Purple Rain Indeed

A little monsoon wasn't about to stop Prince from bringing the Super Bowl (and it's 93 million viewers) to its knees...

After a sad streak of classic-rock geezers, wacky mash-ups (hello, Aerosmith and Britney!), and one errant breast, Prince finally brought some sexy back to the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday with a performance that had roughly 93.2 million viewers cheering — and you can blame it on the rain. The sight of the 48-year-old singer's blazing onstage performance in a near-monsoon ''gave an ethereal feeling to the whole set,'' says Don Mischer, who exec produced the show with Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss. ''What we feared would be a liability actually strengthened his performance.''

The subsequent buzz — and news that Prince had covered the Foo Fighters' recent hit ''Best of You'' — prompted lead singer Dave Grohl to seek out the show on YouTube the next day.

"Having been a massive Prince fan my whole life, I was flattered beyond words," says Grohl. "What an honor to be covered by one of your heroes!"

But let's get back to that downpour. How in the world did Prince avoid becoming a small fry on that slick stage? Some dangerous off-camera heroics helped, for one: After an electric cable was accidentally severed moments before the show, a stage hand channeled a scene straight out of Back to the Future by manually inserting the exposed copper wires into an outlet and holding them in place for the duration of the nearly 12-minute show. It's a wonder he wasn't injured, which is why Mischer says he wants to find out the guy's identity, because ''I think I should give him a medal.'' (Better yet, maybe a trip to Aruba?)

Whether Prince — who's currently performing a weekend show at Las Vegas' Rio Hotel — was electric enough to continue capitalizing on his recent career upswing remains to be seen. (In one promising development, his 2001 greatest hits album has already zoomed to No. 10 on iTunes' best-selling albums chart.) But Kawan ''KP'' Prather, the executive V.P. and head of A&R at Sony BMG's urban music division who helped broker the deal to release Prince's 2004 platinum album Musicology, says that in the end it was the Super Bowl that needed His Purple One's magic touch, not the other way around.

"Prince has enough hits to be able to walk out onstage with a guitar and kill everywhere he goes," says Prather. "He could do that in an airport."
- By Lynette Rice

Too cool! If I were Dave, I'd be on Cloud 9. He's a great guy.

UCantHavaDaMango said:

Dave's worked with my friends band and have to say, you're absolutely right! Very down-to-earth.

I wonder what's goin' down on the Foos boards 'bout now...

"ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOSBAAAAALL?"

Well, now we do know that he liked it

Usually it's not my kind of music, but someting about the Foo Fighters is different. It's not just a lot of noise and screaming, you can always hear the melody and the lyrics. And they, especially David, seem to be very down to earth and funny. I love the "Learning to Fly" video. Always cracks me up

I loved the performance, and the rain did give the whole mini-concert an ethereal feel -- it almost brought me to tears, actually. Prince is a champ for actually making it all work FOR HIM!

My favorite part of the performance is definitely "All Along the Watchtower," "Best of You," and "Purple Rain." BEAUTY=FULL!



p.s. the foo fighters' "learn to fly" is one of my fav rock songs -- the vocals and guitars soar in that song -- it literally flies
[Edited 2/7/07 13:11pm]

It's really great to see that Dave Grohl appreciated what Prince did. I'm still elated from this performance.

dave grohl has actually tossed out some "footos" candy prop gags I designed back in the day at a concert. He seemed nice. And very talented.

Great article! Thanks for sharing.

It's so wonderful to hear the praises for Prince still coming in, love it!

I already thought Dave Grohl was a total class act!

Very sweet article.

Coulda done w/ out the "small fry" quip though.


















Still totally 'in out on the whole SB performance

Dave Grohl has always been cool as hell every time I've see the Foos live. I think he'd give Barbara Streisand a run for her money as to who talks more during their concerts LOL.

Cool.

Excellent!! 'flattered beyond words'
A nice and very well deserved compliment. Nice to see the appreciation for our man

I've seen Dave on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn...talking for the first 15 mins of the interview about Prince and how amazing he is and how much of a fan he's been for most of his life.

Dave Grohl is a legend..wether its Nirvana or Tenacious D or Queens of The StoneAge he rocks the mo/fo.
He gave props to Prince with his excellent cover of Darling Nikki and Prince returned the favour with a Best Of You worthy of the cause.
I think its amazing that two showmen from two entirely different genres can tip their hats to each other.How amazing would the 04 Grammys have been if these two openened the show?

ufoclub said:

you designed those? the same as in the video?

I loved his performance of "the Best of You". classic song done in Prince style.

Good man. Always luved Everlong and Best of You.

It was (for me) the highlight of the performance. Matter of fact, it kinda shocked me.
"Best of you" has always been a favorite of mine.

Everything else (in the performance)...had been done 100 times before.

Agreed


white girl can't spell, edit
[Edited 2/7/07 17:31pm]

I really love the Foos, and especially Dave Grohl. But come on... Best Of You of all the Foo tunes to cover?

squirrelgrease said:

It's cuz of the lyrics.

BananaCologne said:

I'm such a dumbass.

Excellent

squirrelgrease said:

It's relative of course, but an interesting take nonetheless:
http://www.prince.org/msg/7/217109

murph said:

I bet Dave was watching realtime and/or TIVO'd Prince.

Prince Brings Seattle to Miami with a Foo Fighters Cover at the Super Bowl

Everyday Ennui Edward Donnelly Sunday, February 04, 2007

The Purple one devotes nearly a quarter of his time on stage in Miami at the Super Bowl to a Jimi Hendrix style take on a Foo Fighters tune.

Prince. Lots can be said about the purple one. His halftime show tonight rocked and funked and ruled. In the rain even (purple and actual). The craziest thing? He did a Foo Fighters song!! In the middle of mainstream American TV he decided to dedicate 25% of his time on stage to a very Hendrix-y cover of a Foo Fighters tune? Is this a return compliment to Dave Grohl and Co. for their blistery take on Darling Nikki??
I have never ever seen him with a Stratocaster before. Always the Hofner Tele copy or one of his weird "symbol" guitars. Can you imagine a club gig with Prince, a Strat and a Marshall?

Dave used to come into my Borders store in Northern Virginia every once in awhile. It was a thrill for me, but I never got to talk to him. Always seems very cool and funny in interviews. And I love the Prince love.

No BS. I was fortunate enough to meet Dave Grohl twice. Once when the Foos had just started out playing live(opening for Mike Watt) before their debut album, and once when Dave was playing drums for Queens of the Stone Age. I have to say honestly, both times he was really cool. I've met a few artists over the years, but I have to say Grohl is the nicest I've ever met.

another small link to Prince, one of the original members of the Foo Fighters, Pat Smear, was in the Raspberry Beret video. He's got long hair and wearing all white, sitting down in the background, you'll recognize his smile.