Prince is the musical throughline of my life. Sensual, sexy, funky and otherworldly, I've learned more, and felt more from his music than any other. Would my view of women, or sex, or romanticism, have developed the same way in the absence of "Anna Stesia", or "The Beautiful Ones"? Maybe, maybe not.
I can, perhaps, even credit Prince with giving my new relationship a chance. If it wasn't for his spectacular flame-out in the public eye, would there have even been an opportunity to connect with another big Prince fan? Reminding someone that he's made some great music post 2000? Maybe, though possibly not. Was that innocuous interaction last year a meaningful foundation point or just a forgotten sideline? Who really knows.
Yet, it's a powerful thread among many between us, which made going to see Prince in concert without her a bittersweet experience. An unfortunately timed trip prevented her from coming tonight to a high-energy Prince show that proved two things: 1) I'm probably too big of a Prince fan, and 2) You can't be too big of a Prince fan, because when the Purple One is in the room, it's categorically impossible for him to disappoint.
On the first point, the opener of his three concerts on one night was exceptionally routine from a setlist standpoint. Having tracked his fan message boards too long, there was nary a surprise to be had, with the exception of a delightful, sexy, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" following a blistering version of "Shhh", which never fails to tear down the house (making it all the more understandable why he hasn't left it off his routine for the past 5-7 years). Ironically, these two highlights were the kind of moments that I was dying to share with L, and sincerely hope we'll have more chances to during the Purple LA residency.
Beyond this, Prince didn't surprise much. It was high-energy and fun, but the Nokia Theater sound was merely average, and there was a litany of songs that I never care to hear live, from "I Feel 4 U" (when is he going to retire this?), to "Kiss", to "1999" (a song that is never benefited by live treatment), to a pedestrian version of the uninspiring "Crimson & Clover". And even when he's exceptional in performance, I'll confess to getting a little tired of him pulling out "Play That Funky Music" and "Come Together". He's brilliant at them, and I was dancing my ass off like everyone else, but I'll admit that I'd like a little more variety in his set-lists. Even when I only see shows in LA, I read about all the others, and he's getting a little staid. This set-list wasn't demonstrably different from Coachella. Though, I'm certain that the two later shows will provide more variety and dig deeper into the catalogue... the songs I probably wanted to hear. I knew this going in though, and it's not fair to complain about his structuring of the mainstream crowd show.
Still, the massive HD video screens were a delight, giving audience members a rare treat to catch every single glance, smirk and guitar pluck in 1080p. Even though our seats were decent, they weren't close enough to capture that energy head-on, but the exceptional video production provided an impressive intimacy with an artist who was both deeply irritated by frequent sound problems (affecting his playback more than the audience), and strangely touched by a return to the big stage. His final thank yous, where he shook perhaps every hand in the pit, even showed that he was a bit teary. I have to wonder why this show would do that to him, given his expertise and longetivity on stage. Was it the unique, historic nature of the night? Something else? Hard to tell.
And it is those flourishes, glances and declarations that are part of what makes a Prince show so remarkable. He is in total control of the environment, to calling out lighting cues in a 7000 seat house every minute ("gimme the house lights!"), to his crazy ability to create a rhythmic beat to "Hollywood Swinging" for 10 minutes with every part of the theater singing along, following his every order and purple promise of funky orgiastic glee. When he brings up the same geeky white guy to do a blistering rap of "Play that Funky Music" for at least the third time that I've seen (and no less than the 5th I've heard about), it's clear that Prince's showmanship is so brilliant that he can knock it out in his sleep. It's distressingly simple to feel jaded about the gifts he's shared, but you have to stand back and appreciate how terribly, amazingly hard it is to make it seem so easy. And he makes it seem so easy.
Which is what made the routine feel so fresh, as he managed to give "Purple Rain" a new feel and tone, and his rendition of "Let's Go Crazy" was easily the best I've personally seen live from him. Yet, he saved some of the best for last, using his encore to play "The Bird" and "Jungle Love". This wasn't, in itself, a shock, because I heard those same songs live last month, but the fact that he encores with them is so ridiculously silly that there's a perverse glamour to it. And watching 7000 people do the Bird is pretty sweet. Seguing into "The Glamorous Life" seemed to be just another playful embrace of his love of all things Minneapolis and the mid-80s, but when Sheila E snuck up behind him, him pretending to be surprised, to take over the vocals, what seemed like a fun stunt turned into a funk classic. She looked regal into her late-40s, then joined Cora on the drums for a jaw-dropping dual drum solo on one kit that left you breathless, while the one of the greatest rhythm guitarists in the world plays along with his sly smirk.
So even when he leaves you wanting in the originality department, he leaves you gasping with the sheer show of virtuosity.
What remained missing was the one I wanted to see the concert with. Sure, it was a blast watching my friend V, still a practical Prince virgin, soaking it up (he had no such criticisms of the show, as I privately had), but it's a special experience that I hoped to have with L. And believe that I'll have sometime soon in the future...
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