Link (with older picture):

http://www.nationalpost.c...1FEC6808C}

Concert finds Prince charming

Mike Doherty
National Post


Monday, June 17, 2002

The Associated Press
Prince, seen here at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit last year, is shy of press and photographers these days.


PRINCE AND THE NEW POWER GENERATION

Massey Hall, Toronto

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TORONTO - In the '80s he was a "genius," in the '90s an "eccentric," and now he's just a footnote. So declare the media, but Prince objects. Judging by his rousing concert in Toronto on Saturday, the rock monarch may be due for a restoration.

This year is Prince's 25th as a recording artist; for his Silver Jubilee, he has embarked on a tour which sees him spending "One Nite Alone" with fans in relatively small North American venues. Only the wealthy need apply -- tickets for Saturday's show went for $150 (or a scant $99 for the peanut gallery). The press, as far as Prince is concerned, can hang itself -- he has stopped giving interviews, refuses to allow photographers anywhere near him, and insists that writers (your present correspondent included) pay for the privilege of reviewing his concerts.

These days, he rarely deigns to play his hits, and since his recent emergence as a Jehovah's Witness, he has reportedly pledged not to swear on stage. Some believe that Prince's conversion has blunted his edge; he's certainly toned down the cheese factor. Gone are the big coif, the fake fur and the bare buttocks of yore: Prince appears in a pinstripe suit with a wide collar, his hair parted down the middle.

He's also toned down the simulated sex, although he occasionally strokes his guitar with lascivious intent. He makes no reference to Darling Nikki's habit of pleasuring herself with a magazine; the audience is instead treated to lyrics such as, "And if the proverb of the 31 in verse 10 becomes the song she sings again and again, she might be queen."

The above is taken from The Rainbow Children, Prince's latest opus -- a concept album full of intricate jazz-funk workouts and incomprehensible narration, in which His Purpleness's voice is digitally altered to sound deeper than the Mariana Trench. Yes, the album is portentous and occasionally silly, but on a musical level it's the best thing he's released since his commercial apogee.

{{{Spurred on by the new, inventive material, Prince's latest edition of the New Power Generation, featuring funk hero Maceo Parker on sax, becomes at times so explosive it threatens to blow the roof off Massey Hall. Drummer John Blackwell is phenomenally dextrous -- it's as if he's got a third arm hidden behind his Plexiglas-encased kit.}}}

Prince himself is one of the most expressive and effortlessly virtuosic guitarists anywhere, and when he brings Larry Graham, inventor of the slap bass technique, onstage for a run-through of Sly and the Family Stone's Sing a Simple Song, the resulting colossus of funk crushes all resistance. Thousands of nattily dressed patrons shake booties of all shapes and sizes, awe in their eyes and stupefied grins on their faces. Even the ushers look elated; Prince brings five of them on stage to join the party.

It's clear Prince feels at home in Toronto; he's apparently purchased a house here with his new Canadian bride. At one point, he asks the audience, "Are they any ladies in Canada? If you ain't got no place to stay ... come on my way." Presumably, he's inviting them all out to prayer meetings on the Bridle Path.

Of his contemporaries, Prince declaims, "They all gettin' older; I still look the same," and he's right -- he seems ageless (albeit not scarily so -- compare Cher) and is an incomparably magnetic performer. His every gesture feels both spontaneous and immaculately choreographed, and he's amusingly cocky, even interrupting a song to admonish the audience with a cheeky, "Y'all don't know who I am!"

Had the concert ended with the set proper, about an hour and forty minutes in, it would have been an almost unqualified triumph. Of course, asking Prince to edit himself would be as laughable as, say, changing your name to an unpronounceable symbol. The Artist reappears to sit at a keyboard and run through a medley of obscurities and hits, often stopping tunes as they're building momentum. Getting his band to vamp before the inevitable Purple Rain (which he'd earlier claimed he wouldn't play), he declares, "I didn't come to preach tonight," and then starts rambling about holy scriptures with the indirection of a dodgy salesman.

It's nearing the three-hour mark, and the crowd is a little weary, but forgiving. In fact, when he exhorts them to become members of his online music service, they even echo his plea to "Join the club!" Talent, hard work and mob psychology: Not a bad combination for a Prince who would be king.

© Copyright 2002 National Post

why always old pics ???
never new pics of the tour ?
so bad ... so If U want to see new pics of the tour ..live pics ...go to :
http://www.mpls.fr.fm

NY after shows pics on ! ))
peace

I think that question was answered in another review of the Toronto concert. Apparently Prince isn't allowing reporters to take in cameras with them either!

Yeah but you'd think he would have his photographer take new tour pictures and supply them to the press.