[pre:0deadbeef0]
DATE: November 14, 2000
VENUE: The State Theatre
CITY: Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
ATTENDANCE: approx. 2300 (sold out)

START TIME: 9:15pm
END TIME: 10:55pm
TOTAL TIME: 1h40min

SET LIST:
Uptown
Controversy
Mutiny
Cream
Little Red Corvette
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Sexy Dancer (Instrumental)
Housequake (with band solos)
The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Najee Sax Solo
(costume change by Prince)
Do Me Baby
Scandalous
Diamonds And Pearls
Nothing Compares 2 U
(encore, costume change Prince)
Let's Go Crazy
Take Me With U - Raspberry Beret
Darling Nikki
When Doves Cry (sample of chorus only)
Father's Song/Computer Blue (instrumental)
Morris Hayes Organ Solo
I Would Die 4 U (spoken first verse only)
God (instrumental)
Purple Rain
[/pre:0deadbeef0]
As Purple Rain was being played, I was trying to decide if this was the
BEST concert I had ever been to in my life. It may have been better than
the 1998 New Power Soul Festival show in Detroit. Then the concert
ended. And I was disappointed.



My wife and I arrived at the venue from London, Ontario at around 8:50pm
thanks to an accident on the Ambassador Bridge from Canada which led to a
lane reduction and a long traffic backup. Apparently some construction
workers fell from a scaffolding on the bridge. The bridge was actually
closed a few hours before, so I imagine some concert-goers had a hard time
getting to Detroit. Once arriving at the venue, we had to wait in the
Will-Call line to pick up tickets. There was some grumbling that it was
below-freezing temperatures and I heard at least one, "Who puts a concert
on sale the day before the show, anyway?". But, we knew what we were
getting into. We were surprised that entering the theatre, they asked us
for ID if we wanted to drink alcohol. Indeed, there was a bar in the main
concert area - something I have never seen at a Prince concert. The
theatre was jumping, with a real small-club atmosphere.



By the time we entered the theatre, it was approximately 9:17 and Prince
was halfway through a searing Uptown. Controversy saw him ripping a
newspaper article (presumably of himself, but I was not able to read it -
does anybody know what the article was on?). The
Uptown-Controversy-Mutiny-Cream Jam was incredible - full versions of all
the songs was a great delight. The brown guitar he played really made us
feel like were were at an early-80s club date.



One of the big highlights for me was Little Red Corvette. Not because of
the song necessarily, but the interaction between Prince and Geneva was
just DIRTY! I loved the lounge-seat, which made part of the dancing look
like it should have been in the V.I.P. lounge at a strip club! I Could
Never Take The Place Of Your Man was fantastic as well, with a searing
5-minute guitar solo.



Although I loved the slow jams, I think perhaps 4 slow songs in a row (Do
Me Baby, Scandalous, D&P and Nothing Compares 2 U) may have been too much
and seemed to lower the excitement of the concert a bit. Following Nothing
Compares 2 U, the band left the stage and a strange instrumental jam came out over the loud-speakers. It had some interesting sound effects and drum
programming and seemed very cool - it would be very interesting if Prince
used that as the background for a full song. The music was very experimental.



Another highlight was surprisingly Take Me With U-Raspberry Beret. Instead
of singing Raspberry Beret as he has for the last 4 years, he allowed the
audience to sing the entire first verse and chorus, and he only sang backup
vocals during the chorus.



Najee was very well received, and I personally loved his sax solos and
thought he added a lot to the backing band. I thought there may have been
one too many solos by him, especially the alto-sax. When he played the
sax, we reminded me a lot of Maceo Parker - adding funky links to the
backing band and funking up the show himself. But, the alto-sax seemed too
smooth for the energy in the room. The NPG were tight, and I don't think
John Blackwell got enough of the spotlight - he was fantastic! Yes, he did
stand a some points just like Bobby Z used to. We barely heard a word from
Kip Blackshire, with only one short vocal portion. For the majority of the
time, he was relegated to playing background keys. As usual, Rhonda was just ON (yes, I bought her CD), and the stand-up electric bass was very
cool. Morris Hayes has been a staple in the NPG for years and he was (and
always is) great to listen to.



Purple Rain was another highlight of the show, being the first time I've
seen the FULL version live. Prince changed the lyrics to the final verse a
little - his basic message was that the U.S. has a major problem choosing a
leader, "you say you want a leader/but you can't seem to make up your
mind/you better open up the bible/and let LOVE guide you to the Purple
Rain." That line was VERY well received by members of the audience.



Prince then went into a speech/gospel song, backed by blues chords. He
said, "They have a problem in Washington! The reason that have a problem in
Washington is cuz they have a problem in WATTS! They have a problem in
Miami Beach! The reason they have a problem in Miami Beach is because they
have a problem in THE BRONX! " He also said, "Go see Bamboozled! 4
times! Stevie Wonder said 'We are a Misrepresented People' (a reference to
the song Misrepresented People on the soundtrack), and we are!". He also
said, "...the Bible says not to have a man as your leader. It says 'Do not put faith in nobles.'. When you vote, you have to pull the lever for God
first. He's the only one who can save us now."



Overall, the speech was much more well-received than the abstract speech
before The Cross in 1998's concert. The audience cheered loudly when he
spoke about being a divided nation and having to put faith in God. He then
said that if we understood him, we should sing the final chorus very loudly.



Followed the last chorus, he thanked the audience for coming and left the
stage with the band. The audience cheered for 4-5 minutes before the stage
lights went on and they announced the official afterparty. People truly
felt that the concert should not have ended at that point. It felt as if
something went wrong with the show and he couldn't go on for some
reason. Everyone that I spoke with felt unfulfilled by the end, despite a
great set. We were disappointed, considering how he kept calling Detroit
his "second home" and considering how quickly the concert sold out - we
felt we deserved better than a shortened set.



Although this concert was a lot of fun, in retrospect it felt as if something was off about it. Prince didn't seem as excited to speak with
the audience. Additionally, he disappeared off the stage during When Doves
Cry and Computer Blue, apparently talking to people backstage (since there
was no costume change). We also noticed that a stagehand came out to speak
with Morris partway through the show, while he was playing. What happened?



When the show was ON, it was definitely ON. The audience was fantastic,
and I could swear I saw some plaster falling from the ceiling at one point
- granted, it may have been a wrapper thrown from the balcony, but let me
have my illusions! The show had a small-club atmosphere and was very
stripped down - the stage held only the band, Geneva and a couple of
tri-colour lights. Nonetheless, for my $100 per ticket, and the crowd's
energy, I think we deserved the full concert.



The items for sale by 1-800-NEW FUNK were:



Rhonda Smith - Intellipop CD (I bought this one)

NPG Caps (black & white) (probably their best sellers)

"Lips" T-Shirts (black & white)

"Turntable" T-Shirts (white)

"Funky" T-Shirts (white)



The T-Shirts were not very well-received by fans. Comments I heard was
that they were too simple, didn't mention Prince and didn't talk about the
tour at all.



Also worth noting was that the concert was indeed filmed on video.

---

Update: Just an addendum to my tour report from Detroit - I read in a tour report
on NPG Online, Ltd. that there was a strict 11pm curfew at The State
Theatre in Detroit, so Prince had to cut the show short. BUT, then why
start the show at 9pm instead of 8pm? That would have been the smarter
thing to do...



Also, apparently the State seats 3000, but just the 2300 number I quoted.