Prince gives fans royal treatment

By Tony Hicks

CONTRA COSTA TIMES


PRINCE SAT IN the middle of his round stage Tuesday night, in the middle of the HP Pavilion in San Jose. From overhead, he probably looked like a bulls-eye.

Yet it was the notorious musical disciplinarian who was targeting the audience. Just a few lines into an acoustic version of "Cream," after singing the line ending in "time," the crowd missed its shout back. Leering, Prince stopped playing, glanced at his watch, and asked "Weren't you supposed to say that part?" Y'all know I don't care for lip-synching."

He did it again, they nailed it with a thunderous "Time," and Prince smiled. "Now why didn't you do that the first time?"

With Prince, even thousands of outside participants better get it right.

Yet the difference is that the brutal musical taskmaster of the '80s and '90s who expected more even from himself than his alienated associates, is that now Prince can crack a smile. He's funny and fun. He's back allowing the masses into his world and clearly loving it. Maybe he's softening some now that he's 45, although he looks at least a decade younger.

Now don't go thinking Prince is letting down his standards. If anything, his new semi-friendly demeanor has re-energized his abilities and approach. For nearly 21/2 hours Tuesday, Prince led what's probably the mightiest nine-piece band in the land through a powerful, nonstop, funky journey back through 25 years of musical genius, on a tour that Prince has billed as the last time he does his greatest hits.

So there was a lot to cover. Why waste time with the typical 21st-century approach of other acts, featuring overblown props, pyrotechnics, skits and multimillion dollar sets that look like they were salvaged from a sci-fi movie set? With a band that good, it would be criminal.

With much of it done in jam-medley form, and bits and pieces of other songs coming through in wonderfully odd places, Prince got through almost too much material to keep track of. Yet instead of feeling rushed, it felt like a giant house party at which the band wove together songs in a fresh way, keeping the masses guessing what was coming next (which included not only songs he wrote for other people, but pieces of OutKast, Beyonce and Alicia Keys). Not only was it a great way to give everybody something they wanted, it also kept everything fresh for the guy in the middle. That's key.

Wearing a sharp black jacket over white pants and shirt, Prince and his New Power Generation kicked the show off with new hit "Musicology." It set a big tone early, though the band soon plunged into the past by slamming through four "Purple Rain" songs: "Let's Go Crazy," "I Would Die 4 U," "When Doves Cry," (intertwined with line-ending riffs of "Kiss" and a quick keyboard tease of "1999"), and "Baby I'm a Star." The pace was already exhausting, featuring new mini-arrangements that wound around the songs like a truck snaking down a steep mountain road. Only Prince couldn't find the brakes, so he opted instead to stand on the gas.

"I Feel For You," lapsed into "A Love Bizarre," which lapsed into "Controversy," with Prince inviting his arena of "Old Schoolmates," to get up and move. All the while, he found space to spotlight the band that kept the jams coming, including master former James Brown sax player Maceo Parker, whom Prince called "the Teacher," and incredible drummer John Blackwell.

All that jamming was a perfect set-up for 35 minutes of Prince, solo with an acoustic guitar and no black jacket, looking almost Elvis-like in all white. (He started playing "Jailhouse Rock" at one point, only to stop and yell, "Now wait a minute. We can be Princely, but we don't wanna be no king). Prince charmed the crowd through, among others, "Cream," "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and a beautiful cover of "Sweet Thing" by Rufus.

Once the band was back, Prince launched into the night's best song, the psychedelic-blues of "The Question of U," from "Graffiti Bridge." It's an underrated and powerful song deserving Prince's full attention, with an incredible sense of melody that, mixed with patiently teasing lows and soaring highs, was a moving spectacle. It even caused him at one point to lay his guitar flat, walk away like they were having a spat, then fall to the ground and pull himself toward it like he was paying homage.

Getting back to the whole Prince-just-wants-to-have-fun theme, he pulled a bunch of carefully screened crowd members up to dance during "U Got the Look," new song "Life O' the Party" and a slam-bang cover of Sam and Dave's "Soul Man." He then re-rooted the show by throwing the dreaminess of "Take Me With You" hip-deep into a tub of groove. And since "Purple Rain," was so prevalent all night, he gave the title song as much room as it needed to end the show, leading the crowd through repeated returns to the sing-along ending before walking off stage.

One never knows with Prince if it really will be the last tour he plays the old hits. If so, he went out appropriately playing them with love, and aptly mixing in some energizing new stuff. It all sounded ageless anyway.

http://www.contracostatim...|Bradley|Y

There's another Access story on Avril Lavigne where sha calls out Britney for getting her tits out:

"I just think sometimes she kind of over does it, you know, with the facial expressions [imitates Britney]. You know, like come on," stated Avril of Britney. "I think it's just like, 'Why don't you just dress like that for your boyfriend? Or take your clothes off for your boyfriend or your guy or whatever -- not for the world.'"

It's worth watching the realplayer clip of it here

http://www.accesshollywoo...etail.html

cause it shows she really does have a brain which i've been saying all along, regardless of the punkrock b/s Arista have pushed her as and regardless of her over hyped writing.

Stax said:

It sounds wonderful. This tour MUST come to the UK and I MUST go 2 c it!

littleredcorvette1 said:

What does that have to do with this thread??