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| above: probable reason why i didn't really get into prince when i was a teenager. |
Prince is someone I only ever dabbled briefly in until last year, partly thanks to Dropbox (always thanks to Dropbox) and a very cheap Purple Rain cd at JB. It hasn't taken long for me to become a fan, the fan I never knew I could be. It would have been sooner had my parents ever played Prince when I was growing up, and mum could have also ended up with a ticket as well. But they DIDN'T, so I'm now one up on my parents... suckers!
Prince's tour was announced about a month before the show, leading to frantic ticket buying and yet another artist making me poor for a week, and I ended up with gold seated tickets (thx gig buddy!). The good part about a big ego musician annoyingly announcing a tour at the very last minute is that there is very little waiting to occur prior to the gig, and also meant I had 4 weeks to get familiar with as much Prince as possible. I think I did pretty well though, and in fact 'Purple Rain' has become not only a favourite so-bad-it's-good film but favorite all time album. Anyway, to the show! It was always going to be shit at the Entertainment Centre (BEC for short) but this nights show was really no exception. The parking was of course horrendous (and I still don't understand why they charge for crappy parking which isn't used at any other time) and we just made it in time for the show to start.
To start with, we were greeted with a man playing an amazingly intricate composition on classical guitar in the centre of the stage. At this point the huge video screens that were set up above the love symbol stage displayed him in pristine clarity. Then, as the guitarist switched his tune to an acoustic "Purple Rain", we noticed a hooded figure stand up at the end of the love symbol arrow and walk toward the guitarist, kneeling before him as he played, his hood leaving a long train behind him. Before our eyes, they both miraculously and gracefully disappeared underneath the stage. Where they go!?
Not long after, the band appeared and began to play an energetic song I'd not heard (Thunderstorms??), and the music finally hit the audience with excitement racing. Prince was nowhere to be seen, until suddenly, we heard him singing and there he was, just out of nowhere, no fancy entry or anything. After such an elaborate introduction, this was not very Princey! They put on an excellent opener and then moved on from number to explosive number, not before Prince announced to the crowd.... "Hi Brisbane. I am here. Where are you." Yes, sir, you have achieved god-like status and it is well earned and accepted. Aaaaaand you know it.
The songs were thick fast and absolutely brilliant, Prince sounding as good as he ever did, with back up singers supporting him with warmth, energy, and all sorts of interesting haircuts. I wasn't recognising much to start with, but as soon as soon as the words "Dearly Beloved.." were spoken, the audience went, well, crazy, along with me, masking his half said intro. Halfway through this superb live translation of "Lets Go Crazy", the band went brilliantly into "Delirious" and then effortlessly came back to finish off the initial song. "1999" soon followed, sadly concluding all of his songs off the title album. At this point one of my gig buddies said "THIS RIGHT HERE IS MY DREAM!", and it really was that kind of moment- hearing such a phenomenal signature song played and sang in the flesh by Prince himself in all it's ecstatic glory; it couldn't get much better than that.
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| above: a medley of shitty instagram photos because prince wouldn't let me bring my camera. I 4give U tho P |
After a couple more with the band, Prince went over to his piano, which had been set up with prerecorded backing tracks. He sat down and commenced a medley of bits and pieces of some of his best and most popular songs. "When Doves Cry", "Sign O the Times", "Hot Thing" and "Housequake" were included in this quick mix, as well as about five seconds of "Darling Nikki" until he stopped to say "I can't play thayat!". While it was nice to have just Prince playing around with us (hehehe), I couldn't help but feel cheated that we didn't get a big band rendition of some of my favourite songs. I also don't particularly like when artists get lazy and allow the audience to sing the chorus for them. Which he did. A fair bit. Some audience participation harmonies are fun, but I don't really pay stacks of money to hear a bunch of my neighbours yelling out a favorite line, to be honest.
Luckily, Prince reintroduced the band for more full length songs, including the exceptional "Take Me With U", "Raspberry Beret", "Cream" (hey that's right! that song exists!), and even a Michael Jackson cover ("Don't Stop Til You Get Enough").
I couldn't wait any longer to use this bathroom and unfortunately left just as he took to the piano again and used its real keys to play some solo versions of songs. I missed "The Beautiful Ones", which I could hear from the bathroom stall and sounded lovely, but stopped short. As promised, Prince finished on an extra long version of "Purple Rain" which lasted 16 minutes (not the predicted 19, how sad). He introduced it by getting the audience to start singing the 'oohs', which was difficult and high and I felt like a dickhead even trying. This didn't matter, as everyone else tried, and after a fair few minutes of broken audience voices, he lead us into the actual song. It was everything I wanted it to be, epic, tear jerking, harmonies crossing and Prince howling, huge bass drums, and a wonderfully drawn out finale. I just wish he did that one awesome riff towards the end of the song but you really just can't please me completely.
A couple of short encores followed, one involving a cover of "Everyday People" by Sly and the Family Stone, and the final encore being "Kiss". During his final moment, Prince let it all out, getting his super groove on. "Kiss" was the sexiest song of the mix he would allow, and he let himself be taken over with the song's sexiness. He was even lit up in a single spotlight ala his "rival" Michael Jackson, but instead of moonwalking, he finished on this ridiculously awesome (and, I'm going to say, better) butt thrusting dance, which momentarily made you forget he's probably well over 50.
I have a feeling our encores were cut short, as that was that. True to BEC style, after the lights faded up we were snapped back to reality, reminding we weren't in 1984 glam city, we were in a poorly maintained, 90's built stadium building.
I have to mention some criticisms here (other than those I've already mentioned). Firstly, the electronics were shocking. The lightshow was fun, but the spotlight was rarely on Prince and the video display (which had so much promise when the intro guitarist was playing), would either not be displaying Prince at all or have him half in shot. Sometimes it wasn't showing ANYTHING, just total darkness. I'm not sure if this was Prince's decision to avoid being photographed (I had to ditch my camera for this reason, and hence had to go back on Sunday to retrieve it, forgetting I'd done so) or BEC requiring some better cameramen (if that was the case, I could recommend about 10 right now). What a waste of technology. Secondly, as per normal BEC events, the sound could have been way, way better, and naturally was not. I need to just have a disclaimer before every BEC show to prevent the usual whinge.. oh GOD I really hope something changes for Radiohead in November.
Despite its flaws, Prince was a lot of money well spent, and I regret snapping up a ticket for the next weekend, as well as being too tired /lazy/ movingoutthenextday to catch his magnificent after party shows at the HiFi and also at... um... Eaton's Hill. Someone better have shown Prince where the better parties are at while he was here.
A lot of whingeing, but a solid, memorable show, helping to escalate my newfound fandom. 8 phallic guitars out of 10.
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