows in April. It started on piano, I think Renato Neto did that, and then Prince took over on guitar. He sang the song, which was beautiful and then did a solo. I don't remember whether that solo is part of the original song (I believe not) but it was a beautiful solo and I enjoyed it.

Then he went off stage again and people were a bit more enthousiastic for him to come back and when he did came back, he said: "What do you want me to do?" (someone behind me shouted "EROTIC CITY!!" XD) and then he played Dreamer. As with pretty much everything that night, I liked it. At the end I believe he threw his guitar into the audience (could have been after Peach as well, don't remember) and then he went away again, and came back with Dance (Disco heat), which really isn't my song, but it didn't take long and he went off stage. Then the audience really went "We want more! We want more!" and he came back with I Feel for You (I really liked that one) and Love Bizarre afterwards. During Love Bizarre, Golden Circle'ers were invited onto the stage and went dancing with the band. When the song ended, one fan on the stage kissed Prince, and when you're an orger and reading this, respect!! He went away, the audience began clapping, shouting for him to come back and he came back with The Love We Make. I didn't recognise it until the chorus, but it was a beautiful song and the highlight of the evening for me, so full of emotion. He went and came back, played Peach, and left again. Then he came back again and the "Forever in my Life"-drum started playing, but instead of the original acoustic guitar, Prince started playing the bass on stage, and it was awesome! When he was done singing, he did a bass battle with Ida (fonky!!) and threw his bass in the audience afterwards. Then he did Baby I'm a Star, with the entire audience partying and he kept shouting "I love you Belgium!" Then he went and the house lights turned on, and people went to the exit. Then, after about 10 minutes, he returned to the stage (and of course, the fans still inside returned to their seats and he played an instrumental jam (Stratus I guess) for an half empty stadium, and it was great fun. Then he went away and it seemed definate this time, so we went too. In the end, he played an hour long of encores.

Wow, that was long, and I used a bit too much smileys... It was an amazing concert, and I hope that if you have read this long, you'll know why. I had a wonderful night!!

[Edited 11/9/10 13:22pm]

Glad U had such a good time at ur 1st concert...

mblevels said:

Well, first off all, this was my first Prince concert and even my first concert in a big stadium. So I guess you could say I was pretty enthousiastic

As you can see, it's a long read...[Edited 11/9/10 13:22pm]

Wow, thank you for that story! I was 16 when i saw my first prince show and i remember it very well. next to me was a father with 2 younger kids. The kids went nuts but the father not (of course). He used his binoculars more to look at the audience then to watch the show.

By now i am part of the old folks going to have a good time, partly down memory lane (not an SGP-er tho ). I watched the footaghe from belgium news and saw my fellow 'around 40-ers' entering the sportpaleis.

will you be attending Arnhem as well?

[Edited 11/9/10 13:53pm]

RIPGODAZIPPER said:

Glad U had such a good time at ur 1st concert...

this is about the artist formerly known as

Almost 24 hours have passed and I still can't get over the show I witnessed yesterday. It was an absolute privilege to be a part of the evening. By far the best concert I've seen from him (granted, it was only my 5th Prince concert), or any other artist for that matter.

Even though I liked the shows in Werchter (hard to top Purple Rain in the rain) and Arras very much this year, this was a few levels up.

I was so envious of the people that got to hear The Love We Make at Viage as I didn't think he would play it in a mainshow set, but once I heard those first notes: Wow!

I think the other highlights have been covered already as well by the previous posters (Shh, Purple Rain always, Forever In My Life + bass duel, Dreamer, Sometimes It Snows In April,...).

May the memories remain vivid in my imagination for a long time (and when they fade may there be a concert DVD to fill the blanks )

remko said:

mblevels said:

remko said:

Wow, thank you for that story! I was 16 when i saw my first prince show and i remember it very well. next to me was a father with 2 younger kids. The kids went nuts but the father not (of course). He used his binoculars more to look at the audience then to watch the show.

By now i am part of the old folks going to have a good time, partly down memory lane (not an SGP-er tho ). I watched the footaghe from belgium news and saw my fellow 'around 40-ers' entering the sportpaleis.

will you be attending Arnhem as well?

Haha, I tried that, but my mom didn't like the idea of going there another time. She enjoyed herself, but sure didn't go there because she wanted it herself :p We shouldn't quote that story btw, i'm on mobile now and due to the crappy interface it took me 5 minutes to scroll through the quote :p

hehe, took the quote out of my replie.

Arn't there some folk from Alphen am Rhein that will take you to Arnhem?

0x41414141 said:

ok ... let's see what I can remember from last night ...

1. It was clear from the first second that he came to Belgium to enjoy himself. As he kicked off Controversy everybody was on their feet and I don't think a lot of people sat down for the whole 3 hours.

2. He makes everything look so easy. While I'm aware that all songs are very well rehearsed, it seems like he chooses the playlist on the spot. If you see a show from any other artist, you can be sure that any show on the tour looks pretty much the same. With da man, you're never sure. Last night he was inspired and ready to bring the funk ... and he did. I'm still trembling like a leaf thinking about that.

3. I love the fact that he brought John Blackwell ... is he like the best drummer ever ??

4. The bass duel was a moment I'll never forget.

5. I'm still on a high

< p>6. The girl with the tattooed back in block 123 : you are smoking hot.

remko said:

Thank you for that story! I agree, it was a magical night. The highlight MUST have been The Love We Make. The whole arena was so quiet during that song. And when he started singing about looking for love down on earth… It was pretty inspiring. Loved it.

I just read a review that said he needs to retire The Love We Make.

Well, I think he just saw another concert than me and the majority here. TLWM was certainly one of my highlights !

Jelboo said:

Thank you for that story! I agree, it was a magical night. The highlight MUST have been The Love We Make. The whole arena was so quiet during that song. And when he started singing about looking for love down on earth… It was pretty inspiring. Loved it.

You'r right, thanx for reminding me. That was really amazing; really special vibe, devine atmosphere. I do feel better remembering all the great moments and forget the irritations

jenst said:

jenst said:

I just read a review that said he needs to retire The Love We Make.

Well, I think he just saw another concert than me and the majority here. TLWM was certainly one of my highlights !

I really loved that one. Who bitched about it? Let me guess, somebody on this forum who's being jealous of P loving Bria?

rafael said:

0x41414141 said:

ok ... let's see what I can remember from last night ...

1. It was clear from the first second that he came to Belgium to enjoy himself. As he kicked off Controversy everybody was on their feet and I don't think a lot of people sat down for the whole 3 hours.

2. He makes everything look so easy. While I'm aware that all songs are very well rehearsed, it seems like he chooses the playlist on the spot. If you see a show from any other artist, you can be sure that any show on the tour looks pretty much the same. With da man, you're never sure. Last night he was inspired and ready to bring the funk ... and he did. I'm still trembling like a leaf thinking about that.

3. I love the fact that he brought John Blackwell ... is he like the best drummer ever ??

4. The bass duel was a moment I'll never forget.

5. I'm still on a high

< p>6. The girl with the tattooed back in block 123 : you are smoking hot.

do you know her ???

mblevels said:

... he started Let's Work! My gawd, that man can dance!! He and Shelby moved their feet like mad! I'd say he's 25 rather than 52

... then Prince returned and started Shhh.

And then he played a guitar solo and I remembered I found his guitar solos until that song boring. Not this one. This one was not boring... And for me, the real, blown-away fun started here!! He played that guitar like a madman, sliding up and down the neck of his guitar and playing with so much emotion! That really was one of the songs I enjoyed most.

That was really great to read!!! I'm so happy you enjoyed your first Prince concert so much! Thank you for sharing your experience!

And I share your enthusiasm in every way but want to point out the above ... that I absolutely LOVE the way he's been dancing lately!! That was great in Vienna, even more so in Milan, but what I saw from some short videos he danced even crazier in Antwerp!!

And one of my highlights in Vienna was Shhh! Especially the guitar solo ... just beautiful.

0x41414141 said:

2. He makes everything look so easy. While I'm aware that all songs are very well rehearsed, it seems like he chooses the playlist on the spot. If you see a show from any other artist, you can be sure that any show on the tour looks pretty much the same. With da man, you're never sure. Last night he was inspired and ready to bring the funk ... and he did. I'm still trembling like a leaf thinking about that.

This is exactly what I have been telling everyone who could not shut me up fast enough when I started raving about the Prince concerts ... that it amazes me how he changes around the setlist, and also the songs he does play frequently - they often do not sound the same as in another concert. Vienna and Milan were two amazing concerts, but totally different experiences for me. Too bad I was not in Antwerp, because that one sounds like it was definitely one of his best shows this year!! And it was obviously again very different from what I saw and heard just last week in Italy. Genius!!

I go to a lot of concerts of big name (rock) artists, but at least those I have seen don't have nearly that diversity in their concerts like Prince does. -- And that's what's so special about him and why he is the best live performer out there!!!

0x41414141 said:

Neversin said:

Oh great, just what we need, a fucking nails-on-chalkboard, screeching child pretending to sing...

That'll be a waste of an hour in which Prince could've just played something other than the same old shit...

Neversin.

Glad you weren't there ...

And yet I was...

Neversin.

belgian boys are pretty.

dawntreader said:

belgian boys are pretty.

Right on . The concert was amazing although i consider the "concert" on saterday was just that little bit better . I'm thinking to buy a ticket for Arnhem but I'm not sure yet. My mother lives in Spain and she's coming to Belgium next week and she saw prince once in 1998 (Utrecht) and she always wanted to see him a second time. That might be a good surprise for her .

dawntreader said:

belgian boys are pretty.

thank you

so, no luck on the girl with the tattooed back in block 123 ? bummer, I could've read her all night long.

0x41414141 said:

...

He makes everything look so easy. While I'm aware that all songs are very well rehearsed, it seems like he chooses the playlist on the spot. If you see a show from any other artist, you can be sure that any show on the tour looks pretty much the same. With da man, you're never sure. Last night he was inspired and ready to bring the funk ... and he did.

...

This is one of the fun things of going to a Prince concert. You never know in advance what it's gonna be. There's no definitve setlist, so there's always hope that he'll play a certain song.

I know that he has the band rehearse a great amount of songs before a single show or a tour, just in case he may want to play it during a concert.

Many people who've never been to a Prince concert don't know about all this... they think that every show is exactly the same.My boyfriend is one of them, he asked me before monday's show how long Prince would play that evening. Of course I couldn't answer that, so I had to explain. Prince doesn't set a fixed time for a show. And if he did, he wouldn't stick to it anyway...

Neversin said:

0x41414141 said:

Glad you weren't there ...

And yet I was...

Neversin.

then I hope you had fun

A report from one of the girls that got on stage, she got kissed by Prince:

http://www.stubru.be/medi...kustprince

BartVanHemelen, thanks for the link, but could you possibly give us a short translation? Would be very much appreciated, cause you've made me curious!

BartVanHemelen said:

A report from one of the girls that got on stage, she got kissed by Prince:

http://www.stubru.be/medi...kustprince

She kissed Prince. Not vice versa.