Web Posted: 06/10/2004 01:47 AM CDT

Hector Saldana
San Antonio Express-News


Instead of "Musicology," maybe Prince should have named his acclaimed tour "A Beautiful Mind — Lite."

Prince’s school of musicology was in session Wednesday night at the SBC Center, and rock’s purplest genius staged a somewhat schizophrenic, horn-driven show guaranteed to purple rain on any notion that he’s on a comeback quest or into nostalgia very much.

But if this near sell-out audience wanted delirium, it too often had to settle for too many long instrumental jams and truncated takes on some of his biggest hits.

Starting an hour late, the show opened with a brief video clip of Alicia Keys inducting Prince into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year. The "mysterious figure" she so praised came up through the floor to open with the title track of his latest album, "Musicology, a funked-up "back-in-the-day" number that let the star show off some sweet moves.

Prince’s stylish nine-piece band — the New Power Generation — powered his songs with choreographed virtuosity. But occasionally the brilliance grew tedious.

But Prince was going to teach this class his way (read: not like the record).

"Welcome to the real jam of the year," Prince announced after the opening number. "We’re just getting started, y’all."

He strapped on a Fender Telecaster to blast confetti out of the sky on "Let’s Go Crazy" and donned a white fedora on "When Doves Cry." By the fifth song, he was making a costume change.

The cheers were deafening (usually only when prodded incessantly by Prince) for the 140-minute show, leaving most fans happy, but at least a few feeling more blue than purple.

"I was too young to see him the first time," said Roxi Baros, 33, who came to hear "When Doves Cry" and "Let’s Go Crazy." When the lights went down, another thirtysomething squealed: "I’m not ashamed to admit it. Prince was my first love." They were happy.

But one obviously frustrated female fan screamed" "This sucks. We’ve all been had. I didn’t come here to here Morris Day or Sheila E music." She left early; nobody else did.

Midshow, Prince performed a solo acoustic set that included breezy, jazzy versions of "Little Red Corvette," "Cream," "Raspberry Beret" and "Pink Cashmere." Most appealing was the loose kidding between the reclusive pop icon and his adoring fans.

"Sign O’ the Times" and "The ? of U" reintroduced electricity, with Prince combining Jim Hendrix guitar seduction and James Brown drama on the latter. "U Got the Party," "Life O’ the Party" and "Soul Man" were joyful and funky.

The party mood continued with His Purpleness prancing and dancing and bringing up several women from the audience to dance and sing along. One Tyra Banks lookalike in a plaid miniskirt, flip-flops and tank top was thrilled afterward.

"It was a rush," said Staci Carter, 21, a University of Texas at Austin student who while onstage flashed the hook ’em sign. "They just pulled me out of the crowd."

A generous encore included Prince’s superior take on "Nothing Compares to U" and, of course, an extended "Purple Rain." The lesson learned? Prince’s set list might be dominated by his past, but he dominates the music. School’s out.

the show was great!!!


see yall tomorrow in Dallas!

"He strapped on a Fender Telecaster "

or.....maybe it was a hohner!

I was there!! And the show was better than the one in dallas on Apr 2nd!!! I dont know how he did it, but he topped it. I will be there tomorrow in Dallas again, I Anticipate a better crowd, although i was kinda suprised at how well the crowd reacted to the show. I hope he does "Call my Name" in dallas. The guy doing the review obviously is not a prince fan, but seems like he did enjoy the show. Cant wait til tomorrow!!

see ya there too!

IIRC, this is the FIRST negative press review of this tour. Amazing, isn't it!

To the fan who left, 20 second chants of "oo-ee-oo-ee-oo" and 30 second portions of "A Glamorous Life" p*ssed you off enough to leave? Whatever.

. "U Got the Party," "Life O’ the Party" and "Soul Man" were joyful and funky.




U Got the Party???

try U got the look

I am not sure what the newspaper guy is talking about-the stadium was packed. Everyone I saw was having a great song. Yes there was a Time (777) ans Shelia E (love bizarre) segment but only snippet of the songs. The show was off the hook. Prince as always turned it out. I think the reviewer would have been more happy at country concert or one filled with people lip synching-but instead he got real musician. Something he apparently is not used to.



Peacen-b wild

jsb23nc said:

Yep, seems to be the first one. Not bad I'd say.

I cant wait for tomorrow

woo hoo!!!!!

Don't pay any attention to any of the reviews. Go to the show and decide for yourself. We all know it's more or less a "greatest hits" concert and we also know that he always gives his band time to do their thing, which is cool for me. I will be seeing him in July when he comes to my hometown and I know I will love it, but I am really looking forward to the tour after this one when he does new music.

What a weird review. I can't tell what he didn't like about it
and:
"occasionally the brilliance grew tedious"?!
I get soooo tired of brilliant music!

pluvv2002 said:

This chick was tripping cause she basically wore a very short mini-skirt and I assume a thong underneath. Basically all of us on that side of the floor were staring at her bare ass. Was too funny when the sound guy saw her and looked back at me like . Sucks that she's a longhorn

Anyway, the show was cool. Pretty much the same routine he's been doing during this leg of the tour. Personally, I the like the songs he's performing now during the aucoustic set, but I think it worked better at the end of the show than in the middle.


.
[This message was edited Thu Jun 10 14:10:58 2004 by Universaluv]

Sounds like this reviewer wasn't really listening.

I too was at this show (and the show in Dallas April 2), and I must concur, this show was better. The acoustic set was longer (with the additions of "Cream," "Pink Cashmere," and "ICNTTPOYM." And no one anywhere has mentioned that Prince played his black bass guitar for a portion of the show!! My wife was wearing her "Baby's 2nd Prince Concert" shirt...we were in section F and had much better floor seats than the Dallas show. Mike Scott was having fun with our side of the stage.

Maceo was there, too...don't know if that has been mentioned. We were thrilled to see him there with Candy and Mike Phillips.

An awesome show -- wish we could make it to Dallas Friday night, too, but two shows this year is gonna have to do it for us.

pluvv2002 said:

I was there too!! Next to you bro! I agree with my brother it was an awesome show! There are no words to express the show other than I want to see it again! That newspaper columnist doesnt know music when he hears it. But thats ok because us diehard Prince fans know the truth!

This review is a bunch of He's obviously not a fan. He was probably only at the show because of his media credentials and not because he was a paying customer and fan. Besides, what does he know about music itself anyway? If he knew anything, he'd being making it instead of criticizing it. He proves both of these points by not knowing the names of the songs and by not knowing the difference between the Fender and the Hohner. These flaws are ok for anyone that just likes Prince, but not for a real fan or someone claiming to be an expert. Sure, he never claimed to be an expert, in his review, but he shouldn't be writing one in the first place. Besides, its just as Prince has been saying for a long time, its about the music. Hey Mr Saldana, you weren't listing last night were you? Didn't you hear Prince talking about real music and no lip synching? You've been listing to too many of those teenie boppers.

Trust me, this show was AWESOME!! I was one of the lucky club members that got front row seats (sec F7 Row 1, seats 3,4). I took my 8 yr old daughter with me and we had a blast My daughter had Rhonda point and sing to her, John gave her a drumstick, and she shook Prince's hand!! You shoulda seen the look on her face when she touched Prince. It was PRICELESS. I was so excited for her. My lifting her up everytime they came to our catwalk to get their attention really paid off, but boy was I tired after that spectacle!! This was the best show ever. I didn't see one flaw, except maybe for John breaking that poor little drumstick midway through the show by beatin' the heck out of it.

Anyway, don't listen to any of these fools writing reviews, they aren't experts, its just their job to write. If they don't know what their talking about, they just make it up to make it interesteing.

This article is WHACK, from the title on. WTF??

CalhounSq said:

-----
I can't believe that anyone can go to a concert a complain that the songs did not sound like the orginal recordings and to complain about long instrutmental jams !!!!

What is going in some people's minds?

PhantomPrinc said:

That's so awesome that that was your daughter! I thought the show was off the hook - totally amazing! That man can play! My friend and I drove all the way from Houston and arrived during probably the worst weather of the whole year. The crowd in San Antonio was great - most of them had braved flood waters to be there! I'm hoping to see him again in Houston when he comes. SBC Center was a great place to see a concert and we had amazing seats (5th row floor).

My fav parts were the acoustic part and the encore. The only low point for me was hearing teeny versions of When Doves Cry, Let's Go Crazy, and 7 instead of the whole thing.

Hey everyone here is the email address of the "so-called reviewer" -- hsaldana@express-news.net .. I sent him an email to let him know what moron he is, politely of course, but I LET HIM HAVE IT. Hes given S.A. a bad name!! C u all 2nite if ur gonna be in BIG D!! sup bro!!

CalhounSq said:

Exactly and why is there a thumbs up next to the title...

Funny how some people can be disappointed when they don't get to here what they want....

I guess there are those who want everything to sound like it would on the radio, aka pre-packaged, pre-recorded tracks, pre-recorded vocals....LIP SYNCING!

People have forgotten what REAL music is like and how all of the subtle improv and mood of the performers can really change the flow of a concert from one night to the next. This is one of the biggest reason why people like many of us will pay $$$ to see multiple shows, each will always have they're own flavor. If you went to a Britney, Madonna, Janet show you would get the same regurgitated crap night after night (Isn't that what MTV and VH1 are for??).

After the House of Blues show last Saturday I heard more than one person complaining about how he didn’t' do any of his songs and how they felt ripped off. They had no idea about how an after show was more like an all night jam session where as musicians they can let loose, let alone not realizing what a treat it was to see these performers getting to shine.

/rant

DS

laurarichardson said:

I'm not surprised by the reaction...he's Texan, remember??

rainbowchild said:

Hey his review sucked but it wasn't b/c he is a Texan. These people drove through life-threatening floods to make it to the show in San Antonio Wednesday night. And i drove all the way from Houston to get there. These are some FANS!

laurarichardson said:

- The reviewer probably wasn´t there for the music only. Probably after those concert gimmicks, dancing, basketball, etc from the 80s days. Now it´s different. Prince is more ´clean´ and never focused so much on the music as he is doing lately.
[This message was edited Fri Jun 11 13:44:02 2004 by GustavoRibas]

doninsocal said:

GOOD RANT, dude

matttx00 said:

A-FRICKIN'-MEN -- we showed Prince some of our worst weather in Texas, and many of the roads to the SBC Center were closed due to flooding. But the place was packed and LOUD...as loud as Dallas back in April, and the Dallas arena was larger.

Doozer said:

No, being a Texan didn't have anything to do with it. I'm originally from Cali, but have lived in Texas for over 23 yrs now. I have to admit I was a little concerned over how San Antonio was gonna represent because SA is pretty laid back (unless we're talking 'bout the Spurs or Fiesta). However, I am so proud. SA was rockin' and really showed Prince and the NPG the love. As I mentioned before, this reviewer just didn't know what he was talking about. He was probably a food critic reassigned to cover the Prince concert. Trust me, I read the food reviews last night in the paper, and they are just as retarded. Hey, I don't mind having a Bic Mac or a Quarter Pounder on occasion, but when their top three places (in certain categories) to eat can include McDonalds and Bill Miller's regularly, you know its a joke. Hey, you can find geniuses and idiots everywhere, it just so happened that the person reviewing the SA show was an idiot!!
[This message was edited Sat Jun 12 12:24:47 2004 by PhantomPrinc]
[This message was edited Sat Jun 12 12:26:39 2004 by PhantomPrinc]

pluvv2002 said:

ALL 5 shows in Los Angeles -ROCKED-