Here's another report on the 11-26 Charlotte show. After being into Prince's music for 17 years this is the first show I've ever managed to see, so I certainly wasn't disappointed hearing "Purple Rain," "Take Me With U," etc. The show started around 8:45-9pm, as Kirky's remix of Pop Life, Violet the Organ Grinder, Return Of The Bump Squad, and others blasted out of the PA. After about 10 minutes of that the spotlight came on Mr. Blackwell (yes, he's certainly as great as everyone says). He did the snare intro to "Uptown" and Prince appeared onstage. It was the setlist everyone else has described, and the same wardrobe throughout the evening. He didn't really talk to the crowd a whole lot, except to talk about the band, particularly Najee and John Blackwell. He asked the crown at one point if he could take them home, and if they could cook. He asked if anyone could make biscuits from scratch, like John's momma. I guess it was an in-joke. :)


In the middle of "Purple Rain" he said America was in trouble, then he said "Gore? Bush? Democrat, Republican, black, white, rich, poor, PLEASE! There is only one leader, only one law, The universal law of Jesus Christ". Then he sang the line "You say you want a leader, but you can't seem to make up your mind" (Very timely lyrics!), then sang "I think you better close in, and open up your Bible..." then he said people needed to check the New World version of the Bible; claiming the other versions had the names changed and asking "I wonder why?" Then he said he wasn't really there to preach, and that our happiness was why he was there (he said that a couple of times during the evening). During his speech in "Purple Rain" he said "When will we be paid...?" I figured he was going to go into that song but instead he led the crowd through the falsetto "whoo-hoo-hoo" part at the end of "Purple Rain." His solo on that song gave me major chills!


Doug E. Fresh rapped for a long time at the end of the show, but it was fun. Other people have complained abou Prince giving other people too much of the spotlight, but I'd rather hear Najee's version of God while Prince is changing clothes than some pre-recorded Kirky remix. And after an amazing 2 hours of Prince, I didn't mind Doug E. Fresh taking the stage for awhile. Prince has superhuman energy, but even he needed a bit of a break then. It was a phenomenal performance, and if this just the rehearsal I can't wait for the big tour next year!


I went to club Mythos after the show, but I didn't stand around all night to jsut see a glimpse of Prince. The DJ only played "Head" and Chaka's version of "I Feel For You", the rest of the music was mostly new dance mixes of old 70s dance songs. But as I was leaving, around 2am, I did get to see Prince from a few feet away. He then headed back downstairs to a private room. All in all I had a great time, and everyone else in attendance seemed to enjoy it (especially when he did the "Do Me Baby"/"Scandalous"/"Beautiful Ones" medley). An amazing perfomance from an amazing performer!