New topic
Printable| Author | Message |
NY TIMES: PRINCE CHOOSES HIS ARENA - LAS VEGAS Prince Chooses His Arena: Las Vegas
http://www.nytimes.com/20...?ref=music 
Ethan Miller/3121 Prince on the pared-down stage of his Las Vegas nightclub, 3121. By JEFF LEEDS Published: November 13, 2006 LAS VEGAS, Nov. 11 — It was not much more than a decade ago that the pop megastar behind classics like “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain” seemed intent on shrouding himself in inscrutability, even changing his name to an unpronounceable glyph. Just after midnight on Saturday, though, the artist once again known as Prince declared himself to be curiously, and regularly, available: he began an indefinite run of twice-a-week performances at his own hastily built new nightclub here. In an energetic two-hour set that ran from the vintage 1987 hit “U Got the Look” through “Black Sweat” from his recent “3121” album, Prince delivered a survey of his catalog (“So many hits, so little time,” he said with a smirk at one point), peppering it with references to Scripture and spirituality. And so it was that a pop deity who since declaring himself a Jehovah’s Witness has surfaced with music that spans both sex and salvation, introduced his new pulpit in Sin City. Prince of course joins a growing line of established artists to bet on Las Vegas, and for whom it seems uniquely equipped to deliver a jackpot. Probably no other city could bring the constant flow of high-rolling fans required to make this sort of undertaking work. But it is still a wager: Las Vegas has both validated legend status and marked a star’s devolution to cliché. This is the place where the Rat Pack reigned in style; it’s also a place that played host to the fat-period Elvis. Yet Prince’s move here also came as a particular shock. How could Prince, a pop trailblazer who has in recent years largely abandoned the conventions of the commercial music business, set up shop amid the slot machines and buffets? It seems only semi-permanent. His nightclub, at the Rio hotel-casino, is called 3121 after the album; the same name adorns the adjacent, loosely Asian-themed restaurant being run by his personal chef. The talks to return Prince to Las Vegas, where he played the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel’s arena as a stop on his 2004 tour, reportedly turned serious this year after he dropped by the Rio to appear as a featured guest during a gig there by his longtime associate Morris Day. But now that he has hung out a shingle, the question buzzing through entertainment circles here is how long the famously mercurial Prince will stick with the regimen of twice-weekly performances in the same spot. Event organizers say they have scrambled to provide him with every amenity to ensure his comfort, including a private lounge built under the stage (accessible by a purple staircase). Prince’s partisans insist he is committed, but at the same time they are quick to distance him from the roster of acts that have set up shop at casinos here in easy-living pseudo-retirement, like Celine Dion and Barry Manilow. “The show is anything but a retirement show,” said Sam Jennings, director of Prince’s fan club operation. “He sees it as just an opportunity to stretch his legs musically,” by mixing up his song choices, booking performers of his own choosing several nights a week and inviting guests to perform with him on his Friday and Saturday gigs. Tickets on Prince’s nights are $125. If opening night is an indication, Prince’s purple reign may indeed depart from the productions now commonplace on the Strip. “Ain’t no lip synching up on this stage,” he assured the audience of 900 as he performed just off the giant circular dance-floor that occupies the center of the nightclub. In fact there was not only no lip synching; there was hardly any effort to dress up the production at all aside from displaying the 3121 logo in neon on the wall behind him. In keeping with the stripped-down style that has been a hallmark of his recent concert tours, Prince performed with only a bass player, a keyboardist and a drummer, with two back-up dancers (“the Twinz”) strutting and singing on several songs. All of that signaled a departure from the dizzying labyrinth of over-heated productions here, which run from topless revues to Cirque de Soleil acrobatics spectacles to Ms. Dion’s choreographed showcase. His arrival comes as event promoters are proudly wagering that Las Vegas is shedding its image as a bone yard cluttered with over-the-hill performers and is instead becoming a real outlet for hot — or at least contemporary — performers. But if even a pious Prince represents sexuality — and he does — then Las Vegas seems ready to embrace that as well. After a short-lived attempt to reinvent itself as a playground of family entertainment, it has reverted to its more risqué side with a vengeance, especially since gaming in increasingly available outside of Nevada. Even with the array of celebrity performers, the casinos these days are heavily promoting new adult-oriented nightclubs. (The Palms, already a hit with clubs like Rain, has added a Playboy Club with bunny-eared dealers; Steve Wynn’s new hotel — no strollers allowed — is trumpeting a club called Tryst.) The Treasure Island hotel, which once invited families to come see its nightly, theme-park-style pirate show aboard two giant ships on the Strip, has redesigned the performance by populating one ship with gyrating, hair-flipping “sirens.” “The casinos thought a few years back we need to have something for families just in case they showed up,” said George Maloof, owner of the Palms, which is now opening a new 2,400-seat theater for intimate musical performances à la Prince’s. “I think we figured out that’s not what we’re about.” Certain hotels are also trying out presentations of Broadway shows. John Meglen, the president of Concerts West, the event promoter behind Prince and Ms. Dion, said that was a mistake. “People want to go to Las Vegas and see things they really can’t see anyplace else,” Mr. Meglen said. While Broadway’s big productions may travel to various cities, “right now, if you want to see Prince, you have one choice,” he added. The concept, Mr. Meglen said, is to replicate the exclusive, but raw and free-wheeling feel of the parties Prince had been giving at his Los Angeles home until this year. (The mansion parties also provided the theme for his latest album.) So will Prince, who ranked as the best-selling concert attraction in America on his 2004 arena tour, fit into the new Las Vegas? If he does, it will be because he strikes a chord with the tourists who flock to the city’s promise of outsize, garish fantasies. Can Las Vegas deliver for him? Prince’s restaurant was less than half full on opening night. But consider: In his 2004 tour, Prince racked up $87 million played 69 cities. His closest competitor at the box office? Ms. Dion, who generated more than $80 million playing one. 
Jane Kalinowsky/Associated Press Opening night of Prince’s 3121 club at the Rio Hotel and Casino. 
Ethan Miller/3121 Prince’s onstage window-dressing now includes just a bass player, a keyboardist, a drummer and two dancers. | |
- E-mail - orgNote -  Report post to moderator |
coo. 1st | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
They missed mentioning he has a guitar player too, Mike Scott... | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Mike Scott was there? i thought he was going on tour with Justin Timberlake?
thanks for posting that article serpan! | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
P2daP said: Mike Scott was there? i thought he was going on tour with Justin Timberlake?
From ChuckleCheese over at Housequake: Mike Scott came out and did an amazing solo but I can't remember what song it was for. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
metalorange said: P2daP said: Mike Scott was there? i thought he was going on tour with Justin Timberlake?
From ChuckleCheese over at Housequake: Mike Scott came out and did an amazing solo but I can't remember what song it was for. cool. thanks. hopefuly Prince can talk some sense into him, unless Mike's got a think for playing one cord a night with justin timberlake... anyways!!! lol. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Not so sure that Mike Scott is part of the band, he may have been there...but that doesn't say the he'll b there again right? | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
  "A united state of mind will never be divided
The real definition of unity is 1 People can slam their door, disagree and fight it But how U gonna love the Father but not love the Son? United States of Division"    | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
P2daP said: metalorange said: cool. thanks. hopefuly Prince can talk some sense into him, unless Mike's got a think for playing one cord a night with justin timberlake... anyways!!! lol. more like gotta thing for being payed big dollars! nuttin' wrong with that. easy on my Mike!  "not a fan"  yeah...ok | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
