Another beautiful yet interesting night with Prince. I look back over time, scanning thoughts from my mind(excuse the poetics); I’m amazed by how many times I’ve seen this incredible artist, musician, musical icon, living creative soul. I mean, I go back pre-Purple Rain days to the “For You” time period(his first album). I remember seeing him in venues like the Sam Houston auditorium, the Houston Summit arena, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, The KeyClub, Hollywood Palladium, The Forum, Staples Center, The Wiltern Theatre, Hollywood Bowl, Universal Amphitheatre, New Orleans Superdome (he performed while moving around onstage on roller skates..lol.. blew my mind), Rio Hotel in Las Vegas(incredible show- opened with one of my favorite songs, Something In The Water and closed the show with Ceelo joining him onstage to sing Crazy) and now lastnight at the new Nokia Theatre, which unfortunately has a sub-par sound system and amateur folks working the boards and lighting. I’ve never seen a performer have to do sooooooooo much directing from onstage and still perform at the same time. It went something like, “clap your hands y’all!” and then “umm..adjust the mic, getting feedback, give me more bass, turn up the kick drum” then he’s singing, then he’s talking “it’s gonna be a beautiful night y’all… what y’all wanna hear!” then he’s saying “adjust the house lights a little, turn down the stage lights, turn up the house lights, give me sound from the side monitors please… thank you my brother…” lol.. It got to be hysterical after awhile but as Prince said while exercising tremendous patience, “I’m gonna play through it, y’all” and that’s what he did. I guess for me, I felt something might go wrong when they began playing a Michael Jackson song moments before Prince was due to hit the stage... lol.. And I said "whyeeee??" *smile* Battling that bad sound system Prince played and played and still seemed to have a great deal of fun. He definitely connected with the crowd and pulled us all in; no doubt a master of the stage. He only played a couple songs from the new CD’s and the rest was old stuff and a few covers from Kool and the Gang, Wild Cherry, and the Beatles. The Wild Cherry song (Play that Funky Music), Prince stepped away from the mic and allowed someone from the audience to sing. That person put on a show! Prince said “brother you turned it out so much we don’t ever have to play that song again!” Then jokingly he said “now get off the stage!” I was watching Prince perform and interact with the crowd so closely and at times I found myself reminiscing as he would say, “the Dayz of Wild”; past shows and experiences.. Remembering how he used to run across the stage, doing the splits, sliding across the floor, solo piano performances, jumping off the top of the piano, landing in a split and then jumping out of the split back up to the piano, not missing a beat and playing like a man possessed with unstoppable creativity. He may not dance around like he used to but creatively and musically he’s still unstoppable. To me he’s like the Michael Jordan of music. He totally loves to play and just like Jordan who relied on the jumpshot and picked and choosed his slamdunk moments carefully, Prince switched to his own version of a classic jumpshot; he mastered his instrument(s), plays the heck out of it/them and his slamdunk perhaps is of a personal nature as in my opinion he seems to be a man who has become extremely comfortable in his own skin, completely at peace spiritually, and definitely in control of all things creative. So many try to put him down, so many try to say he’s this or that based on what they’ve seen him do twenty years or more ago and I say to them, look where he is now and checkout how far he’s come. Don’t hold so tightly to a perception that it becomes a judgement. He’s aged gracefully and yet still ferocious musically… doing what he loves and he’s truly earned the status of musical icon, which is a whole lot better than joining the social-butterfly-trying-to-pass-themselves-off-as-artist crowd that exists today among the so-called famous folks out there now. And another note from lastnight’s show, during one of the encores, Prince played two songs from The Time and then did the Glamorous Life. Sheila E. came out to join him and that was great to see. They both seemed very happy onstage together. Lastnight was a beautiful night, a beautiful escape and for me personally it felt incredible to share that experience with a very special someone for her first time. Her perception was changed. Hope to see and experience Prince again in the near future. Maybe one day I’ll be blessed to experience one of those concerts at his mansion.. *smile* One can dream…
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