I'm a writer for The FSView & Florida Flambeau newspaper in Tallahassee (as well as big, albeit recently indoctrinated, Prince fan). Here's my review of the Jacksonville concert that ran in the issue that came out on Monday, May 10th.

http://www.fsunews.com/vn...e6570cf02b

Long live the 'Prince'

by Matt Gilmour, Associate A&E Editor
May 10, 2004

For the last four years I have found myself listening to Prince's Hits 1 and Hits 2 more and more, falling in love with his brilliant songs over and over again. This cycle continued until it reached its breaking point -- shortly after I finished watching the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductions -- when I finally realized how deep my fandom for Prince ran.

I purchased a ticket for his Musicology Tour and within two weeks I had collected all but five of the 32 discs of Prince material on my list, thanks to the prevalence of used CDs around Tallahassee and a well-timed sale at Best Buy (since returning home, I've completed the collection).

On Tuesday, April 27, I borrowed my roommate's car and drove to the new Jacksonville Memorial Arena for the concert, reasonably well prepared for the experience I was about to partake in. The concert was set-up to be performed in the round, with a stage in the shape of a purple cross and big screens on all four sides.

The arena began to fill up and I had the pleasure of being seated next to two friendly, pretty girls -- Amber and Brynn -- who turned out to also be FSU students. We discussed our mutual excitement about the impending concert until the house lights went out at 8:30 p.m. and the entire arena rose to its feet in a wild fit of screaming.

The screens played a video montage of Prince being inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, featuring clips from throughout his career and a voice over by Alicia Keys, which ended with her proclamation, "Get on your feet and pay homage to the one and only Prince." With that the band took the stage and kicked into "Musicology" and moments later his royal badness rose from below the stage and everything jumped into high gear.

"Jacksonville, I don't know what you heard," he exclaimed, "but you're about to have the time of your life!"

He wasn't exaggerating. Next on the set list was an explosive version of "Let's Go Crazy," complete with confetti bursting from the top of the arena right as Prince broke into one of his many awesome guitar solos. This was followed by a medley of old hits that included "I Would Die 4 U," "When Doves Cry" and "Baby I'm a Star." He slowed things down for the beautiful ballad "Shhh" from 1995's The Gold Experience.

Later Prince sunk back underneath the stage after extended performances of "I Feel For You" and "Controversy." After a gorgeous instrumental break, Prince returned, took his seat in the center of the stage on a swivel chair and began an intimate acoustic set, leading off with "Little Red Corvette," which the audience actually sang most of for him. This was followed by "Cream," "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," "On the Couch" and "Raspberry Beret," during which he teasingly asked the crowd, "What do you know about love?" He broke into the opening lines of "Jailhouse Rock," apologized with a grin and then played a bit of "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man."

"You remember that one from high school?" he asked. "Here's one I remember from high school."

He then led the crowd in a sing-a-long of the Chaka Khan and Rufus classic "Sweet Thing."

"They should teach this in school," he joked and then completed the acoustic portion of the night with "7," with the rest of the band joining in halfway through.

"Sign 'O' The Times" led into my favorite performance of the night, an unbelievably powerful rendition of Graffiti Bridge's "The Question of U" and New Power Soul's "The One." Prince's entire frame quivered as he belted out the bluesy soul-ballad with every fiber of his being, sending chills throughout my body. After that the band went into what seemed like a non-stop jam, inviting audience members onstage to dance, playing lengthy versions of "U Got the Look," "Life 'O' The Party," the Sam & Dave classic "Soul Man," "Kiss" and "Take Me With U."

The stage cleared and Prince once more rose from below the stage to treat the audience to an emotional encore consisting of "The Beautiful Ones," "Nothing Compares 2 U" and a mesmerizing performance of "Purple Rain" that put the album version to shame. Prince thanked the crowd and he and the band exited the stage as the closing keyboard line slowly faded out. The lights came on and I just sat still, trying to find the words to express my sentiments about the concert.

It was Amber who found them.

"That was amazing," she said.

I think that just about sums up the concert. Brynn, who had walked down closer to the front near the end of the show, came running back to our row jumping up and down screaming that she managed to touch Prince's hand. Her and Amber ran from the arena in ecstasy, leaving me to reflect on how privileged I was to have seen one of rock 'n' roll's true living legends in concert.

Like Alicia Keys said in her induction speech: "There are many kings, but there is only one Prince."

E-mail A&E@fsview.com with your thoughts and comments.

"... how privileged I was to have seen one of rock 'n' roll's true living legends in concert."

Oh yeah! thats exactly how I felt...

cool review, thanx 4 sharing.


did U get their number?!? (Amber & Brynn)

Prince's liveshow rep will feed him until the end of time. He is without a doubt the baddest all around performer of all time! I can't wait for the dvd.

Cool Review. It was a Great show.

its amazing how the HOF performance persuaded someone to buy 30 prince albums. by which i mean, how many other people went out and bought just one? we know that very best of and musicology are doing well. and PR shifted about 6k week musicology came out. and hits 1 and 2 a couple of thousand each. but id love to see how figures of his other albums did. i mean, even if its just a few hundred, bet it all adds up. saying that, how many people will have bought em all second hand and shit too.

Thanks for sharing that review. I'm so glad to hear that you had a ball at the concert. My day will come 2 weeks from tomorrow. I can't wait!

MntyPythU2 said:

I wish I could go back to those first listenings to Around the World, Parade, Sign of the Times, 1999, Controversy, Purple Rain, as well as the B-Sides, the extended versions, not to forget the associate albums: Sheila E., The Time, Madhouse, Jill Jones, The Family...

David.
--

i was there also, it was completely AMAZING!!!!!

Thanks everyone for your kind words--glad you liked the review.



ha ha, no, I did not. I emailed them to let them know that the commentary ran, but I haven't heard a response back. I sure hope they liked it.



That's true, I hadn't thought about that. I mean, like I said, it wasn't just the HOF performance, it was everything finally reaching a head and me going, "This is BS--i should have ALL his albums, not just the damn collections". And actually, it was the montage more than his performance showing me all these highlights that helped push me over.