New York 7 February 2011

 All thanks this week to Ryan Mark, who asked when I was going to write about this show. At first, I confessed that I didn’t recall it at all, but upon further prompting by Ryan I came around and decided to have a look. I am not one for the “Welcome 2” concerts, as much as I love the hits and enjoy Prince’s back catalog, I enjoy something more fresh and exciting to my ears. Ryan did point out that Prince was in a great mood on this particular night, and the show was extremely enjoyable, so with that in mind I sat down and revisited it- and oh boy was Ryan right. It looks like a typical greatest hits show, with the additional pluses of a couple of guest appearances, some great performances, and as stated earlier Prince is in a great mood and very playful. It was well worth a second look. 

7 February 2011, Madison Square Garden 

I had completely forgotten that this show opened with “Laydown.” After a brief spoken introduction Prince appears. It’s a surprise for me and a very welcome one. The heavy bass opening is greeted with screams from the crowd, and Prince responds with a strong aggressive vocal. He does work the crowd while singing, punching the air, and raising the roof. Things get more interesting from my perspective when he pulls out his guitar and begins to play. With plenty of concentration on his face, he plays a gritty break that captures the whole essence of the song in half a minute. There is another verse before Prince starts showboating on the guitar and the song winds down to its conclusion. I like this show already. 

 

“1999” is the more traditional opening I could have expected, and the crowd seems to rise as it’s played. I do like the fact that this is a nice clean version, that is the mix is closer to what we heard in the early 80s without too many embellishments. Prince’s guitar is well in the mix, as are his vocals with the girls. I’m not surprised to hear that this is the abridged version, and the crowd is soon singing ‘party’ with relish. As always my favorite part is near the end as Prince sings “Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb” with the guitar accompanying him. It’s all fairly predictable, and yet perfectly enjoyable.

 

A howl on the guitar as the band slows down and the light changing to red signals what’s coming next. After several moans on the guitar Prince sings the opening lines of “Little Red Corvette.” Another song aimed squarely at the nostalgic market, the crowd trades lines with Prince throughout. I do like the mournful sound of the guitar, I would like to see Prince push that sound much more. Most of the song is shallow in the emotional stakes, and it’s not until Prince goes into the guitar break does the feeling come out in the song. He first delivers the guitar break as heard on the album, before slowing down once again and beginning to stretch his notes out. With only slight prompting the audience joins in hand clapping, and it does give it a soft live sound. The best is yet to come as Prince gets on the microphone and recreates the moans of the guitar vocally. He moves to the slow-down section with some dancing that is suitably gentle, and the crowd softly sings “Slow down”. I had tired of this arrangement, here it once again draws me back in. 

 

Over the sound of a piano Prince begins some pillow talk to the ladies before the lights come up and “The Beautiful Ones” commences. This performance here is a knockout. Not only is Prince on the piano and singing well, but he is also joined on stage by Misty Copeland dancing. I don’t normally like dancers with Prince, I prefer to concentrate on the music, but Misty adds a lot to the show and I can’t take my eyes off her as she twirls around the stage. Any reservations I might have about the state of Prince's voice at this stage of his career are dispelled as he builds to the end of the song, singing to Misty on top of the piano before they both finally disappear into the stage. 

 

The sound of the “Controversy” guitar next, and I know exactly what to expect. This performance is very typical of how the song has sounded over the last 5 years. The beat is loud and full, and Prince's guitar adds the sharpness that the song needs. His vocals are a little lackluster, yet the guitar sound is so good I forgive him for that. I lose interest as the crowd and Prince sing “New York” before we have the typical “clap your hands and stomp your feet” chant. He never quite loses me though, and I do enjoy the guitar solo that follows a minute later, for me that is what saves the song from being mundane. Prince cracks me up as he asks Shelby to find him somebody to dance with “I want a big fine sexy Momma” One lucky woman is brought up on stage to dance the bump with him, and she looks like she enjoys every moment with him. There is further hilarity as Kim Kardashian comes on stage and stands still while Prince dances around her- before ordering her off the stage. Prince seems to be having a lot of fun with the crowd before eventually winding the song up. 

 

The set list seems to jump around a lot, there is a fast song, a slow song, and a fast song. He keeps to this as the gig again slows down as the opening music of “Purple Rain” begins. It’s a good one, with the crowd singing away for a bit before Prince picks some gentle figures out on his guitar. He sings all the verses and he puts plenty into his vocals, there is never the feeling that he is just going through the motions. One thing I have noticed about his shows is that every night he plays “Purple Rain,” it’s always as you expect to hear, and yet in the last minutes of the guitar break, he stretches out and finds new things to play. If not for that I would have probably given up listening to “Purple Rain,” as it is the one constant from all his shows and something I have heard hundreds of times. Here is no different and it’s the last minute of the guitar solo that I enjoy most. 

 

The concert takes an upbeat pop turn next as “Raspberry Beret” begins. Prince is absent at first, having disappeared into the stage after “Purple Rain,” but he does reappear a minute into the song to encourage the crowd to sing. It’s an interesting version, the first couple of minutes it is instrumental, and even once Prince appears it’s sometime before he sings. He does seem to be having a great time, playing with the crowd and teasing them, and encouraging them. 

 

The segue into “Cream” is smooth, and yet the energy levels seem to drop. The girls are very cool with their backing vocals, all fanning themselves as they sit on the piano. The song is neither here nor there for me, it's smooth sounding yet there is nothing in it that I can latch onto. A lot of people would enjoy it for its smoothness and I can’t fault the performance. 

 

I love hearing “Cool” live, and the performance at this show is something I get a lot of enjoyment out of. Prince gets ?uestlove out of the crowd to play cowbell on the drums with John, and I feel a little sorry for him as he has to reach over John to play- it looks very uncomfortable to me. Prince calls for just the drums and gives ?uestlove a couple of shouts for the crowd to acknowledge. The crowd energy picks up a lot during this song, and I can feel their energy here at home. I do cringe a little at Prince and Shelby dancing, but their smiles and laughter are very infectious and there is no denying that they are having a great time on stage. 

Prince runs the band well, as he calls the band to change and stops ?uestlove with a quick “Thanks ?uestlove”.  Ida starts “Let’s Work” with some excellent bass work before the band fills out the sound. As with the last song, there is plenty of Shelby and Prince dancing, and the vocals take the backseat a little as the dancing continues. 

I was surprised to hear “U Got The Look” next, after all that dancing the guitar sound catches me off guard. Prince doesn’t bother too much with the song, with a yell of “turn me up” he plays a short yet rocking solo before the song resumes with another chorus before Prince plays the riff out of the song. As he disappears into the stage again I realize that the song was only a couple of minutes. 

There is a lovely long piano intro into “Nothing Compares 2 U” next. Prince is initially off stage as Renato plays, but he reappears and begins to address the crowd. There is a very touching moment as Prince dedicates the song to Bobby Z and wishes him a quick recovery. He tells that many people helped him along the way and Bobby was “a good fine soldier” He goes on to mention several other causes, before singing the opening lines of the song. It was worth the wait, as his vocals are just brilliant, and he is well accompanied by Shelby. The much-maligned Shelby does a fine job, and her voice is strong and clear. The interplay between her and Prince is excellent, and there does seem to be genuine warmth between them. Mr. Haynes plays a full organ solo, and with a call of “take us to church” he ups the ante. Not to be outdone Prince gives his all for a final verse and chorus before the song ends. 

 

As the beat of “Crazy” begins I expect to hear Shelby take the lead vocals, instead is something unexpected, Ceelo Green appears to sing his song. He gets quite a cheer, but not as loud as Prince gets when he appears and picks up his guitar. His playing is restrained, yet has a touch of fire to it. He doesn’t steal the song from Ceelo, but he certainly puts his stamp on it, there’s no mistaking whose show this is. As much as I prefer to hear Prince sing and play, I do enjoy hearing him just contribute his guitar sound to someone’s song. He adds a lot, without ever taking over the song completely, which I am sure must be a very tempting thing to do. 

 

Prince keeps his guitar on and calls a series of chords that eventually leads us to “Let’s Go Crazy.” I do like his intro here, there is some extra guitar noodling which is fun and adds a sharpness to a sometimes tired song. I am not as enthused by the rest of the song, the keyboards are too bouncy for my tastes and the song doesn’t deviate from what I have heard plenty of times before. I am fortunate that it is kept short and halfway Prince transitions into “Delirious.” 

 

I was wondering what he could do to freshen up “Delirious,” but Renato plays a quirky keyboard solo, the likes of which I hadn’t heard before and I am happy with that. As Prince gets the crowd clapping Renato plays another more rockabilly-sounding solo on the piano before Mr. Hayes takes a turn with the organ. It’s all very Vegas and fun and Prince leads the crowd back into chants of “oh no let's go” over Johns's drum beat. 

I get my wish for something newer next as Prince plays “Dreamer.” The opening of it sounds very good as it sounds out, and Prince is focused on his playing. It’s strong on the guitar sound, but this changes midsong as Frédéric Yonnet strolls up on stage and plays energetic harmonica (He does stroll up on stage). It gives the song another sound and dimension, that is until Prince reclaims it a moment later with a guitar solo. There is another treat as Prince plays the unreleased “Welcome 2 America.” It’s little more than a few lines and a guitar solo, and a very good solo at that. 

 

Prince takes a break from the guitar as he sits at the piano. I was hoping for a piano set, but instead, he opens with a sample of “When Doves Cry.” He calls to the crowd “we gonna be here all night, who going to pay the bill?” He doesn’t play much over the sample, after playing the intro and a couple of lines he begins “Kiss.” 

He steps away from the piano to sing “Kiss.” It’s a very electric-sounding arrangement, the keyboards have a very electric sound to them. I am not feeling the music, but I do enjoy the performance. Prince is all smiles as he plays with the audience. There is a lot of interaction as he sings and he works most of the stage. The song ends with a single drum beat and Prince dancing alone in the spotlight. He’s not as young as he used to be, yet he still moves smoothly even if his dance moves aren’t as extreme as they used to be. It’s enough to elicit plenty of screams from the ladies in the crowd, and a few men too. 

I was half expecting the sampler set before, but it’s only now that he resorts to this box of tricks. He first teases the audience with “Nasty Girl” as the house lights come up, before another tease of “Forever In My Life.” 

 

He then settles on “Sign O The Times,” which is would be great if not interrupted by him looking at an imaginary watch and wondering aloud “how much time I got”. It does take me right out of the moment. “Alphabet Street” then gets a couple of lines before something better comes along. 

That something better is “A Love Bizarre,” and Prince gives it far more attention as he steps away from the keyboard. I can’t get enough of this song, and do generally enjoy it at every show I hear it. My only complaint here would be that the band sounds a little thin, but that may be the recording rather than the performance. There is a fantastic keyboard solo that sticks in my head. That is the high point of the song for me after this plenty of dancers come on stage as Prince begins to toy with “Hot Thing” on the sampler. 

 

I forgive this interlude as he plays a fuller version of “Pop Life.” It’s full of pop, and there are plenty of smiling faces as he plays it. Prince does hover near the keyboard, choosing not to engage with the dancers on stage too much. It is frustratingly cut short as he lurches into another crowd-pleasing “I Would Die 4 U.” 

As good as “I Would Die 4 U” sounds I don’t get my hopes up too much as I know it will be cut short soon enough. Prince doesn’t disappoint as he quickly dispenses with it and the sampler moves to the next tease. 

The next tease is “All The Single Ladies,” and although they don’t play the song it does provide a funny moment. One guy is enjoying it way too much, and Prince highlights him with the spotlight as he has his moment. It’s very light-hearted, and the guy makes the most of his moment. 

 

Prince calls for John to play something, and the band strikes up “If I Was Your Girlfriend.” Prince tells them “I can’t do that, someone might get pregnant” which, although corny, does bring a smile to my face. The band does however continue and brings sings it from on top of his piano. This is a good cleaning recording and the song shines. Prince’s vocals are clear and all the parts I want to hear in the song are there. I am pleased to report too that he does play the full song, now the sampler part of the show has been dispensed with. I have rarely heard this song sound so good, and it’s a good reflection of the show. I must make mention too of Renato, his piano near the end is a nice little touch. 

Prince calls the band to play “Insatiable,” and its sound is every bit as good as the previous song. It’s popular with the audience, I can hear them singing along clearly. The groove is nice and gentle and I love the sound of the organ quivering underneath. Prince does perform as he sings, but it’s mostly his vocals he is concentrating on, and the payoff is great. He does take time later in the song to acknowledge the band, and they do play very well. 

 

Prince continues in the same vein as next the opening notes of “Scandalous” sound. This is a great-sounding trio of songs, and I think to hear them all together is a great way to near the end of the show. I can’t decide which of them sounds best, but rest assured this one is just as good as the previous two songs. I can’t speak highly enough of the last 10 minutes we have just heard. 

 

Prince caps all this off with “Adore,” which has me beside myself. The crowd is on its feet singing and I know just as many people feel about this song as I do. Prince lets them sing at first but then picks up the microphone to deliver his lines. He sings in his falsetto, and yet still drops down to his natural voice in places. His vocals are passionate, playful, full of character, and just downright great to listen to. I have been listening to this song for almost 20 years now and this show is just as fresh as the day I first heard it. I am surprised by the very simple ending as Prince and the girls sink into the stage, a fantastic ending to the show. 

 

The encore starts with Prince and the band playing a smashing version of “Mountains.” Again it’s a nice surprise to hear an old favorite. The girls carry the vocal load well, and Prince isn’t heard until the chorus. The song is very much a band sound, and there is again a lovely moment as Prince calls Bobby Z right before the bridge. The song becomes a jam as they begin to play “Shake Your Body.” Prince roams the stage, apparently having a lot of fun, even playfully tossing a chair from the stage and encouraging a fan to take it. The crowd seems amused and Prince waves at the crowd as they move on to “Everyday People.” The mood is very upbeat, and this comes across well on the recording, you can almost hear the smiles. I can’t say I’m too surprised as “I Want To Take You Higher” follows, it's completely in character. The crowd is well and truly on their feet and dancing and Frédéric Yonnet returns for another shrill harmonica break. The band hit their groove for the last couple of minutes as Prince solos before dropping his guitar into the crowd. There is one final hurrah before he sinks into the stage for one last time. 

 

I could not have guessed how must I was going to enjoy this show. For a relatively recent hits show, I was caught off guard by the sheer fun of it. Although I couldn’t pinpoint one moment that made it great, there were enough very good moments to make the whole show one to enjoy. The last half hour of the show was the highlight for me, and a reminder of just how good Prince is every show. 

New Jersey 15 December 2010

 A lot has changed in the five years since I started this blog. My writing style has changed, and my opinions have changed. Shows I previously loved I have drifted away from, while other shows I never had time for I find myself listening to more often. The biggest change was when the unthinkable happened and Prince sadly passed away. This has had a huge impact on me, as it has with most fans, not just the loss, but the way I consider his body of work and the collection of live concerts I have. While Prince was alive I was dismissive of his greatest hits tours such as his 2010 tour through Europe and the subsequent Welcome 2 America tour. These were songs and shows that I knew too well, I wanted the unknown, the mystery and excitement of an aftershow, or a concert promoting new material, not a greatest hits package of songs I have been listening to for more than 30 years. With the passing of Prince that changed. Now I see these concerts as a celebration of his music, his catalog, of his life. These are concerts designed to make you feel something. Make you feel good, make you feel nostalgic, remind you of the times when you fell in love with the music, when you fell in love with life, when you fell in love with Prince. There is no shame in these songs, they are made to be enjoyed and celebrated, no matter how many years pass, or how many times we have previously heard them. Now every greatest hits performance for me becomes a concert to be appreciated and enjoyed for what it is. Prince knew what the fans wanted and he gave it to them. These are his most popular songs, and although we have heard them thousands of times they still evoke an emotion in us all. That is the magic, and that should be celebrated. 

15th December 2010, Izod Centre, New Jersey 

This concert from the opening night of Prince’s Welcome 2 America tour has had a variety of bootleg releases, I listened to a decent audio recording of it just the other day, but today I will be looking at the video footage that is circulating. Recording technology has come a long way in the last 30 years, and although this is an audience recording from two angles (one high left, the other lower, and on the right), it is still beautiful looking in its clarity and steadiness. After suffering through a multitude of grainy video filmed concerts of the 1980’s it is sweet relief to have an opportunity to watch an audience recording of such quality. The concert itself is barely a month after the completion of the European tour of 2010, so asides from a couple of cool treats (more on those soon), the concert doesn’t offer anything unremarkable apart from the fact that it is the first of this current tour. 

The first of those cool treats I mentioned is revealed with the opening number- a fearsome rendition of “Laydown.” This performance is the live debut for “Laydown” and it is scorching, the song may not be familiar to most of the US crowd (the 20Ten album never getting a US release) but there is no mistaking the reception Prince and the song get as he emerges from the mists, the epitome of cool in his designer coat looking like a fashion-house cowboy, guitar blazing in his hand, all while remaining aloof behind his dark sunglasses. A fifteen-year-old me would have eaten this up in a minute, and even the forty-something me finds it hard not to stand up and give a whoop of thrilling excitement as I become caught up in the moment. Bootleg-wise, it looks better than it sounds. The rush that comes with Prince’s appearance, and the excitement of this new song mask some of those deficiencies, but on repeated listens I do find the vocals a little too loud and touching on distorting. This is mere nitpicking though, and overall the song and bootleg couldn’t have started better. 

 

The second song of the night, and the second treat, come with the only live performance of “Black Muse.” Still five years away from an album release, eventually appearing on Hitnrun Phase Two, this is a rarity and the only fault I can find with it is Prince doesn’t perform it himself here, it is instead left to Shelby J., Liv Warfield, and Elisa Dease, detracting from the fact that this is the only live performance. They play well, but there is nothing here to mark it as a Prince song, and as such, it remains pale and anemic in comparison to the opening number. 

 

Damaris Lewis is credited with being the inspiration for “Black Muse,” but it is Misty Copeland that joins Prince on stage for the following “The Beautiful Ones.” The song is silky smooth, from Prince's slow-burning beginning at the piano, he continues to gently apply the pressure as he mounts the instrument while the song builds into a smoky seduction piece. I am usually dismissive of a dancer on stage, I often feel it distracts from Prince's music, but in this case, I find Misty captivating as she twirls and floats across the stage. The final minutes belong to Prince as he lets the song boil over into its climax, all the while sounding and looking as cool as he did twenty-five years ago. 

 

The concert accelerates at this point as Prince tears off a string of hits in quick succession. “Uptown” has the same drive and energy as it does on record, although the guitar remains too low in the mix for my tastes, while “Raspberry Beret” comes quickly nipping on its heels, all energy and intent but no real bite. The greatest surprise about “Raspberry Beret” is that it fails to materialize hand in hand with “Take Me With U,” an all too familiar pairing that I am quite willing to forego at this stage. 

 

The hits keep coming, there is no time for the dust to settle on “Raspberry Beret” as Prince sweeps the music into “Cream.” A song that seems to resonate naturally through the crowd, this is the moment where the song becomes bigger than on record, the voices and enthusiasm of 10000 people injecting it with a deeper emotion than it is often given credit for, and the next few minutes aren’t about the song at all, rather about the concert itself and the process of being a fan. It isn’t my cup of tea, but it brings the audience and performer together, united by song and the pure love of music. 

This celebratory atmosphere is carried over into “Cool” as Prince carries every member of the crowd into his world of cool for the next five minutes. There are moments when we see him for what he is, a fifty-year-old dancing about the stage, but for the most part, the illusion is maintained and he remains the coolest of the cool. There is plenty of audience interaction, along with Shelby, Liv, and Elisa, but this mostly remains off camera. As they say, “out of sight, out of mind” 

 

The concert rolls along without pause as Prince and the band dance their way into “Let’s Work.” This song has always been about the bass to my ears, and sadly here it is lacking. One can hear it bubbling away, but it is never loud enough as the keyboards continue their unwanted dominance from start to finish. “U Got The Look” suffers similar issues, everything stays flat, there is never enough guitar, or anything of the rhythm section to carry the load, and the song consists mostly of vocals. Not the fault of the bootleg at all, just the homogeneous sound that we sometimes get at these greatest hits shows. 

 

There is another debut for the next song – Prince’s gold Stratocaster guitar. It seems a pure rock n roll indulgence, but Prince did auction it for charity, and although an ostentatious display of wealth and excess, Prince had his heart in the right place with his gift to charity. “Shhh” is often the emotional heart of these concerts, but here it doesn’t carry the same heavy emotional weight that it does on other hot and sweaty nights, however, the Stratocaster guitar is well named and Prince takes off into the stratosphere for his solo. The guitar appears heavy, but Prince plays with a lightness that betrays this initial impression, and the song swoops and soars in equal measures as Prince lifts us all with his impassioned playing. 

 

Prince gets a break as Shelby, Liz and Elisa present their take of Sarah McLachlan's “Angel” They are all fine singers in their own right, and I much prefer to hear Shelby purely sing rather than hype the crowd, but I find my interest wane without Prince on stage. A beautiful song, it is unfortunate that at this part of the bootleg I normally wander off to make a cup of tea. 

Shelby remains at the forefront of my thoughts as she accompanies Prince through “Nothing Compares 2 U.” It never reaches the heights of the Prince and Rosie Gaines partnership, but one senses the genuine comradery and friendship that exists between Prince and Shelby. They appear to have a lot of fun together on stage, and this infuses the music with real love and an uplifting spirit. The lyrics may speak of a melancholy story, but in the hands of Prince and Shelby, it becomes a love-filled message that fills my heart with hope despite myself. 

 

Prince has the guitar in hand for “She’s Always In My Hair,” but it has a neutered sound and certainly can’t be compared to the explosive versions we would hear from 2012-2015. Prince plays a restrained version, even his solo feels like he is keeping it tightly reined, and the song itself is cut short as we segue into “I Was Your Girlfriend.” Esperanza Spalding joins Prince for the performance, it should be a performance that makes my heart sing, but the sound is disappointingly off and a lot of her vocals remain secondary to what I can hear from Prince. The visuals of them singing and dancing together lift the bootleg, but the music never quite reaches the heights I expect. 

 

“Insatiable” rewards on several levels. Not only do we get Prince dripping his honey-coated lyrics, but there is also time for the rest of the band to contribute, and I find Renato Neto in the final minutes gives me just as much as Prince did in the first few minutes. 

Covering similar territory, both sonically and lyrically, is “Scandalous,” and Prince’s performance is just as lush as the previous “Insatiable” The bootleg is at its best through these songs, Prince has complete control of the stage, and the arena, as he pleads and pulls the song through its seductive hoops. 

The jewel in the crown is “Adore,” Prince takes to the piano after a glistening opening from his backing singers. It’s an enthusiastic rendition, some of the intimacy lost as Prince delivers it a full-bloodied, not withholding any sense of delicacy, electing to belt it out into the crowd rather than drawing the crowd into himself. It’s a large performance that may not play to everyone’s taste, although I certainly like it for what it is. 

 

There is an alluring start to “Purple Rain,” it is at once familiar, and something new as Prince tinkers on the guitar for the first minute. He doesn’t make his instrument weep, but he does draw a tear to the eye as he finds a new emotion on the guitar. The lyrics come at us as expected, and it is everything any fan in the crowd could want. This song carries a lot of expectation for many fans, after all, it is his signature song, and Prince delivers it straight down the line, with every word and inflection as heard on the album. The same could be said of the guitar break, there is no excess here, Prince keeps it as we have previously heard, and the guitar solo fails to take off in the way it sometimes does in his more impassioned moments. That is no slight at all, the song remains a celebration of the album, of the movie, and of that era in general. There is a lot of love to be felt as Prince plays the song, and there is no doubt that the song means something different to each person, as well as meaning everything to everyone. 

 

From the darkness, the encore emerges as a brightly lit “Kiss.” A crowd-pleaser for sure, I find I am outside the party for this one. The bootleg can’t spin the concert into a fully invested experience for me, and “Kiss” remains aloof and unobtainable. The final dancing is no doubt an absolute highlight for many in-crowd, especially if we use screaming as a gauge, but for me, it is too far removed from the song and drifting further from what I like about the music. 

 

From the opposite end of the spectrum comes “Sometimes It Snows In April.” It is Lalah Hathaway who takes the lead on the vocals while Prince contributes some melancholic guitar lines that would melt the hardest of hearts. The song is almost done too well, it lacks an edge, and there is no raw emotional core that I crave. Sonically though it is just beautiful, and one of the gentlest moments of the concert. 

Prince and Lalah Hathaway stay as a pair for the following “Diamonds And Pearls,” another song from the softer side of Prince’s catalog. The song has aged well, and unlike me, there is no stiffness as the music flows easily from Prince’s fingers. As is so often the case though the song is all too short, although the tender moment is extended as Prince escorts Lalah Hathaway from the stage. 

Rather fittingly Prince drives the band into “All The Critics Love U In New York,” from his piano, his rhythmic piano playing snowplowing the way for the groove to follow. It is easy to imagine this as close to the definitive version, Prince creating the song in such a fashion at his piano, the entire song and groove carried by his hands alone. Of course, he is not alone, the rest of the band builds up the song, but as much fun as it threatens to be, they are soon enough diverted to “Controversy.” 

With the sound of “Controversy” filling the arena there is no mistaking that we are reaching the climax of the concert. The crowd is alive, and Prince does all he can both musically and physically to get them involved. I am feeling generous, caught up in the music and the moment, and in this case, even Shelby J’s “clap your hands and stomp your feet” gets a pass from me. 

The party reaches its zenith with “Sexy Dancer” and “Le Freak.” With the stage awash with members of the audience, there is no longer between performer and audience, the music has finally broken all barriers in this final celebration of Prince and his music.

I am no great fan of the “Housequake” interpolation, but it does its job in bringing the rest of the crowd out of their seats and into the concert as the crowd chant on Prince’s command. It feels like a fitting ending, there is no emphatic full stop, rather the party burning itself out 

 

Five years ago I wouldn’t have given this bootleg or concert a second thought, it would have been filed under “greatest hits” and never seen again. I am a far more balanced person now, and I understand how concerts like this fit into the wider context. These shows are important, not just to us die-hard fans, but to those casual fans who make up the majority of this audience. Prince is presenting his most popular music to the widest audience possible, that is something to be celebrated rather than looked down upon. These songs are part of his history, and they are part of our history too, be it good, bad, or indifferent. I have heard these all a hundred times before, but they still retain the spark that I first fell in love with. Sometimes I need concerts like this to remind me why I became a fan in the first place, not because of a snobby musicality born from the breadth and depth of what I heard at the after-shows, but simply because these were the songs on the radio I sang along with.