So there has been a lot of negativity around the London gig's, and I understand why that is so. I am not going to dwell on those aspects but wanted to do a quick fan's write-up of the second Koko gig on Sunday.

.

I got to see him at the first Electric Ballroom gig and was gutted to have missed the Shepherd Bush gig entirely. Before 2014 the last time I saw Prince was in 2007 at the O2 (twice!) and then was also lucky enough to see him at Koko as well so I was determined to see him there this time round and try to get closer to the stage! When Sunday's Koko gig was announced I immediately started planning my Sunday, hoping that it would be a repeat of the SBE gig - Leave at midday, arrive at 1pm, queue for probably 7 hours then get a 2 1/2 hour set. I spent Saturday night refreshing the Koko ticket page but on Sunday it became apparent that the "Buy Tickets" option was just a generic link to their ticket agent and tickets were not going to be on pre-sale. Then news broke there were going to be 3 gigs that night. Straight away I’m thinking that I need to get into the second one, so working out the possible start times for each I planned to leave my house at 5, arrive at 6 to queue and hopefully get in at 9. Monitoring Twitter I was seeing the numbers on people’s hands and as it reached 1650's at about 4:15 and knowing the capacity of Koko was about 1400 I decide it was time to go. Sure enough, joined the queue at about 5:30 and was numbered 1718. I confirmed the capacity with the doorman on my way to the queue and so I was pretty sure it would be second show for me! Twitter started to air a few complaints about it being £70 which I was surprised at really as after Kings place there was a possibility, although I admit for 3 gigs you would expect a tenner each. I started to doubt that 3 gig's would happen, convinced that to get people in and out in between was difficult and that once show 2 got underway it would be hard to stop it for another and ultimately I was proved right.

.

We had a great 4 hours queuing with Jason, Maria and Jamie chatting about Prince, music and general stuff. As it turns out Jamie had broken his back 2 weeks ago and was in a body brace! He said he and Maria made a last minute decision to get him to the show (Maria wasn't coming in) and when I started to ache a bit I had to admire his tenacity in standing up for 8 hours! It also transpired that the guy writing numbers on people’s hands was probably unofficial too! Unofficial or not, I think it helped keep the line orderly, although there was still a bit of queue jumping going on as the night wore on but not as much as I saw at the EB gig. Some entertainment in-queue provided by a stranger on a bike with a megaphone and the presence of an old fella in a New Power Generation shirt that paced up and down the queue and we weren’t quite sure why - if he was keeping order then all kudos to him!

So as 9pm arrived the first few people started drifting out of the first set and were saying how awesome it was, so that anticipation grew even more. The queue started to move about 9:30, so again I started to reckon that there wouldn't be a third show. We got through the door, went straight to the floor and got about 20 feet from the stage. I'm quite tall but there were a couple of tall guys ahead of me, so managed to maneuver myself into a good viewing position.

.

About 10:15 - showtime! The girls came out and requested that everyone put their phones away. There were guys with torches who shone them at any offenders but for the most part people kept them in their pockets, which was great! I don’t know about anyone else but a sea of smartphones is distracting and the majority of them will not take anything worth looking at anyway! You may have already seen the setlist, which is at the bottom of this post, but when P fires up a track like Endorphinmachine the excitement kicks in! Guitar (the song) was great as were all the tracks to be honest. For me at times the volume was just too high, and I am not saying that because I don't like loud music, but it meant at times that I couldn't hear all the instruments properly, and also it seemed like Donna's guitar solos lost their rhythm little bit. I’d be interested to hear what other people thought.

.

The sampler set was great for a couple of reasons - when the notes of a classic kick in everyone explodes and it’s a good opportunity for a sing-along. My only grumble is that for me it went on a bit too long, and there wasn't enough vocal from P to make it as entertaining as it could have been. Lianne Le Havas - it was a great performance, but I guess we all want to see P don't we? I have to say that overall P looked like he was having a great time – smiling, waving at people, making a few faces etc he really looked like he was enjoying himself. The band are tight and the musicianship fantastic. Really glad we got Crimson & Clover and Cause & Effect. I would have really loved to get Colonised Mind as well! I personally could have done without Purple Rain and after Encore 3 it started to get a bit boring waiting for them to return (or not!), but I wonder if they were starting to figure out that the third show was looking unrealistic at that stage because I believe it was at this point they let the people outside come in. I got to Screwdriver and decided that at 00:30 when I had missed the last train that the night bus couldn't wait. I figured he wouldn't go on for longer than that - but I was wrong! So I missed Dreamer, How Come... and U Got the Look. I should be gutted I missed the last two, but to be honest I'm not. I had a cracking night, and if I had the choice of paying 70 quid to see Prince half way back of the O2 or 20 feet away at Koko, I know which one would win every time!

.

Let's Go Crazy

Endorphinmachine

She's Always In My Hair

The Love We Make

Take Me With U

Raspberry Beret

Guitar

Plectrum Electrum

FixUrLifeUp

.

Sampler set: When Doves Cry / Nasty Girl / Sign O The Times / I Would Die 4 U / Pop Life / Housequake / The Most Beautiful Girl In The World / A Love Bizarre / Mr Goodnight / Breakfast Can Wait / Screams Of Passion / 17 Days / 777-9311

FunkNRoll

.

Encore 1:

Lost & Found (with Lianne La Havas)

Something In The Water

Purple Rain

.

Encore 2:

Stand By Me

Play That Funky Music

Bambi

.

Encore 3:

Crimson & Clover

Stratus

Cause & Effect

.

Encore 4:

ScrewDriver

Dreamer

.

Encore 5:

How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore

U Got The Look

[Edited 2/18/14 7:31am]

Nice review.

.

I left after "Dreamer" as I had to be up at 5.30am for work the next day and was convinced the gig was over at that point, so I too missed a few songs.

.

I agree it was too loud occasionally, especially when Prince was really letting rip on guitar, but I thought the sound system was really very good - it was just the mix was too one-sided in favour of Prince, and the girls suffered because of it.

.

Speaking strictly personally, I don't think 3rdEyeGirl is his best band. They are a rock band and I'm more interested in the funk myself. Hannah is a great drummer but she doesn't have the funk feel that some of his previous drummers have had, and I don't think Donna is very funky either. Their version of "Stratus" simply doesn't groove the way I'm used to. But they're great at what they do, and that's obviously what Prince wants to do right now. There were a few occasions when I actually thought they were kind of bad! But Prince, even on his worst day, is still better than just about anybody else out there so I have no qualms about paying £70 to see him in a small venue like this.

.

[Incidentally "Stand By Me" is actually called "Train in Vain" to avoid confusion with the Ben E King song of the same name, though in the US it was called "Train in Vain (Stand By Me)".]

tecstar said:

So there has been a lot of negativity around the London gig's, and I understand why that is so. I am not going to dwell on those aspects but wanted to do a quick fan's write-up of the second Koko gig on Sunday.

.

I got to see him at the first Electric Ballroom gig and was gutted to have missed the Shepherd Bush gig entirely. Before 2014 the last time I saw Prince was in 2007 at the O2 (twice!) and then was also lucky enough to see him at Koko as well so I was determined to see him there this time round and try to get closer to the stage! When Sunday's Koko gig was announced I immediately started planning my Sunday, hoping that it would be a repeat of the SBE gig - Leave at midday, arrive at 1pm, queue for probably 7 hours then get a 2 1/2 hour set. I spent Saturday night refreshing the Koko ticket page but on Sunday it became apparent that the "Buy Tickets" option was just a generic link to their ticket agent and tickets were not going to be on pre-sale. Then news broke there were going to be 3 gigs that night. Straight away I’m thinking that I need to get into the second one, so working out the possible start times for each I planned to leave my house at 5, arrive at 6 to queue and hopefully get in at 9. Monitoring Twitter I was seeing the numbers on people’s hands and as it reached 1650's at about 4:15 and knowing the capacity of Koko was about 1400 I decide it was time to go. Sure enough, joined the queue at about 5:30 and was numbered 1718. I confirmed the capacity with the doorman on my way to the queue and so I was pretty sure it would be second show for me! Twitter started to air a few complaints about it being £70 which I was surprised at really as after Kings place there was a possibility, although I admit for 3 gigs you would expect a tenner each. I started to doubt that 3 gig's would happen, convinced that to get people in and out in between was difficult and that once show 2 got underway it would be hard to stop it for another and ultimately I was proved right.

.

We had a great 4 hours queuing with Jason, Maria and Jamie chatting about Prince, music and general stuff. As it turns out Jamie had broken his back 2 weeks ago and was in a body brace! He said he and Maria made a last minute decision to get him to the show (Maria wasn't coming in) and when I started to ache a bit I had to admire his tenacity in standing up for 8 hours! It also transpired that the guy writing numbers on people’s hands was probably unofficial too! Unofficial or not, I think it helped keep the line orderly, although there was still a bit of queue jumping going on as the night wore on but not as much as I saw at the EB gig. Some entertainment in-queue provided by a stranger on a bike with a megaphone and the presence of an old fella in a New Power Generation shirt that paced up and down the queue and we weren’t quite sure why - if he was keeping order then all kudos to him!

So as 9pm arrived the first few people started drifting out of the first set and were saying how awesome it was, so that anticipation grew even more. The queue started to move about 9:30, so again I started to reckon that there wouldn't be a third show. We got through the door, went straight to the floor and got about 20 feet from the stage. I'm quite tall but there were a couple of tall guys ahead of me, so managed to maneuver myself into a good viewing position.

.

About 10:15 - showtime! The girls came out and requested that everyone put their phones away. There were guys with torches who shone them at any offenders but for the most part people kept them in their pockets, which was great! I don’t know about anyone else but a sea of smartphones is distracting and the majority of them will not take anything worth looking at anyway! You may have already seen the setlist, which is at the bottom of this post, but when P fires up a track like Endorphinmachine the excitement kicks in! Guitar (the song) was great as were all the tracks to be honest. For me at times the volume was just too high, and I am not saying that because I don't like loud music, but it meant at times that I couldn't hear all the instruments properly, and also it seemed like Donna's guitar solos lost their rhythm little bit. I’d be interested to hear what other people thought.

.

The sampler set was great for a couple of reasons - when the notes of a classic kick in everyone explodes and it’s a good opportunity for a sing-along. My only grumble is that for me it went on a bit too long, and there wasn't enough vocal from P to make it as entertaining as it could have been. Lianne Le Havas - it was a great performance, but I guess we all want to see P don't we? I have to say that overall P looked like he was having a great time – smiling, waving at people, making a few faces etc he really looked like he was enjoying himself. The band are tight and the musicianship fantastic. Really glad we got Crimson & Clover and Cause & Effect. I would have really loved to get Colonised Mind as well! I personally could have done without Purple Rain and after Encore 3 it started to get a bit boring waiting for them to return (or not!), but I wonder if they were starting to figure out that the third show was looking unrealistic at that stage because I believe it was at this point they let the people outside come in. I got to Screwdriver and decided that at 00:30 when I had missed the last train that the night bus couldn't wait. I figured he wouldn't go on for longer than that - but I was wrong! So I missed Dreamer, How Come... and U Got the Look. I should be gutted I missed the last two, but to be honest I'm not. I had a cracking night, and if I had the choice of paying 70 quid to see Prince half way back of the O2 or 20 feet away at Koko, I know which one would win every time!

.

Let's Go Crazy

Endorphinmachine

She's Always In My Hair

The Love We Make

Take Me With U

Raspberry Beret

Guitar

Plectrum Electrum

FixUrLifeUp

.

Sampler set: When Doves Cry / Nasty Girl / Sign O The Times / I Would Die 4 U / Pop Life / Housequake / The Most Beautiful Girl In The World / A Love Bizarre / Mr Goodnight / Breakfast Can Wait / Screams Of Passion / 17 Days / 777-9311

FunkNRoll

.

Encore 1:

Lost & Found (with Lianne La Havas)

Something In The Water

Purple Rain

.

Encore 2:

Stand By Me

Play That Funky Music

Bambi

.

Encore 3:

Crimson & Clover

Stratus

Cause & Effect

.

Encore 4:

ScrewDriver

Dreamer

.

Encore 5:

How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore

U Got The Look

[Edited 2/18/14 7:31am]

Hey mate, 1717 here

Enjoyed reading your write up.

Great to meet you on Sunday, together with the other guys. I didn't see Jamie again, so I hope the back brace held up for him! Totally agree about the volume. In the middle section it was painfully loud and I think I popped my left ear drum Loved the show overall though and legged it to Kings Cross for the 12.35 red eye!

Will drop you a line if we get to Brixton over the coming weeks! Will bring my loud haler

jasontate said:

Hey mate, 1717 here

Enjoyed reading your write up.

Great to meet you on Sunday, together with the other guys. I didn't see Jamie again, so I hope the back brace held up for him! Totally agree about the volume. In the middle section it was painfully loud and I think I popped my left ear drum Loved the show overall though and legged it to Kings Cross for the 12.35 red eye!

Will drop you a line if we get to Brixton over the coming weeks! Will bring my loud haler

Great to meet you to. Deffo made the time go more quickly! Although we went our separate ways when we got in I ended up next to Jamie! He managed to stay upright but very stationary! Glad you got to the train OK. Not sure i'll get to another Prince gig....famous last words....

Hi, this is Jamie (the guy with the back brace).

It was great hanging out with you all in the queue-definitely made the hours pass quicker!! I'm pleased to say that my back held up, although I was utterly shattered by the end of it all. I so wanted to be dancing/jumping around with everyone else but alas I had to be a little sensible and stay stationary

It was an excellent show. Only the second time I've seen P live, and this show was absolutely the one I'd been waiting years to see. I've always had a thing for rock P! Highlights for me were Endorphinmachine, Something In The Water, Love We Make, and When Doves Cry. The whole setlist was great but those songs really made the night for me. Like many others have commented, there were a few rude, drunken morons in the venue, which kinda surprised me to be honest. I've been tohard rock/metal gigs so I'm used to the roughness of the live scene, but I didn't expect P fans to literally 'shove' me out of their way because of pushing in (which happened at least twice). Small complaint though in what was otherwise an unforgettable evening. At least the people in the queue were lovely!

Oh, and thanks again for your suggestion of driving the car down to Camden; it meant I could stay for the whole gig! Now why didn't we think of that ourselves

DarkOK said:

Hi, this is Jamie (the guy with the back brace).

It was great hanging out with you all in the queue-definitely made the hours pass quicker!! I'm pleased to say that my back held up, although I was utterly shattered by the end of it all. I so wanted to be dancing/jumping around with everyone else but alas I had to be a little sensible and stay stationary

It was an excellent show. Only the second time I've seen P live, and this show was absolutely the one I'd been waiting years to see. I've always had a thing for rock P! Highlights for me were Endorphinmachine, Something In The Water, Love We Make, and When Doves Cry. The whole setlist was great but those songs really made the night for me. Like many others have commented, there were a few rude, drunken morons in the venue, which kinda surprised me to be honest. I've been tohard rock/metal gigs so I'm used to the roughness of the live scene, but I didn't expect P fans to literally 'shove' me out of their way because of pushing in (which happened at least twice). Small complaint though in what was otherwise an unforgettable evening. At least the people in the queue were lovely!

Oh, and thanks again for your suggestion of driving the car down to Camden; it meant I could stay for the whole gig! Now why didn't we think of that ourselves

Glad you enjoyed it! Hope Maria didn't get too bored waiting for you. You must have paid dearly in back pain so I hope it was worth it! Thanks again for the company.