Question.... How many of you were hoping Prince would say "Hollywood Ex's" Instead of "Real housewives" During kiss.

that would of been TOTALLY cool!!!

Come on Prince.. . Give Mayte's show a plug!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Prince... I have been a fan since 1980 and I was at your show Monday night.. I admit I left feeling very cheated and dissapointed.... But Tuesay you showed me yet again WHY I love you and your music... You ROCKED.. My hubby and I had a blast.

Thank you so much.
We will see you Tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is rare for me, but I just don’t know how to put words together to describe last night. I have probably seen Prince 30 times or more at this point, and last night was UNBELIEVABLE! It was easily one of the best Prince concerts I have ever experienced. I was so proud of him last night. The way he rebounded from the bad press and difficulties of Monday night was simply masterful. I must say that though Monday’s show was not ideal for an opener after an 8-year absence from Chicago, it was not nearly as bad as some have stated. It was a good show. It wasn’t one of his best but it wasn’t terrible. I will still take a “good” Prince show over most artists’ best any day. That said, last night was PHENOMENAL! There isn’t an artist alive who can touch what I witnessed last night at the United Center.

I bet our boy didn’t get a wink of sleep planning for the masterpiece that we experienced in Chicago on 9/25/2012. When he ascended to the stage with the guitar strapped on, I knew it was ON AND POPPIN’! The setlist was exquisite! The arrangements he chose were wonderful. The sound was great! Prince’s guitar work was otherworldly. Everything was on point. We knew it and so did he! The swag was on 10, and it was simply a beautiful night. Like PurpleChi, I too fought back tears during Purple Rain. It felt like the movie. Someone told him he had better kick butt Tuesday night or else, and he did. He really seemed to take the criticism to heart and pulled out all the stops to make last night unforgettable.

As I said, I really enjoyed myself on Monday night. I went with some real music fans who also said they had a great time on Monday. The main problems Monday were the sound, lack of guitar and the backups taking lead too often. Not enough to sink a ship, though. I have never been to an opening night of any complex performance – concerts, musicals, dance theater, etc. that didn’t have some glitches. Prince still gave the best he could under the circumstances on Monday and put on a damn good show. Some folks just have different expectations. Regardless, anyone who didn’t like last night show needs . . . I don’t know what they need, maybe oxygen because they aren’t breathing.

Highlights

• The overall setlist and pacing of the show
• I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man – fantastic arrangement and performance
• She’s Always in My Hair
• Dreamer
• Act of God
• The extended versions of most of the songs/less medleys
• Less focus on backup vocalists – they are great, but give them ONE song to showcase their talents
• Fewer covers/Covers used in medleys (though I LOVED LOVED LOVED "We're a Winner" on Monday.
• GUITAR, GUITAR, and did I mention GUITAR

All I can say is THANK YOU to everyone who constructively criticized the first show because Prince obviously listened. Last night he took no prisoners. He just slayed us all!

THANK YOU, PRINCE!!!

[Edited 9/26/12 12:30pm]

Best concert I've been to!! Loved every bit of it, just wish I wasn't too shy to dance.

2020 said:

Im actually nervous for The Kid! Hope that sound and guitar shredding is steller tonight!

Live Review: Prince at Chicago’s United Center and House of Blues (9/25)

By Jeremy D. Larson on September 26th, 2012 in Concert Reviews, Hot

http://consequenceofsound...blues-925/

After I skipped some rickety exposition and some shoddy character development, I came into the good part of the movie that was Prince and his Welcome 2 Chicago tour. It was always supposed to be a party, something uplifting for the city of Chicago, as he told TimeOut Chicago in an e-mail interview, Prince wanted to, “PROVIDE A LITTLE RELIEF 4 THE WORKING PEOPLE OF THE CITY, WE THOUGHT IT BEST 2 PUT 2GETHER A SETLIST THAT FEATURED ALOT OF FUN PARTY SONGS AND SOME OLDER CLASSICS BY FAVORITE ARTISTS THAT WERE EASILY RECOGNIZABLE.” [sic, obviously].

Halfway through the set, Prince hushed his band and got on the mic for a mea culpa: “All apologies for all the confusion yesterday. We were still working all the kinks out. I think they’re gone now.” The reviews of Monday night’s show were not all that great. Most said through a veil of backhanded compliments and strained smiles that Prince was “mercurial” and “baffling”, barely ever touching his guitar and opting for more covers, deep cuts, and songs that centered around his brand new funky band rather than his hits.

Last night, Prince started everything half an hour earlier at 8:30 p.m. and rose out of the stage with his Telecaster slung around his back, yellow bellbottoms, silk patterned shirt, and dainty three-inch heels. He soaked in the crowed, slid the guitar around to his chest, and just soloed for a minute above an organ hum. He strutted up to the mic wearing that curled-lip smile, and delivered those special 14 words that define evenings such as this: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today 2 get through this thing called life.”

We were at church, and Prince had the whole congregation eating out of his hand. “I got 17 thousand in this place that can testify can’t nobody do u like Prince does,” he intoned before we all gave our own version of “Preach!”. Every minute of his whole sermon was worthy of a “Preach!” I mean, the second song was “1999″ which turned the whole place up even more — more of Prince ponying around The Love Symbol stage, more solos, more curled-lips, arms outstretched – welcoming us to his Chicago. Two songs in and it was already perfect. Just perfect. I was elated, out of my body, arms folded behind my head in disbelief at the one-two punch. It was perfect.

But the neat part about watching Prince be perfect is seeing how Prince controls that perfection. A small point to one of the back-up dancers, a quick nod to the bass player to give him a solo, a little wag of a finger to the other guitarist (holy shit how scary that be?), and little pantomime of him playing guitar to the pit and up flew his Telecaster into his arms and seconds later he was bending a blue note over “She’s Always In My Hair”. He mirco-managed everyone on stage, tweaking and adjusting, always with an air of encouragement — not like a Buddy Rich or James Brown intimidation. Prince as a band leader and stage manager is just as fascinating to watch as Prince the guitar player, the dancer, the model, the balladeer, the sex symbol, the total diva.

All of his demure, affected poses and gestures during the R&B power ballads were straight Lauren Bacall performative diva shit, and it was a pleasure to watch. All that commitment to “Sometimes It Snows In April” almost matched the climactic release of ”Purple Rain”. But even the entire crowd singing along to the wordless outtro of his #1 ballad couldn’t best the two strongest slow jams of the night. “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man” was simmered down into a pity-me torch song with Prince just wailing his most iconic guitar solo of the night.

Then, the premiere Chicago diva herself Jennifer Hudson joined Prince for “Nothing Compares 2 U”. Just Hudson’s presence on stage was enough to take your breath away, to say nothing of her pipes. Soul phenom Andy Allo took the lead on a couple of songs earlier in the show, backed by that air-tight horn section Prince has with him now, but she just paled compared to Hudson. Seeing Prince and Hudson sing into each other’s eyes like that — I don’t just still get chills, I still lose my breath.

All of this is to say that, yes, it was perfect. Prince played a perfect show. I have no reservations about saying this. I have no complaints. It was fully realized, all elements coming together and flowing perfectly in and out with a tightly sequenced setlist (see below). Prince sang succinct; from his falsetto coos to his funky screams out of the gut. He also played guitar about 85% of the time, with the exception of a teasing piano medley of “When Doves Cry”, “Hot Thing”, and “Mr. Goodnight”. During “Controversy”, he stroked his guitar lasciviously, and later he went just nuts on “Kiss”. He even played Janet Jackson’s “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” — so what more do you want? His aim is divine perfection, and he worked for more than two and a half hours to do it. Sorry for the hyperbole rocking you.

–

Four encores couldn’t suffice, and the ultimate finale took place at the House Of Blues. This set, however, was a more free-form, full-funk jam with Prince slinking around stage in a black pea coat, demanding he got it on the 1 (that never gets old, by the way). On Monday, Prince was a no-show for his after-party, but at 12:55 a.m., the curtain opened up and the whole band was there, soon vamping to “Mountains”. It was funny, because this was the kind of set that a no-name band of top-tier jazz cats would play at the House of Blues on any given night, only it was Prince’s band and good God were they on point.

Prince sang along to a covers of “Everyday People”, “The Jam”, and Gary Moore’s “Listen To Your Heartbeat”, mostly letting the band take the reins (I had written down what these songs were on napkins, but an errant beer at the end of the night made quick work of those notes). After a short set break, Prince reemerged saying that he’s going to take it easy on his vocals — so he played bass, spaced out like Bootsy with the phaser and some slap to go along with it.

From what I gathered, this was what he was trying to do at the United Center Monday night, just have a big ol’ party. “Can we do it like we used to do in the ’80s?” he said more than once during the show. It may have fell flat at the United Center, but the whole was dancing to funk and soul music — whooping for drum solos, hollering after soprano sax solos, screaming after a scat solo — like it was the next big thing that’s going to blow up all over the Chicago scene.

Setlist:
Let’s Go Crazy
Delirious (tease)
1999
Shhh
Let’s Work
U Got The Look
Sometimes It Snows In April
People Pleaser
She’s Always In My Hair
Dreamer
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
Cream
Cool / Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (Michael Jackson Cover)
Nothing Compares 2 U (with Jennifer Hudson)
Purple Rain
Encore #1:
Controversy
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore
Encore #2:
When Doves Cry
Nasty Girl (instrumental)
Sign O’ The Times
Hot Thing
Alphabet St.(instrumental)
Forever In My Life
Darling Nikki (instrumental)
Mr. Goodnight
I Would Die 4 U
Kiss
Encore #3:
Little Red Corvette
Encore 4:
Act Of God
What Have You Done For Me Lately (Janet Jackson cover)
(Theme Song From) Which Way Is Up?
Partyman

This the best concert review I ever read . It was a "MasterPiece"!!!!

did he play a complete version of "act of god"?

and was it done on it's own or sung over the "forever in my life" beat, like the rehearsal from 2010?

good to see him doing at least the occasional 'new' song.

IstenSzek said:

did he play a complete version of "act of god"?

and was it done on it's own or sung over the "forever in my life" beat, like the rehearsal from 2010?

good to see him doing at least the occasional 'new' song.

That's one song I'd like to hear live... P also sang "Future Soul Song" in LA last year...

purplethunder3121 said:

IstenSzek said:

did he play a complete version of "act of god"?

and was it done on it's own or sung over the "forever in my life" beat, like the rehearsal from 2010?

good to see him doing at least the occasional 'new' song.

That's one song I'd like to hear live... P also sang "Future Soul Song" in LA last year...

didn't he even go as far as to say that "future soul song" would become a new staple at his shows?

he should have kept pushing it. but then, it was rather strange to chose that song to play and ask

american audiences to sing along when the album wasn't even released in the usa

i say: pick some more new songs, like 1 off each album musicology-20ten. plus throw in some

alternatives for the current 'hits' being played (paisley park, money don't matter, i wish u heaven,

computer blue, anotherloverholenyohead, automatic, letitgo, space, fury, black sweat).

he's had more singles and hits than what he plays right now. plus, since he's performing songs he

wrote for others, he could pick more stuff from those stores, like Love Thy Will B Done, Cool Love,

101, Time Waits For No One, Noon Rendezvous, Get Wild etc.

however, it's cool that he's been dusting off stuff like "the dance electric". that's a keeper

errant said:

lewdew said:

Break out the violins for this post,if u were a true prince fan and not a "purple rain band wagon rider" -you would appreciate all the stuff he dose and there aint nothing wrong with "shelby" or the set he did on tues -have an issue ,grab a tissue !

If you weren't at the Monday show and haven't read the overwhelmingly underwhelming response to it, please shut your uninformed, not ripped-off ass and go fuck off. Best regards.

Thank you! And that response goes ditto for the Orionforever stan and all of his/her countless stan posts.

Incredible show! So glad I went. It got better, and better, and better as the show went on.

I can honestly say that the first four songs, even though they were hits, were sort of flat. But, he was just getting warmed up. I'm not going to do a full review, but just some highlights.

Loved that he played Sometimes it Snows In April

LOVED, LOVED the slowed down version of Never Take the Place of Your Man

Michael Jackson/The Time covers mashup - fantastic.

Jennifer Hudson appearance for Nothing Compares To U - she was great (and I'm really not a huge fan of hers) and the song was great. A nice little treat.

Purple Rain, a song that while iconic, was never been one of my favorites, but It was really a showstopper live.

The "purple medley" type first encore where he played pieces of SO many hits. Startin with How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore.

All the encores. I was up at the bottom (second row) of the third level, which were fairly good seats, but obviously pretty far away. We waited through three or four encores and were convinced that the concert was over. But, we got down to the first level concourse and heard the crowd roaring again. So, we just walked into the gate on the first level and the usher told us to find seats that people had left or stand in the aisle. So we saw last encore from an incredible spot on the first level.

Prince was "On!" great guitar work, great vocals, great show.

Only complaints - sound overall was good, but horns were sometimes were kind of obscured. And, the protege woman was utterly forgettable. But, she didn't have that much time on stage.

Oh, and shout out to the drummer. The one band member that really stood out.

Thanks, Prince.

[Edited 9/26/12 16:20pm]

[Edited 9/26/12 21:40pm]

Wow, looks like everyone had a blast last night and it was an incredible concert!

So happy for you guys!!!!!!!!!!

I hope this show was filmed!

rdhull said:

I hope this show was filmed!

AND RELEASED!!!!

THEN MY LIFE WILL BE COMPLETE!!!

IstenSzek said:

purplethunder3121 said:

That's one song I'd like to hear live... P also sang "Future Soul Song" in LA last year...

didn't he even go as far as to say that "future soul song" would become a new staple at his shows?

he should have kept pushing it. but then, it was rather strange to chose that song to play and ask

american audiences to sing along when the album wasn't even released in the usa

Prince played Future Soul Song in LA, and The Twinz wrapped him up in a sheet. It was beautiful. I saw him do it twice, and it's really a nice song. By the way, where are The Twinz?

He also played Laydown there.

So really-sound problems were all better for Tues and Weds?

What about the video-did they keep Prince in the frame?

Lighting was good?

I enjoyed this review...thanks. Reminds us of why we love Prince...the experience.

Emancipation89 said:

serpan99 said:

Here's the verified setlist: http://princevault.com/in...mber,_2012

I think it's missing Dancing Machine (by Jackson 5). I'm pretty sure I heard it during one of the encore, when he invited people to come up on stage to dance with him. Hope someone can confirm this...

[Edited 9/26/12 3:31am]

Am I really the only one who remembers Dancing Machine during the encore lol? It was quite brief but still, all the setlist I looked at so far seems be missing this one

Emancipation89 said:

Emancipation89 said:

I think it's missing Dancing Machine (by Jackson 5). I'm pretty sure I heard it during one of the encore, when he invited people to come up on stage to dance with him. Hope someone can confirm this...

[Edited 9/26/12 3:31am]

Am I really the only one who remembers Dancing Machine during the encore lol? It was quite brief but still, all the setlist I looked at so far seems be missing this one

Dancing Machine was def in that final medley. Also, "Love Machine" was interpolated into "Hot Thing" during the sample set.

fusk said:

Jboogiee said:

Sorry for your expierence but Prince is 1 of the greatest performers period.Yeah 1st night was a bad night sound wise which includes other folks like the soundman. Prince's track record as far as live performances is solid so if it's never again for you then fuck it..you look better gone.

So defensive on behalf of Prince... there's no need to get confrontational with trax... And blaming the soundman is weak. Isn't a soundcheck meant to get the sound right? Is Prince not allowed into the venue early enough to do a proper soundcheck and make sure it sounds good BEFORE he goes on stage? Maybe he can't soundcheck until after the stage is set up, and that takes a while... but surely by now he knows how long everything takes to set up, so why can't he just start earlier?

Lots of bands bring sound techs on the road with them... why doesn't Prince do this? I dunno, maybe there are sound guys on the org who can answer this: Can a good soundman make any venue sound good, or is each venue so different that it's a gamble how good anyone can make it sound? Does it make sense for Prince to just hire and keep sound techs who work well with him? Or is it not worth it to keep soundguys on retainer because maybe they're a dime a dozen?

Anybody who doesn't understand that Prince pays the lowest possible prices in the business for everything, and sometimes doesn't even pay at all, should be able to figure out that cheap people get what they pay for, or in some cases, get what they do not pay for.

whenyouweremine91 said:

I don't know who it was, but somebody on the board yesterday was bitching that Prince's sets are getting predictable.

To which I respond

Hahahahahahahahahaha

y

I'm glad I got to see 2 1/2 hours of that 3 hour behemoth, if nothing else.

Nice setlist, but hardly astonishing. How many of those songs were full length? How many songs were watered down with Prince ordering Shelby to shout "Put Your Hands Up," a few billion times?

Prince picks and chooses when to play an awesome show....sad strategy. I wish he had the outlook he had in 2002 for ONA and 2004 for Musicology, when every show was great, and nobody was overbearing over Prince, and cover songs were kept to a minimum. I really miss 2002/04 Prince.

Well go back to 2002-04 Prince & leave this one alone then...

2020 said:

5th encore!!! That is how u do it! Some1 ova @chicagotribune owes my #Prince an apology!!!! My world is officially rocked!

That show(Tues)was Beautiful Beyond! The Best ever! As I Loved all 3 shows-just missed the gutiar in Monday's show & Prince more than made up for that giving us tickets to Wed. show if we had gone to Mon. aftershow-which the sound was horrible & poor Andy didn't have a chance-as my ears were hurting from loud painful noises to the ears many times B4 she even started! It was Sweet to C Prince at Wed. aftershow too! Thanks to Prince who I know had a sore throat & had to pull alot together to make Tues. show a Bomb. & Wed. too! & Tues. aftershow was just amazing! As it is Good to present Andy in little increments & then have her do her shows without Prince-as when People hear the words "Prince" they only want to C "Prince" No1 else BB!