http://www.startribune.co...94655.html


Last update: March 30, 2004 at 8:24 PM
Satellite concert shows Prince can still strut his stuff

Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune
March 31, 2004


With a look and energy reminiscent of Elvis' legendary
1968 "Comeback Special," the live satellite broadcast of Prince's
Los Angeles concert Monday night to 31 movie theaters nationwide was
a production fit for a king.

Go ahead and call it a comeback. The unstoppable momentum inside
L.A.'s Staples Center, where the singer began his heavily
hyped "Musicology" tour, was not lost on the Twin Cities fans
watching from 1,500 miles away.

The Regal Cinema 20 in Brooklyn Center -- just a few miles from the
north Minneapolis neighborhood where Prince grew up -- showed the
two-hour, 15-minute concert on two screens to about 700 sold-out
seats. Prince was not the first artist to take advantage of this new
satellite technology, but he's undoubtedly the first to use it so
successfully.

Playing on an in-the-round stage, with his musicians and fans
surrounding him, the 5-foot-5 singer loomed large on screen the same
way he did 20 years ago when "Purple Rain" hit theaters.

Broadcasting it from L.A. had its benefits, too. The cameras panned
the audience preshow and came up with a rather telling array of
celebrity fans, including Eddie Murphy, Tim Allen, Hilary Duff and
Stevie Nicks. The concert's set list and staging were so well paced
and executed, it would be tragic to give away too much and risk
spoiling his three St. Paul concerts, June 16-18, at the Xcel Energy
Center. Suffice it to say that the in-the-round setting perfectly
suits the guy. At 45, Prince still struts around tirelessly and eats
up the spotlight like a 20-year-old glutton.

It wasn't a perfect concert. Some of the instrumental solos were too
long, including a couple by Prince on guitar (although his lead
in "The Question of U" was amazing). Also, the restless rocker still
has an annoying habit of cutting songs short, which he did to "When
Doves Cry."

But the scant missteps were made up for by the fact that Prince also
didn't make the oldies-laden show a walk in the park. He made many
of the old hits feel original with either new arrangements
(unplugged versions of "Little Red Corvette" and "7" worked
magically) or with fresh passion ("Purple Rain" and "Sign O' the
Times" sounded better with nostalgia).

Obviously, the purpose of Monday's live satellite broadcast was to
promote the $45 to $75 tickets on sale for the rest of the tour. The
theater show cost a reasonable $15, which included a free copy of
Prince's new "Musicology" CD (in stores April 20).

If hype was what Prince was pulling, then that's just one of his
many talents that the satellite broadcast proved he hasn't lost.

Chris Riemenschneider is at chrisr@s....

5-foot-5... oh boy that's funny.

twin663 said:

co-sign!

I have stood next to Prince and there is no way he is 5'5.