CONCERT REVIEW - Heritage Theatre, Saginaw, Michigan
03/01/2002

By Gary Graff

About an hour into the first show of his One Night Alone tour, Prince told the 2,300 fans at the Heritage Theatre that "what we're talking about is free will, y'all." As if he's been guided by anything but that during the past 23 years.

{{{Chimerical as always, Prince introduced a whole new musical world with the One Night Alone tour, a passionate two-hour-and-45-minute exposition during which the genre-blender from Minneapolis and his five-piece band cruised through a variety of styles and approaches, touching only lightly on the artist's past and instead exploring other old-school territories such as jazz fusion and '70s funk}}}.

In doing so, Prince and company presented one of the most challenging and exciting shows he's put on since the '80s. And if some fans bemoaned a lack of hits for their high-priced tickets ($125 and $75), they simply weren't allowing themselves to be appropriately swept up by the ambitious soundscape Prince has adopted.

It did take him a full 90 minutes before he stepped into familiar territory, whipping out a faithful version of "When You Were Mine"--full-length, rather than the truncated rendition he's played during his frustrating, medley-happy concerts of the past few tours. During the evening he also delivered "Take Me With U" and "Raspberry Beret," as well as less celebrated fan favorites such as "Strange Relationship," "Sometimes It Snows In April," "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore," and snippets of "Free" and "Starfish And Coffee." If fans bemoaned a lack of hits, they simply weren't allowing themselves to be swept up by the ambitious soundscape Prince has adopted.

But the reborn and recently remarried Prince's heart was really in a series of loose, improvised jams that dotted the show and found him eschewing the frenetic dancing and piano-humping that were once his stock-in-trade in favor of playing (guitar and piano) and offering generous solo space to saxophonist Maceo Parker and keyboardist Renato Neto.

He kicked things off with a lengthy run-through of the title track from his latest album, ^^Rainbow Children^^, which moved into the subtly Eastern-flavored "Muse 2 The Pharaoh." The as-yet-unreleased "Xenophobia"--rumored to be the title track of his next album--built into an expansive, fusion-y fury, while "1+1+1=3" was elongated with a phat jam built on the guitar riff from the Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster."

An "NPG (New Power Generation) On The Radio" schtick introduced covers of Sly & the Family Stone's "Sing A Simple Song," the Delfonics' "La-La Means I Love You," and Erykah Badu's "Didn't Cha Know," while Prince finished the main part of the show with a fiery Latin jam that was built on Santana's "Soul Sacrifice" and dominated by some stinging guitar solos.

The Saginaw crowd seemed a bit taken aback by the lyric of another new song, "Avalanche," that declared, "Abraham Lincoln was a racist," but it was more than happy to join the "God is love/Love is God" chant Prince led during the show-closing, gospelized treatment of "Anna Stesia" from 1988's Lovesexy album. That was appropriate enough, because Prince is clearly feeling the kind of love for his music that he hasn't displayed in quite some time.

xst

I thought the thrill of being 1st on a thread had evaporated long, long ago....

XxAxX is makin' their way onto my ass-whoopin' list...

Btw, good review...

i wasn't 1st. i was xst

and, my fine dreadlocked friend, on this board being xst is a first

. . . waitin' for WB to break out that can. . .

XxAxX said:

...of WHOOP-ASS!!...heh heh...

Where's muh can opener??...

ssssspank you very much ;D

I'm bringing a friend of mine to the show, and convinced him to shell out $125 bucks for the good seats. This set list is a major let down considering this will be the first (and probabbly last) time he goes to see him. The past several years, along with his newer songs, he always managed to include a healthy amount of his earlier work.

I wish I would have known this before I bought the tickets, I would have just went myself.

'the genre-blender from Minneapolis'. I thought he said gender-blender

thouy said:

"If fans bemoaned a lack of hits, they simply weren't allowing themselves to be swept up by the ambitious soundscape Prince has adopted."

Just tell your friend--and yourself--this quote before going to the concert...I'm hoping that most of us Prince fans are openminded enough to being able to enjoy excellent music performed by an extraordinary artist without having to first hear it on radio...