JeriCurl said:

Kudoz 2 Prince & Propz 2 da per4mance. Rocked liked a hurricane.

BTW...Who invited Billy Jack Bitch? Wot U accomplish 2 day.

Face Down all U naysayers....kiss my ass...OK!

More love from the Chicago Sun Times

PRINCE TURNS WET SHOW SIMPLY SUPER
Fireworks, flashlights accent musical production

February 5, 2007
MIAMI -- While everyone else was dropping the ball during Super Bowl XLI, Prince picked up the spirits of a soggy crowd and turned in what was arguably the best halftime show in Super Bowl history.
Prince's 18-minute show before 74,512 fans at Dolphin Stadium was a mixture of adventure, innovation and even a dash of innocence.

It was little surprise that Prince opened with a searing version of his 1984 hit "Let's Go Crazy," but in what had to be a sly nod to Nipplegate and other halftime show malfunctions, he spotwelded "Proud Mary" onto "Baby I'm a Star."

Much of Prince's profound beat was delivered by the 100-member Florida A&M University Marching Band. The kinetic corps also backed Kanye West and Jamie Foxx at the 2006 Grammys. It was a cool idea, and it worked magnificently.

Prince rehearsed with the drumline all week, and the rhythms were tight and inspiring. His terse guitar solos were firmly entrenched in the military beat. (James Brown would be spinning in his grave -- if only he had one.)

Prince, his band and the marching band also dealt bluesy snippets of "All Along the Watchtower," removing any trace of the Jimi Hendrix cover of Bob Dylan's classic.

Another surprise was a classic funk-rock workout of the Foo Fighters' "The Best of You." It sounds as if Prince has been woodshedding since his recent residency in Las Vegas.


Purple raining
Performing in a driving rain, Prince wore a natty turquoise suit and a bandana/turban that gave him the hipster presence of a modern-day Chuck Willis. A pair of dancers Prince calls "The Twins" slithered up and down each side of the singer like snakes in the Everglades.
Before Prince took the stage, which was shaped like his male-female symbol logo, the audience had been prompted to point flashlights they received at their seats for the finale of another '84 classic, "Purple Rain" -- a perfect call for the wet night. (For some reason, the crowd also was asked to warm up in a sing-along of "We Will Rock You.") During "Purple Rain" a thin, white balloon emerged near the stage, and it appeared as if Prince was performing inside a condom.

Prince, 48, played to the biggest audience of his life -- 140 million television viewers -- and he delivered like Peyton Manning.

As fans entered the stadium on an overcast afternoon, they were first treated to the subtle recordings of Florida icon Jimmy Buffett before hip-hop and rap were ramped up to drown out the sounds of the predominantly Chicago crowd chanting "Let's go, Bears!" But it was only at halftime when everyone really went crazy.

http://www.suntimes.com/s...05.article

cinnamonjo said:

I just want to know what was boring about his show? If that was boredom then I hate to see what you think spectacular should be.

the man brought that bitch down period!!!

oh goody -- we got three Prince songs from 1984. Next year maybe Madonna will play "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl" -- and then Michael Jackson could play "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" -- and then Paula Abdul could play "Straight Up" and "Cold Hearted"

sorry, just had to state the obvious letdown for most of us. and then he tries to tell people "1984 was just a period in my life" -- "don't come to get your Purple Rain on" etc. whatever. Prince is SO MUCH more than 1984. i just wish he'd show it more.

other than that, he did a wonderful job performing (as he almost always does), especially considering the elements. and i was very touched, as I'm sure he was as well, by the entire stadium's response to "Purple Rain"

sabaisabai said:

[b]A TRUE PROFESSIONAL IN THE RAIN! Hope he's ready to book Vegas in March.

i thought it was very good.


he did it up tonight. all the choices that was made for it was the right one.

Love2tha9s said:

I can understand this feeling...after 24 years of me seeing him on TV ...it can seem repititious. But I understand for a show like this, what else could he really have done? It was a nice display of his axes and the cover tracks.

JeriCurl said:

anything

Lets Work
Thunder with the marching band
Proud Mary cover
Fury

who knows-- im just saying im a fan of the rock/funky p. He killed the guitar solo, but the song choices were far from thrilling.

I'm sure whatever committee selects the halftime entertainment is like

"So WHICH ONE of your top 10 pop hits are you going to perform?"

origmnd said:

I agree!.....maybe he should have played PoomPoom or billy's sunglasses or I know freaks on this side for those of U who feel let down!

Here's what Bob Lefsetz had to say (and I concur 100%) :

PRINCE AT THE SUPER BOWL


"Hey, look me over
Tell me do you like what you see
Hey, I ain’t got no money
But I’m RICH on PERSONALITY!"

If you didn't come to party, don't bother reading this.

Tonight we partied like it was 1999. And we didn't even EXPECT IT!

Fuck the Revolution, fuck Kanye, certainly fuck Justin Timberlake. While we were reveling
in the best Super Bowl in years, because of the weather, Prince took the musical slot,
which was previously fumbled by everybody from Aerosmith to the Stones, to the point where
it's become a joke, and made the game IRRELEVANT!

Oh, U2 did a good job. But they're from IRELAND! What the fuck do they know about
football, the American version thereof? And they're supposedly credible. It's not about
show, but meaning. Whereas Prince comes from a long tradition of black musicians, who
first of all want to get paid, who don't have to play by the rules, since they've been
fucked over by the man FOREVER!

I'm categorcally against playing the Super Bowl. It makes you small. You appear
desperate. But I guess rules are made to be broken, because the execution in this
performance evidenced all the rock, all the roll, all of the soul absent from music today.
Fusing the opposing colors of the human spectrum in a way that Michael Jackson tried to
but never could, Prince united us, showed us it was all about the joy, the feeling, the
rush, that we're all in it together. That we want and need leaders, but they've got to
have charisma, we've got to believe in them. And we believe in Prince.

Oh, he hasn't had a hit in eons.

But he looks just the same.

And the do-rag seemed affected. But the choice of material excused the headgear.

"Proud Mary"? "All Along The Watchtower"? Without all the stunting
we usually see at an event like this, no appearance by Tina Turner or John Fogerty? Shit,
Prince suddenly gives narcissism a good name.

Yes, it's all about Prince, but he's doing it for us, to entertain us, to blow us away.

"Let's Go Crazy"?? Could there be a better opening number?

And you KNEW he was gonna close with "Purple Rain". It just FIT!

But the inclusion of the covers, and the album track "Baby I'm A Star", those
were unexpected, those touched our hearts, reminded us of when music still counted,
brought us right back to the advent, the HEYDAY, of MTV.

MTV fumbled. All they could do was show the titty of someone who didn't have much musical
talent to begin with.

The Stones? They've got no excuse. As Jake says, that's where they USUALLY play,
STADIUMS! How could they be so bad? Hell, they couldn't even nail SATISFACTION!

Aerosmith fucked up by sharing the stage with others.

We no longer believe. And just when we've given up, a saviour comes in to rescue us.

The game is now unimportant.

If we're lucky, Steve Jobs will stun us in the final half.

But today we learned, it was proven, that NOTHING compares with music. No sport, no video
game. There IS no competition for the entertainment dollar when music is done right.

It hasn't been done right in a long time.

But it was done right tonight. The choice of material, the turquoise outfit, even down to
the shoes, and the orange shirt. The ripping guitar solos. The vocals. It was the
complete package.

I don't know who should be ashamed more. The labels or the public. For straying so far
from the essence, for losing the magic touch.

Prince was an inspiration. He took all the spectacle of the Super Bowl, all the glitz and
the glamour, and RAISED THE BAR!

The marching band, the explosions, the stage, it was PERFECT, and it was all in service to
the man. Who was in service to the music.

Shall it live forever on YouTube. Shall you buy tickets and experience the essence.
Shall you be overjoyed by the power of music.

Inspiration not manipulation. Prince didn't cowrite with Diane Warren. No exec told him
what to record. None could contribute to the plan in his head, which he executed so
perfectly tonight.

Shall artistry, and rock and roll, rule FOREVER!

--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/

CinisterCee said:

Sustained!

MarcelJ said:

livewire said:

thanks for that post and esp. the link this makes me even happier

MarcelJ said:

Wow .. hope Prince reads that

I think many of the long term fans would have wanted something fresher, but I am not really complaining. There were probably many factors that contributed to what he was going to play for the 140 millions people. Trying to make that many people love him isn't easy. I think it's great that he is just out there rockin' it. He can't be stopped. He did look very calm and together. The rain only deepened his overall sway on the audience.

everyone should have expected "hit" songs to be played..


what did u expect? shit no'one but a prince fan has ever heard?


that would have bored thousands of people watching.. trust me..



probably would've bored the hell out of me too..

it was a good choice picking out those songs

boring.
tried to hype up the show with lights and explosions.
but the show lacked substance.
same show from 2004 grammy.


overall dissapoinment.

good show, and now for a cup of tea...

no really, it was quite a success, I thought. Worked very well to have the crowd mic'd for Purple Rain, even if someone accidently switched that feed on for a second during Let's Go Crazy.

I think he should have torn off the soul rag earlier.

His voice was perfect. His guitar sounded exciting and raw.

defending "the hits" because anything else would've been boring is not a great defense
when is Prince EVER boring?!
"Fury" on SNL certainly was FAR from boring and that song was from 2006
not 22 years earlier

it's pretty insulting to say Prince would be boring if he didn't play his hits
come on
we all should know better by now

ratt said:

I sorta agree... It's great seeing him on TV doing the 1/2 time show but I thought he was retiring those old songs. I said it before and I'ma say it again. He keeps feeding the belief that he hasn't had a hit since '84.
The grammys are next Sunday, now why couldn't he have at least done some of those? Black Sweat has mass appeal. It got enought play on BET and radio.

SynthiaRose said:

You probably don't realize The Super Bowl was held in Miami and the hosting team's colors are turquoise and coral (orange).

Keep in mind, Prince was a solo act. No Justin/Janet
combination. Can you imagine how hard it was, with the weather conditions, and the sole artist responsible for the event coming off....even U2 had a group of guys.... I was wondering if Prince had some "grounding" with all the electricity and water...

ratt said:

I disagree. i've watched the video several times on housequake and the guitar solos were very passionate and bold and superceded the lights and explosions.
[Edited 2/4/07 23:25pm]

I liked all the tracks but would have rather have seen it start off with "Gold" rather then "Let's go Crazy." I think it would have spiced it up a bit. I havent heard him play that in a long time and I think its a kick ass track. Everything else was perfect.
~YeAh!~

Zxrl25 said:

Gold???

xplnyrslf said:

I've often wondered how grounded Prince is, but that's another story...

Was anyone else as worried as I was that he was going to slip and fall?

A Noncontroversial Prince, Just the Way the N.F.L. Likes Him


By KELEFA SANNEH
Published: February 5, 2007
New York Times

A brief concert in the middle of the Super Bowl, on a temporary stage, designed to thrill a captive audience with nothing in common except a love of sport or spectacle, or both. How could that ever be a good idea? Then, just when it seemed time to give up on that quaint ritual known as the halftime show, along comes Prince.



Prince performed a medley of his hits Sunday night during halftime. Appropriate to the weather conditions, “Purple Rain” was among them. His performance last night at Super Bowl XLI will surely go down as one of the most thrilling halftime shows ever; certainly the most unpredictable, and perhaps the best. “Dearly beloved,” he whispered, intoning the famous first words of “Let’s Go Crazy.”

What followed was a dizzying demonstration. He navigated a smooth course through a jumbled-up set built from bits and pieces, hits and covers. “Let’s Go Crazy” ended with an ad-libbed call-and-response, after which Prince was joined by a marching band.

Soon came “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. That gave way to a piece of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” which melted into “Best of You,” the 2005 hit by the Foo Fighters. He ended the medley by modifying a favorite line from the Foo Fighters’ song: “I’ve got another confession, my friend/I ain’t no fool.”

Somehow, it all made sense, or maybe it made something better than sense. The heavy rain made the smoke and lights seem mysterious, instead of merely ridiculous. And there was a sneaky thrill in watching Prince steal the field from guys three times his size, if only for a few moments.

At one Super Bowl gathering, at least, Prince’s extravagant guitar solos, seductive facial expressions and strutting stage manner made boozy viewers whoop and wonder in equal measure. Who knew a Super Bowl halftime show could be this delirious?

No doubt National Football League officials were pretty pleased, too. They know that the halftime show is still haunted by the specter of 2004, when Justin Timberlake enlivened an otherwise unmemorable show by baring Janet Jackson’s breast. Somehow, Timberlake’s role has been largely forgotten, but Jackson’s career has still not recovered. And compared with the controversial Jackson, Prince must seem like a pretty safe bet.

Would that last statement have made any sense at all 20 years ago? In 1987, Jackson was best known as Michael’s effervescent younger sister, and Prince was perhaps the most polarizing pop star in the country; the sexually frank lyrics of his “Darling Nikki” had helped spark a national debate about explicit lyrics.

Yesterday’s command performance was yet more proof that Prince has made that familiar journey from pariah to American treasure. He has a catalog of hits that everybody seems to love (even the players, who normally take little interest in the halftime show, were quoted praising Prince), and he sings and plays and moves as well as he ever did.

Best of all, he does not carry himself as a pop-star emeritus. Did you see his face during the first verse of “Purple Rain,” when he tossed his bandana into the crowd? He looked as if he were getting away with something.