Small Civic Center, 2nd Show That Weekend...



Ok, this is a review of my 7th Prince show... the show that turned out to be the best show I've ever been to. The man came out and played for THREE HOURS! I got to the place, wondering if I had wasted a C-note on a show I had just seen 24 hours ago. I couldn't have been more wrong.



At about 9, without any setup or warning, Prince just walks the hell out and starts jamming. Half the people weren't even in their seats! He does Paisley Park. I run to the front and snag an empty seat in ROW 2!! I'm just waiting for security to snatch me back to my real seat in back. Anyway, so here I am, booger-flicking distance away from the man, he's doing a long SMOKING version of Paisley Park. I know we're in for something special when he tells the crowd, "Call the babysitter, tell 'em you ain't comin home! If you gotta use the bathroom, better go now cuz we gonna be here a while!" He does some improvised funk for a while, then brings Larry Graham to the stage. They do some more random funk. They do Everyday People, The Jam, then Alphabet Street. They also did A Funky Baldhead's tune "All the things that I do.." (It's on the NPG Ahdio & the night before the one Prince helped them out on.) Then after an hour was up, they walked off and said they'd be back in 15. I was blown away by Prince's total control of the band, and how he conducted them during the jam session.



After the break, the regular hit 'n' run show starts. All the songs were way longer than usual. He did the usual set plus "The Work" and "U Make My Sunshine." He was sooo in a jamming mood. He did the usual setlist up to "Nothing Compares 2 U" then said goodnight.



House lights come on, security hits the stage, stage hands start turning stuff off, the lights behind the stage come on... The crowd ain't havin' it.



The band comes out and does U Got The Look, again, a LOOONG Funky ass version. By this point the crowd is so energized, he woulda had a riot if he quit. So he does Kiss on the One-Eyed-Bass, bringin folks up to dance. After totally wearin Kiss out, its time to go, its 12:15, he's been playing for three hours now... the people pile off, including one little boy in a bootleg t-shirt, Prince sees him and gives him some grief. Whatcha gonna do? It was a funny moment. Then the house lights came on, and they really tore the stuff down. I felt like I had just gotten off a roller-coaster... a little disoriented, but exhilirated and ready to go again!



And the best part of all.. Security never snatched me outta my seat.