Purple reigns at pop prince’s secret show

Wednesday May 30, 2012

His Royal Purpleness, has finally wowed Melbourne with a secret gig. After weeks of speculation about an aftershow, the US superstar called up Bennetts Lane proprietor at 11pm on Monday to ask if he could use the CBD nightspot.

One hundred lucky fans were allowed into the dimmed venue for a gig that kicked off at 1am at a cost of $200 a ticket. People lined up around the block to try to squeeze into the jazz bar.

Rocking up with a huge entourage at 1.30am, Prince’s band kicked off with some jazz standards before the man himself joined in. Tortoni said the gig was “up there with the best – if not the best – since I opened the bar 20 years ago.”

“At first when I got the call, I was thinking I wanted some sleep, but it’s Prince – you can’t so no,” he laughed. “It was a vortex. A wave of music that sucked you in and kept on going.”

The setlist included All the Things You Are, a cover of Rihanna’s Rude Boy and a funked-up version of Chic’s Le Freak.

The band called it a night at 4.30am.

Prince will play his final Australian concert at Rod Laver tonight, with rumours of a second surprise gig in the pipeline.