Okay, this probably isn't going to be all that organized
because I got home at 4:00 and had to get up at 6:00 for
work, but here goes...



The Man put on what was, in my opinion, a decent--but
quite short--show by Prince standards last night at the
Lyric in Baltimore.



This was my fourth Prince/O{+> concert, and my second Hit n'
Run show (the first was in Richmond last fall) and of the
four I would say that this was the least energetic. Maybe
the Man was tired from playing the previous night in
Norfolk, maybe he just wasn't feeling the crowd, but
one got the sense P was just breezing through the material.
This doesn't mean, however, that the show wasn't *good*...



Prince hit the stage at around 10:00, settling easily into
the standard opening sequence of songs. The set list was
as standard as they come--basically the same list everyone
else has been posting--with the inclusion of only one (!)
new song, The Work, which was a highlight for me but which
seemed to get only a so-so reaction from the crowd. I tend
to be dissastisfied with crowd reactions in my home state
of Virginia in general--when the Man was in Richmond and
people kept sitting down during the fast songs there were
a couple of moments when I thought P might have actually have
been getting angry; but what was cool at that show was
that toward the end of the evening the Man actually seemed
to take on a something of a tolerant/sympathetic view toward
the audience, gently coaching them in the lyrics to "Come On"
and other newer stuff. The crowd in Baltimore was significantly
better, but interestingly enough last night it was *Prince*
who was encouraging people to sit down and take it easy,
especially during Dorothy Parker--which was kinda cool in
its own way, but I guess I just tend to favor more the high
intensity atmosphere.



As for concert highlights and notables: early in the show
Prince brought up some ladies in the audience to dance to
Sexy Dancer, Housequake, and a few others while doing some
nice solo work on keyboards. Later, during Little Red Corvette
he actually chased Geneva around the chair on the back part
of the stage, doing that--I don't know what to call it--
freaky slithering crawl thing of his. One *positive* consequence
of the Man's more laidback attitude was that throughout the
show there were actually quite a few very riveting vocal
moments since P was tending to concentrate more on singing
than leaping around the stage, which in other contexts often
leads to him leaving out half the lyrics. During I Wanna
Be Your Lover, Prince cajoled the audience--"Ya'll don't
know my music!"--before letting the crowd take over the vocals
for a while; and there was this crazy guy in the front row
on the right side of the stage (you out there?) that P kept
making funny faces at throughout the evening because
he was basically jumping around like nuts, having a good
ol' time (perhaps with some assistance from the bar?).
The Fonky Baldheads had a couple laughs with him too...



When the Man finally left the stage for the first time
around 11:00 after Nothing Compares to You, I knew his
"Thank You, Goodnight" wasn't for real, but a mere 30
minutes later after Purple Rain it *was* real, the house
lights and the crew coming on immediately afterward, leaving
the crowd no opportunity to cheer for an encore--there
were more than a few murmurs about that! An afterparty
was announced at a club in DC called 2K9DC (sp?). I don't
know if there was a performance or not since (damnit!) I had
to make the haul back to central Virginia for work. I envy
you folks who live in the city and can do this stuff...



As several have already mentioned, single CD's were on sale
at the merchandise counter. No "WWWGP/UMMSS" singles were
available, but I picked up the "Supercute/Underneath the
Cream" single--this enjoyed non-stop play all the way home
in my car. And, though my first impressions were that they
were pretty standard fare, I'm happy to say that they have
really grown on me since, especially after I figured out
the lyrics. In "Supercute", among other niceties, P makes
his lover buy a dildo and sings about her curly pubic hair,
all accompanied by the sound of a whirring vibrator in the
background! *That* had me laughing all the way home!



After the show the Fonky Baldheads were signing photos
and autographs at the merchandise counter. That was cool.
They put on a good show, too, though the crowd wasn't so
into it. Part of the problem was that the vocals were
buried so deep in the mix all night long that you couldn't
make out what was being said a lot of the time, so I think
that made it harder for some folks to get into the new funk
--but damn, their music was funky enough to warrant applause
on its own! Oh well, "Maybe I'm just too demanding..."



Reading over this review, it occurs to me that a lot of this
might be construed as negative. I don't mean for this
to be the case. *I* certainly had a good time. It was just
that the show wasn't fabulous compared to our (admittedly high)
usual standards. Listening to the band in its earlier,
more "rehearsal," mode earlier in the tour was in a sense
more exciting since everything was still fresh and
coming into being. What I wouldn't give to have been in
Europe during the Ultimate Live Experience tour when the Man
was playing *all* new stuff! Damn! Oh well, I count the days...



I gots to get some sleep. Peace y'all.



Thanks,



Zack