Generally, I'd have to say I was not very impressed. Let me explain tho...I live in Mpls, so I have had the EXTREME pleasure of attending many of the Friday night jams at PP. So, to see him in a large arena just isn't as good as seeing him in an intimate setting like the Park.

Even tho my wife was 7th in line to buy tickets, our seats SUCKED....way up high in the corner...no good. So keep that in mind with my opinion too.

The music...mostly the Hit N Run set from what I can tell (having read a few reports from the past shows). A string of shortened hits with a few of the newer songs thrown in at full length...The Work, UMMSS). One of the "highlights" would have been the great (in my opinion) arrangement of The Ballad of Dorothy Parker...altho, I heard it on Leno just a few weeks ago...and this seemed exactly the same. So that wasn't as kewl as it would have been had it been the first time.

So, I don't go to see the hits so much...I know many people do, and that's kewl...in fact, some of the people I went with (who had never seen him live before) really wanted to see/hear the hits, so that was good with them, not so good with me. Although...even they complained a little because when he'd play the hits, he would only do one verse...of course they wanted more. I know, I know...hard to please everyone.

Then, about half way through, he really lost a lot of people....he went into his new songs (which I'm sure 95% of the people there had NEVER heard before)...and then went into some slower tempo stuff....and watch the people flood the aisles at that point! It seemed to me that he stayed in this slower tempo stuff for far too long and lost a lot of the energy in the building. It seemed like it was 40 minutes or so (I'm sure it wasn't that long, but it really seemed long). It just really seemed like a distraction...people that didn't know this material started having conversations, and not paying any attention (this was in my area anyway). So then, when he kicked it back up a bit....shortly thereafter he said "good night!" I looked at my watch and could NOT believe that it had been 1-1/2 hours already!! That lul in the middle really seemed to divert or something. Of course he wasn't really done yet...but I was just shocked. It had not seemed like 90 minutes had gone by.

I also go hoping to see him show off his incredible musical talent, and I don't think he did that. He played some guitar...but never really broke into any mind-blowing solos (like I've seen at Paisley so many times). I do realize that if he did that...long 10-20 minute shredding the guitar trick....he would lose the people that were there to hear Raspberry Beret, etc. He did NOT play the bass...be played the keys for maybe 3 minutes...and played the drums for maybe 1 minute. So...it was mostly him singing...which, I think he sings great, but I like the music more!!! One highlight for me was Najee...again, what class...and his solo was great!!! It made my wife and I think that we need to get back to Northrop for some of the jazz concerts they have there!!

As far as the "show" goes...I don't think it was as good as I've seen in the past. Part of why my wife wanted to go was she went to the 1997(?) JOTY show at Target Center and really enjoyed watching him run all over, dancing, jumping off pianos, etc. He did FAR less of that this year. Now, there's rumors his leg is hurting...and if that's so, then so be it...can't do much about it. And personally, Geneva doesn't add much to the show for me...just my opinion.

So, I realize I'm in a unique perspective...but that's my take on Friday's show. From what I'm hearing, it's getting real mixed reviews around here too (many people at work that know I'm a Prince fan have come up to me saying "I hear the Prince concert sucked?!"...I guess many radio stations have had callers saying the same thing? A friend of a co-worker actually left the Saturday show before it was over!)...I don't know of any reviews in print that I can link to. Also, due to a terminally ill family member, I was not able to go to Paisley afterwards...but the rumor I was hearing was that he WAS going to play more there. I'd be interested if that happened or not and how it was.

I also heard that the Saturday show started later and went later...but that's all I know.

Peace all...(sorry this got wordy...and I'm sure there's a ton of bad spelling/typos!!)