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Posted on Sat, Apr. 03, 2004

Prince's Dallas show is all about the music

By Mark Lowry

Star-Telegram Staff Writer


DALLAS - It's pretty gutsy for a musician to have confetti falling from the ceiling -- after only the second song.

That's what happened after Prince opened his Dallas show last night with the title track from his forthcoming album Musicology and then followed with Let's Go Crazy.

That's when you knew no one could dispute that Prince is -- as one of his new song titles suggests -- The Life of the Party.

What followed was two hours of an extended jam session with the Purple One and his musicians on an X-shaped stage smack in the middle of the American Airlines Center.

He performed portions of classics such as When Doves Cry and Baby I'm a Star and teased with guitar riffs from Kiss and 1999. He did full versions of Sign O' the Times and U Got the Look. He dipped way back into his career with Controversy and I Feel for You. He also threw out the occasional surprise, such as The Beautiful Ones and D.M.S.R. And he strutted on the four runways in heels that flashed red lights, and worked the audience into a frenzy.

Make no mistake, nobody works an audience like Prince. It's downright Elvislike.

At one point, he informed the audience, "I do not believe in lip-synching ... I do not believe in TRL ... but I do believe in horns." And then Candy Dulfer on sax or any of the other brass musicians would take it away.

That's the beauty of a Prince show. There are no costume changes -- unless you count him taking off his red jacket and unbuttoning his shirt progressively lower. There are no elaborate sets, save for the hanging strands of pearls fashioned in a cylinder that surrounded him during Call My Name. There were no back-up dancers -- his slick footwork is all that's needed.

Prince doesn't need all the trappings that are used by young singers who have to cover up their lack of talent with flashy spectacle and costume changes.

With Prince, it's all about the musicianship and the music. That's all anyone needs.

This review is great! Great and true!