Prince brings funk to town
2004-04-07
By David Morris
NewsOK.com


Prince and the New Power Generation like it funky. Prince brought his latest world tour, "Musicology," to the Ford Center in downtown Oklahoma City on Tuesday night, supporting the soon to be released album of the same name.

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Prince concert review

Who: Prince, with the New Power Generation.
What: "Musicology" world tour, sixth stop on tour.
When/where: 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Ford Center, Oklahoma City.
Genre: R&B, jazz, blues, pop.
Rating: A+

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After an almost hour delay, the lights lowered at 8:20 p.m. The show opened with a quick video montage of Prince's greatest hits, accompanied with a replay of the lovely Alicia Keys' induction speech from late last year when Prince entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"There are many kings, but there is only one Prince," praised Keys. "Only one man who has defied restriction, defied the obvious and all the rules of the game."

From there a funkfest commenced.

After the opening groove, the James Brown-like "Musicology" title track, Prince wasted no time getting into the stuff fans knew by heart, led by "Let's Go Crazy," and the party was on - complete with confetti streaming from the rafters.

The "Musicology" tour is rumored to feature some of the final performances of some of his classics. Yeah right. Heard that one before. Cher's Farewell Tour has played the Ford Center how many times?

Prince, 45, ripped through some of his hits, clearly wanting to showcase his new stuff and to make a point:

"I BELIEVE IN FUNKY MUSIC!" he screamed, whipping the crowd into frenzy. Then he took it a step further.

"There's been a lot of lip-syncing on this stage since I was last here," he said to cheers and laughs. "We have real music because we have real musicians."

After taking that shot at Britney and others, Prince launched into a series of songs from "Musicology." Clearly the crowd was ready to party to the oldies and barely knew the new release, a danger of going on a world tour before the CD is even released.

Prince may defy restrictions or even pronounceable names (remember the days of The Artist Formerly Known As?). But there's no getting around one fact: this cat has major talent. His blues solo midway through the show was reminiscent of Stevie Ray Vaughan, a lofty achievement in itself.

You remember the solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony? Rolling Stone magazine called it "devastating." Prince gave several stunning glimpses of his talent during the live show.

The stage was a cross-shaped, simple layout in the round with the usual light show. Prince was wheeled to the stage inside an equipment box, and appeared to leave in similar manner. Not many pull off the red, glittering heels though.

Fans were delayed getting into the Ford Center due to security, but were treated to a free copy of the new "Musicology" CD.

This seems to be a trend by major artists, George Michael says his next album will be released free online. I'm sure that makes Sony happy. Prince has had label problems with Arista and Warner Bros. and is now signed with Columbia. With all the fuss over pirated music, Columbia can't be too pleased with the Artist giving away his product. But the fans, who paid $45-$75 or more per ticket depending on service charges, probably feel they already paid for it. And good for them.

Like U2 and Bruce Springsteen, while the CD is good, it's better live. "Musicology," the opening track, is pure Motown live, but sounds restricted on CD.

Some have complained about the sound in the Ford Center, and perhaps it still depends on where you're sitting. To me, the Rolling Stones didn't sound that great. I've heard some say Elton John was hard to understand, while others had no problem. Regardless, from my perch, the New Power Generation sounded in fine form.

Saxophonist Mike Phillips may not have wowed 'em in Big D last weekend, but he was smokin' hot in OKC. Phillips provided a stunning sax solo, one of many solos various band members had while flexing the NPG's music skills. Unfortunately, jazz sax legend Maceo Parker, who played during several tour/club warm ups earlier this year, did not play.

Now a Jehovah's Witness, Prince has dialed the perversity way back, except for innuendo in his lyrics. There was very little explicitness - save the couple in front of me who went strong for 2 straight hours - on stage.

Perhaps the highlight of the show came towards the end of the set, when Prince had several females and one guy from the audience join him onstage. During "Kiss," the Clark Kent-looking dude, with arms flailing, attempted to get his groove on, and to his credit, Prince gave him props instead of embarrassing the guy.

Unlike the tour opening stop in Reno, security did not escort anyone off the stage for touching Prince. After opening in Reno, Prince played Staples in L.A., then Bakersfield and Phoenix before Dallas on Friday. Next up, Omaha on Wednesday.

After a long, and I mean annoyingly long, wait for the encore, Prince sat on a barstool mid-stage and performed an acoustic version of "Little Red Corvette" and "7," before closing with a powerful version of "Purple Rain."

Eh???

Anxiety said:

I didn't get that one either.

...set-list please?

Anxiety said:

Just an example of bad writing. There was little explicitness on stage, however there was a couple in front of him who was explicit. Just that the way it is written makesit appear that the couple was on stage for 2 hours going at it.

i'm 95% sure on the accuacy-

musicology
lets go crazy
i would die 4 u
doves cry
baby i'm a *
shh
dmsr
love biz/glam life intro
i feel 4 u
contoversy
god instr.
beautiful ones
nothing compares 2 u
insatiable (w/ a few lines from 'call my name')
sign o the times
the ride
lets work
u got the look
life o the party (w/ 'crazy in love')
soul man
kiss (w/777-9311)

acoustic-
lil red corv
sometimes it snows
never take the place of
'some people call me crazy' tune
7
purple rain intro

purple rain

correction...

he did the 'crazy in love' bit during 'let's work'...

also, sometime in the middle of the show, he did the 'freaks on side' routine with candy...

i also forgot, he did do 'take me with u'...