San Francisco 29 April 2001 (am)

 After listening to a string of after-shows and one-off performances from 1995, I was reminded of how large the gulf is between Prince’s main shows and his one-off performances. Sometimes that contrast is lost on me as I rarely listen to the two side by side, and indeed I often treat the two concerts as two different artists. I thought it might be fun to compare the two concert styles by listening to main shows and after-shows from the same night in a single sitting and letting the enormity of the difference hit me. A good place to start would be  28th April 2001, where Prince played an arena show in Oakland, California, before an early morning aftershow at the Fillmore in San Francisco. When I started looking at this, I realized that I have already written about the main show in Oakland, so this week we take a listen to the second half of this night, Prince’s aftershow at the Fillmore. 

29th April 2001 (am) Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco 

Ignore the first cheers and crowd noise and head straight to where the funk lies stretched out taut across the skeletal structure erected by the band. While the band maintains the shape of “Daisy Chain”, Prince and rapper DVS pull in separate directions creating a tension that Prince fills with unexpected melodies and subject matter. The song was released only two weeks before this, and its obvious freshness can be heard in the relatively quiet response Prince gets throughout the number. With the core song being unknown, it is the players themselves that gain the loudest cheers as they spin the song out to twenty minutes, the funk ribboning in and out the whole way. 

There are only two know performances of “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” – this show and the soundcheck of the main concert played just a few hours earlier.  It is the immutable vocals of Rosie Gaines that stand unjostled at the center of the song, even when buffeted by the deep waves of sound coming from the keyboards and the combined power of the NPG rhythm section. Rosie never wavers from her stance, her performance unflinching and uncompromising as she demolishes the song in yet another barn-burning vocal display. 

 

It is Rosie who stays at the eye of the storm with an all-conquering rendition of “Car Wash” that sweeps across the recording, leaving no room for any other member to shine. She dominates everything with punch and power, a colossal performance that has me temporarily forgetting that this is a Prince concert. 

“Ain’t No Way” rounds out this Rosie Gaines trifecta, whereas the previous numbers were delivered with a force of nature, this time Rosie gives an earthy performance that grounds the show in far more emotive energy, and this song is the one that demonstrates the sheer power of music and live performance. This sounds as if it is coming from the heart rather than the lungs, and it is a dizzying performance that puts an emphatic full stop on Rosie’s major contributions to the evening. 

Prince takes his rightful place at center stage for an incendiary performance of “Joy In Repetition,” a song that burns long and slow in the wake of Rosie’s more tempestuous execution. The bass drips slowly across the brooding saxophone and keyboards, the music a forlorn lament long before Prince even enters the scene. When he does take to the microphone the dark atmosphere becomes all the more enveloping, the air becoming thick and unbreathable as Prince and the band draw the air out of the room with their sonic drama. Before we are all crushed under its weight Prince finally releases the pressure with a guitar solo that is blinding in its brilliance. The song melts before the heat of this final climax, and it is as near to perfection as I can imagine. There is joy in repetition indeed. 

“Paisley Park” comes from another world entirely, yet is just as engaging as the previous “Joy In Repetition.” With its raw nerved guitar sound and vivid wordplay it clatters and rattles over the recording, forcing me to listen carefully for every speck of gold hidden in its many folds. This show has been thrilling in its variety thus far, and “Paisley Park” is a rare treat of retro rock that adds a touch of wistfulness to the previous somber and substantial songs. 

 

The pace becomes blistering for the “Santana Medley” and based on the quality of the audience recording so far I expect a lot from it. Sure enough, it delivers as Prince dismantles the song with a frenzied disregard from the start. It is Najee who injects some of his personality later in the song with a surprising saxophone solo, but Prince is the marquee name, and it is Prince who punctuates Najee’s contributions with strutting guitar bursts that jolt the room with their electrical charge. 

This ragged glory of “Santana Medley” is replaced by a rapidly deteriorating recording and “Oye Como Va” Until this point the audience recording had remained a secondary consideration, but it becomes noticeable with an ongoing crackle through this song. It becomes so much of a distraction that any positive thoughts, or indeed any thoughts at all, about the music, are forgotten, replaced instead with an ongoing battle between my ears and the distortion heard. 

Thankfully the noise issues are gone as the band settles into 100% pure groove for “Come On.” Only the horns dare raise their heads from this bass-driven sleaze, their brightness providing a gleaming foil to the otherwise titanic crunch and roll that crushes the rest of the song. True, it would be better served on a cleaner recording, but even as it is it punches hard below the belt. 

The opening of “Alphabet St” is promising, the drum settling on a quick beat while the rest of the band flitter and flame around the rapidly sketched-out song. With no lyrics to speak of in the first half of the song, it is all about the instrumentation, and the band delivers with a range of sonic invention. Things accelerate later as Prince does bestow some lyrical content upon the music and the song leaps forward in response. It is a gleeful stomp to the finish, the crowd, and band coming together in a moment of solidarity and celebration. 

 

The difference between this concert and the main show couldn’t be more striking. While the main show was a soundboard that offers a selection of tried and trusted hits, this concert is an audience recording that serves as a smorgasbord of after-show flavors. The covers, audience participation, and extended jams are all there in a 90-minute show which is only marred by the appearance of crackle in a couple of songs. If I had a choice between this or the main show, I would plump for this every time. It’s not one of the greatest, but it is very, very good.