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Thread started 12/09/00 7:54pm

First San Jose concert report

San Jose setlist:
[pre:0deadbeef0]
Uptown
Controversy
Mutiny
Cream
Little Red Corvette
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Sexy Dancer
Housequake
The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker/Four
I Could Never Tale The Place Of Your Man
Do Me, Baby
Scandalous
Diamonds And Pearls
The Beautiful Ones
Nothing Compares 2 U
Let's Go Crazy
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
Darling Nikki
Medley: When Doves Cry/Computer Blue/I Would Die 4 U/Baby I'm A Star
God (instrumental)
Purple Rain

encore:
Come On
Kiss
Gett Off
[/pre:0deadbeef0]
same set list as ruby skye except "come on" was played instead of "pop life," and in the same encore as "kiss" and "gett off."



forgot to mention in my ruby skye review that "the ballad of dorothy parker" segues nicely into madhouse's "four."



by the way, for clarity purposes: the "when doves cry" et al medley is really just :30 seconds of "when doves cry" being played and sampled while prince is backstage; then najee playing his (annoying) sax to the tune of the "father's song" portion of "computer blue"; and then some moody keyboards over which prince comes out and sings the first verse of "i would die 4 u" in a compelety different melody than the original, and then sings the words "baby i'm a star." these last two "songs" use no music from the originals and aren't really songs at all...



"come on" was awesome, great to hear this song. it IS refreshing to go to a prince show and hear songs you haven't heard prince play before, old or new. makes you wonder what would happen if he dragged out "soft and wet," "paisley park," "new position," "strange relationship," "electric chair" "dark," or "dig u better dead," for examples.



the highlight for me was, again, the guitar work during "icnttpoym," but this time it was the crunching, distorted, staccatto riffs before the song's beginning that impressed, rather than the smooth solo at the end.



before "raspberry beret" prince asked who was a "new" prince concertgoer and who was "old." then he said "the next time i come here, the old should bring someone new. gotta keep the franchise goin..." even though it was a blatant plea for him to be able to make more $$$, at least he admitted it in a humorous way!!



and now for my rant:



prince's speech during "purple rain" hit a sour note for me and many of my friends as he gave the most explicit jesus christ speech/sermon i've ever seen him give. he said that there was only "one truth," and that truth was that jesus christ is the son of god. as soon as he said this, many people in my area began to look at each other in shock, confusion and horror. but it went on: prince then said that believing this is the only way to get to heaven, and that we all needed to read the bible. some people turned around and started to walk out at this point. naturally, many people were screaming in support of his speech, although no one near us on the floor was.



the next part of the sermon was more thoughtful, as prince tried to explain that our acceptance of this "truth" would put an end to unneccesary divisions like "democrat/republican, black/white, straight/gay." this part was cool and at least showed that while prince has a weird way of saying it, he does believe in unity.



but i have to wonder: if someone wants to project a philosophy of togetherness, why would he stand in front of 6500 people and tell them that they would not get to heaven if they didn't accept that jesus christ was the son of god? what about jewish people? muslims? hindus? agnostics? new agers? buddhists? etc. when prince makes general statements about "god is love," he can truly touch people. and i have no problem with his own NPG version of christianity. everyone's right to believe is his own. but when he decries all religions but his own, he alienates people. his comments, despite the intention to unify (a notion which i strongly support), were offensive to many people. a concert is not the place for a religious discussion...he has control of the words and philosophies being offered...we don't...we don't have mics.



i'm really curious to know what other people think about this.


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