{{{Prince revitalizes concert legacy
By MICHAEL D. CLARK
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

It was less than two weeks ago that Prince announced he was bringing his One Nite Alone 2002 tour to the Verizon Wireless Theater on Sunday. With so little time for promotion and planning it was questionable just what the show would be -- and whom it was for. }}}

Now we know. The show was built around The Rainbow Children, his new experimental jazz album detailing his conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses. Not as easy a sell as Purple Rain, to be sure. Then, just to weed out the only mildly curious, he charged a hefty $86.50 and $126.50 per ticket (this from a guy who once sang Money Don't Matter 2 Night).

Prince tried this quick turnaround tour strategy two years ago in Houston with disastrous results. That show was a patchwork of poorly constructed and unsatisfying medleys. One Nite Alone took the opposite approach, carefully stitching a cohesive and seamless performance.

Backed by the New Power Generation, featuring saxophone genius Maceo Parker -- Prince's best ensemble since the Revolution -- the 26-song set was peppered with improvisation, familiar covers and the occasional fan favorite.

This was the roof-is-on-fire Prince show of '80s myth: nearly three hours of funk and soul that was like sitting in on an inspired late-night jam session.

"This is not 1984," said Prince early on. "So if you came here to get your Purple Rain on ... " His voice trailed off, but he shook his head as if to say, "That's not going to happen."

Dressed in a white suit and matching fedora, he opened by introducing the unconverted to The Rainbow Children. The mere thought of a sermon was off-putting, but here the message was secondary to the music. This is Prince's best album since 1995's The Gold Experience.

The title track and Muse 2 the Pharaoh are long sketches of brass-heavy, cool jazz-influenced improvisation. Prince would occasionally wax on about the symbolism of the number 13 or deliver a cryptic line like, "the opposite of NATO is OTAN." However, Parker's easy funk sax blows, coupled with Prince's soulful guitar, was universal.

Xenophobia is a new nonalbum track that couldn't feel more appropriate in an America on heightened security. Brian Eno made Music for Airports; this was music for airports with guards bearing semiautomatic weapons.

Opening with Prince robotically advising, "You have been randomly selected to be searched," its fuzzy bass-note spine was highlighted with the Artist playfully spinning futuristic Southern guitar.

Well-known for adapting his music to other rock artists, Prince did the adapting on A Case Of You. Working from originator Joni Mitchell's symphonic version, he gave it enough hiccuping groove-and-gospel varnish to introduce other influences.

Reliving the old-school Midwest funk of his earliest days on the new 1+1+1 is 3, it wasn't a stretch to shift the jam into Love Rollercoaster by the Ohio Players. La La (Means I Love You) exchanged the original Delfonics' harmony for falsetto warbling, while Sly and the Family Stone's Sing a Simple Song got lost in a percussion -- and fusion -- heavy stew.

In the end, Prince's promise of no hits was a little bit of a hoax. Eighty minutes into the show, he grabbed his guitar and flicked out the post-punk disco riff of When You Were Mine. It was as if oxygen had been pumped into the room. It was followed by other '80s nuggets -- Take Me With U and a guitar-anthem version of Raspberry Beret.

Prince's eight-song encore featured him and his keyboard. Opening with his earliest Motown-inspired funk-pop hit, I Wanna Be Your Lover, he added greatest hits such as Nothing Compares 2 U and How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore (a can't-miss choice, considering that Grammy darling Alicia Keys is about to release her version as a single).

Breaking a promise nobody wanted him to keep, he left the crowd with a subdued keyboard version of Purple Rain letting the crowd serve as his gospel choir backup. Huddling with Parker for a final improvisation, Prince matched him strum-for-blow, adding to a revitalized concert legacy.

Cool! (& I'm 1st!)

It's almost like torture to sit in Norway, reading one great review after another, and not nowing when (or if) I'll be able to experience this show. Come to Europe! I know some places in Norway that would have been great for this concert...

I think the coolest thing is that the positive reviews aren't only coming from his fans, but also positive reviews from writers and critics. As we all know, those writers love to hate Prince, and so for them to write so many glowing reviews of TRC and the ONA tour is a testament to how good and tight the band is, as well as how positive the whole Rainbow Children experience really is.

How good to see Maceo getting some great props here... Is it true that Candy is now opening the show from the aisle instead of Maceo?
In New York that was the coolest thing, to see Maceo walking down the aisle, the whole audience turned away from the stage to watch him...
Prince should have Candy and Maceo coming through the audience, hey that's such a good idea I'm going to send him an email...!

Excellent!!!!! But what happened to the show in Phoenix???

hello

Apparently in Phoenix we are not deserving of the courtesy of any information whatsoever about what happened to the 18th at the Dodge Theatre. Silence.

,,,

seems like a cool show, hope he comes to sacramento, but with cheaper ticket prices

peace

Ah, great review from what us Houstonians call The Houston Barnacle. Hmmm, that ain't how you spell barnacle is it? Barnicle? No. Bharnacle. Damn, and to think I was Spelling Bee Champ. Ever typed a simple word like "evacuation" and no matter how sure you think it's spelled correctly it just looks wrong? Well, I'm having one of those moments right now. OK, I'll shut up now.