Monday, April 19, 2004

Prince goes crazy, gets funky at BJC

http://www.collegian.psu....ews-05.asp

Reviewed by Paul Thompson
Collegian Staff Writer

Last night, Prince took the stage a little before 8:30, just about an hour after he was scheduled to begin.

It was worth the wait.

Prince absolutely brought the house down at Bryce Jordan Center, keeping the near-capacity crowd on its feet for practically two full hours of music. Through all the hits, played to their breaking points by Prince and his mind-blowing band, two things were clear: His name is still Prince. And he is still funky.

The show began with a video, splicing together shots of Prince throughout his career with Alicia Keys' recent speech that inducted the purple one into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The band jumped in with "Musicology" (the title track to the album everyone attending last night's show received a copy of) as Prince rose through the floor in a bright red suit.

"All of you are in college tonight," he told the raucous crowd and then added, "and I'm about to spoil you." He then broke into "Let's Go Crazy," as the building was flooded with confetti and purple light. It was clear from the start that this was not a man just going through the motions; Prince commanded the crowd from the get-go, singing and playing with a passion rarely seen in live music anymore. The entire audience spent the night dancing, clapping and singing along with the man they came to see.

Prince and his band positively

stormed through "I Would Die 4 U," "When Doves Cry" and an incredible, jammed-out take on "Controversy," with the songs bleeding in and out of each other. The first 45-minute set flew by, and Prince and most of the band left the stage, leaving only a little new-age keyboard and, eventually, a blinding Maceo Parker sax solo to ease the transition into what turned out to be the highlight of an already perfect evening.

Prince emerged in a white suit with an acoustic guitar and proceeded to play (characteristically, all by himself) stark, soulful versions of such classics as "Little Red Corvette" and "Cream." This gave Prince a chance to not only chat a little bit with the very receptive audience ("You know I wrote this while looking in the mirror, right?" he said during "Cream."), but to show off a few of his more delicate songs. It was as if every ticket suddenly became front row, and Prince made it clear how pleased he was to be there playing for us.

After abandoning "Raspberry Beret" one verse in for "7," the band returned for an even-funkier-than-the-studio take on "Sign 'O' the Times." Prince found his way into "U Got the Look," as several (obviously handpicked) ladies jumped onto the huge X-shaped stage to dance along. A few rollicking takes on R&B classics (and a couple theme songs to boot), and Prince closed things out with a stunning take on "Purple Rain," featuring, for the first time, an incredible solo on his purple symbol guitar.

At once intimate and sprawling (but never less than astonishingly musical), Prince made several thousand people get down last night, and that ain't easy. And, after two great hours, I can't imagine there was a single person in attendance who didn't leave thinking they got their money's worth.