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Reply #30 posted 09/24/12 9:57pm

dplatt

1999
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Reply #31 posted 09/24/12 9:59pm

KCOOLMUZIQ

Sounds like Prince pulled it off...I find it interesting he added "The Glamorous Life" & "Love Bizarre" both the same night. Plus a added "MasterPiece" "Old Friends 4sale" hmmm

eye will ALWAYS think of prince like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. eye mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that prince wasn't of this earth, eye would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. prince
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Reply #32 posted 09/24/12 10:00pm

dplatt

Little Red Corvette
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Reply #33 posted 09/24/12 10:09pm

naffi

avatar

dplatt said:

Little Red Corvette

yes I would seriously go to every concert just to hear him seductivelt sing this song...

How was Andy??
[Edited 9/24/12 22:09pm]
You know you are in love, when you cannot fall asleep because your reality is finally better than your dreams - Dr Seuss
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Reply #34 posted 09/24/12 11:05pm

tomds

this is a sad sad setlist. again "cool, the glamorous life, the bird, jungle love" and all the same hits. after so many time between his previous concerts you should expect something fresh and new.

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Reply #35 posted 09/24/12 11:10pm

PurpleChi

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That concert was on point! I'm too tired for a full review but the hight points were the revamped set list and his look. Prince was his usual fly self and just the overall showmanship. The negative was that he didn't play guitar too much. This is the first time I've seen Purple Rain played without his guitar solo. That was a bit bizarre. But back to the positives...four encores...it was just outstanding. I am so looking forward to tomorrow. Good night all!

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Reply #36 posted 09/24/12 11:12pm

bashraka

I held out hope that he would include some songs he rarely plays like "Just As Long As We're Together", "So Blue" albums tracks from the older albums. Prince said in a recent interview that he's finally filming these shows. It's safe to say that the film from tonight's show will be left on the cutting room floor.

3121 #1 THIS YEAR
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Reply #37 posted 09/24/12 11:20pm

BartVanHemelen

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PurpleChi said:

But back to the positives...four encores...

Hilarious. The concert was a mere two hours, so all of those encores were PART OF THE ORIGINAL SETLIST. He just made you wait inbetween.

© Bart Van Hemelen
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties, and confers no rights.
It is not authorized by Prince or the NPG Music Club. You assume all risk for
your use. All rights reserved.
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Reply #38 posted 09/24/12 11:24pm

computerblue

PurpleChi said:

That concert was on point! I'm too tired for a full review but the hight points were the revamped set list and his look. Prince was his usual fly self and just the overall showmanship. The negative was that he didn't play guitar too much. This is the first time I've seen Purple Rain played without his guitar solo. That was a bit bizarre. But back to the positives...four encores...it was just outstanding. I am so looking forward to tomorrow. Good night all!

4 Encores? Were we at same show? I counted 1 encore and a 30 minute "Hey I'm gonna keep y'all setting here while I beat the post show traffic to the House Of Blues" psych out.

Love and lust, they both have 4 letters...
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Reply #39 posted 09/24/12 11:26pm

Genesia

avatar

2020 said:

Tweets:



Ok #prince just cleared 75% of the whole arena out for this encore!



All hell has broken loose at the United Center. The band is back, but no Prince (yet)



#Prince left us in the dark 30 minutes waiting on 2nd encore only to not show back up and house lights up. Good show but left us all upset..

[Edited 9/24/12 21:56pm]



Never, ever leave 'til the tech takes away his guitar, the sound people stand down, and the techs start unplugging shit.
We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #40 posted 09/24/12 11:27pm

Genesia

avatar

computerblue said:



PurpleChi said:


That concert was on point! I'm too tired for a full review but the hight points were the revamped set list and his look. Prince was his usual fly self and just the overall showmanship. The negative was that he didn't play guitar too much. This is the first time I've seen Purple Rain played without his guitar solo. That was a bit bizarre. But back to the positives...four encores...it was just outstanding. I am so looking forward to tomorrow. Good night all!



4 Encores? Were we at same show? I counted 1 encore and a 30 minute "Hey I'm gonna keep y'all setting here while I beat the post show traffic to the House Of Blues" psych out.




He came back out and did 1999 and Little Red Corvette.
We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #41 posted 09/24/12 11:28pm

serpan99

Prince courts Controversy in first Welcome 2 Chicago show

arrow http://timeoutchicago.com...icago-show

Posted in Audio File blog by fsennett on Sep 25, 2012 at 1:23am

Prince kicked off his Welcome 2 Chicago three-night residency at United Center in fine voice and high spirits Monday night, with the assured backing of a delightfully funky NPG band. Unfortunately, the night ended on a jarring note for many fans before the pint-sized potentate attempted to smooth over a staging snafu.


After a first encore of "Purple Rain" and an extended second encore, Prince left the stage and fans started cheering for more. Normally in such a situation, the house lights either come up soon or the band comes back out for an extra song or two. At the UC, it appeared Prince would indeed come back out to perform again before heading to his after-party set at House of Blues. The house lights stayed down, the crowd kept clapping, the lights ringing the glyph-shaped stage remained lit and a few stagehands began mopping up glitter and, presumably, precious, precious Prince sweat.


In what soon became a minor comedic spectacle, one poor guy kept mopping and mopping that stage for more than 30 minutes. At one point, some smoke effects went off and a cheer rose again. And then, after nearly everyone had remained for that extra encore, the house lights finally went up. Boos rained down on the stage from every corner of the stadium. What had been a fun party vibe was ruined by--what? Was it a glitch? Did someone forget to tell UC staff that Prince was done, or had he been ready to go back out when the house lights inadvertently went on? Were there venue curfew issues (Prince didn't take the stage until after 9pm).


Whatever the reason for the snafu, it led most of the grumbling fans to leave on what was, after all, a Monday night. But then something strange and pretty wonderful happened. NPG retook the stage and, with the full house lights on, tore into a couple of jazzy instrumental numbers. It seemed at first that they were just trying to placate the remaining 5,000 or so fans with a consolation prize. But then Prince came back out as well, dressed for the after-party but game to make amends to the now-depleted crowd.


NPG, sounding sharper than it had all night, got the fans screaming when it launched into "1999." After a rousing rendition, Prince asked the crowd if it would be all right if he played one more. Over the cheers, he performed a saucy, soulful "Little Red Corvette" before leaving for real around midnight. It looks to be a long night ahead for fans with tickets to the House of Blues after-party.

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Reply #42 posted 09/24/12 11:29pm

thebanishedone

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What about the band? Are there new members? Who played rhythm guitar? Did Prince play guitar at all?
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Reply #43 posted 09/24/12 11:31pm

rainbowchild

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I was in Prince heaven 4 3 hours 2nite!!! Prince made us wait close 2 45 minutes 4the last encore and I was getting hoarse from screaming but it was all worth it! Prince rode his bike going 2 the stage 4 the final encore and went inside a trunk 2 leave the stage final time. Concert was over past midnite. Whew! I'm exhausted and my body's sore. Thank u 4 a funky good time Prince!!! Looking 4ward 2 another date with Prince 2morrow nite!!! Also, they ran out of the Welcome2Chicago tour books 2nite. I hope they'll have more 2morrow as I didn't get my copy yet. Sweet dreams!!! I know I will. smile
"Just like the sun, the Rainbow Children rise."



"We had fun, didn't we?"
-Prince (1958-2016) 4ever in my life
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Reply #44 posted 09/24/12 11:31pm

DuoSonic

Yes, he came out and played more as that article stated.

My least favorite Prince show, but we still had a blast. My main criticism: we need MORE GUITAR.
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Reply #45 posted 09/24/12 11:36pm

thebanishedone

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Who were the band members? Horns are part of whole set or just on some songs. Why no guitar? Was there a second guitar player?
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Reply #46 posted 09/24/12 11:36pm

Genesia

avatar

Definitely not the best show I've ever seen. For a while, I thought I had stumbled into a meeting of the Chicago chapter of Oversingers Anonymous. Way too much time and attention given to the back-up singers. The sound was terrible, which I suspect is why Prince barely touched his guitar.
We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #47 posted 09/24/12 11:43pm

SchlomoThaHomo

avatar

Well that was just fucking weird. I'm home now and apparently missing an encore that a majority of the arena thought wasn't going to happen.

After If I Was Your Girlfriend, the lights stayed out and the guys came and swept up the PR confetti for a HALF AN HOUR! Then the lights came on and everyone booed, got up, and left. Well apparently not everyone, but almost everyone.

What excuse could there possibly be to do that to an audience and piss off 80% of the people who paid to see you? I'm kinda dumbfounded. Literally every conversation I overheard walking back to my car was shitting on Prince and the show. People were even calling people on their cell phones to talk about how shitty the show was.

The show up until that point seemed to be a pretty standard Welcome2... show. I've come to the conclusion that I've seen way to many shows now to go into a Prince arena concert expecting to be surprised. Maybe had I not seen most of the Welcome2... shows on bootleg, I would've been more surprised but aside from Old Friends 4 Sale, I'd literally seen it all before. So I sat back as a casual observer and gauged the crowd reaction. It was quite enthusiastic for most of the night, which was nice to see.

Here's the set list:

DMSR - Great kick off to the show. I made a facebook status today saying I was going to be having a Prince-a-thon at my place up until showtime, and posted DMSR as the song that would kick it off. I was quite charmed that he opened the show with it. The fro is gone (new wig?), and he's got the relaxed hair with the doo-rag look again. It kind of reminds me of the D&P typhoon look minus the beard. The suit (no outfit changes) Musicology-esque with the one coat tail longer than the other, and it had panels of black and white. Very slightly harlequin inspired.

Pop Life - Always a pleasure, and certainly a crowd favorite.

Musiclology - "Last time I was here was for...MUSICOLOGYYYYYYY!" It was appropriately funky and I thought it was a nice lead-in to the 2005 NAACP Image Awards. Yes, he did nearly the entire thing almost verbatim, except maybe a little less truncated. It was kind of an odd thing to bring back after 7 years, but maybe he really liked it.

Since DMSR already opened the show, he went into:

We're A Winner - this seemed to kind of kill the energy a bit from what I could tell.

I Never Loved A Man - Shelby instead of Tamar, obviously. Good job.

Satisfied - This got a really good response, which kind of suprised me. Maybe people thought they knew it but didn't really? Or maybe Chicago sold a lot of copies of 3121? It was good, and he was blowin.

I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing - At this point I was kind of dumbfounded that he was doing the whole NAACP medley, and wondered if he would really go all the way to Glamorous Life.

Housequake - GREAT RESPONSE! Too short.

The Jam - instead of just the small bit he did at the awards, he used this to introduce the band like back in the 90s. The band really nailed it and sounded sick as hell.

"On the D-R-U-M-S...he's playing a bit too loud...Mr. John Blackwell! Don't you love the sound of real drums?"

I noticed that there were a few problems. He kept having to tell the sound people to turn up the horns. They never really got it together, though. They sounded too quiet all night long. They weren't actually on the symbol stage. They had they're own little spot against the wall just above the circle part of the symbol. Speaking of the symbol, the lights that outlined it kept shorting on the left side of the arrow part. It was kind of distracting.

The Bird - HUGE RESPONSE! People were even getting down up in the nosebleeds. Definite crowd pleaser. He brought people from the VIP section up to dance.

Jungle Love - This wasn't in the original medley and was also fun to hear. He did 2 verses, and also recreated the little dance move (with the backup singers) that the First Ave dancers did to this song in Purple Rain. It was cute.

Glamorous Life - They actually did the whole thing, including the bridge, which I was surprised by. Everyone would rather have heard Sheila doing it lead but you know how that goes.

Get On The Boat (outro) - This segment of the show ended with this part and I think this was when the dancers were ushered offstage.

Old Friends 4 Sale - Prince called for John to do a drumroll to start the song and it apparently wasn't loud enough for him, so he called for it again in a more stern tone of voice. It sounded just as good as the rehearsal, and for a moment the horns were actually loud enough. They sounded great. It's too bad this was one of the few times during the show you could actually hear them. This is obviously a bone for the diehards cuz nobody else knows this fucking song and you could kind of sense a collective "huh..." from the more casual fans i.e. 90% of the audience.

Nothing Compares 2 U - This one got the crowd back and on their feet. Prince was killing the vocals. A guy a few feet away from me got on his feet when Prince did his "Nothing can stop these lonely teeearrs...from fallin," and shouted, "SING THAT SHIT!!!" He was touching people all the way up in the nosebleeds which made me happy.

Angel - It's nice and all but doesn't really hold my attention. I actually went on facebook at this point to brag that he opened with DMSR and that I totally called it.

"Although it's a manic Monday, let's do something else..."

Take Me With U - Andy comes on to sing it with him. GOD DAMN she's fine. And I don't even like girls. Her smile is just...mega-watt...and heavenly. There's certainly chemistry between her and Prince and they totally banged later, I can feel it. biggrin

Prince had to shout for the sound people to turn down the keys during Take Me With U, and it was becoming apparent that not all the kinks have been worked out of the show just yet.

There was a kind of chant at the end of Take Me With U that reminded of the one from Thunderstruck by AC/DC. Maybe someone knows what it is?

Raspberry Beret - Prince introduced this as one of his favorites and the crowd certainly responded. Definitely a highlight in terms of crowd reaction.

Cream - Kept the crowd momentum. Not one of my faves. He did the "I wrote this while I was looking in the mirror" bit again. Yea we know, dude. We've known since the liner notes from The Hits package. You think you're pretty. We get it.

Don't Stop Til You Get Enough/Cool - "Yea..we wrote this, too!" He seemed to be having the most fun during this song and it was fun to watch. The audience was really into it as well and did the C-O-O-L hand signs without even being prompted, which I was impressed by. I didn't realize that many casual fans knew about Cool.

Purple Rain - I realized at this point he had hardly touched his guitar, which was odd. And he didn't have it on during the song, which I thought was even more odd. No solo? Then the solo came and called for a saxophone to do it! What?! Well he finally went over to it, asking,"Can I play this thing?! CAN I PLAY THIS THING!?!?" Big build up, and...the sound is fucked. He literally noodles for a few seconds, takes it off, and throws it up in the hair to the tech. He made it look pretty seamless, but for those of us who had been to the rodeo before, we knew it wasn't supposed to happen like that. The vocals on this were great. He was really impassioned, especially on the "I never wanted to be your weekend lover" part.

"I don't need to be here. I WANT to be here. I've got a lot of love in my life. I don't need your love. I WANT your love."

I guess it's true but it came off kinda arrogant to these ears.

Kiss - this was exactly as he's been performing it since the Welcome 2 NY shows. It had the cute little dance solo at the end which got a good response. I've seen it too many times tho, so the lustre has kind of worn off. The song had everyone dancing and singing and was another highlight.

After a little break, he came back for the sampler set. He kept shouting the "I got too many hits" line. "Call yo babysitter! I'm gonna be here all night! What do you think? I do them all here or I do some here and the rest at the aftershow? All here?! Are you serious?! We're gonna be here all night!"

That was stupid of him considering how the whole thing ended. Everyone was expecting so much more because of what he said.

The sampler set had all the usuals:

When Doves Cry - First verse and chorus

Nasty Girl - Just the intro

Sign O The Times - First verse...maybe second?

TMBGITW - not even a chorus

Alphabet St - again, just a bit of it.

Darling Nikki - keyboard intro, crowd goes APESHIT, doesn't sing it.

Shockadelica - just a taste, no lyrics

Hot Thing - pretty close to full, minus the funky little bass solo he added to the one that was posted on Andy's facebook. This is still one of my faves and a personal highlight.

A Love Bizarre - First verse and a chorus. Big response.

I Would Die 4 U - Maybe first verse?

If I Was Your Girlfriend - full band came back. I've seen this whole thing so many times, I was kind of unimpressed with it all and was just pondering what he would do as the final encore.

One thing I noticed about the sampler set was it really fucked with the crowd in a bad way. They would get all amped up and stand for their favorite song, and then get the wind knocked out of him when he switched the song. It lessened excitment for each song as they all went by, and by the time IIWYG came on, people were hesitant to get excited about it fearing it would just be cut short. I think he really needs to ditch this part of the show. It fucks up the energy completely.

After the song, as I said before, he leaves. The lights stay off for 30 minutes! A guy is seriously sweeping confetti the entire time. He's a few things I heard people yelling:

"How long do we have to wait? It's a sold out show!"

"Get yo skinny ass out here!"

"We have to work tomorrow!!"

"We want Prince!"

(at the guy sweeping confetti) "It's CLEAN!!! Get off the stage! What, do they pay you buy the hour?! Shit!"

"He's definitely having sex right now. What do yo think, man or woman?" lol

"What was up with that part where he did like ten songs in ten minutes? That was annoying."

Then lights come on. BOOOOOOOOO!

It was a really sad ending on what was a pretty entertaining arena show. Everyone was pissed and talking mad shit about him and the show.

Now I find out he did come back. Sorry but that's just a dick move. After nearly everyone leaves? I definitely won't be checking out anymore shows and I would advise the casual concert goer to be cautious. And don't pay a shitload for seats because you might leave disappointed.

"That's when stars collide. When there's space for what u want, and ur heart is open wide."
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Reply #48 posted 09/24/12 11:47pm

bertfuhr

I am sure I missed a lot, and/or have out of order, but here is my best shot at the setlist for Monday night. Some/most were snippets and not full songs.

(Started around 9:12 PM)

DMSR

Pop Life

Musicology

Movin on Up

Never Loved a Man?

Satisfied

(Around 9:33 PM)

Housequake

Old school jam?

The Bird

Jungle Love

Glamorous Life

(Around 9:50 PM)

Old Friends for Sale

Nothing Compares 2 U

Arms of an Angel

(Around 10:00 PM)

Take Me With You

Raspberry Beret

Cream

(Around 10:19 PM)

Don't Stop Til You Get Enough

Cool

Purple Rain

(Encore - Around 10:45 PM)

Kiss

Sign O' The TImes

Erotic City

When Doves Cry

Nasty Girl

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

Darling Nikki

Hot Thing

Love Bazaar

(Around 11:00 PM)

Take Me With You

If I Was Your Girlfriend

(Encore)

1999

Little Red Corvette

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Reply #49 posted 09/24/12 11:55pm

serpan99

Prince at the United Center more fizzle than sizzle

Prince’s concert Monday at the United Center didn’t really finish, it fizzled.

The singer spent two hours working his band and the nearly full house, including an encore, and then walked off stage with a smile and a wave. The lights stayed down, and crew members swept the stage. The crowd waited, and waited some more. After about 30 minutes, fans started filtering out. The lights finally came up, and the remaining fans booed. Then, nearly an hour later, Prince returned to play two more songs, according to some of the fans who stuck it out. By then, most of the arena had emptied.

It was a strangely anticlimactic ending to the first salvo in Prince’s three-night Chicago residency, which also included after-parties at the House of Blues after each United Center concert.

In recent years, Prince has been pouring his energies into live performance rather than recording, and he prides himself on a no-two-shows-alike work ethic. On Monday, he set up in the center of the arena on a stage shaped like the Prince “love symbol” that became his signature in the ‘90s. His rhythm section was arrayed at the base of the stage, and an 11-piece horn section set up in back of the mixing board. Prince and his three backing singers roamed the stage walkways, and played to every corner of the arena.

Prince looked sharp in a black and white tuxedo-style outfit and sunglasses, and he orchestrated everything with the precision of chef serving a multi-course meal: the band, the lights, even the audience. He choreographed solos, drum fills, dance-offs and sing-alongs. The man knows pacing, and the first 50 minutes were like one continuous song, with an insistent Curtis Mayfield tune (“We’re a Winner”) rubbing shoulders with a sultry Aretha Franklin blues (“I Never Loved a Man [the Way I Love You]”). A snippet of James Brown melded with Prince’s rumbling “Housequake” and The Time’s “The Bird.” Only a drippy version of Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel,” sung by the backing vocalists, exhausted the momentum.

Later, a sassy “C.R.E.A.M.” with a preening Prince (“I wrote this song while I was looking at the mirror”) slid into a cover of Michael Jackson’s dancefloor-filler “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough.” It would prove to be the night’s high point.

For most of the opening set, Prince deferred to and spotlighted his band, particularly protean drummer John Blackwell and vocalist Shelby Johnson. He struggled to integrate the horns into the sound – with 11 pieces, the brass section was a bit unwieldy for a free-flowing show such as this. Prince danced with dazzling grace and sang with potency, but just as often he extended the microphone toward the audience to finish choruses. His back-up singers often assumed lead roles; on “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Prince shared the microphone with Johnson.

At some point, you figured Prince would seize the show. But that moment never really arrived. He and his guitar appeared to be on the outs most of the night. The singer picked it up briefly during “Purple Rain” and teased the audience: “Can I play this thing?” Instead of a solo, he played a handful of notes and set the instrument back down. A saxophonist tried to pick up the slack, to no avail.

The encore was strange, too: Electronic versions of some of his biggest hits, mostly without the band. A full-on finale with Prince going nuts on the guitar seemed in order. But, instead he made everyone wait in the dark. When he finally did re-appear, fans who paid more than $100 to attend were in their cars, probably wondering what the heck happened to an evening that had started off with such promise.

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Reply #50 posted 09/24/12 11:59pm

Astasheiks

avatar

Genesia said:

Definitely not the best show I've ever seen. For a while, I thought I had stumbled into a meeting of the Chicago chapter of Oversingers Anonymous. Way too much time and attention given to the back-up singers. The sound was terrible, which I suspect is why Prince barely touched his guitar.

Maybe the sound should have been worked out before instead of being in Vegas Saturday night playing with Mary J Blige... razz lol

[Edited 9/25/12 2:57am]

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Reply #51 posted 09/25/12 3:08am

serpan99

Statement made regarding bad sound @unitedcenter and why HOB afterjam started late. Prince's management likes 2 apologize:

arrow http://www.drfunkenberry....that-sound

"Prince's management would like to apologize for any discrepancies in the quality of the sound last night.


Personnel changes were made after the concert hence the long delay after the show. (Equipment was set up very late at the House Of Blues Afterjam because of this. Andy Allo took the stage at 3 a.m. and the police were shutting down the venue around 3:30 before Prince & The NPG could perform.) Everyone could tell Prince & The NPG were ready to give 150%, They are feverishly working on Prince's clone as well to give 150%.


Prince LOVES all his fans in Chicago and will do whatever is necessary to bring the best possible experience."


[Edited 9/25/12 6:19am]

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Reply #52 posted 09/25/12 3:11am

Astasheiks

avatar

SchlomoThaHomo said:

Well that was just fucking weird. I'm home now and apparently missing an encore that a majority of the arena thought wasn't going to happen.

After If I Was Your Girlfriend, the lights stayed out and the guys came and swept up the PR confetti for a HALF AN HOUR! Then the lights came on and everyone booed, got up, and left. Well apparently not everyone, but almost everyone.

What excuse could there possibly be to do that to an audience and piss off 80% of the people who paid to see you? I'm kinda dumbfounded. Literally every conversation I overheard walking back to my car was shitting on Prince and the show. People were even calling people on their cell phones to talk about how shitty the show was.

The show up until that point seemed to be a pretty standard Welcome2... show. I've come to the conclusion that I've seen way to many shows now to go into a Prince arena concert expecting to be surprised. Maybe had I not seen most of the Welcome2... shows on bootleg, I would've been more surprised but aside from Old Friends 4 Sale, I'd literally seen it all before. So I sat back as a casual observer and gauged the crowd reaction. It was quite enthusiastic for most of the night, which was nice to see.

Here's the set list:

DMSR - Great kick off to the show. I made a facebook status today saying I was going to be having a Prince-a-thon at my place up until showtime, and posted DMSR as the song that would kick it off. I was quite charmed that he opened the show with it. The fro is gone (new wig?), and he's got the relaxed hair with the doo-rag look again. It kind of reminds me of the D&P typhoon look minus the beard. The suit (no outfit changes) Musicology-esque with the one coat tail longer than the other, and it had panels of black and white. Very slightly harlequin inspired.

Pop Life - Always a pleasure, and certainly a crowd favorite.

Musiclology - "Last time I was here was for...MUSICOLOGYYYYYYY!" It was appropriately funky and I thought it was a nice lead-in to the 2005 NAACP Image Awards. Yes, he did nearly the entire thing almost verbatim, except maybe a little less truncated. It was kind of an odd thing to bring back after 7 years, but maybe he really liked it.

Since DMSR already opened the show, he went into:

We're A Winner - this seemed to kind of kill the energy a bit from what I could tell.

I Never Loved A Man - Shelby instead of Tamar, obviously. Good job.

Satisfied - This got a really good response, which kind of suprised me. Maybe people thought they knew it but didn't really? Or maybe Chicago sold a lot of copies of 3121? It was good, and he was blowin.

I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing - At this point I was kind of dumbfounded that he was doing the whole NAACP medley, and wondered if he would really go all the way to Glamorous Life.

Housequake - GREAT RESPONSE! Too short.

The Jam - instead of just the small bit he did at the awards, he used this to introduce the band like back in the 90s. The band really nailed it and sounded sick as hell.

"On the D-R-U-M-S...he's playing a bit too loud...Mr. John Blackwell! Don't you love the sound of real drums?"

I noticed that there were a few problems. He kept having to tell the sound people to turn up the horns. They never really got it together, though. They sounded too quiet all night long. They weren't actually on the symbol stage. They had they're own little spot against the wall just above the circle part of the symbol. Speaking of the symbol, the lights that outlined it kept shorting on the left side of the arrow part. It was kind of distracting.

The Bird - HUGE RESPONSE! People were even getting down up in the nosebleeds. Definite crowd pleaser. He brought people from the VIP section up to dance.

Jungle Love - This wasn't in the original medley and was also fun to hear. He did 2 verses, and also recreated the little dance move (with the backup singers) that the First Ave dancers did to this song in Purple Rain. It was cute.

Glamorous Life - They actually did the whole thing, including the bridge, which I was surprised by. Everyone would rather have heard Sheila doing it lead but you know how that goes.

Get On The Boat (outro) - This segment of the show ended with this part and I think this was when the dancers were ushered offstage.

Old Friends 4 Sale - Prince called for John to do a drumroll to start the song and it apparently wasn't loud enough for him, so he called for it again in a more stern tone of voice. It sounded just as good as the rehearsal, and for a moment the horns were actually loud enough. They sounded great. It's too bad this was one of the few times during the show you could actually hear them. This is obviously a bone for the diehards cuz nobody else knows this fucking song and you could kind of sense a collective "huh..." from the more casual fans i.e. 90% of the audience.

Nothing Compares 2 U - This one got the crowd back and on their feet. Prince was killing the vocals. A guy a few feet away from me got on his feet when Prince did his "Nothing can stop these lonely teeearrs...from fallin," and shouted, "SING THAT SHIT!!!" He was touching people all the way up in the nosebleeds which made me happy.

Angel - It's nice and all but doesn't really hold my attention. I actually went on facebook at this point to brag that he opened with DMSR and that I totally called it.

"Although it's a manic Monday, let's do something else..."

Take Me With U - Andy comes on to sing it with him. GOD DAMN she's fine. And I don't even like girls. Her smile is just...mega-watt...and heavenly. There's certainly chemistry between her and Prince and they totally banged later, I can feel it. biggrin

Prince had to shout for the sound people to turn down the keys during Take Me With U, and it was becoming apparent that not all the kinks have been worked out of the show just yet.

There was a kind of chant at the end of Take Me With U that reminded of the one from Thunderstruck by AC/DC. Maybe someone knows what it is?

Raspberry Beret - Prince introduced this as one of his favorites and the crowd certainly responded. Definitely a highlight in terms of crowd reaction.

Cream - Kept the crowd momentum. Not one of my faves. He did the "I wrote this while I was looking in the mirror" bit again. Yea we know, dude. We've known since the liner notes from The Hits package. You think you're pretty. We get it.

Don't Stop Til You Get Enough/Cool - "Yea..we wrote this, too!" He seemed to be having the most fun during this song and it was fun to watch. The audience was really into it as well and did the C-O-O-L hand signs without even being prompted, which I was impressed by. I didn't realize that many casual fans knew about Cool.

Purple Rain - I realized at this point he had hardly touched his guitar, which was odd. And he didn't have it on during the song, which I thought was even more odd. No solo? Then the solo came and called for a saxophone to do it! What?! Well he finally went over to it, asking,"Can I play this thing?! CAN I PLAY THIS THING!?!?" Big build up, and...the sound is fucked. He literally noodles for a few seconds, takes it off, and throws it up in the hair to the tech. He made it look pretty seamless, but for those of us who had been to the rodeo before, we knew it wasn't supposed to happen like that. The vocals on this were great. He was really impassioned, especially on the "I never wanted to be your weekend lover" part.

"I don't need to be here. I WANT to be here. I've got a lot of love in my life. I don't need your love. I WANT your love."

I guess it's true but it came off kinda arrogant to these ears.

Kiss - this was exactly as he's been performing it since the Welcome 2 NY shows. It had the cute little dance solo at the end which got a good response. I've seen it too many times tho, so the lustre has kind of worn off. The song had everyone dancing and singing and was another highlight.

After a little break, he came back for the sampler set. He kept shouting the "I got too many hits" line. "Call yo babysitter! I'm gonna be here all night! What do you think? I do them all here or I do some here and the rest at the aftershow? All here?! Are you serious?! We're gonna be here all night!"

That was stupid of him considering how the whole thing ended. Everyone was expecting so much more because of what he said.

The sampler set had all the usuals:

When Doves Cry - First verse and chorus

Nasty Girl - Just the intro

Sign O The Times - First verse...maybe second?

TMBGITW - not even a chorus

Alphabet St - again, just a bit of it.

Darling Nikki - keyboard intro, crowd goes APESHIT, doesn't sing it.

Shockadelica - just a taste, no lyrics

Hot Thing - pretty close to full, minus the funky little bass solo he added to the one that was posted on Andy's facebook. This is still one of my faves and a personal highlight.

A Love Bizarre - First verse and a chorus. Big response.

I Would Die 4 U - Maybe first verse?

If I Was Your Girlfriend - full band came back. I've seen this whole thing so many times, I was kind of unimpressed with it all and was just pondering what he would do as the final encore.

One thing I noticed about the sampler set was it really fucked with the crowd in a bad way. They would get all amped up and stand for their favorite song, and then get the wind knocked out of him when he switched the song. It lessened excitment for each song as they all went by, and by the time IIWYG came on, people were hesitant to get excited about it fearing it would just be cut short. I think he really needs to ditch this part of the show. It fucks up the energy completely.

After the song, as I said before, he leaves. The lights stay off for 30 minutes! A guy is seriously sweeping confetti the entire time. He's a few things I heard people yelling:

"How long do we have to wait? It's a sold out show!"

"Get yo skinny ass out here!"

"We have to work tomorrow!!"

"We want Prince!"

(at the guy sweeping confetti) "It's CLEAN!!! Get off the stage! What, do they pay you buy the hour?! Shit!"

"He's definitely having sex right now. What do yo think, man or woman?" lol

"What was up with that part where he did like ten songs in ten minutes? That was annoying."

Then lights come on. BOOOOOOOOO!

It was a really sad ending on what was a pretty entertaining arena show. Everyone was pissed and talking mad shit about him and the show.

Now I find out he did come back. Sorry but that's just a dick move. After nearly everyone leaves? I definitely won't be checking out anymore shows and I would advise the casual concert goer to be cautious. And don't pay a shitload for seats because you might leave disappointed.

Maybe he or somebody in the band had to take unexpected dump and it took longer than usual for the half hour delay before the last encore lol ; if not sounds like Princey needs a fishslap

And it seems like with the exception for Old Friends 4 Sale and The Jam and I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing and a couple of others basically same Set List from the other W2A shows???

[Edited 9/25/12 3:28am]

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Reply #53 posted 09/25/12 4:33am

purpleshadow

thats unfortunate neutral

[Edited 9/25/12 4:46am]

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Reply #54 posted 09/25/12 4:41am

MaddMaxx

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When he needs money, he conjures up a residency somewhere. I'm so glad I didn't spend my hard earned money on plane tickets, hotel, etc. to experience this kind of nonsense. First the listening party debacle, and then - once again - fans treated like complete shit.

When Prince has new music (meaning a proper new album), and when he tours on that, that's when I'll spend my money to go to a concert. No more greatest hits shows for me. He should start doing the Tom Joyner cruise if he has no real plans to record new, exciting, innovative, creative music.

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Reply #55 posted 09/25/12 5:14am

OzlemUcucu

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MaddMaxx said:

When he needs money, he conjures up a residency somewhere. I'm so glad I didn't spend my hard earned money on plane tickets, hotel, etc. to experience this kind of nonsense. First the listening party debacle, and then - once again - fans treated like complete shit.

When Prince has new music (meaning a proper new album), and when he tours on that, that's when I'll spend my money to go to a concert. No more greatest hits shows for me. He should start doing the Tom Joyner cruise if he has no real plans to record new, exciting, innovative, creative music.

He gets no money for this, all goes to rebuild the dream. Your hard earned money means nothing to Prince. It|s all peanuts for him. Remember his relation to money is very different to everybody else. This gig still was better than what he delivered in Cologne.

Prince I will always miss and love U.
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Reply #56 posted 09/25/12 6:03am

pfunkpilot

Same old crazy Prince. Doesn't he realize that if people have money for his shows, they most likely have a job to go to in the morning? It would be much better to have them glowing at the water cooler than telling everyone about a 30 minute delay. He better get it together for tonight's show. You compare this mess to Springsteen and Madonna's recent glowing fan reviews and shake your head. I'm in for tonight's HOB stunt, though. dunce
since Run & Them were saying "Here we go"
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Reply #57 posted 09/25/12 7:00am

PurpleChi

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computerblue said:

PurpleChi said:

That concert was on point! I'm too tired for a full review but the hight points were the revamped set list and his look. Prince was his usual fly self and just the overall showmanship. The negative was that he didn't play guitar too much. This is the first time I've seen Purple Rain played without his guitar solo. That was a bit bizarre. But back to the positives...four encores...it was just outstanding. I am so looking forward to tomorrow. Good night all!

4 Encores? Were we at same show? I counted 1 encore and a 30 minute "Hey I'm gonna keep y'all setting here while I beat the post show traffic to the House Of Blues" psych out.

I counted Purple Rain as one encore. He said good night. Then he cam out to do Kiss. Then he left (even the band left). Then he did the Medley. He left for about 40 min. Then he did 1999 and Little Red Corvette. So yes, I counted four encores.

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Reply #58 posted 09/25/12 7:32am

rdhull

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PurpleChi said:

computerblue said:

4 Encores? Were we at same show? I counted 1 encore and a 30 minute "Hey I'm gonna keep y'all setting here while I beat the post show traffic to the House Of Blues" psych out.

I counted Purple Rain as one encore. He said good night. Then he cam out to do Kiss. Then he left (even the band left). Then he did the Medley. He left for about 40 min. Then he did 1999 and Little Red Corvette. So yes, I counted four encores.

Doing 1999 and LRC after being gone for 40 minutes is not an encore. That's an after show.

"Climb in my fur."
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Reply #59 posted 09/25/12 9:15am

daPrettyman

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Genesia said:

Definitely not the best show I've ever seen. For a while, I thought I had stumbled into a meeting of the Chicago chapter of Oversingers Anonymous. Way too much time and attention given to the back-up singers. The sound was terrible, which I suspect is why Prince barely touched his guitar.

**--••--**--••**--••--**--••**--••--**--••**--••-
U 'gon make me shake my doo loose!
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