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Prince - "Musicology" (2004 - Paisley Park/NPG Records)....He's back, and in rare form..... My Photographs You like photos? I love taking them. Click here, if you wanna see some of my work
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Sunday, Apr. 11, 2004 - 11:51 a.m. (Don�t worry- I only changed the font color for this one entry. I wouldn�t make you put up with these colors on a daily basis) Last night�s show was everything you could want from a rock concert. Lasting just over 2 hours, Prince played through most of his past hits. In the first 40 minutes, he and his tight 9-piece band rolled off 9 or 10 songs WITHOUT on pause for applause. From the opening notes of �Let�s Go Crazy� to the end of "Controversy�, he hardly allowed the crowd the chance to catch their breath. He left the stage twice (and went under the tall platform for costume changes), leaving his keyboard player to pass time with spacey, multi-layer solo work (Was that his long-time piano man, once know as Dr. Fink? Looked like him). After his �break�, he returned to the stage with an amplified acoustic guitar. He started the set with a solo version of �Little Red Corvette�, breathing new life into one of his oldest hits. He followed that with 4 duets with rhythm guitarist (didn�t catch his name) , ranging from Memphis blues to (believe it or not) bluegrass. Flirting with the audience, he broke up laughing more than once during this intimate portion of the show. When the rest of the band returned to the stage, he quickly picked the pace back up (and brought the few seated members of the crowd back to their feet). He ran through another 10 or so of his hit songs, working the three-sided stage to maximum effect. For the last couple of numbers, he brought about 15 young women (from the crowd) to the stage to dance along with the band, while they played a 10-minute long version of �Take Me With You�. One of the people who he brought up from the crowd was a young man with a serious Prince Jones, with the shadow beard and hairstyle Prince wore himself back in the 90�s. Prince did a double take when he got next to the man, and even let him sing a couple of the lines from the song (He need not worry that this man could replace him- he might have had the look down, but not the voice). After the impersonator did a spin and dropped to the floor in the splits, Prince jokingly sung the word �security!� into his microphone. At least I think he was joking- the guy was nowhere to be seen at the end of the set. For the encore, the band went through another extended jam of the song �Purple Rain�, ending with a very long, improvised guitar solo by Prince. When the band left the stage for the last time, we were worn out as if we had just spent the last two hours working out in the gym. No, I didn�t �raise my hands in the air� when told to (and thankfully, Price didn�t tell us to �wave them like you just don�t care�), but we spent most of the two hours on our feet: Lease dancing and clapping, me with my arm around her back and bouncing in place. You wouldn�t want to see my dance�.. With each paid ticket, you received a full-length copy of his new cd, �Musicology�, in one of those cardboard 'digipacks'. The cd doesn�t get released until April 20th. Pretty cool added benefit, if you ask me. It is playing in my computer�s cd player right now. Very solid album, without any of the fluffy R&B that brought down some of his 90�s work (IMHO). Worth a listen, when it comes out� I should mention the two women who are in this version of his �New Power Generation� band: Rhonda Smith plays a mean bass. She also carried much of the background vocals where needed. Her solos in the long jams were enough to get even my white butt moving. Candy Dulfer played most of the saxophone parts (along with a multi-instrumentalist whose name I also missed), and also sung the female parts from his older songs. Dulfer has recorded something like9 albums on her own. Might have to check some of those out�.. The sound and lighting system for this tour are really state of the art. The spotlights (8) are run by people who had to climb a rope ladder to reach their perches, 40 feet above the stage. Four large screens carry live feeds from all over the stage, giving you a chance to see what you might be missing when he wasn�t facing you. Even the notoriously bad acoustics of the Assembly Hall didn�t come into play with the sound system he was using. Lease and I did wear earplugs, although only slightly inside of our ear canals. Yes, we are old. But we also have vivid memories of ringing ears 24 hours after watching other indoor concerts, so with age comes common sense. Lease removed one of hers for about 3 seconds, and put it right back in. Our ears aren�t ringing today. And we could hear every note just fine, loudly and clearly�. Prince seemed to really be having a good time. This is such a contrast to the Hell he put himself through for most of the 90�s with his battles with Warner Records. Who can forget the whole �The Artist Formerly Know As� and �symbol� period? This new cd is awesome. Maybe he will produce more great music in the years to come, now that he controls his own future��
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