Prince: 21 Nights at The LA Forum (April/May 2011)

Three weeks with Prince, what a dream come true, something that I thought would never happen!

Wanted to give his Royal Badness the proper comprehensive overture he deserves & to get my freaking head around this truly unforgettable experience.
You may have seen a ton of pictures already read all the setlists, know all or most of the surprises and read a million reviews. However, what I want to accomplish here is to give you a people’s history so that those that couldn’t be there can come along for the ride. To know me is to know my lifelong passion for this man’s music as its inspired every major decision I have ever made. This is my (almost) month with Prince.

Prince – April 21st – The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

 I was already set to come to Los Angeles months in advance for participate in the Big Four happening in the Coachella Valley in a few days (April 23rd) which you will read about in the next entry. So as the trip approached, and Prince announced he was repeating the 21 nights in London and doing it in Los Angeles while I was there, I was overwhelmed and hoped that I could catch as many shows as I could. The dates (and even sometimes, the venues) in true Prince fashion were only announced less than a week in advance.
As much as I adore him, us diehard fans have long dealt with some impractical ideas and ways of doing things. Just earlier this year I was at the Superbowl fiasco in Dallas.  I glad this isn’t lost on him and as a fan-friendly gesture and to encourage repeat attendance, most of the tickets to these shows were only $25 a ticket (including all fees)!! I quickly grabbed a pair for April 21st and 22nd shows and if  not already busy on the 23rd I would have grabbed a pair for that night too!
Attended the Revolver Golden God Awards the night before on the first night of the trip & still buzzing from that as I arrived at the Forum for this historic run. It was intense for me just to be at this building as I have an interest in visiting alot of the famous arenas around the world were some of the best music has been performed (and idea for a travel show – Don’t steal it! haha) . We get there an get in-line to claim our tickets – he’s only done one show so far (April 14th) of this run and I made sure not to peek at the setlist, but I did get a tip that said to check the Sales Office as some of the best seats in the house were being sold for $25 too!
The seats I had bought, were probably some of the worst in the house, but the show was in the round, and I didn’t care, I just wanted to be there, but heeeyyy why not satisfy the curiosity and see what’s available. To our freaking astonishment we go over there to discover that 4th row center is available for 25 bucks!! Ok so technically we paid $50 since we already had tickets but you are talking to a kid that stood outside the Chicago Theater in the snow in Feb of 2002 begging for a ticket for $200 and having scalpers ignoring me.

I tried calling some of my friends last minute to offer them the tickets we were not using, but it was so last minute that no one could make it so I ended up selling them for the same price I bought them for.
Soooo, now its time to jam – we get inside and see the stage is the unpronounceable glyph from the 2004 Musicology tour.

We caught the end of Sheila E. and the entire Escovedo Family,who were really good, and during the intermission we are shown the George Lopez special that is also unique and I thought it was cool that he went with Lopez instead of the other late-night heavyweights.

Ok, lights are down, the show is starting – the thing that any Prince fan knows and finds equally fascinating/exciting to frustrating/maddening is the unpredictability (and we wouldn’t have it any other way) so when a big show like this starts and the first song is When I Lay My Hands on You – an obscure slow track from an internet only LP from 10 years ago, you know that ALL BETS ARE OFF!! – I was floored, I knew the hits were coming, and I enjoy them, also Erin is not the Prince person that I am, though she was nothing but supportive of my enthusiasm, and I wanted something that she would recognize, but its moments like this is why I am really here and to start off with something like that, just let you know that anything goes, and its gonna be a fun ride.
We couldn’t even believe these seats! – We were right there! For 25 bucks! – I felt bad for this woman that was actually sitting behind us that flew all the way over from Australia and had paid over $700 a seat (not to mention what flight and accommodations for two must have cost coming all that way) and here we were –

This NPG, John Blackwell (drums) and Renato Neto (keyboards) from the original NPG lineup, one of the most capable and flexible units he’s ever put together, have been augmented with bassist Ida Neilsen, three dynamite female singers and a pair of dancing twins, that I had been hearing about. In fact, what I had heard was not very flattering, and on Prince.org the general consensus seems to be that no on likes them – Forgive me, but I thought they were amazing – they could sing, dance, were full of grace and drop-dead sexy and really complimented the show.

The show was presented on the enormous glyph-shaped stage taking up about three-quarters of the Forum floor, leaving room for only a few rows of seats and a handful of VIP tables down below. This setup allows more of the audience than ever before to feel up close and personal, at least for the few moments when Prince walks out on the nearest extension, waves hello and does a little dance just for them.
And yes, the man can still dance, and it was gratifying to see him do so much of it. Having witnessed most of his tours since 1997, I can testify that this was the most physically active I’ve ever seen him on stage.

Now we all have our favorites, and I’m not stereotyping anyone here, but sine he has so much material, I think everyone has their own period that supplied their own personal soundtrack, mine is Under the Cherry Moon/Parade – and though I was expecting to hear Kiss ( and as of late the once super-obscure Sometimes it Snows in April has become somewhat of a go-to in the live shows) my thing everytime I go to a Prince show (and this was my first time seeing him since Coachella in 2007) is “will he play anything off Parade other than Kiss?” – And the answer came with a one-two punch of Mountains and Anotherloverholenyohead – I was over the moon, and that combined with the energy, and they were NOT part of a medley, I’m not ashamed to admit had me very emotional. An amazing personal moment for me.

He got even deeper into the catalog, and then the shocking blast of Let’s Work, woke up the oldest of the old-schoolers, and a version of the Time’s Cool morphed into Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough in an unexpected but fitting and affectionate tribute to a one-time rival.

Prince took a second later in the show to acknowledge the incredible history of the Forum and all the great shows he had seen here, and one of them was “I saw MICHAEL JACKSON, in this room” – I thought that was very cool.

Then here come the hits and it delivered big – He just seemed like he was just having a blast, and pulled out all the stops, focusing the main set on hits and fan favorites interspersed with some well-chosen covers all the while pulling groups of people (females) up on stage to dance with him. You have already probably heard about him pulling Kim Kardashian up onstage in NYC and then quickly dismissing her for not being funky at all. As I go deeper laying out the details of the week, I’m sure you will recognize some familiar faces.  Tonight we saw Christina Millian & Kelis.

As the parade of hits ended, Prince introduced us to the wonders of his remarkable sampling piano, with which he could hold down a single key and play a song. Now the first time I was introduced to this, I thought it was a neat little novelty and a fun part of the show.
The lights would be on, and he would walk over to the “piano” that was just a giant boom-box and it would blast a recorded sample of a song. Of all 5 nights I saw he introduced this tool by playing the unmistakable opening guitar riff of When Doves Cry. 

It created an odd and rare intimate moment with Prince just blaring a few recorded notes from his songs, and sometimes other current popular songs like Beyonce’s Single Ladies – Suddenly we were at a party and Prince was the DJ and he would randomly stop and start the party with these little blasts.
He even had fun with it, and he would tease with some of his earlier (and much racier material that he doesn’t play anymore) – For example he would play the opening line to Darling Nikki (refusing to sing a word of it, claiming “Aw no! I’m in rehab!”),  and the place would EXPLODE, cause that’s the one song EVERYONE wants to hear, that is guaranteed that he’s NOT going to play – and while it was on he would shake his head in mock-disapproval and say “Yall should be ASHAMED of yallselves” – and the crowd would explode into laughter.
Or he would play a few snippets of Scandalous and Adore and people would encourage him to keep going and he would protest “I can’t play that, someone would get pregnant!” – 

It was mildly amusing the first and maybe the second time, but after awhile for me, it grew tiresome and wanted to scream “Instead of playing those songs on your boom-box piano, how about you play them FOR REAL?!!” or also I dubbed it bathroom break time, cause the show is thankfully long and depending on his mood, you don’t know how many encores your gonna get, but I’m about to get to all that.

He returned for an encore of the much anticipated Purple Rain that ran about 14 mins complete purple confetti with the crowd chants of the ooh ohh oh oh and the hand swaying (just like in the movie) – THIS is what most of the people came for and have been wanting to recreate since the first time they saw the film. I’ve seen cover bands try to recreate that moment in front of 12 people, all clutching for some resemblance of THAT moment and here it was. In years past for his own reasons, he has denounced that whole movement and dismissed it as a state of arrested development and going against the very grain of his progressive nature. I can recall back in 1998 he would open with the still unreleased Xenophobia and declare “If you came to get your Purple Rain on, better hit the door now, cause it ain’t that type of party” – And a chorus of Prince fans high on elitism would cheer in approval. My stance is that fantasy doesn’t really work for me and I appreciate his moving forward and never looking back. As far as the elitists looking down on fans of Purple Rain as just being tourists, well its hard to dispute their claims, but its certainly easy to dismiss their attitude and just let everyone have a great time and tonight here it was – tonight it was THAT TYPE OF PARTY

And that was the end of the encore – Ok so what’s this one song shit? (see what I did there?) – But surely that would satisfy anyone and NO one was complaining I’m sure –
The lights came on, the were playing house music through the PA, stage hands were taking stuff down, people were filing out of the arena. And then – just like that – in true Prince unpredictability – the house lights go down and the familiar guitar riff of Kiss hits and here he comes!

Ok, so TWO encores of one song each? Again this was the greatest night of my life and I wasn’t complaining, but after that VERY convincing ending with the lights coming on etc, they were gonna have to DRAG me outta here before I was convinced that it was truly over. And right when I was – Bam! the lights go down again! and he plays Controversy !!!!

This time it was truly it (so according to the security team that was telling us to take our ass home) – no complaints, what a night!
I was in true disbelief, and even more so when the realization hit me when I was laying in our hotel room replaying the events of the evening, that we get to do all again tomorrow night!

Setist:

When Eye Lay My Hands On U
Crimson & Clover (Tommy James cover)
Take Me With U
Guitar
Anotherloverholenyohead
Shhh
Mountains
Everyday People (Sly & The Family Stone cover)
The Glamorous Life (With Sheila E.)
Nothing Compares 2 U
Raspberry Beret
Cream
Cool (with Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ interpolation)
Let’s Work
U Got the Look
Let’s Go Crazy
Delirious
1999
Little Red Corvette

Sampler set

When Doves Cry
Hot Thing
Nasty Girl
Black Sweat
Sign “O” the Times
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Darling Nikki
Forever In My Life
I Would Die 4 U

Encore:

Purple Rain

Encore 2:

Kiss

Encore 3:

Controversy

Prince – April 22nd – The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

Ok, am I dreaming? Did last night really happen? Are we now on our way back to The Forum for Round 2? – Yes, I do believe we are ready. We only intended to see two of the shows. We knew nothing about the $25 thing (though that’s what we paid for our original nosebleed seats) but we didn’t think it was going to be an option to see the other and just assumed they would be sold out.
So tonight, I actually didn’t even bother claiming the nosebleed seats I bought, and then try to resell, I just skipped that whole thing, we went right to the Tickets Sales window, and for $25 bucks a ticket we scored even better seats than last night! Third row center!!

Just like last night by the time we got to our seats, the opening act was already on, and tonight we caught the end of Mint Condition, who were really good. But now it was time for his Royal Badness to kick that ass for the second night in a row. I’ve seen Prince many times but never two nights in a row.

Interactions with Dave Grohl in 2011 Part IV

If you have read any of my previous entries this year, you will remember that for some reason, without even really trying, I keep running into Dave Grohl. We don’t know each other, but have been friendly over the years because of my work with Queens of The Stone Age.
I kept seeing him in Austin during SXSW, he was at the Revolver Awards two nights before, and now I look up while the lights are still on and see that he is sitting two rows in front of us. He sees me and waves in that, “Who’s stalking who?” with that funny face he always makes.

Ok, so here we go the show starts, and remember what I said last night when he started with When I Lay My Hands On You –that all bets were off? – Well one thing that he has done since the Emancipation LP came out in 1996, is that frustratingly, he seldom, if ever acknowledges his current release. Meaning, he will only play one or two songs from the LP is currently supporting and in many cases, none at all. So tonight he starts with Beginning Endlessly yet another slow and moody song, and its from the latest record 20Ten, and its the first time its ever been played live!
He doesn’t stop there, you can already tell the mood he’s in and this is going to be one for the ages. How lame is it when you go see an act you like, and they play the same setlist every night instead of giving you a truly unique experience each and every time. And with 21 shows he has his work cut out him, but he has soooo much to choose from (which makes the covers a little irritating sometimes) and that’s the fun, to see where he’s gonna take it.
Three of the first five songs were all from the new album, including Laydown and Future Soul Song – and the other two, were jaw-dropping with him finally playing something off The Gold Experience that’s not Shhh or The Most Beautiful Girl in the World – when he launched into Endorphinmachine I flipped out, followed by the increasingly less obscure She’s Always in My Hair – these were the first five songs he started with!!!

He let up and delivered a few hits before a one-two hit of covers that we would go on to see him do many times of the Time’s Cool inter[persed with a nice little nod to Michael Jackson’ Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough into Kool and The Gang’s Hollywood Swinging that was changed to Inglewood Swinging due to the neighborhood we were in. He pulled up Cuba Gooding Jr. and Rosario Dawson to dance with him for these numbers.

I had read that he was planning on having some special guests at a few of these shows, and not just the celebrity fans in attendance that he brings up to dance (or not dance in Kardashian’s case) and after doing Misty Blue from Shelby J’s album with her singing lead vocals, he introduces Alicia Keys to duet on How Come You Don’t Call me Anymore? – and the crowd freaking exploded!
She covers this song on her first LP and she famously inducted him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
He was so moved by her speech that if you want to the Musicology tour that year, you will remember that he screened it to the audience before every performance.

If you have read any other entries, you may recall from the Jan 2011 entry that I was in LA for a month just this past January and the night Claude played with Adrian Grenier and his band the Honey Brothers, I had made friends with this TV producer that was really funny and charming and we had stayed in contact since January, usually just to share an odd joke or two. Well I had only been in town for three days so I hadn’t called anybody because we have been so busy. Well the TV producer, having zero knowledge that I’m there for the show or even in town, starts texting me details of the show (she knows that I am a Prince fanatic) so without letting her know that I’m there, I ask subtle questions until she tells me her section and seat number and then I thought I would go surprise her.
Well after Alicia Keys, he started the sampler set that was identical from the night before so I thought this would be a good time to do it.
I go to her section and seat number, and it was a total mistake – she didn’t even recognize me and the whole thing was really awkward so I just told her to enjoy the show and went back to my seat with Erin.

Well now it was the fake ending part and now this time we knew better, the lights coming on don’t mean shit and its just a matter of just how much more are we gonna get?

Thankfully we are patient, then suddenly the lights hit and the place already half empty, still goes crazy and Prince and the band return!
The first encore was D.M.S.R and what has to be Prince’s favorite song of his, If I Was Your Girlfriend, cause in the dozens of shows I’ve seen in the past 15 years, he’s never not acknowledged it in some way.

He returned two more times for one song encores like he did the previous night of Controversy and finally closing with Purple Rain.
Remember what I said about the PR ending last night and people have been waiting their whole lives for that moment? Well after last night, I wasn’t sure how we case gonna recreate that, but he did, and it was magical. I was seeing tears of joy and people just overwhelmed all around me. Who else can you say this about?

Setlist:

Beginning Endlessly (live debut)
Laydown
Endorphinmachine
She’s Always in My Hair
Future Soul Song
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
Cream
Cool / Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (The Time/Michael Jackson)
Let’s Work
Hollywood Swinging (Kool & The Gang cover)
U Got the Look
Misty Blue (Shelby J. on lead vocals)
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore (with Alicia Keys)

Sampler set

When Doves Cry
Nasty Girl
Sign “O” the Times
Alphabet St.
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Darling Nikki

Encore:

If I Was Your Girlfriend
D.M.S.R.

Encore 2:

Controversy

Encore 3:

Purple Rain

P.S. – An interesting postscript to this show was after security said that yes, the show is now really over, we had both had to pee, so we were both in the lobby for a good 20 mins after the show officially ended and since he messes with you so much you leave each night, expecting to hear that you there were 3 more encores after you left and you should have stuck around etc.
Well as were leaving for good suddenly we hear screaming, but the house lights were still on, and then suddenly I see what they are screaming about as Prince passes right by us on his bicycle! –

Ok, so now you have had a chance to take a break and digest the first two nights haha, before we dive into the next run.
Its now a week later (six days to be exact) and during that time we went out to the Coachella Valley for the Big Four, had Easter in Palm Springs, and had a ton of other fun, that can read in the next few entries.

Ok so now, we are starting to get the hang of it – we didn’t even know if I would even be available to catch any more shows, but after the revelation of the $25 ticket price and how amazing the shows have been, I made sure to be available.
I love it that we were developing a  routine, and that routine was to see Prince every night!

So here it was what we know so far about the shows:

Prince – April 28th – The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

Since these shows were only announced a few days before the actual dates, again we were not sure we were gonna be available, or would tickets be available, was that whole $25 thing for 4th row seats a fluke? That kind of stuff. Didn’t deter us from trying and then eventually succeeding. Just like the previous two shows, we showed up early, got great seats for $25 bucks and went to our seats to see the last bit of the opener.
This time this practice really played off in spades as Prince showed up during opener Cassandra Wilson’s set out of nowhere and like it wouldn’t be bizarre to everyone else around him, they duet on an obscure track, When Were Dancing Close and Slow all the way back from his 2nd LP in 1979.

Things only got weirder/more awesome from there, as I mentioned above as I was laying out the routine, I think I had it all figured out and with this show, he abandons most of it out of thin air, now truly all bets are off!

Even the crowd was weird for this one making it truly unique – The Forum was only half-full. Large chunks of empty seats were everywhere. The two previous show, and the next two shows were all sell outs, yes this was a Thurs night, but it was like a boycott or something haha. Almost the entire upper level of the arena (known as the Colonnade) was covered with a large black curtain.
In true unpredictable fashion, he show started even slower and DARK, literally. For some reason, Prince kept the lights very low for the first 30 minutes or so of the show. He even asked to turn the stage lights off completely at some points.  The show opener was another obscurity, Joy In Repetition  from, in my opinion the criminally underrated Graffiti Bridge soundtrack album. I’ve always wanted to him to play anything off this, and have only heard Thieves in the Temple a few times and this is my favorite song from the album so to start with this was a dream come true!

And it just kept getting weirder, as this was followed by an India Arie cover Brown Skin with Shelby J. singing lead and then he hit us with a Purple Rain b-side I’ve been waiting to hear my whole life – 17 Days – That might have been my favorite moment of the week,
I was freaking out.
Unfortunately, the audience did.t seem to match his enthusiasm for the track, nor did they really respond to any of the other songs he had played so far.
How does he respond? He doesn’t budge an inch – and hits us with two more covers, one most would know – Janet Jackson’s What Have You Done For Me Lately? – and one I’m certain that almost no one would know – Stargard’s Theme Song from Which Way Is Up? – Truly freaking weird even for him –
And? It just kept getting weirder – this was followed by two more covers :
Graham Central Station‘s It’s Alright
Bob Dylan‘s Make You Feel My Love
that Shelby J sang, that she followed up with her own cover of Misty Blue – an old Bob Montgomery song that Dorothy Moore made popular in the 70’s

Where was Prince? – He was gone for literally like 20 mins, but when he returned he let the crowd, who seemed bored off the hook and it them with the first four songs in a row from 1999 –

He abandons the Sampler Set entirely (which I was pleased by) and that’s it for the main set, and this time he does Purple Rain for the first encore.
It sounded great, yet the song’s presence felt wrong this time as its epic scope and grandeur seemed out of place after sitting through such a strange, and oddly-paced main set.
Encore number two was a free-for-all jam featuring parts of The Time’s  The Bird and Jungle Love , with Sheila E.’s  A Love Bizarre and snippets of Housequake mixed with a reprise of Controversy.
Prince invited a large group of women (and one dude) on stage to sing and dance and party with him. The women dancing closest to him wouldn’t leave him alone. He kept shooing them away haha

He returns a third time just to do the Kiss encore and by the time the lights come on for the third time, most of the crowd, sans for a few thousand are already on their way home.
With only a few thousand people left at The Forum, and with the houselights on high, Prince and the band performed a spectacular jam of three more covers – of Wild Cherry’s Play That Funky Music White Boy , Hollywood Swinging once again as well as Lakeside’s Fantastic Voyage.Watching this with all of the houselights on was simply spectacular.

For most people, obviously that would be enough for one night. Most patrons including us, , figured the show was definitely over by now, and most left for the night. Yet a thousand or so people stayed put also including us of course haha, absolutely refusing to leave.
I’d never seen anything like it. The few that remained stomped their feet, and screamed and yelled. It was now close to 12:30am, yet none of these people were ready to go home. They demanded one more encore.

Unbelievably,  the lights came down one last time, and Prince walked out to the stage for one more song.
What song does he do? Not only was it another cover song but an impossibly obscure and extremely somber cover of Roxy Music’s More Than This – Let me tell you something, no one saw THAT coming.

It’s one o’clock in the morning and he’s singing Roxy Music covers, unbelievable.
No matter, we wanted more Prince…we got more Prince. It was a great moment, yet a bizarre way to end a bizarre show…the strangest Prince show I ever saw, and conversely, one of the best.

Setlist:

When We’re Dancing Close and Slow (with Cassandra Wilson)

Joy in Repetition
Brown Skin (India.Arie cover)(With Shelby J)
17 Days
Shhh
Controversy
(Theme Song From) Which Way Is Up? (Stargard cover)
What Have You Done For Me Lately (Janet Jackson cover)
Partyman
It’s Alright (Graham Central Station cover)
Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)(Shelby J)
Misty Blue (Shelby J)
Let’s Go Crazy
Delirious
1999
Little Red Corvette

Encore:

Purple Rain

Encore 2:

The Bird (The Time cover)
Jungle Love (The Time cover)
A Love Bizarre (Sheila E. cover)

Encore 3:

Kiss

Encore 4:

Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry cover)
Hollywood Swinging (Kool & The Gang cover)(Changed to Inglewood Swinging)
Fantastic Voyage (Lakeside cover)

Encore 5:

More Than This (Roxy Music cover)

Setlist:

Let’s Go Crazy
Delirious
1999
Shhh
Mountains
17 Days
Give It To Me Baby (Rick James cover)
Everyday People (Sly & The Family Stone cover)(Prince on bass)
Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry cover)
The Glamorous Life (Sheila E. cover)

Medley of Santana covers:
Jungle Strut / Soul Sacrifice / Toussaint L’Ouverture

The Question of U / The One / Gingerbread Man / Beggin’ Woman Blues
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
Cream
Cool / Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
Let’s Work
U Got the Look

Encore:

Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)(Elisa Fiorillo on lead vocals)
Purple Rain

Encore 2:

Kiss

Encore 3:

A Love Bizarre (Sheila E. cover)
Controversy

Sampler set

When Doves Cry
Nasty Girl
Sign “O” the Times
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Darling Nikki
Single Ladies (Beyoncé cover)
I Would Die 4 U

I’m about to do the ritual at the Box Office but some very kind older woman saw me walking alone and asked if I had a ticket and when I said no she just smiled and said, “Now you do sugar” – I tried to give her some money for it but she wouldn’t take it – How freaking cool is that? A free ticket? – To Prince? – I thanked her profusely and ran inside.

What had started out as a suitably immense arena show with big hits, dancing girls, confetti and Prince’s usual over-the-top showmanship took on the vibe of an intimate after-hours jam. With the Forum mostly empty as the band dove into obscure songs with long instrumental passages, it felt like we’d been let into a secret show that nobody else knew about.
That’s why their was no need for after-shows on this run because a) He is doing 21 freaking nights – b) He’s basically doing the after-shows right there in the arena! – I didn’t know just how right I was about this statement (see below) as I end this run in amazing style!

Setlist:

D.M.S.R.
Pop Life
Musicology
So Far, So Pleased (with Gwen Stefani)
The Question Of U / The One
I Feel for You
Controversy
The Glamorous Life (with Sheila E.)
Nothing Compares 2 U (Duet with Shelby J)
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
Cream
Cool /Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (with Gwen Stefani)
Let’s Work
U Got the Look

Encore:

Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)(with Nikka Costa)
Something In The Water
Strange Relationship
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore
If I Was Your Girlfriend

Encore 2:

Kiss
Purple Rain

Encore 3:

Sexy Dancer / Le Freak (Chic cover)
Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry cover)
Hollywood Swinging (Kool & The Gang cover)

Sampler set

When Doves Cry
Nasty Girl
Party All The Time (Eddie Murphy cover)
Single Ladies (Beyoncé cover)
Sign “O” the Times
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Darling Nikki
Hot Thing
Black Sweat
Love

Encore 4:

The Bird (The Time cover)
Jungle Love (The Time cover)(with No Doubt)
A Love Bizarre (Sheila E. cover)

OOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKK – soooo- as if that’s not enough – I just couldn’t leave, this was my last night and my last show of this run and the dream was coming to a close and so I stayed in my seat soaking it all up before security asked me to head for the exit.
I’m in the lobby by the blocked off curtain to backstage and just by a sheer miracle, I run into Rashida Robinson. She’s a DJ and we have done gigs together in the past – she was heading backstage and I call out to her, and she turns and sees me, smiles, asks if I’m coming to the after-party – ummmmm….After-Party? – I asked where it was and she said it was right here at the Forum in a private club upstairs namely aptly – The Forum Club.

The Forum Club – NPG aftershow – April 30th

I said I would love to and without batting an eye, she says “Ok, you will need this” and gives me one of those sticky passes, smiles and says “see you there!” – My jaw hit the freaking ground! – When she asked me if I was going, I was imagining having to find some place across town, pay alot of money to park and then to get in, just for him not to show or make a small appearance (believe me, I’ve been down this road MANY times before) – but hey it’s right here, apparently not open to the public so its like a real after-party.

I go outside to smoke and then make my way into the club – security wasn’t really feeling that I was alone and not dressed as nice as everyone else but they let me in regardless

It was after 1am when the band came out  and starting jamming Let’s Work and Endorphinmachine until Prince came out and did She’s Always in My Hair – It was unbelievable to me that less than an hour ago I was sitting alone in the main arena quietly saying goodbye to all this and here I am an hour later seeing Prince perform at a private party. The club is really small and security would trip on you if they saw you trying to take pics. But I couldn’t help it, Prince was like 3 feet in front of me!!

The jammed a bit more and did a couple more covers, this time Chaka Khan’s Sweet Thing and again Shelby J did India Arie’s Brown Skin – .
They jammed on Bambi and finished up with the theme from Which Way is Up? once again. A short set, but I wasn’t expecting much, and was just so super happy to be there and was so grateful for Rashida’s kindness and what a perfect way to end my last night.
She started things off with a great set and I wanted to find her after to tell her thank you once again but didn’t get the chance so, Rashida, thanks again so much!

Setlist :

Let’s work/Endorphinemachine (instr)
She’s always in my hair
Future soul song (instr)
Sweet thing (Chaka Khan cover)
Brown skin (India Arie cover w/ Shelby J)
Bambi (instr)
Laydown
(Theme Song From) Which Way Is Up? (Stargard cover)

I thought it might be fun (and comprehensive, being a completest is one of my many curses) to take a look at the shows as a whole and pick out some other special moments and see which shows truly got the luck of the draw. I’m sure anyone that saw any of these shows would still say it was the best show of my life.

So let’s go in order here:Show #1 – April 14th – The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

What can really be said about that first show that hasn’t already been said – My contribution would be that this was not only the best show of the run, but arguably the best full-length performance of his career. Prince came to Los Angeles to make a statement – To make a point – he showed a hunger that most 22 year old starving artists couldn’t muster let alone a 52 year old millionaire veteran. Usually things progress and get better, and the fire still burned, but maybe none brighter than that first night. I mean look at this setlist (I’m only including songs on the rest of these shows that he didn’t play at any other times) !! Four hours and SEVEN encores!!

Exclusive playlist:

Uptown
The Beautiful Ones
Peach
Dance (Disco Heat) (Sylvester cover)
Baby I’m a Star
Dreamer (Instrumental)
Welcome 2 America

Shows #2-3 (documented in Part I)

Show #4 – April 23rd – The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

Some great stuff here and some legendary special guests for this show like Chaka Khan doing Sweet Thing and doing two Family Stone covers with Larry Graham. He also returned to the three song ballad encore he did the first night of: Insatiable – Scandalous – Adore

Shows #5-7 (documented in Part I)

Show #8 – May 5th- The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

Clearly in a rare mood and in a mood for rarity, he maintained the oft-pattern of starting the show off with something slow and obscure, The Love We Make from the Emancipation album. A record I haven’t heard him remotely go near since it came out in 1996. Easily my least favorite of all of his efforts but again it would have been cool to have seen this. This formula proved to showcase perhaps the rarest moments on this run. This is important too as , and as much as I enjoy it, an odd cover or two, here and there, no matter how bizarre doesn’t spell rarity for me. Whipping out a different cover song every night, though are fun surprises, but I want to hear his rarities. So I’m glad that these moments can offset that trend. Also returned to the Billy Cobham cover Stratus as well as Sometimes it Snows in April like he did on the first night. He was joined another special guest Whitney Houston (you may have read some lame tabloid fodder that follows her everywhere she goes about a supposed fight they had, Prince calls bullshit on the story).

Exclusive Setlist:The Love We Make
Musicology (with Whitney Houston)
Angel (Sarah McLachlan cover)(sung by Shelby J)

Show #9 – May 6th- The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

Probably the most typical (if you can call any of this that) of the shows of the run as the whole show was an amalgamation of all the others. However, if you got there early to see opener Esperanza Spalding, you would have actually seen Prince play guitar on the Michael Jackson cover I Can’t Help It.

Show #10 – May 7th- The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

This was a cool show with another rarity, more covers and another guest star. I’m seeing a pattern emerging haha.
He invites Nicole Scherzinger up for a cool take of Chaka Khan’s Eye’ll Never B Another Fool.

Exclusive Setlist:

Eye’ll Never B Another Fool (Chaka Khan cover with Nicole Scherzinger)
Rude Boy (Rhianna cover with Shelby J on lead vocals)

Shows #11-12 –

May 11th -12th- The Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA

Suddenly its all, “Hey, he never said that all 21 nights were gonna be at the Forum” etc. – And that’s cool – another fan-friendly gesture to take it out of the big arena for a couple of nights. However given the intimacy and the ticket price ($100 +) some rarities are not only expected but probably demanded as well as an extreme deviation from the main show at the Forum. I read an interview where he said he wanted to play this club after being inspired by the famous story of how Elton John was discovered here at his legendary first American show at this club in 1970. These shows were only about an hour or so long and though they shared a few songs from the main show, the rest was straight up bananas as far as rarities. Embracing his recent catalog like never before, and even debuting two new songs.

Exclusive Setlist: May 11th

Power Fantastic
Somewhere Here On Earth
Boom
Let’s Get It On (Marvin Gaye cover with Andy Allo on vocals)
Colonized Mind (with Mike Phillips saxophone solo)
When She Comes (new song)
U Will Be With Me (new song)

The second show was technically the next day but was only just a few hours later that same night as the first show. In true Prince madness, the first show was actually supposed to be the night before but was changed to the last minute to tonight, forcing him to do both shows in the same night. However, I think both shows were designed to be extremely different even from one another let alone the Forum shows. The second/later show was much longer, had two encores and was one for the ages – For their year end poll the L.A.Weekly voted this performance the show of the year – read it here:

Exclusive Setlist: May 12th

I Like It There
Same Page (Elisa Fiorillo-Dease on vocals)
Waiting In Vain (Bob Marley cover with Andy Allo co-lead vocals)
Guitar vs. Sax battle

Show #13 – May 13th- The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

The 13th show happening on the 13th? I don’t think this was a coincidence knowing Prince. This was what we are calling another D.M.S.R. show but, another great show, featuring another legendary guest star – Stevie Wonder!

Exclusive Setlist:Take Me With U (with Janelle Monáe)
You’re The One For Me (D-Train cover)
Superstition (with Stevie Wonder)

Show #14 – May 14th- The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

Another amalgamation of the previous shows, he did however revisit When Eye Lay My Hands On You – once again to start the set.
Usually during the Cool / Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough medley is when he brings up a celebrity guest to come up and dance and this time it was Halle Berry, who fared a bit better than Kim Kardashian did. I could frankly care less who showed up, I just care about the music.

Shows #15 – 17 – May 25th – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA

1st show started at 9 p.m. and tix are $200 – the main room 90 mins

Celebs = Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Charlie Sheen, David Spade, Dan Akroyd, Dr. Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, Tony Kanal of No Doubt, Sanna Ha

Sax player Mike Phillips took the stage and started the band off singing into his vocoder microphone “Are you ready for some funky music” which led into a funky jam version of D.M.S.R. – that unbelievably included the 3rd verse, that hasn’t done in 20 years that also features my favorite lyrics from him ever of:

 I don’t want to be a poet, because I don’t want to blow it, I don’t care to win awards –
All I wanna do is Dance, & Music Sex Romance–
Try my best to never get bored

don’t know why all the celebrities flocked to this one but to some people I  guess that sort of thing is worth it.

Setlist:DMSR (w/ the 3rd verse of “D.M.S.R.” of “I)
Pop Life (Incl. Scrapple From The Apple)*
Song of the Heart
Musicology
Shhh
U Will Be With Me
Mountains
Everyday People
I Want To Take You Higher
Let’s Work
U Got The Look

Encore:

Cool/Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough)

2nd show is sold out and was a $100 Jazz Cafe in upstairs restaurant, began around 11:30PM

So I was wondering why this show that was held upstairs in the HOB restaurant was actually less than the first show given its intimate vibe buy apparently it was for “obstructed view” = you pay a hundred bucks with no guarantee of seeing anything. Only for Prince would I have even considered such a thing.

Blues Jam (Jose Can You See)
Star Spangled Banner (instrumental intro)
I Like It There
Endorphinmachine (instrumental intro)
Villanova Junction (Jimi Hendrix cover)
The Question Of U / The One / Gingerbread Man
Dreamer
Welcome 2 America/America (instrumental)
She’s Always in My Hair
Bambi
Colonized Mind
Brown Skin (India.Arie cover)(Shelby J. on vocals)
Little Red Corvette (Montreux Jazz version)3rd Show – $500 benefit – The Foundation Room – Started at 230am ended at 4am

Celebs – Bono

Okay now shit is getting bananas – FIVE HUNDRED BUCKS??!! – Given the late hour and the show was in an even smaller location upstairs from the restaurant, and Bono was lurking around with the promise of a collaboration for the ages? (P.S. It didn’t happen) And the show sounded super cool, but people paid 500 bucks to bail out someone you care for and you play them covers for an hour? I heard some people started complaining and he abruptly took his band offstage and didn’t return. Security was strict & I took zero pictures & none online after the event.

Footprints (Wayne Shorter cover)
I Wish (Stevie Wonder cover)
Wait in Vain (Bob Marley cover)
Theme from Which Way Is Up (Stargard cover)
Hollywood Swinging/Love Rollercoaster/Play That Funky Music (covers medley)
Outstanding (The Gap Band cover)
More Than This (Roxy Music cover)
Rude Boy (Rhianna cover)

Encore:

Stratus (Billy Cobham cover)

Diagnosis: Sometimes, The Funk Is More Than $25.00

Show #18 – May 27th – The Forum -Los Angeles, CA

Another great show of course, but nothing out of the ordinary of what this run has been. Their were no new songs played or guest star appearances. He did play Peach and a cover of Disco Heat which both have only been played once so far I think. This was also an especially long show with four encores.

Show #19 – May 28th – The Forum -Los Angeles, CA

From last night’s perhaps longest show (besides opening night of course) to one of the shortest, with only two encores of two songs each. Mary J Blige (who opened the show) did join him for a duet of Nothing Compares to U – that was astonishing.

Show #20 – May 29th – The Forum -Los Angeles, CA – FINAL SHOW OF THE RUN

For one last round he returned to the formula of a slow obscure number by opening the show with The Love We Make that he only did one previous night before, when Whitney Houston joined him. Also they went out (Inglewood) swinging with a barnburning, five encore set, fittingly ending with Controversy.

—————————————————————–
The Verdict——————————————————————-

OOOOOKAAAYY – I thought you said you were doing 21 shows? haha – I ain’t complaining 🙂 If you count the appearance on the George Lopez show (which clearly he does)  the day before to start things off, than yes it was 21 shows. And technically if we are just counting the Forum shows (and in all fairness we should) it was only 15 shows. The word only being highly pejorative in this in case and utterly unnecessary. I think anyone in history has ever said “We only sorta got 15 Prince shows….”.

Soooo, now that I have layed it all out – Which one was the best? Which one(s) were you at? Which one would you have liked to have attended the most, or were you at the one you would have chosen?

My two cents:

Of all the shows there was just something really strange about the April 28th show at the Fourm. Bizarre and odd everything about that show. Does that necessarily translate into the best show?, I’m not certain but I think it was my favorite of the ones I saw, as well as it was easily the most unique of the Forum shows hands down, and for that I am grateful that we drew the luck of the draw there. Just a really weird show.
If I had my choice of any of the others besides April 28th the only other one I think beats it is clearly opening night. That’s when he planted his flag that night. The city of Los Angeles had passed him the ball and he was going for a slam dunk.

one more thing…..

Since we are being extra nerdy and super obsessive and talking about Prince like nerds do Star Wars – let’s go the extra mile and post what would be your dream set-list – Fill free to include yours in the comments – I’ll start:

Dream Setlist:

Around the World In A day
Rebirth of the Flesh
Automatic
Gotta Stop Messin About
Baby Go Go
Bob George
Sexuality
The Continental
Feel U Up
Sugar Walls
Trust
I am The DJ
Life Can Be So Nice
Play in the Sunshine
Computer Blue
Witness for the Prosecution
Tambourine

Encore:

Crystal Ball
Money Don’t Matter 2 Night
Race

Encore 2:

Alexa De Paris
We March
Still Would Stand All Time