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ASB Theatre

Originally I was going to wait until daytime, but I may squeeze it in now. First of all, this show blew the first one away, it was more for the hardcore fans and fams rather than the I have Purple Rain crowd. At times Prince had lost the audience with obscure songs, but as they played on the audience warmed up and joined in.

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I was lucky as I had a better seat only 20 feet above the stage (First one was about 50 feet up) and I could see his face. My seat mate was a hardcore Australian fan and like me he knew all the words to the bootleg and new songs Prince played less crowd pleasing hits and more obscure gems off Sign o the Times and songs he has not played since the 80s. I now consider this show, the finest I have ever seen outdoing the Welcome 2 Australia one 4 years ago. This show had so many twists and turns and was just so great.

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Less chanting and audience sing along and more Prince at the piano noodling and extending songs and just getting jazzy and funky all at once.

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The show started on time at 10pm and Audience were called in from 9.30, unlike first shows no queues and casual flowing in. He started with Love thy will be done and really sang the heck out of it, flowing into a lot of new stuff, first Big City with jazzy Piano refrain and 2 Young 2 Dare with long instrumental choruses. Some of the audience were lost, but not me and my Australian buddy. We were singing words and Prince smiled at us thinking (Those two fools bought my newest albums down here!!)

He then played the Little Red Corvette/Dirty Mind mash up as in the first show, but already it was plain to see this was a funkier and more adventurous show.

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Next was the amazing extended mix of U got the look and the audience joined in, played some Erotic city bits doing "All of my purple life" but stopping before the fuck until the dawn part. He then moved into I wanna be your lover and did the falsetto extremely well and again invited audience to join in. He then asked for the blue lights instead of purple (May I state there was an incredible revolving psychedelic mandala, light show thing through out the shows almost as compelling as Prince), and then with a Blue light, he sang DO ME BABY! and did all the verses, choruses and the Ooohhhs at the end and screamed the falsetto. I was pretty much a puddle of goo by the end of that, hyperventilating and having fxxken kittens.

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This became Condition of the heart, but an even better rendition of it than show 1 with more piano and more emotion in his voice, I think it may have been in reference to girlfriends past, although Vanity was not mentioned at all in either show. There was 5 minutes of Christopher Tracy like piano noodling he plays at the start of the movie (Many people were losing focus and going silent, but not me I was melting again). He then went up tempo for Screwdriver and did a great version of that, revitalised the audience, moving into the Ballad of Dorothy Parker which again made everyone happy. He then did Something in the water does not compute, which went on longer and was really cool with audience singalongs. He then did Strange Relationship and it was obvious he was in rare form, classic after classic, he played a lot of Sign o the Times. By now I was hoping Adore would come.

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Then he did two covers, Unchain my heart by Ray Charles (Although sung more Joe Cocker style) and the Waiting in Vain song, a cover of the Bob Marley ballad, both were superb. Then He played If I was ur girlfriend, again another surprise and one of my favourites live, not a full version, but he moved into of all songs How come u don't call me anymore and again extended the fuck out of it, with audience playing and singing and great falsetto. Prince yelled he loved everyone and blew kisses, and then left the stage, it was 11.05 by now.

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Within 3 minutes he was back and started playing a Joni Mitchell song of which I do not know the name of, but it had the line "The sound of your voice makes me weak) and mentioned a Joni Mitchell story where she told Prince she remembered him as a boy at her concerts and he freaked her out with his stare. Prince then sang the Most Beautiful girl, a similar outing to the first show, being a big hit, the song got a huge reception from the crowd. He then moved into Joni's A case of you and again he owned that song. Prince lay on top of the piano pretending to be exhausted and said, "We could be here all night".

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He then played a sampler type set with about half each of the following songs, Raspberry Beret/Take me with u/Starfish and Coffee. He then did a great version of Diamonds and Pearls moving into The Beautiful Ones. He threatened to stop playing after a few notes and the audience screamed at him to play it. Sorry eyes getting heavy now, so lots of spelling mistakes and shit. Its 2.30a m here in NZ. He then played the I would die 4 u/ Baby I'm a star mash up and did more samplers with the songs Purple Rain (About 3 minutes of) Love we make (!!!! wow) and the Ladder, which became a full version. Then the thing happened I wanted to hear all night - Prince played a short version of Adore, I screamed oh my God and loved every bit of it. i could not believe he was singing my favourite song and he clearly made eye contact with me (He already had when he caught me singing the lines to 2y2d and Love we make). I just loved it and he souled up that falsetto. After that he did Nothing compares 2 u again.

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Then it was Purple Rain and Kiss reprise, by this time, the audience had been ordered to stand since he did Purple Rain the first time, and we were clapping and yelling and loving it. Prince was like a young Elton John on the piano leaping and pounding the keys Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard style and panache. Finally he played most of Purple Music and moved into Free urself speaking of the power of music and thanking us for coming and saying it would not be his last time in New Zealand.

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Free Urself went on for 15 or more minutes and the whole room was chanting "Free", "Free urself" Prince left and came back at least 2 times, finally at 12.05 it was over, the audience were still chanting "Free urself".

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A night that will never be topped. I will comment more tomorrow. Score so far 11.59/10.

Superb review. Love the energy and the atmosphere you have evoked. Sounds a truly stunning show which it unlike anything before. Great stuff!

thanks so much for the reviews- sounds like you had a teriffic time.

Could that have been his own Noon Rendezvous again, as in show 1? It has to be with that line...

Adorecream said:

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Within 3 minutes he was back and started playing a Joni Mitchell song of which I do not know the name of, but it had the line "The sound of your voice makes me weak)

Adorecream said:

the finest I have ever seen outdoing the Welcome 2 Australia one 4 years ago.

You know that Concert is labeled as essential in my country, he was here 2011. It's one of those moments in music history where people apparently are in awe still to this day, even people who never heard about Prince before that show. Your saying some daring stuff right now.

[Edited 2/24/16 10:55am]

There was a moment where it appeared some woman was being escorted away from the front row, and then Prince stopped mid song and said something like "I'm not mad at her, I did the exact same thing when I was young"....does anyone know what happened there?

Amazing show, even better than I'd hoped. Loved it when he couldn't stand sitting anymore, so he stood up, started grooving and really getting his body into his piano playing (which happened quite regularly). 2 encores, nice! I haven't heard a crowd that riled up at a sit down show here before.

nd33 said:

Wow it all sounded so amazing, so glad he brought this tour to Aus & NZ - Opera House was such an iconic night too.

4Eternity said:

nd33 said:

There was a moment where it appeared some woman was being escorted away from the front row, and then Prince stopped mid song and said something like "I'm not mad at her, I did the exact same thing when I was young"....does anyone know what happened there?

I'm guessing she tried to get on stage. There were a few drunk girls doing that throughout the concert

Yes, that wasn't even the bitches seat. She wandered down from the back and walked down the row and stood infront of someone dead centre of stage waiving her arms. It was a quite moment so everyone was seated (noon Rendevous maybe?) SO then as you say, security came from each side and jogged the fucker on. As she's being led away (hopefully to a padded cell or a quiet room for a kicking) Prince stops playing and looks at her and points and says, "you know, I'm not mad at her. when I was 16, I did the exact same thing at Joni Mitchell concert. Years later when I met her and told her, she says 'I remember'"

It was the chattiest moment of both shows. As for the nutter, she kept coming back and getting marched again. Security was awesome. No phones bing waived.

Oh and one more thing.

WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?

How, can I live in Noo Zeeland and yet I just sat 6 metres from Prince playing Noon Rendezvous.

Lust and nd33 are right. About the time when he played the end of kiss, some whit efabric flew on stage at the left side. I was 20 feet up in the air so could not tell if it was panties or not and it looked like them.

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Then the knucklehead they refer too, at the 2nd half beginning, there was another knucklehead like 5 minutes from the end approached from a guard and escorted out like 5 minutes into Free urself, Prince was oblivious as the fan was too far right of him to see. Could not tell what gender, but she looked large. From where i was I could see a flashing screen in that seat. Silly ho/brotha paid $1000 for a front VIP seat and fxxked up by pulling that shit.

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The audience were much rowdier than the first show and there was a lot of catcalling and "Prince I love yous". i forgot last night,just so tired. Just woke up and its 12.30pm (After 9¾ hours sleep!). Okay I was rowdy too, but not disrespectful, when Prince invites u into a room, so he can play his living entire natural brown ass off, and makes a few rules, follow them!

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Quite a few fools smuggled in phones, not me, I just chilled and firtunately bumped into my friends at various times. But I got to see Prince and the second show being well left of him, saw his face and all his emotion. His dedication and skill are just something else!

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Thank you Prince, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart, best $1000 ever sent (I spent at least $120 on Merch - 2 shirts and a poster and about $80 on food and drinks during the day).

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Perth and Oakland California too, you guys are in for a treat, and thank u Stephanie and your partner from Minneapolis, you guys know who u r!

[Edited 2/24/16 16:10pm]

lust said:

4Eternity said:

nd33 said: I'm guessing she tried to get on stage. There were a few drunk girls doing that throughout the concert

Yes, that wasn't even the bitches seat. She wandered down from the back and walked down the row and stood infront of someone dead centre of stage waiving her arms. It was a quite moment so everyone was seated (noon Rendevous maybe?) SO then as you say, security came from each side and jogged the fucker on. As she's being led away (hopefully to a padded cell or a quiet room for a kicking) Prince stops playing and looks at her and points and says, "you know, I'm not mad at her. when I was 16, I did the exact same thing at Joni Mitchell concert. Years later when I met her and told her, she says 'I remember'"

It was the chattiest moment of both shows. As for the nutter, she kept coming back and getting marched again. Security was awesome. No phones bing waived.

In the end it was a really sweet moment when Prince stopped and said that. Brought out the humanity. Big props to the man for being so cool

antonb said:

Wow,what a brilliant review. Can you review all the concerts in future? Well done for keeping yourself awake and sharing those reviews.

Thanks 4 the praise, I made it a mission to get it right for my youtube channel and after the scathing comments I got for my Melbourne reviews 4 years ago.

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Took in a pad and paper and got to learn how to dance with a pen on the hem of my t shirt and the pad on the floor, ever tried to dance, clap and shriek at the same time youre writing shit down, its hard.

nd33 said:

lust said:

Yes, that wasn't even the bitches seat. She wandered down from the back and walked down the row and stood infront of someone dead centre of stage waiving her arms. It was a quite moment so everyone was seated (noon Rendevous maybe?) SO then as you say, security came from each side and jogged the fucker on. As she's being led away (hopefully to a padded cell or a quiet room for a kicking) Prince stops playing and looks at her and points and says, "you know, I'm not mad at her. when I was 16, I did the exact same thing at Joni Mitchell concert. Years later when I met her and told her, she says 'I remember'"

It was the chattiest moment of both shows. As for the nutter, she kept coming back and getting marched again. Security was awesome. No phones bing waived.

In the end it was a really sweet moment when Prince stopped and said that. Brought out the humanity. Big props to the man for being so cool

Oh totally, he was awesome about it and it was a positive memorable moment for that reason But she don't get off that easy for me. Can't stand that sort of behaviour. Probably doesn't even know her Xpectation from her N.E.W.S.

Another thing I find odd, not that it bothers me personally but people leaving a $5 a minute (and once in a lifetime) performance to to go and buy beers.

Basic set list with times and underlined songs, were also played oin Show 1.

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SHOW 2: Most songs complete or ½ormore with piano pounding and extensions.

10.00pm Love thy will be done

2Y2D

Little Red Corvette/Dirty Mind/Little Red Corvette

U got the look

Bits of Erotic City

I wanna be your lover

Do Me Baby

Condition of the Heart

Christopher Tracy piano playing, very melodic like his playing on UTCM

Screwdriver

Ballad of Dorothy Parker

Something in the water does not compute

Strange Relationship

Unchain my heart (Ray Charles)

Waiting in Vain (Bob Marley)

If I was ur girlfriend

How come u don’t call me anymore

….End of Part One…..11.05pm

Joni Mitchell song line (Psycho fan carried off)

The Most Beautiful Girl in the world

A case of you (Joni Mitchell)

Raspberry Beret/ Take me with u/ Starfish and Coffee (Halves)

I would die 4 U

Baby I’m a star

Purple Rain

The love we make (Half)

The ladder

Adore (Most of it with extra soul, winking at me)

Nothing compares 2 U

Purple Rain/Kiss

….End of part 2…..11.45pm

Encore 1: Purple Music

Free Urself … 10 minutes of singalong and training the audience

….Leaves stage 2 times….

12.05 – 12.08am Encore 2: Reprises of free yourself – Show length 120 – 125 minutes

My long suffering wife came to the first show.

She gets in now.

I'm still pretty emotional. It's that mix of WOW, how good was that but trying to recall every moment and at the same time knowing it's gone. I'll probably never experience that again.

hermavore said:

as she moved up the front I got the courage to do the same from row G (sat behind old John campbell)

I think I saw you! Hair in a bun/ponytail?

So, I pretty much lost my shit. For everything.

www.princerecordings.com/...-auckland/

(this is a catchall for both shows)

[Edited 2/24/16 23:42pm]

[Edited 2/24/16 23:42pm]

hermavore said:

4Eternity said:

hermavore said:

as she moved up the front I got the courage to do the same from row G (sat behind old John campbell)

I think I saw you! Hair in a bun/ponytail?

Nah my hair was out, wearing a mid length purple dress (I made it just for him) and one of the younger ones of the VIP section.

Did anyone end up going to the afterparty?? We went but it as pretty much the upper crust yuppies youd see at SPQR on a sunday afternoon all jiving to average music. I had work today so left at 2am with no sign of the man himself. I love P and owe a lot of my core essence to him but I do have my limits.

I'm so upset I wasn't at the first show. I would have KILLED to hear Thieves in the Temple. And Cream. Holy shit so much FOMO when I read that.

[Edited 2/25/16 1:54am]

lust said:

nd33 said:

In the end it was a really sweet moment when Prince stopped and said that. Brought out the humanity. Big props to the man for being so cool

Oh totally, he was awesome about it and it was a positive memorable moment for that reason But she don't get off that easy for me. Can't stand that sort of behaviour. Probably doesn't even know her Xpectation from her N.E.W.S.

I wasnt sat far from her. She shrieked with joy at the start of every song. She didn't look to be the type to pay at least $750 just because she had the money to (Which I suspect was quite a chunk of the VIP crowd as I didn't see John Campbell even getting down to Dirty Mind). Like I know that was annoying to see but she wasn't all that bad. I'm not in love with her or anything.

[Edited 2/25/16 1:54am]

Adorecream said: