Guess where I was Saturday night? This picture is your hint...I was at Paisley Park, a mere 1 mile from my house, enjoying a very intimate concert put on by none other than Prince! I can't tell you for sure how many people were there, my guess would be a couple hundred. It was amazing!!! He put on a great show and entertained our socks off for 3 hours! Below is the article about the performance from the Star Tribune website.
By JON BREAM, Star Tribune
Prince, I guess we hardly knew you.
After 30-some years in the spotlight, the hometown hero showed his faithful something new Saturday night at Paisley Park in Chanhassen: It was his smoothest (read most efficiently run) show there ever -- and one funky and fulfilling performance.
The gig advertised for 11 p.m. actually started at 11:10, unheard of at Paisley, where shows typically have started whenever Prince feels like it (read 1 a.m. at the earliest). For the first time, he even offered a free shuttle-bus service so people could leave their vehicles (and Paisley-verboten cell phones) at a newish nearby park-and-ride and take a plush bus for a eight-minute drive to Prince's complex. How slick was that?
Late-night shows were commonplace at Paisley in the late 1990s but Prince had not done any announced shows there since 2004, after his Musicology Tour concerts at Xcel Energy Center. Those soirees cost $50 whereas Saturday's gig (which was announced late Friday afternoon) was $31.21 for fan-club members and $40 for others. Paisley visitors were asked to donate items for food shelves and gently used coats. (Many articles of clothing still had store tags on them, and people literally donated coats off their backs, Paisley spokeswoman Kathy Adams reported.)
Many of the people at Paisley on Saturday seemed to be first-timers for the late-night Purple experience.
"I'd pay triple what I paid," said Kelly Wallace, 19, a wide-eyed New York University student who popped for $490 for her short-notice trip to Minnesota. "I've never been to Paisley Park -- it was now or never."
Prince played 10 minutes short of three hours without changing his outfit. That's a first. Moreover, there weren't any of those mysterious breaks where Paisley-goers were left wondering if he'd return again in an hour and perform until dawn. The Purple One made a couple exits before encores; he said his final good night at 2 a.m.
Late-night shows were commonplace at Paisley in the late 1990s but Prince had not done any announced shows there since 2004, after his Musicology Tour concerts at Xcel Energy Center. Those soirees cost $50 whereas Saturday's gig (which was announced late Friday afternoon) was $31.21 for fan-club members and $40 for others. Paisley visitors were asked to donate items for food shelves and gently used coats. (Many articles of clothing still had store tags on them, and people literally donated coats off their backs, Paisley spokeswoman Kathy Adams reported.)
Many of the people at Paisley on Saturday seemed to be first-timers for the late-night Purple experience.
"I'd pay triple what I paid," said Kelly Wallace, 19, a wide-eyed New York University student who popped for $490 for her short-notice trip to Minnesota. "I've never been to Paisley Park -- it was now or never."
Prince played 10 minutes short of three hours without changing his outfit. That's a first. Moreover, there weren't any of those mysterious breaks where Paisley-goers were left wondering if he'd return again in an hour and perform until dawn. The Purple One made a couple exits before encores; he said his final good night at 2 a.m.
Prince showed more versatility and musicality in his first hour onstage than Michael Jackson did in his entire career. He started with a bunch of tunes from this year's "Lotusflow3r" collection and then paraded through his hits, especially from the 1980s. In fact, there wasn't one tune from the '90s and only "Feel 4 U" from the '70s.
With his horn-less band, Prince has never sounded funkier at Paisley. He was talkative and humorous, loose and spontaneous, calling out songs and arrangements as well as an occasional "so-low" for himself on guitar. To witness that kind of organic musicmaking always feels special -- especially when it's a well-drilled, first-rate band like Prince's -- even if you have to put up with the bandleader frequently telling the sound guy how to adjust the mix.
Prince saluted the Time, the Doobie Brothers and the Jackson 5 in song and verbally acknowledged his debt ("I wouldn't be who I am without...") to James Brown, the Jacksons, Chaka Khan, Rufus, Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, Joni Mitchell and Tower of Power. His pal Larry Graham sat in on bass for a series of Sly & the Family Stone tunes, and backup singer Shelby J, a powerhouse from the southern soul/gospel school, stepped out front on a couple of selections, most notably "The Arms of an Angel."
But this show was about Prince, his love of funk and his guitar prowess. He even offered a little "country western" guitar passage, as he playfully put it, and one of his more passionate versions of "Purple Rain" to close the evening. He danced only briefly, during "Kiss," but handpicked some fans to come onstage and dance, a longstanding Paisley tradition at any hour.
With his horn-less band, Prince has never sounded funkier at Paisley. He was talkative and humorous, loose and spontaneous, calling out songs and arrangements as well as an occasional "so-low" for himself on guitar. To witness that kind of organic musicmaking always feels special -- especially when it's a well-drilled, first-rate band like Prince's -- even if you have to put up with the bandleader frequently telling the sound guy how to adjust the mix.
Prince saluted the Time, the Doobie Brothers and the Jackson 5 in song and verbally acknowledged his debt ("I wouldn't be who I am without...") to James Brown, the Jacksons, Chaka Khan, Rufus, Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, Joni Mitchell and Tower of Power. His pal Larry Graham sat in on bass for a series of Sly & the Family Stone tunes, and backup singer Shelby J, a powerhouse from the southern soul/gospel school, stepped out front on a couple of selections, most notably "The Arms of an Angel."
But this show was about Prince, his love of funk and his guitar prowess. He even offered a little "country western" guitar passage, as he playfully put it, and one of his more passionate versions of "Purple Rain" to close the evening. He danced only briefly, during "Kiss," but handpicked some fans to come onstage and dance, a longstanding Paisley tradition at any hour.
3 comments:
That is sooooo cool. Had I known - I might have flown in from Seattle to go with you! :-)
When is ABBA scheduled for a tour stop?
God you're getting lazy, I haven't seen a post on here forever...
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