When I was told, “I have two extra tickets for Prince tonight, do you want them?” I thought, “Hell yeah, I want free tickets.”
So, after paying too much money at Boston Beer Works, my friend and I found seats at the Fleet Center. It was a sold-out show, and we were interested to see what kind of a crowd a Prince concert would have. The fans consisted mostly of thirty-somethings, couples, and the generally well-dressed. Then there were the occasional trashy, drugged-out looking characters, as well as a few rock and/or rollers.
The stage was, from our angle, a giant X in the middle of the floor. We got there late, but didn’t miss much of Prince. He sat on a swivel stool in the center of the X with an acoustic guitar. Red lights shone on him, and his tight-fitting red suit. The show was projected onto giant screens, and the camera work wasn’t too bad either.
The first set was mostly acoustic, with some occasional accompaniment by a piano player, saxophonist, and drummer. Prince did a lot of covers that night, including the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.”
He performed well, but I wasn’t really into the strictly-acoustic funk. But then, the show changed to a full band, and Prince started to play his electric guitar, making me focus on just how talented of a musician he is. He played the hits, “Let’s Go Crazy,” “When Doves Cry,” and “Cream.” He also played songs off his new album, Musicology. Unfortunately, almost every time, he held the microphone out to the crowd to sing half of the song for him.
Something should be said about the fantastic drummer for the band. This guy, John Blackwell, was huge. He soloed for maybe a good five minutes, probably more, and he did all the tricks.
Prince’s show ended rather abruptly, with the only encore being “Purple Rain,” and without a “thank you.” I suppose, though, if I were someone like Prince, I wouldn’t have to say thank you all the time either. All in all, I’d say that, for free, the show was all right. If I’d had to pay $75 to see it, I might have been a little disappointed. Not because he did a poor job of it, but because I couldn’t have cared less about hearing the audience’s off-key singing and seeing a bunch of old people wearing ugly clothes dance onstage.