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Entertainment News
Rock Hall inductee Prince wears his crown proudly
04/16/04
John Soeder
Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic

As purple spotlights cut through theatrical fog, a roar from the crowd greeted "Sign O' the Times" and its bass-heavy groove:
B-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM. . .BWOMP! B-BOOM-BOOM. . .

Dressed to thrill in a sleeveless red tunic and gold bling-bling, Prince wasn't ready to throw in the towel after his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Instead, the rock-pop-funk powerhouse from Minneapolis strutted across the stage of Club Black in the wee hours of March 16, triumphantly waving a towel in the air.

"Let's fall in love, get married, have a baby / We'll call him Prince if he's sexy," he sang, taking some fun liberties with the lyrics.

If his show Saturday night at Gund Arena is half as exciting, concertgoers are in for a treat.

In the wake of the Rock Hall ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, Prince headlined a semi-exclusive gig across town for members of his NPG Music Club.

Outside, bouncers refused to let some fans into the jam-packed venue (capacity: 2,400) until fire inspectors and police officers had a look-see. Four revelers had overdosed at a dance party there two nights earlier.

Inside, Prince gave shout-outs to the VIPs in attendance, including Chris Rock, Lenny Kravitz and Dave Chappelle.

"Make you proud to be who you are, huh?" said Prince, 45. (Or, in alphanumeric Prince-speak: "Make U proud 2 B who U R, huh?")

Alicia Keys and OutKast members Andre "3000" Benjamin and Antwan "Big Boi" Patton were in the audience, too. They had welcomed Prince into the Rock Hall at the induction gala.

"When I first started out in the music industry, I was most concerned with freedom freedom to produce, freedom to play all the instruments on my records, freedom to say anything I wanted," Prince said during his acceptance speech.

"But a word to the wise: Without real spiritual mentoring, too much freedom can lead to the soul's decay."

Clearly on a roll since his scene-stealing performance at the Grammy Awards in February, Prince jump-started the Rock Hall festivities with a breathtaking miniset of "Let's Go Crazy," "Sign O' the Times" and "Kiss." He stuck around long enough to add a searing guitar solo to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," sung by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne toward the end of the ceremony in honor of another Hall of Famer, the late George Harrison.

Then it was off to Club Black for Prince and his airtight New Power Generation band, anchored by drummer John Blackwell and beefed up with a four-piece horn section featuring sax players Candy Dulfer and Maceo Parker.

The after-hours jam mixed "Controversy," "Nothing Compares 2 U," "U Got the Look" and other blasts from the past with selections from Prince's new CD, "Musicology," his strongest album in at least a decade. It comes out Tuesday through Columbia Records.

Concertgoers can get a free copy of "Musicology" Saturday night at Gund Arena or at any of the other stops on Prince's latest arena tour, hyped as a last chance to hear some of his greatest hits.

"Wish I had a dollar for every time you say / Don't you miss the feeling music gave you back in the day?" he sings on the new disc's infectious title track, amid nods to Earth, Wind & Fire, James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone.

The rest of "Musicology" is steeped in old-school sounds, too, from the funky parable "Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance" to the topical pop-rock tune "Cinnamon Girl" (not a cover of the Neil Young oldie) to "Dear Mr. Man," a Marvin Gaye-like piece of social commentary.

Nearly two hours after it began, the Club Black show climaxed with a tambourine-shaking Prince in fine falsetto for "Kiss," prefaced with a bit of the Sam & Dave gem "Soul Man."

The house lights came up shortly before 3:30 a.m., sending fans blinking onto the deserted sidewalks of Hell's Kitchen, a heavenly Prince performance still ringing in their ears as they headed off finally to bed.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jsoeder@plaind.com, 216-999-4562