The Prince report

In a word - his Purpleness was astounding!

An introductory video clip featured shots of Prince through the years, concluding with Alicia Keys quote during his induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame" "There are many kings, but there is only one Prince ... only one man who has defied restriction, defied the obvious and all the rules of the game." Just a little bit of ego at work there :)

As the band started pumping out the groove to Musicology, Prince rose up from beneath the center of the x-shaped stage in a halo of spotlit fog and the crowd was on its feet, to remain so for most of the concert.

He plowed through two hours of non-stop hits (he says this is the last tour he's going to perform them) - the opening number was the only recent song he played - unfortunately none of the tunes from the Rainbow Children got played at this show. But he did an incredible funky, long version of D.M.S.R, he played Controversy, and Raspberry Beret, and Little Red Corvette (during his solo-acoustic portion, which also included a nice slow blues of a man pleading with his woman to not make him sleep on the couch).

The singing and guitar playing were phenomenal, the band was deep into the groove, and the showmanship was untiring. I was struck by how much Prince has absorbed from the whole of popular music - the obvious references to Hendrix and Little Richard, but also moves showing the influence of Mick Jagger, and flashes of Santana in his playing, and at one point during his all-too-brief bass-playing segment, a note perfect quote from one of those old Stanley Clarke tunes (maybe Lopsy Lu?). He even covered Sam and Dave's Soul Man during the show!

The horn section featured both long-time James Brown sidekick Maceo Parker and Candy Dulfer. Maceo even sang a tune, doing a spot-on Ray Charles tribute on Georgia on my Mind.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see the totally fabulous Rhonda Smith play her upright bass this show, but man, did she lay down the funky lines - and how does she manage to play all night wearing those stiletto heels?