Was it a 15 year Anniversary of his infamous gig in Netherlands back in 1988 ? Who knows... Does he even remember that show from 15 years ago ? Who knows...

There were many reports on various Prince websites about this surprise gig only announced a few hours before it started ..

The tracklist looks like this, this hasn't been 100% confirmed but looks to be the N.E.W.S. album played live after an instrumental jam based on 'Shhh!'. Ending with 'When The Saints Go Marching In'. Is this the SECOND time he has EVER played this tune ? The only other time I can think of is during a Purple Rain rehearsal of 'Another Lonely Christmas'..
Tracklist:

Shhh!
North
East
West
South
When the Saints Go Marching In...

Best of all we have loads of pics straight from the gig - Here they are for your enjoyment !!














































Various reports from :

Prince Played One Hour Instrumental Set In L.A.

- Prince and the NPG played an hour long instrumental set Monday (August 18) at B.B. Kings Blues Club in Los Angeles, following a screening of the artist's DVD, Prince Live At The Aladin Las Vegas, released Tuesday (August 19) on NPG Music Club/Hip-O Records.

Taking the stage at 10:30 p.m., dressed in a purple double-breasted suit and white shirt, the rock-fueled R&B act didn't say a word to the crowd as he and his band ripped through a funk heavy jam session including few of his staple hits. However, when the band played a New Orleans inspired version of "When The Saints Go Marching In," the animated audience sang the lyrics.

The preview of 80-minute DVD began at 8 p.m. at the Loews Cineplex Odeon Universal Citywalk. Joined by Sheila E., Maceo Parker, and Nikka Costa, Prince and the NPG didn't perform his massive pop hits of the '80s, "Little Red Corvette," "When Doves Cry," or "Let's Go Crazy." Instead the set list included the likes of newer lesser-known tracks, plus mid-'80s picks, "Pop Life," "Take Me With U," "Sometimes It Snows In April," and "Strange Relationships," from his albums, Around The World In A Day, Purple Reign, Parade, and Sign O' The Times.

Prince also included surprise covers of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," as well as the JB's "Pass The Peas" and Nikka Costa's "Push & Pull." Parker and Costa joined Prince and the NPG for their respective tracks.

Some 150 NPG Music Club contest winners attended both the screening and exclusive performance. Longtime Prince supporters, Morris Day, Costa, and No Doubt member Tony Kanal, attended the festivities, but did not join Prince on stage.


From Housequake.com

Prince concert tonight in Los Angeles!

Hey guys...just got home from the Los Angeles screening / afterparty of the Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas DVD at Universal City Walk in Universal City, Calif. First off, after being at the Vegas show, it was cool to see it on the big screen of the movie theater, though it would have been better if the sound was louder. The theater was expectedly, full of Prince fans who sang along with most of the DVD, which was pretty cool. It was actually almost as good as being at the concert, even though someone who didn't go to the show wouldn't even know that all of the best songs played that night, including all but "Sometimes it Snows in
April" from the hour-plus encore was cut out. But before the show, the people handing out the wristbands and checking in people told the crowd that there was going to be a performance at the nearby BB King Blues club at Universal City Walk. What this did is cause people to leave early during the showing so that they could get the best positions at the show. About a quarter of the crowd exited the club during "The Everlasting Now" which was the second-to-last song on the DVD to make a beeline for the club.

We got into the club around 9:30, and waited around for an hour for the band to take the stage for a short 50-minute set which began at 10:30. Before the show as we were waiting, the DJ switched to mostly Prince music, all songs of which seemed to be fan favorites, which didn't make the wait seem quite as bad.

The band, which consisted of Eric Leeds on sax, Renato Neto (sporting his new Prince circa "Gold Experience-era" haircut) on keyboards, Rhonda Smith on bass, John Blackwell on drums, and Prince on keyboards and guitar, took the stage at 10:30, which has to be the earliest they've ever played at an aftershow, at least to my knowledge. The setup was interesting...there was no microphone in the middle of the stage, and throughout the entire show, Prince didn't talk to the audience or sing at all. The band all wore suits, including Prince, who wore a burgundy one. Prince did not have the mini afro-puff fro this time, but his
hair was longer but in the same style as the cover of the Aladdin dvd.

Here was the setlist for the show:

- Shhh (instrumental)
- East (?) / Madhouse jam (possibly Baby Doll House?)
- Slow jam (without Prince)
- funk jam (west?) / when the saints go marchin' in (instrumental)

The audience went crazy when the drum opening to "Shhh" was played. The instrumental version of the song went on for about 10 minutes, including solos by everyone in the band. Prince pointed at band members to signal who got the next solo. Eric Leeds' solo was random, since there aren't any horns in the original song. During the last verse, Prince played guitar and lipsynched to the crowd as the crowd sang the words. The next jam, was possibly "East" from the NEWS cd, which was a funky groove that included Eric Leeds' sax
on a Madhouse jam that I recognized (possibly Baby Doll House?). The jam went on for about 20 minutes, and again Prince pointed to different members of the band, all of whom got 2 different solos during this jam. What was interesting to me was that Eric Leeds played keyboards during a couple parts of the song while Prince played guitar. The next song was a slow jam (most of which happened without Prince on stage) as Prince seemed to get mad at one of the techs over something. For the rest of this jam, which lasted more than 10 minutes, Prince stayed to the side of the stage, and at the end of the song played a little guitar with his face to the wall, away from the audience. The song also incorporated another cover song that sounded familiar, but nobody I was around seemed to know what the song was. The final song, which was a funk jam (west?) which included 2 solos again from each band member, and which incorporated "When the saints go marchin' in" (as an instrumental) at the end of the song, which also was a 10-minute jam. With that, Prince made a peace sign and walked off the stage with the rest of the band, and the show was over at around 11:20.

After the show, the DJ played a new song called Musicology over the loudspeaker, which sounded like a retro-funk song.

Celebrities spotted in the crowd at the concert were Morris Day, Koi (?) (finalist from Fame reality show),
and actors Danny and Chris Masterson (that 70s show, malcolm in the middle).


From PARADISE7 on prince.org:

First off, I want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! to NPGMC, to Universal, and of course, PRINCE for the most wonderful surprise and treat!!!

Right now, my mind’s in a whirl with all of the activity in the last 24 hours...but if I write things out in bullet points, maybe I’ll make better sense!!!

My thoughts on the DVD Screening:
The DVD screening was pretty cool...but I agree with GetWild that it’s a shame that some of the best parts of that concert were cut out. It’s good at giving you an idea of what the show was like, but it really didn't capture the true feel of what it was like to be THERE...but I’m still getting my DVD and I had a few people tell me they were going to rush out and get it today as well, so it was still impressive nonetheless...

- It wasn’t loud enough!!! People kept shouting for the theater to turn up the volume!! And I think better sound would have added to more of a “concert” feel...but you know, it didn’t seem to matter to anyone - people were still clapping and singing along and some of us couldn’t resist that urge to just get up and dance in the aisles!!!

My thoughts on the aftershow...
- I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that at the end of the screening, all you could hear in the theater were the crickets chirping because everyone BOOKED IT out of the theater during “Everlasting Now” which was the second to last song on the DVD - I’m not even sure they played the bonus track at all...Does anyone know if they did?

- You’re right, GetWild - the wait didn’t seem so bad.The DJ helped by playing a lot of Prince favorites and I’m thankful that BB Kings had an awesome air conditioning system. Even being surrounded by everyone waiting for the show to start, I didn’t feel as smothered and hot even when people were getting their grooves on around me and getting hot and sweaty before the show - I could still breathe!!!...Plus, with me being such a shorty, all the tall people around me usually start leaning and using me as a banister...but last night, with the DJ funkin’ it up, no one really had a chance to stand still...

- There is NOTHING like experiencing Prince up close and personal with people who have never had the chance to go to an afterparty or even see him play EVER!!! My sister, Annie and her man, Anthony had the most awesome time and I’m so grateful that I had this special opportunity to share with them - and for FREE!!! You can’t beat that!!! Now they finally know what all the hype is about!!! And then there's my girl Erika (edouble) who looked so happy - so in awe- that I thought she was going to faint from the excitement!! This was her first afterparty and just to see her face and the tears in her eyes when Prince took the stage really reminded me why I'm a 'fam' and why I'm blessed to have the friends that I have and to have this in common with everyone. This is truly why we are all together.

- As for the star sightings, I remember seeing Brian McKnight and Holly Robinson-Pete standing outside while
we were in line to get into BBKings - as well as MOY from the Fame reality show (sorry, GetWild, its not Koi)...

- Regarding the set list - The only thing I could honestly name was “Shhh” at the beginning and “When the Saints Go Marching In” at the end...of course, I’m used to lyrics to really differentiate the different songs, so the tracks in between could have been any track from NEWS or xpectations for all I knew...But you can bet that I’ll be listening to both CDs again now just to try and figure things out...if at all possible...OVERALL, PRINCE and his REMARKABLE BAND really showed all of us - old and new - that they can jam like NO ONE can!!! The entire set was instrumental. Prince didn’t sing a lick or speak a word - but he has undeniably proven that he can come out and perform and he doesn’t even have to sing a note to blow our minds!!! (sidenote: I do miss his singing, though...I hope his next album has lyrics. Musicology???)

-One last note - How awesome was it that the DJ spun - RETURN OF THE BUMPSQUAD - into the mix last night?!?

Overall it was an outstanding night. Whew!!! Back to reality!!!

B Wyld!!!
Krystina (PARADISE7)
www.thebumpsquad.com


From gnations on prince.org

I was there last night. It was a great surprise to learn that Prince was going to perform after the screening.

Here in LA the screening was also a contest promotion at KHHT "Hot 92" 92.3. There were also a lot of Universal
music executives (at least there were a gaggle of them standing in front of me, so that may have been all there
were), but I got the feeling Prince was doing a little show for the Universal people, too.

I thought the set list was:

Shhh!
North (full version; funkier than on CD)
East (shortened version)
West (shortened version)
South (shortened version); into When the Saints...

Prince's playing was great. He smiled a lot at the audience, but that was it.

The new song "Musicology" is the song from which all the samples come from that Prince posted on the website
and encouraged people to create their own remixes. At first that's what I thought it was -- a fan remix using
all the samples. But then Prince started singing, and the full song went from there. It's a great song, and
I hope he releases it on the music club soon.

It was really fun evening, and it was great hearing all the Prince music. I wish there was a club like that all
the time where you could hang out and jam to a nice mix of Prince songs, old and new. And it was great to see
all the regular LA Prince fans.

and



That's IT !
[This message was edited Wed Aug 20 9:34:21 PDT 2003 by FunkyStrange]
[This message was edited Fri Aug 22 7:08:56 PDT 2003 by FunkyStrange]

Thanks for the effort or reposting those reviews...I'm still trying to catch up!

thanks just thought I would put them in the CORRECT forum !!

Looking very 'Christopher Tracy' in those pix

¡Vaya morrito que tienes, guapo!

Great review and pics, are they actual, fresh from L.A.?

Thank you for posting them.
[This message was edited Mon Aug 25 5:22:20 PDT 2003 by Arle]

Is that a new or old or re-decorated guitar? I dont remeber seeing it before!?

it is a new guitar, well almost new, 9 months old...

he bought it in november in Tokyo


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