Loved the videos, thanks!

was there. it rocked. nice one.

My review from HQ:

Well, the mornin' after the night b4, and as promised here's my thoughts....

First time for me seeing this line up of the NPG - P, Cora, Josh, Renato, Morris, Shelby, Maceo, Greg, Mike, Ray, Twinz - very solid, but if I'm honest doesn't seem to have the versatility or the 'space' of the 2002 version. Maybe it's the extra keyboard / organ making things cluttered, or maybe its the drumming which doesn't quite do it for me. Don't get me wrong - still a great band, just not quite as great as some we've seen before!

The show was cool, although like others have said, lots of cover versions! 'So many hits, so little time' - so why play so many covers Mr P ?! When he was playing his own material he ripped it up - highlights included killer versions of 'Musicology', 'Cream', 'Gotta Broken Heart', 'Girls and Boys' and 'Nothing Compares 2 U'. Perhaps the best of all was a rockin version of 'U Got The Look', but that only served to highlight how superb this show could be if he delved into his own back catalogue some more. Interesting that he also played complete versions of most songs (with the exception of that version of Let's Go Crazy that jumps straight from intro to guitar solo!) Didn't do many medleys and didn't really stretch out much...

Not that the covers were bad you understand - 'Sing A Simple Song', 'Crazy', 'Pass The Peas', 'I Never Loved A Man....', 'Down By The Riverside' were all fantastic. But for me they somehow just interefered with the flow of the show a little too much - it didn't quite hang together in that seamless way that his truely great shows do. During the 'Crazy' encore I found myself thinking 'why'? Great song, great performance, audience going wild - but just not Prince. Anyone else long for those trademark long funk jam encores....?

P himself was just so cool - who else can wear a woolly tea-cosy masquerading as a hat for 2 and a half hours and still look cool as f**k! Loved the bit after the girl kissed him, when he walked back on stage with his head wrapped up in a towel - daring someone else to try! The man still has a stage presence second to none. He's always loved playing London - just count up the number of London shows compared to anywhere else over the years - and he clearly still does. It's gonna be a beautiful summer people!

So, was it a great show? Hell yeah! Was I ever so slightly disappointed? If I'm honest, yes! By anyone else's standards he tore down the house - by Prince's standards it was 'just' a very good show!

Man..what a special night.

I managed to get down most of the tracks in the right order but feel free to correct me:

Pass The Peas
Satisfied - it sounded like a different arrangement to me, like 'Need Your Love So Bad' by Fleetwood Mac
Courtin Time
Girls & Boys
I Never Loved a Man - Aretha Franklin cover
Lolita
Black Sweat
Kiss
Sshh
Musicology
Instrumental Break - not sure so anyone fill in the blank!
Sing a Simple Song - Sly Stone cover
Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry cover
Sax break - again not sure, maybe Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
Love is A Losing Game - Amy Winehouse cover
Gotta Broken Heart Again
Cream
U Got The Look

Encore #1
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Nothing Compares 2U

Encore #2
Let's Go Crazy

I give the show 7.5/10 cos at times he was breathtaking..seeing the guitar work on Satisfied and Ssh close up and the bass workouts on Black Sweat was fantastic plus hearing U Got the Look live for the 1st time was very special. But I do agree with a lot of what others have said regarding the jazz breaks/interludes, they were performed by very competent musicians but frankly where too frequent and not really what we wanted to see.


Personally, I liked the covers especially Sing a Simple Song and Crazy - i've waited 20 years to see him play a Sly Stone tune and it didnt disappoint.

He definitely was 'up for it'- his chat and mucking about, getting the crowd up to dance (dealing with the woman who wanted to give him a private show!) and jumping in the crowd during Crazy (not 3ft from where i was stood) showed how much he enjoyed it too.

Forgive me if this sounds controversail but I am so glad that he didnt play Purple Rain. He can save that for the Superbowls and the O2 gigs - this was about the real fans and giving them something different, which for me and my girlfriend, I am very grateful for.

!
[Edited 5/12/07 9:20am]

plumbcrazy said:

Thanks for the report. So no new tracks? Somebody said something about some new thing where was rapping?

^ nothing new - he 'rapped' a couple of verses of Prince & The Band during the extended section of Musicology....

Sounds like the usual shitty Prince gig.

FuzzyD said:

I dont see any vids on your page

yeah!!
saw the footage!

prettymansson said:

Had to take them off - sorry

Keep us posted ya'll!

FuzzyD said:

I'm just wondering... who infrmed you that you had to remove the links, and ho did they contact you.

I saw the videos--they haven't been taken down yet! Or at least when I did a search. . .

NuPwr319 said:

If you do a search - prince koko - you do get videos... they're not mine though!

Apparently Prince did go on elsewhere...Chinawhite. Thats what this article says (The Sun)

http://www.thesun.co.uk/a...46,00.html

If you can always believ what they say!! The article is fairly inaccurate anyway! lol

Thank you for the review and taking the time to write the set list down.

Did they really play "Courtin' Time"?

yep sure did