Dearly beloved...

It has almost been a month now and all this time the Facebook profiles of the world wide Prince family members have featured almost nothing but Prince posts and sad comments. How strange this must look to 'normal' people? I got told on Facebook recently, in a demeaning manner, that it looked like I knew the man. Well fuck that! Who are you to judge somebody else's feelings of loss and grief is what I thought. But it also brought a smile to my face, because isn't that what he did for all of us? Through his incredible art and his lyrics we really DID get to know him! At least part of him.

I must say that I had a bad feeling when seeing Prince on pictures in the last weeks of his life. He was walking with that cane all the time and somehow he looked frail. I got uneasy when I looked at him. I didn't think anything was going to happen, I had no reason to assume anything was wrong. But somehow I was worried.

In March our Son was born and April we lost Prince, the happiest and one of the saddest times in my life almost combined. I was in the car at a highway parking on our way to Holland to visit some family with our baby when I got the news. I completely broke down and my wife had to continue driving for the rest of the way.

To me Prince meant way more than I can ever describe with words. He has been the soundtrack to my life for over 30 years and although I am normally a super down-to-earth kinda person who isn't quickly impressed by anything really, Prince does something to me that shakes that all up.

It all began in 1984 when I was 14 and in the early stages of adolescence. I felt misunderstood, like I didn't fit in and I was rebelling against everything. Then one night on TopPop (an old Dutch music TV show) they premiered 'When Doves Cry' from this new artist called Prince and I was sold instantly. The next morning I drove my bike to the record store as fast as I could to get the whole record. I really couldn't tell how many times I've played that record, but it's a LOT. In no-time my whole room was covered in Prince Posters. And from my pocket money and birthday money I soon bought the albums that had preceded Purple Rain. I think it was by then that I started calling myself a Prince Fan. My mother hated him and his music! She called him androgynous and gross, heheh. That probably also was appealing to me, liking an artist that your parents hate. Don't forget that in those days it was still much cooler to be a Madonna or a Michael Jackson fan than a Prince fan. I liked those also, but to me Prince was just always WAY better and way more 'my thing'. I could almost always identify myself with his lyrics, he sang what I thought or felt and if he didn't sing it the music 'sang' it. (the highly sexual nature of his lyrics will also have played some part I must admit). The years after that Prince only seemed to get better. He delivered killer album after killer album and my fandom only grew. On a family holiday in 1987 to the Dalmatian Coast I think that Sign the Times was the only tape we played all holiday in our tape deck at the beach. He (in his music) was always there for me, no matter what. Through every break-up, every fight with your folks, when you felt sad or happy, there's always that one Prince track (or album) to get you through.

I wished that I could say the my 1st ever Prince Concert was the Sign the Times Concert in Utrecht, but unfortunately I would be lying and I don't wanna be one of those fans. I don't know why I wasn't there. Maybe my parents didn't allow it because I wasn't 18 yet? Maybe I just didn't know about it? For me my 1st Prince concert was Love Sexy 1988. And it still is probably my favorite concert of all time. In those pre-internet days you had to wait in line twice for a concert. The first time to get a ticket and the 2nd time to get into the concert. So weeks before the concert I waited all night outside the post office for it to open the next morning and the Prince tickets would be sold. And man did I feel proud when I held my ticket in my hands! I was going to see him live.... it was really going to happen!!!!!

The night before the concert I hardly slept because I was so anxious to finally see Prince perform live. I had waited for so long! I had asked people what a normal time was to be at a venue and they told me late afternoon. But I just couldn't wait. And since there was little difference in waiting at home or waiting at the stadium I took one of the earliest trains to Rotterdam. To my surprise I was amongst the 1st people in front of the Stadium and so I managed to get a spot 1st row at the star shaped stage. I was hypnotized by the incredible show, the pass and the music that never stopped. Love sexy was a celebration of 10 years Prince. He just went on and on and on. Playing amazing song after amazing song! When I walked out and the daze slowly passed my fan status had changed from 'just a fan' to 'die-hard fan'.

After that I made sure that I never missed a Prince concert again. And I always stood 1st row center stage. The Die-Hard fan group back in those days used to gather in front of the Stadium or Arena almost a day in advance. We gave out numbers to everybody in order of arrival so you could move about a bit and didn't have to stay in 1 spot all the time. Somehow it got arranged with security that we could use the toilets and wash ourselves, we ordered Pizza etc., it was one of the best times of my life. After sounds checks band members like Morris Hayes sometimes came out to us and chatted a bit with us. Sometimes we even caught a glimpse of Prince himself! After the show we got out our sleeping bags and slept in front of the Arena (or in a car). When he played 3 nights, we were there 3 nights!

A few times we got to attend a sound check. During those sound checks Prince now and then addressed us fans with some questions and then often pointed at me to answer him. I always felt the earth move from under me when he did that, but always answered his questions (stuttering and red cheeked probably).

I can go on about Prince concerts 4ever, but let's get to my personal favorite Prince moments...

My favorite concert(s) after Love Sexy (not to diminish the others in quality) must be the Amsterdam Paradiso After shows from March 25th & 26th 1995. I had been to the main concert at the Gelredome when he announced the after shows and I don't think that I've ever traveled back from Arnhem to Amsterdam faster than that night. I rushed to the record store in the Leidsestraat where the tickets would be sold and was literary the 1st person to get a ticket the next morning . After I got my ticket I ran to the Paradiso and never left my spot! While waiting I've seen people flashing 1000 guilder bills to get hold of a ticket, everybody wanted to be there! I didn't bother to go to the 2nd main concert of that tour. I had my ticket in my pocket but I wanted to be front stage at Paradiso and it was the one or the other. We had to wait for hours and hours both nights. It was funny to see the bands that were originally playing there those nights being kicked out with all their fans at 22:00 (Dick Dale for instance) because Prince was coming later. All pissed off and long faced. But come on... we're talking Prince here people!

The shows were A-MA-ZING!!! It is Prince feeling really comfortable and in the most private setting that I've personally ever seen him. There were no barriers so it was 30 cm's between you and Prince. At one point he crouched down in front of me, touched the symbol tattoo on my shoulder to see if it was real and gave me a huge smile. Then he got up, got his guitar and played an amazing solo crouched in front of me. A few minutes later he got Mayte to do this 'shake' dance with her purple thong right in my face while he looked at my reaction and grinned. It was a memorable evening to say the least, heheh

2 other highlights would be the time that I caught a Tambourine that Prince threw in the crowd. And the time that he dropped his plectrum right in front of me and after seeing me ogling it told the security guy to give it to me. Both are always the 1st to go back on the wall after we've moved house.

I also have no name the 1st ever concert that Miko Weaver gave in Night Town in Rotterdam here! While it wasn't Prince himself Miko blew us all completely away that night!

The last memorable moment would have to be the Ivo Niehe TV Show recording. My wife and me were working at Dutch TV around that time and that's how we got offered tickets for the screening of this TV Show. Afterwards Prince didn't agree with the broadcast for a long time because he wasn't satisfied with the quality of the recording. But after it while it did get shown on Dutch TV.We were all waiting outside the studio when Prince arrived. He smiled and waved at us, but quickly got in the building. Then after about half an hour later there was a movement in the blinds behind the window that we were waiting in front of. Then we saw what it was.... Prince was filming us from between the blinds while talking to the people in there and laughing at us. The screening itself was cool. We got to ask him some questions and he spoke to us. There wasn't really any interview, although the Interviewer tried his hardest. Prince was being Prince and just basically said what he wanted to say then played 2 songs and left.

How to end this now....?

Well, I got an appointment for my Prince memorial tattoo in July. I can play and listen to Prince music and concerts again without bursting into tears. But I miss him. Still can't get over the fact that there will never be new Prince music, that I can never take my son to see my Idol, that the world now has to miss his genius talent. I took hardcore Prince haters to Prince concerts and Prince turned them all into fans over night, that's how great he was!
I don't want to get into cause of death and all the gossip. We will probably one day find out what the investigations come up with. But that still does not tell us the full story. The control freak that he was and him not having a will says enough for me. Prince was a very private man, let's respect his privacy.

You will probably be seeing Prince posts on my Facebook for a long time. If you get bored with them just unfriend or unfollow me

Sometimes it snows in April & May you live to see the Dawn!

Wybrand de Jong

[Edited 5/17/16 18:18pm]

[Edited 5/17/16 18:26pm]

[Edited 5/17/16 18:59pm]