Let me start this by saying I have been very critical of Prince in the last few years. I used to be very active in the online Prince community, in trading, in collecting everything official, live concert tapes, videos, you name it. Driving to different states for shows.
Prince's complaining, preaching, whining, hypocrisy really had turned me off. Tonight was the first Prince concert I have seen in nearly three years. I skipped the last 2 Michigan area shows. And I will say it now, no matter how wacky he may talk, no matter the complaining about record companies, his hypocrisy, etc. he is without a doubt the greatest musician, showman, live performer I will EVER see in my lifetime and tonight showed every reason why.
I don't know if it's because it's because it's been almost three years since I've seen him. I really don't think so. He could play this show every night and I doubt I'd get tired of it like I did the Jam Of The Year tour.
This to me was the Prince concert I have longed to see in my lifetime. I saw the LoveSexy tour but I really can't remember much about it as I wasn't aware of bootlegs or collecting then and just wasn't into it as much back then. This may go down as the best/my favorite Prince show I've ever seen, the only ones that may be better were the 2 Act I shows.
I knew he had played the standard Hit n Run show in Columbus Thursday so was hopeful we'd get the other set the band has rehearsed. Actually the drummer says they have three different sets and will alternate on this tour. Show started with a Fonky Baldheads set. Wasn't as bad as I thought although DVS bites off Eminem so bad it's sickening. The way he talks, dropping his pants onstage, the way he raps, please make this dork go AWAY.Joe Louis Arena barely looked half full while they were playing and I had a feeling of sadness. The audience was a little older and it made me feel like I felt at the P-Funk show a few years back. Just a band playing to old diehard funkateers in a half full building. But by the time P took the stage it filled in nicely at JLA and the crowd gave him MUCH love. We were in ROW 8 center stage, never been that close for an arena show. What a difference it made sitting amongst other NPG Music Club members on the main floor, EVERYONE was dancing, singing along to EVERY song, what a great atmosphere. This is one of the advantages to the Club, the diehards are sitting together and that makes such a difference in the show.
OK, on to the show and highlights. Opened with "Let's Go Crazy" so I knew we were in for a repeat of the second night at XCel Center and a good show. His guitar fucked up during the guitar solo and he SLAMMED it onto the stage. I thought "uh-oh he's pissed there goes a good show". I'm sure someone lost their job for that
There's no way I can do a complete set list, I can't remember it all. I believe from there it went to "Take Me With U"/"Raspberry Beret". During this he asked how many were there seeing him for the first time, a LOT of people raised their hands.
Then he asked how many had seen him before and the rest raised. He told the old fans to show the new fans "how we do it". I think next was the "Darling Nikki"/"Joy In Repetition" segment where he stops Nikki to go into Joy making a point to change the lyrics to "4 letter words will not be heard from this stage tonight". Here is where the show got HOT. Prince hurt his leg recently so he wasn't doing much dancing but this means more emphasis on PLAYING. Guitar was in hand and he TORE IT UP. "When Doves Cry" into Fathers Song segment of Computer Blue. Then the HIGHLIGHT. Najee was not there tonight so Prince did "God (Instrumental)" ON HIS GUITAR!!! He tore it up, plain and simple. It was so sweet usuallu Najee does this on his sax but not tonight. This then went into segments of "God Created Woman" and then "3 Chains o Gold" with the guitar solo from that.
This is like 10-15 minutes of Prince on his guitar, I was in heaven. The jams continued, "When You Were Mine" into "Bambi" (a song I never though I'd get to hear live and he tore shit up on guitar on this too). Then you get an encore early in the show. A good 10 minute jam on "Sexy Dancer" and into "Housequake". This tore the roof off the house. Bunch of people onstage dancing, Prince on the timbales and percussion during "Sexy Dancer" this should have been the encore this was so cool and funky. This band is tight, Blackwell is such a welcome addition, Prince has this band smoking. Everyone was dancing and singing on this one it was hot as hell down there. After this jam he says "we need to cool you down" and goes into "Dorothy Parker"/"4". Then Millenia comes onstage for the slower section of the show. Starts with part of "Still Would Stand All Time" then goes into a near full "Adore". Again NEVER thought I'd hear this live in a full version and he was so into the vox.

Next major highlight, the piano medley. "Free", "Starfish And Coffee", "Sometimes It Snows In April", FULL "I Love You But Don't Trust You Anymore". He was SO into this song, so much emotion and just an incredibly beautiful performance.
Ballsy to put this pretty much unknown song in the set, major highlight. Then into "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore" full version. Other tracks played (can't remember the order) "Little Red Corvette", "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "Wanna Be Your Lover", "Delirious". The main set ended with a FULL "Purple Rain", all 3 verses then a killer long guitar solo ending with the whole house singing. This is the ONLY way this song should be played, so nice to hear the full song after all those abbreviated one verse and out versions he's been playing. Before the song he broke it down and said "Detroit I wanna talk to you for a minute", I looked at my brother and said "Uh-oh" thinking here comes a speech on THE TRUTH.
But no he says "Detroit I've always said this is like my second home.How many of you here know a guy named Mojo" talking about DJ legend Electrifying Mojo who was so big in getting Prince played in this area. Prince went on to thank Mojo who he said was solely responsible for breaking him in Detroit and talked about what a great DJ he was and how that was how radio should be. He lamented modern radio and how you hear the same 20 songs over and over again and it doesn't matter what city you're in it's the same songs over and over. This was so cool, I am such a Mojo fan, he is truly a great guy and there will never be a radio show like his again.
Truly the greatest radio show and DJ I will ever hear. We all know Prince did the interview with Mojo back in 85/86 so cool that he remembers and gives credit to the guy who broke him here. Mojo is who introduced me to Prince.

After such a great main set, the encore was a bit of a letdown. "U Got The Look", "Kiss" and "Gett Off" (with people onstage dancing again and more great guitar work). But it wasn't that long and then it was over. Encore was good, just too short. After such a great main set and the good mood he seemed it I thought there'd be more.
"Sexy Dancer"/"Housequake" was how his old encores used to be so I can't complain. One cute part, there were two little kids in the front row with their parents couldn't have been more than 7-8 years old. During "Kiss" Prince brings the little girl onstage to dance. She was real shy at first but once the crowd encouraged her
she started dancing, too cute. So during the last verse after "You don't have to watch Dynasty" he puts the mike in front of the little girl to finish the line. She looks up at him and throws her hands up in the "I don't know" way and he started cracking up. She didn't even know the song but it was so cute. He was in a real good mood, he definately delivered the show I was hoping for and I couldn't be happier.

I can't say enough good things about this show. This is why no matter what he says and does that annoys on his website, in interviews, etc. Prince is still and ALWAYS will be the baddest MF'er in music. Killer show. That long guitar segment, "Fathers Song", "God Instrumental", "God Created Woman", "3 Chains o Gold", "When You Were Mine", "Bambi" was worth the $100 alone. Add on to that the piano segment and "Sexy Dancer"/"Housequake" this was a great show.

MikeA