In the hot Summer evening of August 1st and well into the early hours of August 2nd 2007, I attended my first ever Prince gig, which was an Aftershow at the IndigO2, a smaller venue inside the Millenium (O2) dome in London. The event was taking place right after the first of Prince's 21 Nights In London (as part of the Earth Tour) and so the air was rather electric at the O2 that night.

After queuing for what seemed like hours, the anticipation was reaching an ultimate peak by the time my friend and I entered the dark venue. We had arrived a little late and the band* was already playing 'Can I Kick It', which was followed by a few other funk jazz classics (full listing here).

We were just starting to think that perhaps Prince wouldn't turn up at all and almost coming to terms with that possibility, when something started to stir up the crowd and before we knew it, right there in the middle of the stage stood Prince, dressed in a dark red suit and wearing shades, playing the intro of Billy Cobham's Stratus on his guitar.

I could feel the buzz of his presence inside my veins.

He didn't stay very long and only made a few appearances here and there throughout the show, going back to sit on a stool backstage in between his participations and seemed to observe the crowd carefully from a distance.

This was my very first of many more magic nights of seeing Prince live at the O2 that Summer, the culminating point being when he asked me to dance onstage a few weeks later, making it one of the most memorable times of my life.

*21 NIGHTS IN LONDON 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY*

Did you attend any of these 2007 O2 shows or IndigO2 aftershows in London? Please tell us of your experiences and send your stories, anecdotes, photos, memorabilia, etc (in a private message via

https://www.facebook.com/...4Every0ne/

first).

I will randomly select a few stories from the people who are willing to have them published on my Facebook page. You can choose to remain anonymous or not, it's up to you!.

*The band members on that night were the amazing:

Cora Coleman-Dunham (drums)
Josh Dunham (bass)
Morris Hayes (keyboards)
Renato Neto (keyboards)
Maceo Parker (saxophone)
Greg Boyer (trombone)
Mike Phillips (saxophone, vocoder)
Lee Hogans (trumpet)
Shelby J. (vox)
Guest: Candy Dulfer (saxophone)

[Edited 8/2/17 10:21am]

Time flies. I was both lucky and unlucky with my aftershows. I snagged both the Prince, Josh and Cora power trio and the Nikka Costa aftershows. I wish I'd seen the show with Amy, but wasn't to be. It was surreal seeing nearly everyone filing out of the O2, while the few in the know waited to get in the IndigO. Happy times.

CherryMoon57 said:

In the hot Summer evening of August 1st and well into the early hours of August 2nd 2007, I attended my first ever Prince gig, which was an Aftershow at the IndigO2, a smaller venue inside the Millenium (O2) dome in London. The event was taking place right after the first of Prince's 21 Nights In London (as part of the Earth Tour) and so the air was rather electric at the O2 that night.

After queuing for what seemed like hours, the anticipation was reaching an ultimate peak by the time my friend and I entered the dark venue. We had arrived a little late and the band was already playing 'Can I Kick It', which was followed by a few other funk jazz classics (full listing here).

My friend and I were just starting to think that perhaps Prince wouldn't turn up at all and almost coming to terms with that possibility, when something started to stir up the crowd and before we knew it, right there in the middle of the stage stood Prince, dressed in a dark red suit and wearing shades, playing the intro of Billy Cobham's Stratus on his guitar.

I could feel the buzz of his presence inside my veins.

He didn't stay very long and only made a few appearances here and there throughout the show, going back to sit on a stool backstage in between his participations and seemed to observe the crowd carefully from a distance.

This was my very first of many more magic nights of seeing Prince live at the O2 that Summer, the culminating point being when he asked me to dance onstage a few weeks later, making it one of the most memorable times of my life.

[Edited 8/1/17 15:36pm]

I know thats right!

Marrk said:

Time flies. I was both lucky and unlucky with my aftershows. I snagged both the Prince, Josh and Cora power trio and the Nikka Costa aftershows. I wish I'd seen the show with Amy, but wasn't to be. It was surreal seeing nearly everyone filing out of the O2, while the few in the know waited to get in the IndigO. Happy times.

I too missed the night with Amy Winehouse... so sad to think that they are both gone now

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