teiemka said:

Joyinrepatition said:

[

[img:$uid]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8dLseF7MQVA/TiElKcGEbvI/AAAAAAAAGoM/8IgTC4YY1HE/s1600/280917_10150240367905197_16474070196_7324430_2492057_o.jpg[/img:$uid]

Nice shot, but not from Perugia.

serpan99 said:

udo said:

Great pics!

As posted previously by me here, it's even my own photobucket links

http://prince.org/msg/12/...?&pg=2

sorry about that serpan...didn't see the concert review thread...been doing real life things the past few days

teiemka said:

Brother brought game tonight, I am still buzzing from this undoubtedly brilliant experience.

I got there about 1600, so missed the soundcheck hooked up with a fellow orger Seb from Prince heartland Holland and exchanged our Prince warstories over a couple of brews.

Gates opened at around 1845, didn't really have to make a mad scramble to get IMO the optimium postion between centrestage and the piano, 5 rows back. Dont like to get any closer than that as I like to have a full view of the stage. Waiting 2 odd hours I couldn't really make out the mood of the crowd, talked to a few guys next to me that were first timers and a hardcore fan from Torino(sorry I didnt get his name we were too busy talking shop). Weatherwise perfect evening slight breeze blowing throughout the show and full moon.

Prince and NPG minus Andy, Shelby and Liv walk on stage, "We are here, where are you" launch straight into Stratus this was absolutely mindblowing way to start the show, no lyrics just talked to us with the music (This phrase just kept going through my head "I want you to meet a few friends of mine, they're musicians"). He was shredding the guitar through the whole song with crazy Rock god faces, people were headbanging , others staring in awe , I was trying to do both, but I had to stop a quite a few times to just take in what I was witnessing and hearing, pure musical bliss . I'm still getting goosebumps just thinking about it while writing this, thankyou Prince for attending the soundcheck today(practice makes perfect). It must have gone on for over 10 minutes, and when it was over everyone was left wanting more and knowing they were in the right house tonight. "What a beautiful night, isnt it?" and into QofU/Fallin Instrumental and a real nice drawn out The One with plenty of passion and crowd involvement, Cassandra played a wonderful piano solo during the song that got plenty of love from the crowd. The whole band on stage for We live 2 get Funky more crazy guitar and faces all over this one and plenty of jumping around me. CnC continuing his amazing guitar playing, if you havent worked it out yet my favoured flavours of Prince are Dirty (N/A) and Guitar God (very much applicable) so I couldn't get enough. This led into Waiting in Vain with Andy, who I'm sorry to say can sing( ) and she worked the crowd too...more on this later. "When will we b Paid" was beautifully sung by Liv, which segued into powerfully sung People Get Ready by Shelby both were great. We were getting plenty of love and we were giving plenty of love back. LRC was played a little differently with only brief guitar at the beginning. This is the first time that Prince put down the guitar from the opening, maybe those fingers needed some resting. During the song the whole crowd was handclapping until one point Prince motioned to us he didnt want the handclap but fingersnaps, so we all fingersnapped to LRC priceless (...guess I was wrong about finger resting too ). Andy sang Look of Love, I'm not totally familiar with the song so I dont know whether there was another song, but when it seemd Look of Love had finished she moved right of centre onto a lower stage between the barrier and the main stage and sang sitting singing with minmal backing, she had the crowd in the palm of her hands and the crowd applauded appreciatively, where she let out a flirty "Ti Amo" to raptuous applause. I was thinking this is the crossroads where does he go from here and the first couple of notes of the next song well, I think most us felt that way the first time we ever heard Empty Room live and I've never had the privilege to hear this gem live previously. Many around me didnt know the song, but the masterful guitar, had them sharing more of these type of looks also during Colonized Mind what a brilliant track. Then Andy came on stage with dark sunglasses and rock bitch attitude for really cool Foxy Lady with just her and the power trio on stage. Morris Hayes was in the wings going nuts during this song.

And then the party began with Sly's song which went into a really long jam with full crowd participation, then as is common Prince grabbed Ida's bass. At the start of the bass jam there was some really weird sounds coming out, to me it seemed that there was something not right, he was fiddling with knobs, pedals and tuning, all apologies if this was some awesome bass technique that my musical ignorance wouldn't allow me to comprehend. After this "questionable" start, the rest was thumping and resonating through my whole body. Controversy followed, this song is just timeless I challenge anyone not to twitch a single muscle, full length version played with lots of funky guitar, with Prince continually breaking it down and then thrashing during "clap your hands, stomp your feet" frenzy. Sexy Dancer followed and it was all Sexy Dancer not Le Freak, Liv was shaking plenty of booty and busting some serious moves. There was just so much energy through to this point and it just kept on going with Play that Funky Music, Prince was laughing at us during the song. Alphabet St with rocking guitar went into "Foot on The Rock" apologies to Bill Withers for not knowing his song. Shhh was off the chart with Jon doing solos both at the start and the finish of the song and Prince letting loose on the guitar and the girls seated on a pouf for the entire song. He had the crowd singing a quiet Shhh during the song and it was different in this regard to other versions. That was the end of the main set, I dont know what the time is on it, but it would have been close to 1.5 hours nonstop. Breaking it down further, Prince had guitar in hand for the entire set apart from LRC. Prince was on stage for all of it apart from couple of minutes between People get Ready and Look of Love. What is not awesome about that? He was very generous giving all the bandmembers their moment to shine, and we the crowd loved all of it, Prince, and the NPG.

The encores started with Make U feel my Love with Liv singing and Cassandra playing the purple piano, by the next verse Shelby and Andy had joined them around the Piano and finally Ida was around the piano with all girls singing the song. Often there is a flatspot when Prince is not on stage, not this time, the crowd cheered approvingly at this rendition by the NPG girls. Cassandra continued on the piano for the opening notes of Purple Rain, but Prince came on stage and led her away from the piano by the arm back to where her keyboard rig, the entire time talking to her, just seemd strange, as I expected her to stay on the piano. The Purple Rain confetti fell on us, at one stage it was funny seeing Prince trying to wave away this annoying piece of confetti that was in an eddy current around him, and that was it for the night.

Oh yeah, we continued singing the Ooh, Ooh, Ooh from the end of the song for a good while until the band came back. That the roadies were sweeping away confetti off the stage, was no brainer that was more gas left in the tank?

2nd Encore Disco Heat had everyone in a frenzy again, with vocals by Shelby and Liv pumping the crowd and out of a flash Prince was between them on stage with Baby I'm a Star, pulling faces he was having as great a time.

This where I'm a bit hazy because I'm pretty sure the band went off stage, but princevault indicates they continued playing. There's no doubt about the songs, just that I thought that there was a break.

The Bird/Jungle Love/Love Bizarre was crazy, just a huge party all of us at the front were jumping from side to side doing the bird, we were chanting "I like funky music". The amazing thing was the band were having ball they smiling, laughing at us and between themselves.

Another "goodnight" from Prince, this time we kept chanting "I like funky music" without relent, until they came back.

3rd (4th?) Encore Wanna be Startin somethin was so much fun, Liv and Shelby starting singing it, with Prince in between them camping it up with impressions of "Who wrote that song" and "Not on this stage you dont", then he sang it together with them even putting in a trademark Jacko spin, with his hand to his head and the bent knee. This morphed into Cool with Ida driving that bass and Prince going around the NPG members asking the Are you Hot- No, Why-because I'm cool refrain. And then he did the old skool dance, magic, with crowd roaring approval.

Prince was getting to bidding us goodnight again, but we had already started up the oh-we-oh chant, the crowd was having such a blast we did not want it to end.

Band back 4th (5th?) encore Cassandra at the purple Piano, Prince on guitar Sometimes in Snows in April, icing on the cake, on top of the other 6 layers.

"Thankyou goodnight", but we had already started up the oh-we-oh chant. Yeah where have I heard that before, but wait, the plot thickens. big bloke comes on stage starts ripping setlists off the stage floor and then rips Prince's guitar pedals and takes them off stage. Unperturbed, we maintain the oh-we-oh chant for what seems like an eternity, as long as they haven't shipped that piano off stage, no guitar pedals are not going to stop us.

5th (6th) Encore crowd loved the return of the band as they were off for a bit longer this time and the pedals scenes created some apprehension. Prince jumps up on the piano, with huge roar to sing If I was your girlfriend, this was just too much, brother was still putting out like he was at the start of the show. He really nailed it, in the zone all night. So then he teased us a little, before "Do you mind if we do one more?" Kiss and they were gone.

We did try to keep oh-we-oh chant going, but this time they took the mikes and after some flashing of stage lights starting ripping the stage down. Jon came out on stage and caused a few rumbles when he tossed a couple of pair drumsticks into the crowd.

What a night. Prince and band were on song all night every single member put into a great performance. Prince's guitar playing was impeccable, he just burned the guitar up during that main set. He was in a joyous mood all night, laughing, smiling, teasing, the ultimate musician, showman, and bandleader.

What made it different from last year, apart from couple of bandmembers is that he played full length version of the songs rather than trying to fit too many songs in. Dont get me wrong I enjoyed last year's concert, but letting the songs breathe a little rather soundbiting.

This was an incredible show, to me the outstanding feature was the balance, in the setlist, the NPG member's singing parts, the guitar set, the party set. It's the hardest part to get right, tonight it was perfect, the crowd responded with their love and Prince & the NPG gave us all their love.

Must thank Udo, dont know you, but you got to me enough(mind games) to make me go back on my original decision to not go. Hope you enjoyed yourself.

The arena wasn't too big wouldn' take more than 8-10000, I dont know how full it is was, only look forward during a show. Sound was really good, brought my earplugs after having read the reviews of the other shows, but didnt have to use them.

Merchandise - Official stand there were a couple of shirts for €20, tambourines €35 and guitar picks €5, no programs(sorry Serpan). There was a different stand set up by what seemed a local record store that was selling the US Lotusflower CD for €20.

Footnote:

Miss Andy can sing and her stagecraft has potential, her guitar playing I ddn't hear too much just a little during the start of Purple Rain where Prince was near her and playing with the knob on her guitar like on Le Grand Journal. While Prince was singing If I was Girlfriend she was doing her now customary sketching, she drew some girl with a beret, which was thrown into the crowd by the roadies ripping up the stage. She's got a really good arm on her, would make a good cricket or baseball outfielder (if it dont workout with Prince) the way she threw the t-shirts into the crowd.

She is very pretty and for those interested she wore Black tight leggings with glittery top, Black boots and Diamond(Cubic Zirconia?) earwraps on each ear. I never look at this stuff, but hey busted I was perving.

[Edited 7/16/11 16:59pm]

wow teiemka! r u a journalist? What a great review. One of the best reviews I have read . When u write that book on Prince don't 4get me. I will be honored and excite 2 purchase it.

Your review made me feel like I was right there with u guys. U left out nothing. I'm amazed at how detailed and beautifully written your article is and how it made me feel just reading it. And most importantly Prince did not let u guys down. He put on a great show 4 his beautiful fans.

What a great review, such joy to read!! Thanks for sharing all your impressions, teiemka. I'm as enthusiastic as you are when it comes to experiencing Prince live, but I can't express myself as well as you do. I can't find the words to describe what I feel when I see Prince on stage, and how awesome he is!!! Best live performer, genius musician, exciting showmanship and such high quality ... wow!!!!

sirweasel said:

Wow what a show!

My favorite part is when he said, "I will play what ever songs I want and with whoever I want now stop analyzing everything I do and get your own life"

omg did he really say this?! He must be reading the org/moquake then sometimes...ooops.

he's so right...hope we get a 200 min. show with whatever songs with who ever the 26th...after last weekend anything is fine by me...

Excellent review--compliments Serpan's photos.

netzverwalter said:

I was standing about 5 meters right from you and was winking over to you (but obviously u didn't see it).

Just as well you werent any closer, so you didnt have to put up with my off-key singing and out of time clapping.

netzverwalter said:

It was my 27 prince concert and ranks about the top 3 definatly. What I like at his concerts today is that you never know in advance what you gonna get, every evening is different and this one was very special and different!!

It was very special, and I still got a grin like a split watermelon.

netzverwalter said:

Empty room for the first time life and with so much power.

Aint that the truth. Hope you have great time if you get to any other shows.

Maybe next time we can share a couple of glasses of Nussbaumer

pennylover said:

teiemka said:

Brother brought game tonight, I am still buzzing from this undoubtedly brilliant experience....

wow teiemka! r u a journalist? What a great review. One of the best reviews I have read . When u write that book on Prince don't 4get me. I will be honored and excite 2 purchase it.

Your review made me feel like I was right there with u guys. U left out nothing. I'm amazed at how detailed and beautifully written your article is and how it made me feel just reading it. And most importantly Prince did not let u guys down. He put on a great show 4 his beautiful fans.

Likewise, Teiemka, you hit it out of the ballpark with this review. Since the Perugia show, I've been writing the review in my head and finally sat down to write it out, only to find that you did a much better job than I could. Thanks for really capturing the essence of the amazing show.

A few additional points: I think Prince sang "don't stop til you get enough" not "wanna be starting something". I have seen 5 of the Welcome to America shows prior to Perugia and this one was SO much better for the reasons you mentioned: more guitar playing, less "sound bites of the hits". I also actually liked this stage setup better than the welcome 2 america US tour stage-- there i paid a fortune for VIP tix but could only see him at some points of the show. Here, i had a great view of him and the stage the whole time.

Sometimes I felt in the US shows that he used the NPG so he could take a break and leave the stage. Here the NPG felt really integrated with the show, like he was truly showcasing them and just stepping back and letting them do their thing. I thought Andy was beautiful and had an lovely voice (great tone), cute that her top matched Prince's pants.

Also agreed that Prince was receiving and giving the love. He was just smiling, sparking, the whole time. Longer guitar solos, and just going crazy with them. I counted 4 (awesome) encores. At the end of the third he said "I hope you will always remember this night. I know I will".

Also, he changed the words to Purple rain to "let the voices guide you, to the purple rain". so nice!

Finally, Andy put the audio to Statrus to her FB page, check it out. you have to go to her wall and select "posts by andy allo" and there it is.

My fave Prince concert ever. Was on such a high afterwards, felt like my soul was open and lifted. What an experience.

teiemka said:

Brother brought game tonight, I am still buzzing from this undoubtedly brilliant experience.

I got there about 1600, so missed the soundcheck hooked up with a fellow orger Seb from Prince heartland Holland and exchanged our Prince warstories over a couple of brews.

Gates opened at around 1845, didn't really have to make a mad scramble to get IMO the optimium postion between centrestage and the piano, 5 rows back. Dont like to get any closer than that as I like to have a full view of the stage. Waiting 2 odd hours I couldn't really make out the mood of the crowd, talked to a few guys next to me that were first timers and a hardcore fan from Torino(sorry I didnt get his name we were too busy talking shop). Weatherwise perfect evening slight breeze blowing throughout the show and full moon.

Prince and NPG minus Andy, Shelby and Liv walk on stage, "We are here, where are you" launch straight into Stratus this was absolutely mindblowing way to start the show, no lyrics just talked to us with the music (This phrase just kept going through my head "I want you to meet a few friends of mine, they're musicians"). He was shredding the guitar through the whole song with crazy Rock god faces, people were headbanging , others staring in awe , I was trying to do both, but I had to stop a quite a few times to just take in what I was witnessing and hearing, pure musical bliss . I'm still getting goosebumps just thinking about it while writing this, thankyou Prince for attending the soundcheck today(practice makes perfect). It must have gone on for over 10 minutes, and when it was over everyone was left wanting more and knowing they were in the right house tonight. "What a beautiful night, isnt it?" and into QofU/Fallin Instrumental and a real nice drawn out The One with plenty of passion and crowd involvement, Cassandra played a wonderful piano solo during the song that got plenty of love from the crowd. The whole band on stage for We live 2 get Funky more crazy guitar and faces all over this one and plenty of jumping around me. CnC continuing his amazing guitar playing, if you havent worked it out yet my favoured flavours of Prince are Dirty (N/A) and Guitar God (very much applicable) so I couldn't get enough. This led into Waiting in Vain with Andy, who I'm sorry to say can sing( ) and she worked the crowd too...more on this later. "When will we b Paid" was beautifully sung by Liv, which segued into powerfully sung People Get Ready by Shelby both were great. We were getting plenty of love and we were giving plenty of love back. LRC was played a little differently with only brief guitar at the beginning. This is the first time that Prince put down the guitar from the opening, maybe those fingers needed some resting. During the song the whole crowd was handclapping until one point Prince motioned to us he didnt want the handclap but fingersnaps, so we all fingersnapped to LRC priceless (...guess I was wrong about finger resting too ). Andy sang Look of Love, I'm not totally familiar with the song so I dont know whether there was another song, but when it seemd Look of Love had finished she moved right of centre onto a lower stage between the barrier and the main stage and sang sitting singing with minmal backing, she had the crowd in the palm of her hands and the crowd applauded appreciatively, where she let out a flirty "Ti Amo" to raptuous applause. I was thinking this is the crossroads where does he go from here and the first couple of notes of the next song well, I think most us felt that way the first time we ever heard Empty Room live and I've never had the privilege to hear this gem live previously. Many around me didnt know the song, but the masterful guitar, had them sharing more of these type of looks also during Colonized Mind what a brilliant track. Then Andy came on stage with dark sunglasses and rock bitch attitude for really cool Foxy Lady with just her and the power trio on stage. Morris Hayes was in the wings going nuts during this song.

And then the party began with Sly's song which went into a really long jam with full crowd participation, then as is common Prince grabbed Ida's bass. At the start of the bass jam there was some really weird sounds coming out, to me it seemed that there was something not right, he was fiddling with knobs, pedals and tuning, all apologies if this was some awesome bass technique that my musical ignorance wouldn't allow me to comprehend. After this "questionable" start, the rest was thumping and resonating through my whole body. Controversy followed, this song is just timeless I challenge anyone not to twitch a single muscle, full length version played with lots of funky guitar, with Prince continually breaking it down and then thrashing during "clap your hands, stomp your feet" frenzy. Sexy Dancer followed and it was all Sexy Dancer not Le Freak, Liv was shaking plenty of booty and busting some serious moves. There was just so much energy through to this point and it just kept on going with Play that Funky Music, Prince was laughing at us during the song. Alphabet St with rocking guitar went into "Foot on The Rock" apologies to Bill Withers for not knowing his song. Shhh was off the chart with Jon doing solos both at the start and the finish of the song and Prince letting loose on the guitar and the girls seated on a pouf for the entire song. He had the crowd singing a quiet Shhh during the song and it was different in this regard to other versions. That was the end of the main set, I dont know what the time is on it, but it would have been close to 1.5 hours nonstop. Breaking it down further, Prince had guitar in hand for the entire set apart from LRC. Prince was on stage for all of it apart from couple of minutes between People get Ready and Look of Love. What is not awesome about that? He was very generous giving all the bandmembers their moment to shine, and we the crowd loved all of it, Prince, and the NPG.

The encores started with Make U feel my Love with Liv singing and Cassandra playing the purple piano, by the next verse Shelby and Andy had joined them around the Piano and finally Ida was around the piano with all girls singing the song. Often there is a flatspot when Prince is not on stage, not this time, the crowd cheered approvingly at this rendition by the NPG girls. Cassandra continued on the piano for the opening notes of Purple Rain, but Prince came on stage and led her away from the piano by the arm back to where her keyboard rig, the entire time talking to her, just seemd strange, as I expected her to stay on the piano. The Purple Rain confetti fell on us, at one stage it was funny seeing Prince trying to wave away this annoying piece of confetti that was in an eddy current around him, and that was it for the night.

Oh yeah, we continued singing the Ooh, Ooh, Ooh from the end of the song for a good while until the band came back. That the roadies were sweeping away confetti off the stage, was no brainer that was more gas left in the tank?

2nd Encore Disco Heat had everyone in a frenzy again, with vocals by Shelby and Liv pumping the crowd and out of a flash Prince was between them on stage with Baby I'm a Star, pulling faces he was having as great a time.

This where I'm a bit hazy because I'm pretty sure the band went off stage, but princevault indicates they continued playing. There's no doubt about the songs, just that I thought that there was a break.

The Bird/Jungle Love/Love Bizarre was crazy, just a huge party all of us at the front were jumping from side to side doing the bird, we were chanting "I like funky music". The amazing thing was the band were having ball they smiling, laughing at us and between themselves.

Another "goodnight" from Prince, this time we kept chanting "I like funky music" without relent, until they came back.

3rd (4th?) Encore Wanna be Startin somethin was so much fun, Liv and Shelby starting singing it, with Prince in between them camping it up with impressions of "Who wrote that song" and "Not on this stage you dont", then he sang it together with them even putting in a trademark Jacko spin, with his hand to his head and the bent knee. This morphed into Cool with Ida driving that bass and Prince going around the NPG members asking the Are you Hot- No, Why-because I'm cool refrain. And then he did the old skool dance, magic, with crowd roaring approval.

Prince was getting to bidding us goodnight again, but we had already started up the oh-we-oh chant, the crowd was having such a blast we did not want it to end.

Band back 4th (5th?) encore Cassandra at the purple Piano, Prince on guitar Sometimes in Snows in April, icing on the cake, on top of the other 6 layers.

"Thankyou goodnight", but we had already started up the oh-we-oh chant. Yeah where have I heard that before, but wait, the plot thickens. big bloke comes on stage starts ripping setlists off the stage floor and then rips Prince's guitar pedals and takes them off stage. Unperturbed, we maintain the oh-we-oh chant for what seems like an eternity, as long as they haven't shipped that piano off stage, no guitar pedals are not going to stop us.

5th (6th) Encore crowd loved the return of the band as they were off for a bit longer this time and the pedals scenes created some apprehension. Prince jumps up on the piano, with huge roar to sing If I was your girlfriend, this was just too much, brother was still putting out like he was at the start of the show. He really nailed it, in the zone all night. So then he teased us a little, before "Do you mind if we do one more?" Kiss and they were gone.

We did try to keep oh-we-oh chant going, but this time they took the mikes and after some flashing of stage lights starting ripping the stage down. Jon came out on stage and caused a few rumbles when he tossed a couple of pair drumsticks into the crowd.

What a night. Prince and band were on song all night every single member put into a great performance. Prince's guitar playing was impeccable, he just burned the guitar up during that main set. He was in a joyous mood all night, laughing, smiling, teasing, the ultimate musician, showman, and bandleader.

What made it different from last year, apart from couple of bandmembers is that he played full length version of the songs rather than trying to fit too many songs in. Dont get me wrong I enjoyed last year's concert, but letting the songs breathe a little rather soundbiting.

This was an incredible show, to me the outstanding feature was the balance, in the setlist, the NPG member's singing parts, the guitar set, the party set. It's the hardest part to get right, tonight it was perfect, the crowd responded with their love and Prince & the NPG gave us all their love.

Must thank Udo, dont know you, but you got to me enough(mind games) to make me go back on my original decision to not go. Hope you enjoyed yourself.

The arena wasn't too big wouldn' take more than 8-10000, I dont know how full it is was, only look forward during a show. Sound was really good, brought my earplugs after having read the reviews of the other shows, but didnt have to use them.

Merchandise - Official stand there were a couple of shirts for €20, tambourines €35 and guitar picks €5, no programs(sorry Serpan). There was a different stand set up by what seemed a local record store that was selling the US Lotusflower CD for €20.

Footnote:

Miss Andy can sing and her stagecraft has potential, her guitar playing I ddn't hear too much just a little during the start of Purple Rain where Prince was near her and playing with the knob on her guitar like on Le Grand Journal. While Prince was singing If I was Girlfriend she was doing her now customary sketching, she drew some girl with a beret, which was thrown into the crowd by the roadies ripping up the stage. She's got a really good arm on her, would make a good cricket or baseball outfielder (if it dont workout with Prince) the way she threw the t-shirts into the crowd.

She is very pretty and for those interested she wore Black tight leggings with glittery top, Black boots and Diamond(Cubic Zirconia?) earwraps on each ear. I never look at this stuff, but hey busted I was perving.

[Edited 7/16/11 16:59pm]

I really enjoyed reading this...many thanks!