Just Call Prince a Great Performer
He plays Saturday to a jam-packed crowd of 2,200-plus in Lakeland.

Sunday, April 7, 2002

By BILL DEAN
The Ledger

{{{LAKELAND -- Call him "The Artist," "Prince" -- heck, call him "Ishmael," because it really doesn't matter.
Whatever you want to dub him, exactly 17 years and a day since he last played The Lakeland Center, Prince returned with a furious, fiery yet ultimately sentimental vengeance Saturday night at The Center's Youkey Theatre.}}}
At a usual capacity of 2,186, the theatre is far smaller than the Jenkins Arena, the 10,000-seat venue Prince played on three occasions in the 1980s.
But on Saturday, a jam-packed crowd of 2,200-plus somehow crammed into the sold-out house, and proceeded to fall into the palms of the diminutive, purple sage of funk-drenched pop and soul, who all but left the place smoldering in ash-kicked ruin.
His new, secret smart-bomb was "The Rainbow Children," the concept album/paean to new-found religion (his Royal Purple Badness is now a benevolent Jehovah's Witness), which fueled much of Saturday's two-hour-and-45-minute show.
Leading a five-piece ensemble that included veteran jazz saxman Najee, trombonist Greg Boyer and others, The Artist Who Did Very Little Wrong Yesterday baptized the faithful quickly Saturday by starting with the one-two punch that leads off the album, "Rainbow Children" and "Muse 2 The Pharaoh."
That jazzy, groove-laden start, with Prince ripping staccato bursts of guitar solos on a Fender Telecaster, segued into a host of instrumental jams, funky new songs and well-placed covers along with a smattering of classics that harkened back to his 1980s beginnings.
If anything, the Prince of 2002 is a more seasoned, resonating performer who rarely missed an opportunity to rev up the crowd and pump up the volume.
In a dark, formal suit over white shirt, he effortlessly changed from electric guitar to electric piano and solo microphone as if he'd been doing it most of his life, which of course, he has.
While the crowd warmed to the new album's "Wedding Feast," well-named "Mellow," romantic "She Loves Me 4 Me" and funky "The Everlasting Now," it got a lesson in ever-lasting funk and R&B from such covers as the Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster" and Sly & The Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song."
But Prince didn't stop there: He rolled out Erykah Badu's "Didn't Cha Know" and even Santana's "Soul Sacrifice," with its bursts of Latin-tinged lead guitar.
He also dished up such classic Prince hits as "Raspberry Beret" and "Take Me With U" among others.
The night's most mesmerizing moment, though, came with a 20-minute medley of hits played on solo piano, with Prince waxing nostalgic on everything from "Adore," "The Beautiful Ones" and "Free" to "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World."
How to top that? With full-length versions of "Purple Rain" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" followed by another encore set that ended with "Rise Up."
On Saturday night at the Youkey Theatre, Prince or whatever you want to call him, did just that. And so did the audience.
Call him Gifted, Incredibly Talented -- call him Genius. You'll get no argument from me.

WAHEY HOWAY THE LADS IM BACK AT NUMBER ONE
YES !!!YES!!!!! YES!!!!!.....actually bit of an anticlimax.....