Prince Freezes Grand Rapids, then Rocks 'em



Well, I can hosestly say that Grand Rapids shows are the craziest! The last two concerts have been so worth the money and the trip. Were shall I start...let's try from the top.



Tickets. Had to buy them from Ticketmaster.com, and probably could have gotten better seats if I did screw with trying to phone in while I was online ordering, but 10th row center was just fine. On a pissed off and related note: my sister also won tickets from Z101.7 here in Lansing. Big hooray, right? WRONG. I called and told them I'd have to pick up the tickets for my sister and that i would do so on Saturday or Sunday before the show, I was told that would be okay. I show up Saturday and I am told that I needed to pick them up on Friday before 5. At no time did the radio station tell me this, either on the phone or over the airwaves; plus, I was told to the contrary. Needless to say, I lost out because they were assholes. If you're ever near the Capital City of Michigan, DO NOT LISTEN TO 101.7!!! THEY'RE ASSHOLES! They didn't even say I'm sorry.



Okay...back to the concert. After going to previous concerts in the winter, I knew that showing up 2 hours before the concert starts would probably result in me freezing my ass off for 3-4 hours. I got into town neigh 8pm, got in the long line that wrapped around Van Andel Arena, and popped open the umbrella to keep the large, wet snow flakes from drenching me. We had to wait for the Will Call tickets, and ended up waiting outside until almost 9:30. Many people were very cold, and didn't have umbrellas, and it was a normal Michigan snowy night with large snowflakes that turned into little puddles of slush right as it hit the warmer bodies. That, plus a very chilly wind probably caused many people to rethink thier love for the man. A future recommendation for anybody going to a concert this winter: An extra pair of warm boots/shoes/socks if you're wearing dress shoes/heels/etc., a nice heavy coat, legwarmers if you want to wear a skirt, an umbrella, a snickers bar or something to tide you over until you get into the venue, a couple of clean rags to dry off your wet clothes, and a large bag that you can put all of your winter items into while you party with the NPG. You won't be using your seat often, so the bag will fit there nicely.



The Concert:



Setlists, schmetlists. I'm horrible at that. It seems that he did a similar setlist to the earlier shows, except this time, he did longer versions on a few of the tunes. At 9:30ish, the lights went down, and the concert intro was played. The band slowly meandered out, and then Prince strolled out to center stage wearing an all black shirt with a white trim, and black stretch pants/tights. Around his neck was a scarf that had NPG in sequin or rhinestone. his hair was actually pretty flat...almost like he had hat head, but later I saw that it was layered that way. I personaly liked his hair style better at the Celebration show. Uptown started the concert, and the crowd was hyped. After a couple of verses, he soloed a bit on his old school guitar, then the stopped, and the lights chenged and I swear I was watching a live version of the Controversy video! The lighting was SO SWEET throughout the night! After jamming on Controversy for a while, he said that he was sorry for the delay, and that he would play longer jams on the tunes so that the people who were still outside could get a chance to get in. He also repeated that he was sorry that we had to wait in the cold, and asked if he made it up to us, which of course, garnered a largely positive response.



Again, in looking at the set lists from earlier shows, the tunes were the same, except that as a special guest, Dougie Fresh came out and rocked the arena! I know a lot of people here on the list get sick of rap, but fuck you. Dougie Fresh is still a great rapper, and he turned it out with The Show, La-Di-Da-Di, O-la O-la O-la, the rap from Push it Up, and a couple of others, mostly crowd chants and beat-boxing. The crowd was very receptive. Even more receptive was the crowd when Prince played Darling Nikki! Who knew that would be such a favorite! he didn't say Masturbate, though. *lol* he let the crowd handle that. Oh...and Geneva IS fine! I realize now why I didn't consider her facialy attractive: she looks like a cross of black and vietnamese/Mung. After catching that, I started digging her looks. Her body is P-TAOOOW!



He played Come On, and brought many people on the stage to dance, but not me! (boo-hoo) He also had some sisters from the stage that were performers, and they could sing! Well, kinda. All they did was sing the chorus to Come On, but they did a very good job of it, with the soloist in the group doing rubbing some soul on it while the others stayed with the real chorus. I believe thier name was Millenia (maybe a Grand Rapids or Detroit group?). Prince was very personable with the folx on stage, and they all respected him and didn't rape him like I'm sure most of them wanted to. There was a guy stage left that was on a Rhythm all his own, and the crowd loved it! There were also a well build dude in all mostly white fleece that really new how to dance, and Prince gave him time on the speakers to show his thang while they closed the song. He also singled out a BBW to sing a verse to, I'm sure she was in heaven.



He didn't bring anybody on stage to sing Kiss though...(cry). His clothes were the same as in previous concerts: White get-up, Red outfit, and a white top and black tights with a long-tubed, black do-rag/scarf with NPG on it. I'm sure there are pictures of hi min it. He had a few gold medallions that were pretty. One was a circular one that looked to have a woman in the middle (couldn't really see well) and later an NPG logo.



Prince closed with the lovely Santana Medley and it was all finished around 11:00. 2 hours of great concert! During the concert, Najee saw lots of playing time, but it really wasn't all that bad to me. I'm not sure how the general audience saw it. "God" was a masterpiece. John was unreal on the drums! I love it! Rhonda just kinda chilled and never saw much solo time. Kip didn't see much time either, but you could hear him well in the mix. Morris was funky/jazzy/snazzy as expected. Oh, and Prince DID say "23 _positions_" when he played Gett Off.



After all was said and done, the concert was over and I was a little whipped. I stood for most of the show, screamed my head off, pumped my hands in the air, and everything. Then a voice over the PA said the afterPARTY would be at the Orbit Room. The Orbit Room is a nice club with a large stage (think L4OA room), large dancefloor, and a seating area with a large oval bar. I knew that a party there would be worth it, but I was tired, and needed to be at work this morning for a meeting. I was this close [---] to leaving town, but I convinced myself to to and at least check it out. I knew that even if 10 percent of the audience went, that would be a lot of line and pushing and shoving just to see Prince for a brief second, but I told myself otherwise...it was kinda on the way. I took a back roads type way to get there and had fun sloshing around the icy/snowy streets till I got to the Orbit Room (close to 12:00). There, I noticed that only about 40 cars were parked out front and a small line was there. I parked, got to the door, and on the way there were LOTS of people leaving because the door price was $25. I figured this amount, and brought $50 just in case, so the price didn't faze me. When I got to the door, I noticed that a door flyer said "Aftershow, $25, 21+ ID required". Then it hit me: AfterSHOW!!!!! I got to the door and asked the doorman if any equipment was set up, and he said yeah, a set of drums was up right now. I pretty much shit myself, paid my money, and got in the club where I saw only about 40 or 50 people, with about a dozen or so at the front of the stage! By the end of the night, there couldn't have been more than 150-200 people there, and I think I'm exaggerating that number a bit! I met a really nice couple from Flint that read prince.Org (can you believe that we actually brought up Bart?!?!?! And we both semi-defended his contributions!?!?!?! Weird shit...) I totally didn't catch their names (sorry guys!) and I probably bumped into the gal alot because she was right in front of me and a couple next to me were totally pushing and bumping throughout the whole aftershow (luckily I was in a great mood).



The show started neigh 1:30 and the setlist was at least half Dougie dropping beat-box and raps, but the jamming behind him was the jewel of the night! John played some MEAN ASS DRUMS. This dude is hardcore, I'll tell you. Kip got a lot of time to solo his voice, and the man can sing, sho 'nuff. Morris's big purple fuzzy cover for his piano was jacked a few times for pieces of it's fur by some foolish gal who wanted a momento. Prince did say at the opening that he was going to jam until the police showed up. The curfew for Sunday in Grand Rapids is 2am.



the setlist here is fuzzy, but here we go:
- 3 Dougie Raps including one where Prince told the band to go into reggae mode.



This was cool because he told the band to chill and he sat at a little electric piano and then smacked a drum beat on them. dougie flowed rasta for a while



- John had a hype drum solo in there



- Najee had a pretty solo also...two actually



- Kip was soloed something but his vocals were weirdly mixed so that they sounded part of the background



- This guy who I did not recognize (tall white guy, goat-tee, bald head) got a nice solo in too! he mostly played rhythm on the Old school guitar for Prince when P was at the little keyboard.



Prince Tunes:



- If I Was Your Girlfriend
Awsome! Probably my favorite live song! I was so disappointed that he didn't play it in the Arena, so I again went crazy when he played this!



- Gett Off (live version with the fast, jazzy backing) again, he said Positions.



- Johnny (!!!)


Another of my favorite songs! This was actually just the chorus and the phat jamming, because Prince said "the police are here, we gotta go home." He thanked us for coming out and jamming with him, and he let the band groove on Johnny for a while. Then he grabbed his purple cloud and JUST FLAT OUT RIPPED SHIT UP for at least 5 minutes. It was unreal!



He wore an interesting get up in the Orbit Room: the big gold hoop, a black, crushed velvet overcoat and matching stretch pants, the NPG scarf, some leather leggings that covered the calfs/shins with faux leather strips (yes, I was close enough to see that they were fake), and boots (with a good sized heel).



The Orbit Room was very professional, and had pitchers of cool water for anybody to walk up and pour a glass. The little things count the most! Drinks were pricy, but hey...what would you expect? I've paid more for a soda at Cedar Point so I'm not going to complain much. The club was very clean, (except after we left and there were drinks and crap all over the floor) and we weren't rudely kicked out, we were politely asked to go home and drive safe. It was 2:30 and I thanked the police for letting the show last an extra half-hour.



On the way home, I noticed the tour bus pulling out of the mall, and a bunch of cars were stalking. I needed to hit the highway too, so I ended up following the bus and the parade. Oddly enough, when we got to I-96, I took East Bound and the Bus + the stragglers took Westbound. I thought he was playing Cincinnati 2night?!?! Maybe they do stay in hotels? Anyway I left, came home, reflected, and barely made it to my meeting, but it was ALL MORE than worth it. My aftershow cherry has officialy been popped, and I wish it never ended.



If you read this all the way through, thank you! I know it was a bit wordy, and probably has a bunch of grammar errors, but I feel that more info is better than no info at all.