I have seen Prince about 10 times in my lifetime. thank you , you are truely a great artist, performer and can handle the axe like no one else. i have been blessed to watch you perform.

Here's a review from the local paper. Sounds like it was a great show.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi...1HRQU8.DTL

Prince review: A raucous reign of hits in Oakland

Aidin Vaziri, Chronicle Pop Music Critic

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Prince has made a career out of playing the daredevil. But booking three arena shows with less than a week's notice - in this day and age, in this economy - well, that's just plain crazy.

"They said we wouldn't sell this place out," he proclaimed on Monday at the top of his set at Oakland's Oracle Arena, where he also headlines tonight and Thursday. "How long did it take - five minutes?"

Well, not exactly, but tickets sold briskly enough that the promoters quickly added that third concert for Thursday. It's hard to imagine that many other artists could pull off such a stunt without sending Live Nation's top brass to the sanitarium. Prince Rogers Nelson hasn't even had a Top 10 hit since 1994's "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." But the 52-year-old Minneapolis native is more than a pop star - he's an institution.

On Monday, he looked like the Wax Museum version of Prince come to life - spinning, strutting and swaying in his towering heels as if no time had passed since the days he dominated MTV with his angular suits and perfectly sculpted hair.

The shows are part of his hit-and-run "Welcome 2 America" tour, which played at various venues around New York beginning in December - with no dates beyond the Oakland concerts announced yet.

The concert kept with the spontaneous spirit behind the tour. Prince first emerged at the tail end of Sly and the Family Stone bassist Larry Graham's adrenaline-charged opening set, an unexpected guest wearing a black velvet parka and white furry boots as he led the band through a raucous medley of "I Want to Take You Higher" and "Everyday People" before just as quickly disappearing.

He then returned to the glyph-shaped stage about an hour later for his own set with percussionist Sheila E at his side. Backed by the New Power Generation, he dug with great delight into all the songs that just a few years ago he threatened never to play again: the 1985 single "Raspberry Beret," the lusty "Scandalous" from 1989's "Batman" soundtrack and 1987's "U Got the Look."

The set list was a delight, as Prince graciously stayed clear of the underwhelming material from his last two dozen or so albums and relished in reclaiming crowd-pleasing hits and rarities from his more carnal era. There was a sense that he was making it all up on the spot (no two set lists from the tour have been alike), selecting the next song at random, playing with the grooves, messing with the band.

During a heart-stopping run through of "If I Was Your Girlfriend," from the 1987 double album "Sign o the Times," he announced, "Can I get a guitar?" After one materialized from beneath the stage, he smirked, "Watch this, Sheila!"

Prince played up every epic note of "Purple Rain," the title track from his 1984 movie, teasing out the gigantic guitar solo as confetti cannons filled the air and lighters - yes, actual lighters - dotted the stands.

He never stopped moving, jumping on top of the purple piano to lead audience sing-alongs and circling the stage, sticking out his butt even when he didn't have the microphone in his hand. "I've got too many hits," he said. "We'd be here all night."

Prince spent a good half hour of the show merely acting the cheerleader as Sheila E tore through her 1984 hit "The Glamorous Life," Carlos Santana appeared for a brief but fiery guitar solo (while Prince retreated to the piano) and the New Power Generation's backup singers, Elisa Fiorillo and Shelby Johnson, sang two long-winded solo ballads.

He played encore after encore (the last one with the house lights on), with neither his fantastic voice nor his dynamic legs showing any signs of slowing down. "That's it, I ain't got no more," he said, well past his allotted stage time. And then he kept playing, repaying his subjects' loyalty in the best possible way.

Prince: 7:30 p.m. today-Thurs. $49.50-$250. Oracle Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland. www.livenation.com.

Follow Aidin Vaziri at twitter.com/MusicSF. E-mail him at avaziri@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/22/DDSE1HRQU8.DTL

This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Thanks for all reviews

Can anyone give info on where to park besides the arena?

How was BART or Amtrek parking?

I am going back Thursday night and NOT PARKING at the arena $35 and took 1 hour to get out of.........

jaynoonan said:

Can anyone give info on where to park besides the arena?

How was BART or Amtrek parking?

I am going back Thursday night and NOT PARKING at the arena $35 and took 1 hour to get out of.........

I don't understand why anyone would ever park at a venue, much less one as big as Oracle in such a clustered part of Oakland. No thanks. Take BART. Go to the station nearest you and BART all the way in. It's cheaper, it's better for the environment, it's faster, and it drops you off right in front of the arena.

Spinlight said:

jaynoonan said:

Can anyone give info on where to park besides the arena?

How was BART or Amtrek parking?

I am going back Thursday night and NOT PARKING at the arena $35 and took 1 hour to get out of.........

I don't understand why anyone would ever park at a venue, much less one as big as Oracle in such a clustered part of Oakland. No thanks. Take BART. Go to the station nearest you and BART all the way in. It's cheaper, it's better for the environment, it's faster, and it drops you off right in front of the arena.

Agreed on the BART front - we're going for the second time tonight, and will be taking BART again. Monday night was a bit chaotic, with hundreds of us waiting on the platform and seeing that the train 10 minutes away would only have 4 cars. Suffice to say it was very cosy.

I asked @sfbart if they'll be putting on more cars tonight/tomorrow and they've got back to me to say they will be. So here's hoping we won't be playing sardines again tonight...

mrjudkins said:

Spinlight said:

I don't understand why anyone would ever park at a venue, much less one as big as Oracle in such a clustered part of Oakland. No thanks. Take BART. Go to the station nearest you and BART all the way in. It's cheaper, it's better for the environment, it's faster, and it drops you off right in front of the arena.

Agreed on the BART front - we're going for the second time tonight, and will be taking BART again. Monday night was a bit chaotic, with hundreds of us waiting on the platform and seeing that the train 10 minutes away would only have 4 cars. Suffice to say it was very cosy.

I asked @sfbart if they'll be putting on more cars tonight/tomorrow and they've got back to me to say they will be. So here's hoping we won't be playing sardines again tonight...

I am driving from Sacramento....any advice what BART to take in?

Driving home after the concert too so I wanna get outta there quickly!!

(after the show is over, of course

jaynoonan said:

I am driving from Sacramento....any advice what BART to take in?

Driving home after the concert too so I wanna get outta there quickly!!

(after the show is over, of course

If you're looking to park up at a different BART station and take the train to the Arena, I'd recommend not travelling in from the San Francisco side. Park at one of the stations East of the Collesium/Oakland Airport BART station - as there will be far fewer people heading in that direction afterwards. Others might have alternate suggestions, however...

mrjudkins said:

jaynoonan said:

I am driving from Sacramento....any advice what BART to take in?

Driving home after the concert too so I wanna get outta there quickly!!

(after the show is over, of course

If you're looking to park up at a different BART station and take the train to the Arena, I'd recommend not travelling in from the San Francisco side. Park at one of the stations East of the Collesium/Oakland Airport BART station - as there will be far fewer people heading in that direction afterwards. Others might have alternate suggestions, however...

Should I drive straight to Oakland BART and park

or BART in from a station nearby on the way in????

Trying to find easiest way to park and leave???

[Edited 2/23/11 14:07pm]

jaynoonan said:

Should I drive straight to Oakland BART and park

or BART in from a station nearby on the way in????

Trying to find easiest way to park and leave???

[Edited 2/23/11 14:07pm]

I cannot speak from experience, but if I were driving in I'd probably park at San Leandro or Bay Fair BART and take the train to the Arena from there.

My guess that:

a) it would be easier to find a park

b) be less traffic once you make it back to your car

Again - only speculation here, so hopefully someone else can advise who has actually tried both options...

mrjudkins said:

jaynoonan said:

Should I drive straight to Oakland BART and park

or BART in from a station nearby on the way in????

Trying to find easiest way to park and leave???

[Edited 2/23/11 14:07pm]

I cannot speak from experience, but if I were driving in I'd probably park at San Leandro or Bay Fair BART and take the train to the Arena from there.

My guess that:

a) it would be easier to find a park

b) be less traffic once you make it back to your car

Again - only speculation here, so hopefully someone else can advise who has actually tried both options...

If you can easily get to either San Leandro or BayFair or even further down the line towards West Dublin or D/P, you will be A-OK! From there, it's like less than a 5 dollar trip and no stress. The Coliseum stop will be crowded during the initial rush out of the venue so just brace yourself and keep moving. Oh and make a mental note, when you leave the stop to go to the show, of the position of the tracks. To go back towards BayFair you will need to be on the side of the tracks facing the venue. To go towards San Francisco, you will need to be on the tracks away from the venue.

Spinlight said:

If you can easily get to either San Leandro or BayFair or even further down the line towards West Dublin or D/P, you will be A-OK! From there, it's like less than a 5 dollar trip and no stress. The Coliseum stop will be crowded during the initial rush out of the venue so just brace yourself and keep moving. Oh and make a mental note, when you leave the stop to go to the show, of the position of the tracks. To go back towards BayFair you will need to be on the side of the tracks facing the venue. To go towards San Francisco, you will need to be on the tracks away from the venue.

Oh - and also the walk and wait for BART was FREAKING COLD Monday night too, so bring something along to keep warm afterwards...

mrjudkins said:

Spinlight said:

If you can easily get to either San Leandro or BayFair or even further down the line towards West Dublin or D/P, you will be A-OK! From there, it's like less than a 5 dollar trip and no stress. The Coliseum stop will be crowded during the initial rush out of the venue so just brace yourself and keep moving. Oh and make a mental note, when you leave the stop to go to the show, of the position of the tracks. To go back towards BayFair you will need to be on the side of the tracks facing the venue. To go towards San Francisco, you will need to be on the tracks away from the venue.

Oh - and also the walk and wait for BART was FREAKING COLD Monday night too, so bring something along to keep warm afterwards...

Haha, yeah, I even mentioned that last week. The Coliseum station is indeed on an actual platform (unlike some stations which are on the ground or underground) and it is BREEZY AS SHIT. The walk from the station, to the station, and any time spent up on that platform is going to be either a full-on gale or absolutely no wind at all. Given our current weather, it being a little on the cold side now, it will absolutely be very very windy.

jaynoonan said:

mrjudkins said:

Agreed on the BART front - we're going for the second time tonight, and will be taking BART again. Monday night was a bit chaotic, with hundreds of us waiting on the platform and seeing that the train 10 minutes away would only have 4 cars. Suffice to say it was very cosy.

I asked @sfbart if they'll be putting on more cars tonight/tomorrow and they've got back to me to say they will be. So here's hoping we won't be playing sardines again tonight...

I am driving from Sacramento....any advice what BART to take in?

Driving home after the concert too so I wanna get outta there quickly!!

(after the show is over, of course

Depends how you are getting to the bay area. IF you are coming on the 80, Pittsburg might be closest, though I don't know what the parking situatiuon is like. North Berkeley might be the one I tried, or maybe one of the ones near Walnut Creek?

Sorry I am no help!

NDRU said:

jaynoonan said:

I am driving from Sacramento....any advice what BART to take in?

Driving home after the concert too so I wanna get outta there quickly!!

(after the show is over, of course

Depends how you are getting to the bay area. IF you are coming on the 80, Pittsburg might be closest, though I don't know what the parking situatiuon is like. North Berkeley might be the one I tried, or maybe one of the ones near Walnut Creek?

Sorry I am no help!

Those stations are viable, too. They do include (at least) 1 connection, though.

HonEMan said:

I secretly hate Bay Area crowds -- overly earnest peeps with little sense of humor or ability to let loose.

Say WHAT?!?!

Prince played "Bambi" and I wasn't there?!?! Waaaaaahhhhhhh!

AzhnConnectzhn said:

SharonLA said:

The arena looked completely filled.

HOLY SHIT, BAMBI!!! Yeah but the crowd was weak!! I know they would have played more songs than that if they were feeling the crowd... Not even close to the setlist from the Feb. 7 show in NY!! I hope Wednesday is much better...

[Edited 2/22/11 2:07am]

Ok ya'll... to anyone that was at last night's show, 2/23, in addition to Monday 2/21, now maybe you'll realize what I was sayin'??? THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!! HUGE differences in the crowd and The Man!!!

Yeah, tonight's crowd was off the chain, and totally into it. Prince showed us some extra love in return for ours. Great, great atmosphere, and an amazing show. Snapped up tickets for Thursday like greased lightning. Won't be missing this for the world.

On the spur of the moment, I decided to login at ticketmaster today and buy a single ticket for tonight's show.

Surprised it's not sold out yet.

He saved the best for last. Thursdays show clocked in at just under 3 hours.... 4 encores. That last one coming a good 5 minutes plus after the house lights came on and half the place was empty. I've seen Prince 7 times now and this was hands down the best show Ive seen.

intha916 said:

He saved the best for last. Thursdays show clocked in at just under 3 hours.... 4 encores. That last one coming a good 5 minutes plus after the house lights came on and half the place was empty. I've seen Prince 7 times now and this was hands down the best show Ive seen.

Yeah, I was a bit surprised on that last encore. Place was starting to empty out, but some were still lingering just in case. Those of us that stayed (I got to move down a little closer) got to see Let's Work & U Got The Look. I've never seen U Got The Look live and was glad I stuck around.