HamsterHuey said:

what you looking at?????

[Brit skit was here]

Brendan said:

That got a real LOL outa me! Hilarious!

Brendan said:

That got a real LOL outa me! Hilarious!

Brendan said:

That got a real LOL outa me! Hilarious!

That performance was fantastic, but did you catch the circulating MP3 sourced from a CIA surveillance tape that set it all up?

[Phone ringing in Prince’s limo]

Prince: Hello.

Brit Awards: Prince, this is the Brit Awards, we’d be honored, nay, thrilled if you’d come play with us this year.

Prince: What’s the offer?

Brit Awards: We see you and the Pussycat Dolls.

Prince: The Pussy who?

Brit Awards: The Pussy Cat Dolls. They’re a hot a new group.

Prince: Two new songs.

[5 seconds of silence]

Brit Awards: Um…I think we can work something out. Let me get back to you.

Prince: Two new songs.

Brit Awards: Cheerio.

[5 minutes later, phone ringing in Prince’s limo]

Prince: Hello.

Brit Awards: We see you opening the show. Five minutes. “Purple Rain” or “Let’s Go Crazy”.

Prince: Two new songs.

[10 seconds of silence]

Brit Awards: Err…how long are these new songs?

Prince: 8 minutes.

Brit Awards: Oh yeah? Let me get back to you.

Prince: Two new songs.

Brit Awards: Cheerio.

[5 minutes later, phone ringing in Prince’s limo]

Prince: Hello.

Brit Awards: Yes, Prince, um, we see a nearly unprecedented 10 minutes consisting of a medley of hits and one new song.

Prince: Two new songs.

[15 seconds of silence]

Brit Awards: Okay…hmmm. Let me get back to you.

Prince: Two new songs! [Prince unknowingly taps his limo driver twice on the back of the head with his pimp cane for emphasis on the “two” and the car veers off and narrowly misses oncoming traffic.]

Brit Awards: Cheerio.

[5 minutes later, phone ringing in Prince’s limo]

Prince: Hello.

Brit Awards: We see 10 minutes and an NAACP-type medley of 2 new songs and 2 classic songs.

Prince: We see 13 minutes, Wendy & Lisa, Sheila E. and a 5-star hotel.

[20 seconds of silence]

Brit Award: That’s unprecedented!

Prince: Am I jumping the pond?

[30 seconds of whispering in the background on the Brit Awards’ side of the connection.]

Brit Awards: We, umm…we see 12 and a half minutes and a gigantic press conference the day before with all your old mates.

Prince: We see total denial until the curtain lifts.

Brit Awards: [in a totally defeated voice] When can you be here?

Prince: Just as soon as you send the Concorde.

Brit Awards: But no one flies that any…

Prince: Cheerio!

ConsciousContact said:

First, who gives a flying f*ck if the appearance of Wendy and Lisa went over the audience's heads? What kind of argument is that?
Second, I really would join you in complaining about PR and LGC yet again, but he still rocks them, IMO. So it's all good for me.
I also did not think that TAC was a "snoozefest" at all. Worked really well as an opener.
The only complaint that I'd have would be his guitar sound during 'Fury'. That didn't really work for me.

I originally thought that the W&L reunion would be lost on the Brits audience and wasn't the place for it. But thinking about it now, what better place to do the reunion? This show is being re-shown in many countries from what I understand, so it gives an opportunity for a wide spectrum of hard-core fans to see this reunion, more than if it had been a gig which wasn't broadcast or if it had been some American show not being broadcast outside of the USA. And Prince knew that, as shown by his reference to 'the world' - he knew Prince fans around the world would get a chance to see this.

I don't know how anybody could say that performance was boring. Te Amo is one of those songs that shows the many different flavours of Prince, however I do think the performance would have been EVEN better if it had been replaced with Black Sweat, it would also have helped promote the imminent single. The performance really took off when Prince tore into Fury, not as tight a version as the SNL peformance, but then it had to be truncated heavily to fit into the time available. It's still a very catchy song and got a lot of people going.

I think he was totally right to perform 2 new tracks, not only to alert people to his forthcoming album but to show that he is not just trading off past hits. However, there was no way he could really capture the crowd totally with new, unfamiliar music, much as he failed to do when he played Emancipation/We March 10 years ago. He rectified that problem by giving the crowd what they wanted - 2 of his very best, legendary songs. Perhaps they did overshadow his new music greatly, but if you've got a back catalogue as great and classic as Prince I think you should play it rather than not. Don't run from your past, embrace it.

He could have done two workmanlike performances of these songs, but what lifted them above the ordinary was the fantastically emotional way he performed them. At several points there's no doubt he really lost himself in the moment, something that despite many tv appearances is relatively rare. When Purple Rain started winding down, the crowd started an ovation, not knowing like we do that he would extend the song out. I just thought it was fantastic when he shouted 'Want some more?' and the crowd were screaming for it. Then Purple Rain ends and the crowd thinks that it, and starts another ovation - then Prince says 'Dearly Beloved - we are here to get through this thing called life' and the crowd go nuts again. He slams the hell out of Let's Go Crazy and really brings this fantastic emotional performance to a crashing crescendo with his final guitar solo in a spotlight.

That is not what I call boring.

Ultimately, what Prince was promoting was not the new album, it was Prince himself - showing that he is still around, still at the top of his game, to an audience that largely had thought he'd disappeared or retired. If/when Prince tours Europe, I think the new buzz around him will mean he will sell out stadiums again whether the album is a hit or not.
[Edited 2/18/06 6:01am]

Two words:

Stylish

Mature.

Heiress said:

u mean the SNL, right

seekay said:

No, I do not.

mature?...predictable and boring is nothing to do with being mature

seekay said:

I don't see what was predictable about playing a medley of 2 new and 2 old songs. Did you predict it? No. Hence it was not predictable. Playing Fury on SNL was completely unpredictable. The vast majority of viewers outside of the US will not have seen Fury before, so to them it would ALSO be completely unpredictable that he would play an album track rather than the new single at the Brits. Predictable that he play Te Amo Corazon live for the first time ever? If it was the 10th time, yes, first time, no.

As for maturity, that is BECAUSE he played Purple Rain and Let's Go Crazy, because he wasn't alienating the audience by solely playing songs they've never heard before, because he has learned to embrace his past, which includes playing his classic hits without a hint of fatigue and also patching things up with old bandmates. Growing older and learning from your past mistakes is why this was a mature performance.

seekay said:

I don't see what was predictable about playing a medley of 2 new and 2 old songs. Did you predict it? No. Hence it was not predictable. Playing Fury on SNL was completely unpredictable. The vast majority of viewers outside of the US will not have seen Fury before, so to them it would ALSO be completely unpredictable that he would play an album track rather than the new single at the Brits. Predictable that he play Te Amo Corazon live for the first time ever? If it was the 10th time, yes, first time, no.

As for maturity, that is BECAUSE he played Purple Rain and Let's Go Crazy, because he wasn't alienating the audience by solely playing songs they've never heard before, because he has learned to embrace his past, which includes playing his classic hits without a hint of fatigue and also patching things up with old bandmates. Growing older and learning from your past mistakes is why this was a mature performance.

LGC is now cringeworthy. What was the squawking noise thing after the "Gooooo crazy.....go, go,go...go, go, go" part? I didn't like it at all.

Heiress said:

u mean the SNL, right