{{{Prince displays rainbow of musical colors
By Gene Stout
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER http://seattlepi.nwsource...ev30.shtml

The purple Prince showed off his rainbow of musical colors Monday night.

In his first Northwest concert since a Gorge show in 1997, the diminuitive singer, songwriter and instrumentalist performed nearly three hours at the Paramount, offering an incendiary blend of rock, funk, soul, R&B and jazz that kept the crowd on its feet - dancing, clapping, shouting and pumping its arms. The show featured songs from his 2001 album, the jazz-rock operetta "The Rainbow Children," but included dozens of tunes from Prince's hit-laden past.}}}

Regarded as enigmatic and eccentric for much of the last decade, Prince seemed less so as he sassed and sashayed his way through one of the most entertaining pop concerts of the year. He also showed his comedic side, offering a Sammy Davis Jr.-style finger-snapping demonstration and joking about crashing into Bill Gates' car.

The exhuberant performance was a reminder of Prince's phenomenal showmanship. He steered his audience through a vast repertoire of songs, touching on themes of racial harmony and spirtuality along the way. Toward the end, the show took on a spiritual tone as Prince - reportedly now a Jehovah's Witness - exhorted concertgoers to look to God.

Billed as a no-frills concert, the show was nevertheless an elaborately staged production featuring a six-piece band, several bizzare props, crushed-velvet curtains, clouds of incense and three video screens that formed a cathedral-like backdrop. The band included saxophonists Maceo Parker and Candy Dulfer, as well as drummer John Blackwell. Prince occasionally played a custom purple guitar shaped like the glyph that once substituted for his name.

The high-priced show began with "Rainbow Children," which envisioned a future where children of all races guide humankind into an era of peace and love. He followed with "Muse 2 the Pharoah," singing about the evils of NATO, the Holocaust and slavery

Later on, Prince scrolled the words to Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation on the video screens, suggesting that Lincoln's historic message helped set the tone for today's racial disharmony.

On a lighter note, Prince asked concertgoers how they liked the radio stations in Seattle (he has been popping the question in other cities as well). The response was a chorus of boos. Prince then scrolled the names of dozens of huge corporations that control radio empires, implying they are thwarting quality, creativity and diversity in popular music.

"If I owned a radio station, this is what it would sound like," Prince said, launching into a blast of raw funk.

Prince often sang in a striking falsetto, taking songs on dizzying flights. The show was well-stocked with interesting cover songs, fan favorites and improvisational jams. Saxophonist Parker played the ham during a funked-up version of "Pass the Peas." Prince's gorgeous interpretation of the Delfonics' "La-La Means I Love You" inspired a singalong.

After closing his raucous main set, Prince returned for a lengthy encore at the piano, marred only by excessive cheering and whistling and "I love yous" from the crowd. But the reaction was understandable. Prince has been off the road way too long, and Monday's performance showed how much he has been missed.

Rather well written, rather accurate, except that he was NOT talking about crashing INTO Bill Gates, he stopped in the middle of his solo piano rendition of "Adore" and went into this huge comical tangent from "crash up MY ride" -- "um" -(crowd cheers and laughs) "NOT the..." "the RIDE?!" "baby" "ahw naw bab.. look at the GRILLE! (more laughs) "who - who was with u ba- - BILL GATES???" (lots of laughs... he played off this for a little while longer.. " ...ahw baby why you do... ahh - IS HE OKAY?" (laughs from audience) -- "What? HIS GRILLE'S BUSTED TOO??" "ah baby don't cry - don't cry - I'll get you another car baby, I'll-- uhm - damn baby, can't you pick something a little less expensive? (big laughs) Okay okay girl don't cry I'll buy it for you (tremendous cheers from all the women in the audience)... -- and after a pause for effect, "... maybe Bill Gates could buy us a new ride?" and he went back into the song. This was not the only Bill Gates / Paul Allen reference of the show. Later during another song Prince swung his mic stand out over the crowd for someone to sing a note - they hit it terribly off key - the whole band stopped, Prince cleared his throat and said, "Bill Gates everybody!" to a lot of laughs. Also much earlier he was commenting on the "Experience Music Project" at the Seattle Center (founded by Paul Allen) and he said, "non profit huh? Hmm... Twenty bucks a head SOMEBODYs makin a profit!" to big laughs from the audience. I am about to write a review of my own for Prince.org and will submit it as soon as it is done. The show DID kick ass and I am really glad I went. I did not think I would live long enough to see Prince play like this again!! THANK YOU PRINCE! More to come...

Oh my!!!! I am down in P-town waiting 4 2nite! I can only hope 2nite's show is just as good. My friend who was at the show called me at 10 pm, held the phone up in the air so I could here "The Man" singing How come you dont call me anymore. AMAZING!!!!

Mac said:

waves said:

That completely cracks me up! I did the same thing....called about 4 people during the show! I just wanted to share the experience with them...

""If I owned a radio station, this is what it would sound like," Prince said, launching into a blast of raw funk."

Yo P! U wanna buy mine?!

Seattle Times review of 4/29 concert at The Paramount:

Prince fills the Paramount with joy

By Melanie McFarland

"If y'all came to hear 'Purple Rain,' you're in the wrong building," Prince declared after taking the stage Monday night. With that, The Artist Formerly Known as That Unpronounceable Glyph set the tone for the evening: It was his way or no way at all.

He's still Prince, and he's still funky. And despite this first statement, Seattle didn't see an arrogant artist with a steely façade, born from years of fighting to get out of his contract.

For a full two hours and 45 minutes, Prince filled the Paramount with joy, performing crowd favorites with a good sense of humor, and an arsenal of attitude and style, everyone, style.

Still a showstopper

Would you expect anything else of the man, particularly when he's brought sax player Maceo Parker to back him up? You'd better not. Even when we were in full rapture mode, Prince still had to stop the show a couple of times, like during the funk-fest "1+1+1 is 3."

"Y'all ain't with me Seattle!" he cried, bringing the music abruptly to a halt. "You got to be ready to get deep. I'm talking about needing scuba gear up in here!"

We danced a little more, shouted a little more, and he kept playing. It wouldn't be a Prince show, after all, without a little tease.

This isn't the Prince of years past, the man who constructed an unapproachable barrier of icy coolness. He wasn't even the artist who mooned fans with those strange buttless pants; Prince wore a dapper suit for the evening, tailored to move silkily with his sylvan figure. Nor was he the preachy, newly minted Jehovah's Witness Prince, although he did plug a little religion at the very end of the show before breaking into "Anna Stesia," from "Lovesexy."

No, this was Prince as soul man, the smiling bandleader conjuring up visions of Duke Ellington and James Brown. A man who invites those watching him to get comfortable (i.e., sit down) as frequently as he incites them to shake their pants, sexing things up in a playful way on new tunes like "Mellow" or the rocky but sensual "Take Me With U."

Or, leading the fans through sing-alongs of covers like the Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster" or The Delfonics' "La La Means I Love You," along with songs from his hit albums "Diamonds & Pearls," "Graffiti Bridge" and, yes, tunes off of "Purple Rain."

For the most part, this was an evening dedicated to forwarding the cause of "The Rainbow Children," both his album and his vision for the latest incarnation of the New Power Generation.

Prince called for his people to reject the stranglehold corporate radio has over America's airwaves (in favor of his mythical WNPG, of course) and sang about Abraham Lincoln being a racist (for being segregationist) as a precursor to performing "Family Name."

A playful evening

These were hard blips in a playful evening that started with a full band before a 10-minute pause, after which Prince came back to play a medley of favorites a cappella, accompanied on his keyboard only by a candle and single spotlight. This was the part where we got to be alone with him, as the name of his tour promised.

After more than a decade of seeing him filtered through award-show cameras and binoculars at stadiums, this is the guise the New Power Generation has been waiting for. Warm, touchable, devout but still sexy. Still our Prince.

Melanie McFarland can be reached at mmcfarland@seattletimes.com

"...marred only by excessive cheering and whistling..."

That's like the wide receiver who complained that John Elway threw the ball "too hard."