Short but positive review of MSG opening night show from Isaac Guzman of the New York Daily News.

http://www.nydailynews.co...2597c.html

Prince lets the hits 'Rain'
By ISAAC GUZMAN
DAILY NEWS FEATURE WRITER
Wednesday, July 14th, 2004

When Prince last played New York City, two years ago, he warned his hit-hungry fans, "If you came to get your 'Purple Rain' on, you might as well hit the door."
But when the purple pop star launched a three-night run at Madison Square Garden on Monday, nobody thought about leaving.

For most of the past decade, Prince has been notoriously stingy with his hits, opting to focus on the jazz-fusion leanings of recent albums like "The Rainbow Children."

Now the diminutive soul-rocker has decided to rejoin the mainstream, agreeing to appear at the Grammys and issuing "Musicology," his most accessible album in years.

He began the show with that record's title track, but quickly offered classics like "Let's Go Crazy," "I Would Die 4 U" and "Controversy."

Backed by an awesomely tight eight-piece band, Prince announced that "school was in session" as he let his musicians - including James Brown saxman Maceo Parker and drummer John Blackwell - take superb solos.

"This is real music by real musicians," he said.

An hour into the show, he grabbed an acoustic guitar and played a 40-minute solo set, including favorites such as "Little Red Corvette," "Raspberry Beret" and "7." He also offered a barrage of jokes, including a blues vamp that included the lyric: "Something's funky, baby. Is it your breath or mine?"

When the band rejoined him, Prince went into full funk mode, belting out the new rave-up "Life o' the Party," the iconic "Sign o' the Times" and the R&B standard "Soul Man."

As he fired off a series of virtuoso guitar riffs, Prince drove the Garden into a frenzy, finally ending his set with "Nothing Compares 2 U" and the long-awaited "Purple Rain."

While fans waved their umbrellas, Prince told them he had "waited a long time for this." If the stellar energy of this first show is any indication, his return to center-stage at the Garden has been far 2 long in coming.

vashti1999 said:

My god these reporters so so full of shit...he plays hits in nearly all his shows and he hasn't done much "jazz-fusion" on tours except for a couple of songs on TRC tour... These "journalists" just make it up in article after article after article..

i agree, but this review (though a day late) was 10 times better than that god-awful foxnews.com review from tuesday...

THANKYOU said:

DITTO!! The review was pretty good. Not overly jazzed, but funkay sho-nuff!! Though I was up in the nosebleeds (row B at least!), I kept trying to remind myself to not stand and jump around as much since some others up there behind me were sitting. U just can't help but be up on your feet dancing clapping and screaming! Well, at least I can't. This tour is off da hook! A dash of this and that, but all funk, rock, and hits that remind the world that PRINCE is here to stay, and never went away! And he is so funny too. When he did the Beyonce bit, I was dyin'. When he said we got some young folks in the house and broke into the Crazy in Love music, then was doin the booty jump. I lost it, it was sooo funny! ...But, when he did his thang and crawled back to the mic, I immediately needed a panty change!!! HE IS THE ONE!! I hafta say, without Larry in the picture, more of the sexiness is coming out. Clean language, but oooooh, the moves, the open shirt, the sound of his voice... ok, gotta go....

Prince jammed his ass off and I bet anyone could smell da funk from his undies after the show....

That man is a GENIUS...so talented and blessed.

LONG LIVE THE PRINCE

This article is a little weird to me. I've been to....too many P shows to count, in the last 10 years and I have never been to one where he was stingy with the hits. In every show I've attended of his, he has done a good job of playing some of the old stuff, while incorporating the new. Now, it seems to me that this particular journalist has not been to many p shows and is just reporting on what he's heard. Many journalists do this, in an effort to make the reader think that they actually know what they're talking about. I know, as a fellow journalist, I'm not proud to say it but I've done it before.

Smooches;)

RupertZ said:

I don't see your point. I've seen several Prince shows through the years and my immediate response to the Musicology show was that it was EXTREMELY light on surprise renditions of lesser-known tunes and heavy on radio hits. The Question of U was arguably the most obscure Prince song that he did.
This and the toned-down dancing were my only gripes about an otherwise tight show.