(My review only includes those things that had an effect on me. I did leave out some parts that I thought Prince (or others) would prefer to keep personal. Any quotes are from memory -- nothing was recorded or written down at the time these things were said.)



I arrived at the Oakland Arena at 1PM and picked up my ticket. Two of Prince's tour buses were already there. I'm sure they belonged to the sound people. I drove by and asked one of the security guards if they knew anything about fans getting in during the soundcheck. He was very nice to me. I told him I was a member of the NPG Music Club. He said, "Oh, you didn't say you were with Prince," and I said, "No, I'm just a fan." I think he was confused because several of Prince's staff were walking around with NPG Music Club shirts. Anyway, the security guard told me, "Go park over there with the other cars and then come back." So I did like he said and parked over by the other cars, which also happened to be right next to Prince's tour buses and where his people parked their cars. I walked back to the security guard and asked if I could use the restroom. He said, "Yeah, sure... use that one..." He pointed toward the backstage, but then another guard interrupted him, "No, our insurance won't allow him to be back there." So I asked that same man, "Do you know anything about the soundcheck that the fans are supposed to see?" And he laughed. "There ain't no way that's gonna happen here." And then someone a bit more official walked out, and I asked him. He said, "Yeah, we were given a V.I.P. list. It's not unusual for bands to have a meet-and-greet with the fans. You just go over and stand by the box-office and we'll let them know there's a group of you up there." But then, yet another security guard interrupted and got on his radio to a lady located somewhere in the building. "Do you know anything about fans coming in before the show to see Prince?" She answered back, "Um, no. I hadn't heard of it. Let me check." I heard her talking to other people in the background. Meanwhile, I showed him the e-mail about the soundcheck. He read it over a couple times and gave it to one of the other security people to read. Then the lady came back on the radio. "No. We haven't heard anything." And he said, "Well, he's got an e-mail here about it." And she said, "Wow... they'll try just about anything to get in." He read part of the e-mail to her. She said, "Sounds fake to me. Probably just something they got off the Internet." So we started walking back, and then another guy, even more official-looking came out. They asked him about it. He wasn't quite sure, and then he looked at me. "Well, in the first place, aren't you here just a little early?" I told him that I came to pick up my ticket and wanted to know where to go to get in for the soundcheck. He said something like, "Well, we'll check into it," and he walked away with the security guards. I drove away in my car and found a place to eat. Then I drove back and parked where I was told to park earlier. I sat there and tried to catch a nap, while at the same time watching Prince's staff walk back and forth from the tour buses (which were only about 20 feet away).



At around 4PM, two other tour buses showed up. These must have been the buses for the band. And then, about a half hour later, limos and escort cars started showing up. It looked as if these came from the airport. They went into the backstage tunnel and then came back out and parked next to me. At 5PM, I decided to get out and walk around. Once again, I asked one of the security people about seeing the soundcheck, and she said, "I don't think it's going to happen. Prince isn't even here yet. There isn't much time." About a half hour later, a long black limo drove into the backstage tunnel and several female fans screamed. They saw Prince get out of it. It was only two minutes later that we heard Prince playing guitar and singing for the soundcheck. He practically walked straight from the limo to the stage. For the first half hour, I heard the band working mostly on just one song. Sounded like they were trying to get the bass and drum part correct on something. The song didn't sound familiar to me; though, I can still remember that bass line. It may have been "Come On" now that I think of it. Soon after that, they closed the back door. The Arena staff were still unsure of us getting in for the soundcheck, and a couple of them were practically making fun of us -- "It ain't gonna happen." Every once in awhile some of the Fonky Baldheads and Prince's sound people would walk out to the tour buses or unload equipment from vans. It looked like they had rented some things from a local music store at the last minute -- like an extra snare, and some boxes to patch into, maybe even another keyboard. Kirk came out to talk to a few of us and then went back inside. A little while later, one of the security guards (the nice one) told us, "If you put away your cameras you might see something special." And then about 10 minutes later, one of Prince's people (I think) came out with the V.I.P. list and started pulling us aside, where we were patted down, and then led into the Arena (by the nice secuirty guard) about 15 people at a time.



As we walked around from the back of the stage to the front, I kept looking. From the back, I could see some members of the band and several of the sound people. The band was playing a rocked-out funk version of "Paisley Park." It sounded so good! And what an appropriate song for us to walk in on. As we came around front, there he was. Prince was looking straight ahead to the mixing board as he started singing a verse. He was wearing dark pants and a fuzzy lime-green full-turtleneck sweater with sleeves that almost covered his hands. In the middle of the verse, he did a sideways glance at us and smiled, and then he started to sing again but forgot where he was in the song. Looking down (at his lyric book?), and not at us, he told us, "Y'all made me forget my lyrics." A little bit later, he looked at his band and told them, "These are all my cousins. I got lotsa cousins." He pointed to one lady in particular and said, "And she's my aunt."



During the soundcheck, he was upset with the sound he was getting. He had one of his sound people stand center-stage so he could hear it too. He also didn't like the way the people at the mixing board were operating things. They either had the mics too hot or not hot enough. Several times there was feedback noise. One time this happened twice within a few seconds and Prince yelled, "COME ON!" Also, he appeared to be upset with how cold it was. He stopped one guitar part to rub his hands together and pull his sleeves over his hands. I was afraid he was going to walk away angry, but I think this is something he's had to deal with often. Anyway, he stayed in good spirits and was very nice to us. He invited Rosie Gaines to come sing onstage. She had been sitting at the back at the Arena (I don't know for how long). She came up to the stage and made a point to walk right next to us and shake hands with several of us. As she sang, we applauded and cheered for her. Prince seemed pleasantly surprised and told us, "Aw, you're too nice."



Prince seemed confused about where we were sitting, off to the side of the stage. He asked to see one girl's ticket. She handed it to him, and he read it. He made some comment about the security guard putting us in the wrong seats. He asked us, "Where are your seats?" Most of the fans pointed down to the floor in front of the stage. I was the only one who pointed to the nose-bleed section. (I wasn't notified about the Oakland concert until it was too late). Then Prince asked us, "Would you like to take your seat?" A couple of us said, "No," but most everyone said, "Yeah!" So he said, "Take your seat." I took him seriously and started to walk way toward the back. I was hoping Prince would notice me and find me a better seat, but instead he asked, "Is there anyone here who is not a member of the NPG Music Club?" I felt that he was talking about me, but no one answered him. I told myself, "It doesn't matter where I sit right now. The others won't be in here for awhile." So I walked back up to the front rows and sat down. Then Prince and the band continued their rehearsal.



At one point, Millenia came to the stage and Rosie had them singing backup to "Ain't No Way". It seemed as if she was telling them to sing a part they hadn't sung before. At first, they kind of mumbled it, and then when they understood what she was asking, they belted it out with stronger voices. Later, at the Fillmore, Millenia sang this part even better. At the end of the song, Millenia and Rosie started to walk off stage, and Prince whispered something in her ear. I think it had something to do with the way the song should be performed. Rosie nodded her head in agreement and was gone.



At different points during the sound check, Prince would walk over to a stack of speakers that were situated to form a "chair" and he would listen from there. Every once in awhile he'd tell the soundboard people to fix the sound on a certain instrument. He seemed upset at one point when they didn't get Morris' keyboards sounding right. "Can't ya hear that?"



During most of the soundcheck, Prince thumbed through several large notebooks with big laminated pages propped up beside his guitar effects pedals. I don't know if this included keys and chord changes, lyrics, or both. I wondered if he was making up the Fillmore setlist right then and there after getting a feel how each song led into another.



Prince stopped the soundcheck to tell us that a lady had something to say to us. The band continued to play in the background, and Prince sat in front of the drumkit with his guitar as the lady walked to the center mic and told us, "If you decide to leave the Arena, the only way you can get back in is to go to the main entrance and show your ticket stub." The band continued to play softly in the background, and she ended her speech right on the last beat of a measure, and Prince cued the band to jam on the very next beat as he played lead guitar. He smiled. The timing was perfect. One of Prince's staff came out and wiped off his microphone. And then when they finished the jam, he said something like, "I'm just not sure I was into that esoteric type of rap that lady was speaking." Ha ha.



The last song Prince performed at the soundcheck was a rocking guitar piece, reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix. He sang lyrics on top of it, but I couldn't make them out until I heard, "I never meant to cause you any trouble" But the melody line was totally different. He was singing "Purple Rain" lyrics to a hard-rock song, and then he stopped and said, "I guess those lyrics don't quite fit that song." Later (during the question and answer session) he told us that all the songs he performed at the soundcheck were in preparation of the Fillmore aftershow "except that song I just did. That was a gift for you."



Prince let Bill (a fam) go to the stage and play his blue cloud guitar. Bill played some bluesy chords softly in the background, and then some "Purple Rain." I was surprised to see it was the same person who had been talking to me while I stood in the line outside. Very nice person. And that's when Prince told us about another "Prince Celebration" though I didn't hear him give any specifics.



Prince sat at the front of the stage and answered dozens of questions. He talked about how a radio station in one city should play music that people in that city would be into, including their local bands, and that a station in another city should play the music their local people wanted to hear, including their local music scene. He told us, "But radio is controlled. It's pretty much New York and L.A. who control what the rest of the country hears. That's why wherever you go in the country, you're going to hear the same thing." [Not an exact quote]. He added something like, "You need to tell your radio stations that you want to hear groups like Millenia or The Fonky Baldheads. Or... just turn the radio off."



Prince continued answering questions for about 20 minutes. One person asked, "Who is your hero?" We all knew she meant musical heroes, but Prince took the opportunity to share his faith and said, "My hero is Jesus." About half of us applauded. I wanted to ask a question too but didn't want to yell it out without getting some eye contact first, but it didn't come. Maybe I'll get the chance some other time.



Around 7:40PM, Prince ended the session. In unison, we all said, "THANK YOU!!" I think he dug that. And then he and his band left the stage. Ahdio #1 began to play and continued (with some variations) until the show started at 9PM.



I went to buy a shirt, a hat, and the "Supercute" single. At the main table, someone had just bought a blue cloud guitar, and someone else asked, "Do you have a white one?" The seller said, "We only had one, and I just sold it." So he bought a blue one instead.



I found my way to my seat, and was disappointed to find out that it was angled in a weird direction with plexiglass right in front of it. Throughout the entire concert, the people right next to me kept getting up to go to the bathroom or to get something to eat or drink, and security was constantly stumbling over my feet and flashing lights in my face. I couldn't believe all the people eating popcorn and nachos!! Did they think they were at a movie show?! And the entire arena, especially from the upper-level, reaked of marijuana smoke. Whenever the lights flashed back at the audience, the smoke was very visible.



During the opening performances of Millenia and The Fonky Baldheads, very few people stood up and danced, even when the band asked them to. I didn't understand that. How can these people say they didn't enjoy these groups when they didn't even try to get into it and feel the music?



I thought Millenia was okay. They definitely have good voices, but I'm not into their style of music. I know it's directed more at the teenage hip-hop audience. Millenia tried many choreographed dancing moves which I thought needed a lot more work. But they weren't bad. I especially liked them when they sang backup for Rosie at the soundcheck and at the Fillmore afterjam.



My favorite part of the concert was The Fonky Baldheads. I loved their sound and energy. But I was very disappointed in all the fams who just sat there and watched them with little emotion. The Fonky Baldheads were yelling, "Get up!" and no one did.



During Prince's show, the sound was awful, especially from where I was sitting. I remember the sound being a whole lot better during the Lovesexy concert in the same arena. Back then, the speakers were hung all around from the ceiling and the music was deafening -- made my ears ring for hours afterward. But this night, the sound was very weak. It was like I was watching the whole thing on television. I'm sure the whole concert sounded a lot better in the seats in front of the stage, for those lucky enough to get the notification. Another thing that upset me from my seat was that the guy operating the spotlight had little idea about what he was supposed to do. I kept looking up at him. Najee would be playing, and the guy would have the spotlight on Prince who was standing off to the side watching Najee play in the dark. The spotlight kept missing the real action and performances.



Prince talked to the audience a few different times during the show. He told us about his best friend Larry Graham asking him, "Prince, have you ever thought about doing a show cuss-free?" And Prince said, "No, I use those words for effect!" And then Larry said, "Well, okay, see you tomorrow little brother." Prince continued, "And that really bothered me. I thought about it all night. I wouldn't say some of those things to a child or to some other people, why should I say them to you? If I wouldn't disrespect them, why should I disrespect you?" [Not excact quotes]. A lot of people cheered and applauded.



A little bit later he told us that Lawrence Fishburne asked for tickets to the show, and Prince said, "Only if you tell me the plots to Matrix 2 and 3... so.... the plot goes like this... nah... he didn't tell me... and that's why he's sitting way up there in that nose-bleed section!" And then he told us about Jada Picket-Smith asking him for tickets. "And I said, only if you tell me the plots to Matrix 2 and 3... so, the plot goes like this... nah, she didn't tell me either... and that's why she's also sitting way up there!!" People laughed.



Anway, I originally felt like leaving the concert only after 10 minutes into Prince's set. I knew the real show was to come at the Fillmore, and I wasn't enjoying myself at the Oakland Arena. People kept walking back and forth in front of me, I could barely see Prince from where I was, I had to watch the show through plexiglass, and the sound was worse than my 13-inch television. But I held out and decided to leave when I knew an encore was about to come. I wanted to beat the traffic out of the Arena so I could get to the Fillmore in San Francisco. I left toward the end of "The Beautiful Ones".



As I was walking out, a security guard was blocking my exit. I asked, "Is this the way to Prince's tour buses?" He said, "Uh.. I don't know anything about any tour buses." I told him, "Well, I parked my car next to the tour buses." And he said, "You're not going to leave are you?" I said, "Yeah." He moved out of the way, and I walked out of the Arena. When I got to my car, I saw that they had opened the gates right behind me -- a quick get-away for Prince and his people to leave the Arena. I was on the highway within a minute and on my way to the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco.



Continued in next report...



[Awesome report! Thanks!!]