CONCERT REVIEW

BY EVELYN McDONNELL

emcdonnell@herald.com

Whoever thinks Prince's best years are about two decades behind him did not witness the artist formerly known as the Artist's spectacular resurrection at Sunrise's Office Depot Center Sunday night.

The funk/rock/jazz/pop maestro delighted about 20,000 fans by running through a quarter-century of some of his funkiest hits and curtain-rending ballads. Looking positively spritelike in a selection of white suits, and leading a ridiculously tight, star-studded band, the show was a career-defining statement from a talent who had seemed lost to the masses. And it was a celebration of, as Prince's new album calls it, Musicology, in the kind of venue that has housed, as Prince chastised, the rise of lip-syncing.

Yes, the artist born 46 years ago as Prince Rogers Nelson acknowledged the superiority of his back catalog over his current album by playing about 10 minutes of the latter and two hours of the former. Yes, even his current single, Musicology, is, in its own words, an ''old-school joint.'' He may not consider his recent return to the spotlight a ''comeback'' -- artists rarely like to admit their lean years -- but you can't deny the ex-glyph's near-Phoenix-like return in 2004.

AGAIN WEARS THE CROWN

After years of, at best, obscurity, and, at worst, being a laughingstock, Prince has reclaimed his crown as one of pop music's most idiosyncratic geniuses. Prince is dead. Long live Prince!

In the space of the year's first quarter, Minneapolis' pride and joy has kicked off the Grammys with a note-perfect greatest-hits medley, aided by Beyoncé; been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; returned to major-label land in a deal with Columbia; and released probably his best album in 15 years, Musicology.

Admittedly, given his self-indulgent output since abdicating from the record industry in the mid-1990s, ''best album in 15 years'' is not necessarily saying much. But Musicology's title track is a delicious James Brown jam, a classic Prince hit. If the rest of the album dawdles away, rest assured it's nowhere near as bad as such recent predecessors as The Rainbow Children.

CAREER WAS ON LIFE SUPPORT

Many people thought Prince had committed career suicide when he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, revolted against his record company, Warner Bros., and ran around with the word ''Slave'' on his cheek.

But time has caught up with Prince, and in many ways proved him right. He saw the power of the Internet before any other major artist. Riot Grrrls adopted his body-graffiti propaganda tool. And he called the major labels on their greedy, egregious treatment of talent long before Don Henley and Courtney Love began organizing.

IT ALL COMES TOGETHER

Sunday night, he brought it all home. Prince has kept hope alive by reaching directly to his audience through his fan club and website. He got the evening started right Sunday when concert fans were handed copies of his new album as they walked through the door.

The stage was set up in the middle of the arena floor, optimizing sightlines for all. He opened with a meticulously choreographed Musicology, bringing the crowd promptly to its feet. They rarely sat down again, not even when Prince took the stage alone for acoustic versions of such songs as Little Red Corvette and Raspberry Beret.

For the rest of the show, Prince was joined by an excellent eight-piece band, including a horn section featuring funk pioneer Maceo Parker and saxophonist Candy Dulfer, and a phenomenal drummer, John Blackwell.

They focused on albums from the '80s, including Purple Rain and Sign O' the Times. The scandalous Dirty Mind, however, was overlooked; the singer/guitarist/songwriter/producer is now a Jehovah's Witness.

Speaking of signs of the times, as the Office Depot crowd waited for Prince to return for an encore, they held aloft not lighters but cellphones.