I just watched this performance and a big smile came upon my face. Prince's guitar playing is awesome. I believe that he upstaged everyone and completely stole the show. Were there suppose to be big names on stage cuz other than Prince,i only recognized Tom Petty. Whats ur opinion of this performance and did any of the musicians ever comment on Prince that night. The one guy who was playing next to Tom had a big grin on his face when The bodyguard helped Prince back onto the stage.

Okay, he basically played a bunch of easy guitar bits.... Then fell into his bodyguard (while wearing a smirk of someone who thinks he's a genius) - followed by tossing his guitar to his bodyguard.

The look on Tom Petty's face is priceless. Its like "guy, I've seen people play circles around you in their sleep," into which he cracked a smile.

Rockability said:

Bodyguard's don't catch guitars. Guitar tech's do.

Besides, the show wasn't about pulling something fabulous out of one's ass, it was about celebrating those inducted. The solo wasn't incredible, but it wasn't boring either. It was very basic in guitar terms, but what made it interesting was the song itself. The chord progression is unique and definitely gives the song it's character. Soloing over that makes the solo just as entertaining.

I loved the whole performance and can't single out Prince as the best- er uh, maybe the best looking. The song itself is pretty awesome. One thing, you know when Princey gets in that zone. It was quite obvious he enjoyed himself.

DesireeNevermind said:

He definitely was enjoying himself, and showing off a bit. I enjoyed the performance, but it wasn't "ground breaking" as people think. But it didn't suck either.

ernestsewell said:

TRUE.

ernestsewell said:

Rolling Stone magazine that I read that talks about the greatest moments of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" Prince, who never heard the song before it was sent to him to learn for the performance. Rolling Stone put that performance of his Guitar solo with Jimi Hendrix-”Wild Thing”. All who was on the stage with Prince was amazed.. Prince Guitar solos are like "Sledge Hammers".. He hit
from the soul. And thats why I can't see why Prince when Guitar Hero called he didn't take the deal. You got to be Great!!! So I never heard anything wrong with Prince's Guitar abilities and millions of other Guitar students, fans, critics etc.

I had just left Cleveland when this performance came 11 minutes from my home. I wish I would have been there. I was so sad to miss it.

What blows my mind about this performance is that Prince had never heard While My Guitar Gently Weeps before. He was, what, 49? And never heard this Beatles/Harrison song? It's a testament to his song craft that he was unfamiliar with anything other than soul/funk/pop of 70's radio and still was able to churn out such a diverse body of work in the 80's. It's also sad that he had so little curiosity about music that he didn't know a Beatles song.

Seems like Prince was on fire the whole weekend. I saw another clip of P performing Sign O' The Times that was the best I've ever heard.

i love his red hat. totally hot. actually it's the sexiest he ever looked, i could quite happily masturbate to that footage

Mind as well just talk about that whole night. ...am i the only one that thinks Alicia keys was a little drunk when she was talking about Prince?

Rockability said:

I'm sure Petty has seen some good guitar playing, but I also think his smile was genuine appreciation & amusement. I doubt he's seen too many people as goofy as the guy in the red hat.

Wall said:

Prince is a musician that can read notes and play by ear.. So he can
pick up any instrument and learned it real fast.. So Prince might haven't heard the song.. Everybody heard of the Beatles, and how would you say he doesn't have any curiosity when you can hear along range of sounds in his music? We learned everyday about music it is not about the age.. He can play by ear and read notes..Maybe Prince liked some of their hits..
[Edited 2/26/10 20:24pm]

i enjoyed this performance. he played well and definitely looked like he had fun. it was great watching him; the showiness made it that much more entertaining and exciting for me.

Prince showed himself 2B WHO IS IS IN THIS PREFORMANCE....PRINCE!!!!

Prince knew that song much longer then you think
Prince is a fan of Tom Petty's Free Falling -for example
Prince used Beatles influence on 1985 album
i bet he have whole Beatles catalog
you think he wasn't curios like many
other people why are these 4 guys from Liverpool
considered to be alpha and omega of popular music

I can say, as a guitar player, that soloing over a chord progression like that is quite possibly some of the most fun a guitar player has. So many possibilities, so much freedom, yet it all "feels" familiar to the player and to the listener. Prince definitely had blast on stage that night.

My opinion is that most of the people who were floored by it don't really know that Prince is a bad ass guitar player. I had heard so much about it, and when I saw it I was like, yea it's O.K. Same thing happened at the Superbowl performance. A lot of guitar players are just into the rock and blues stuff, so when they see Prince ripping it they're "wow, I didn't know he did that."