Roll with me on this one...

It's early 2010. Prince announces to the world's media that he intends to release no new music in the coming year. Neither will he perform a single 'Prince' concert. Instead, he will embark on a year-long 'sitting in' Tour. This will involve Prince turning up unexpectedly at various locations throughout the world, and guesting onstage with various artists and bands, playing a range of live instruments across many musical genres. Some of these appearances will involve extremely well known bands in huge arenas. Other nights, Prince could well turn up at your local bar or jazz cafe and sit in with the house band. The aim of this tour would be for Prince to immerse himself within several different music scenes, spreading his genius far and wide, inevitably gaining a great amount of exposure and press attention, which would in turn considerably widen his fanbase.

So, that's the premise. Now I ask you all to consider the implications.

Can you imagine the excitement? For instance, imagine you're at a Radiohead gig in New York and word on the street is that Prince is in town. Everyone knows about his 'sitting in' tour. Near the close of the show, Radiohead unexpectedly launch into Creep and you know he's gotta be there, waiting in the wings, telecaster at hand, ready to tear it up...

Or you are at Glastonbury Festival 2010. You emerge from your tent on the Saturday morning, only to overhear a fellow festival-goer say to a friend, "Did you hear the news? Prince is here! Who'd you think he'll play with??" You spend the rest of the day frantically second guessing who it'll be - Bill Withers? Massive Attack? Quantic?

Or finally, you are at a Rage Against The Machine gig in Barcelona, Spain. The crowd are hardcore for Rage, mostly metalheads but metalheads who appreciate a hard funky groove - 20 year old metalheads who know little of Prince apart from the soft poppy image that he's often laden with. Suddenly the lights go down, the crowd go crazy, the curtains go up. On stage the band launch into Wake Up to thunderous applause. Then, at the first breakdown (after the opening guitar riff), on storms Prince, Zack de la Rocha screams "Ladies and Gentles man, it's MF'ing Prince!" and BOOM! Prince, barechested, pissed off and playful, centre stage, shredding the main guitar riff, before switching to the bass for the funk fueled verses.

So yeah, that's the Dream. And the beauty is, every gig would be different. Whether he's behind the drums on OutKast's Hey Ya!, or playing keys on Arcade Fire's No Cars Go, it's all Prince. Doing what Prince does best - playing live. Out of his comfort zone too. Constantly improvising and experiencing different sounds and styles of music. It would be great for him - and incredible for us.

So, I guess my question is:

Within this dreamworld, which bands or artists would you like to see Prince turn up and 'sit in' with? What instrument and song would he perform on? I welcome your ideas, feel free to get carried away, as I obviously have!

"This is what it's like in the Dream Factory, oh!"

O+>

.
[Edited 12/27/09 17:41pm]

Thanks, glad someone else shares the vision! I was actually just thinking it would be funnier too if it was a Rage Against The Machine TRIBUTE BAND!
O+>

Post it here, in a very similar thread: http://prince.org/msg/7/326944

.
[Edited 12/27/09 17:42pm]

It's more a fantasy than a prediction, but cheers Ernest, will post it there!

Ooohh, Sade, good call!

If Joni Mitchell was touring, I'd have to go to every one of her gigs just in case he turned up!
I'd love to be there for that. Prince on guitar for A Case of You?
Or bass on The Jungle Line?
Or keys for the jazzy piano breakdown in Harry's House/Centerpiece
[Edited 12/27/09 17:23pm]
[Edited 12/27/09 17:23pm]

This is a nice wish. I bet that would be a lot of fun for Prince too.