Prince live in concert:
the man behind the myth is still going strong!

By Stephanie Beasley

On Saturday, April 17th, the phenomenon known as Prince (Prince Rogers Nelson to be exact) descended upon the city of Cleveland and created the kind of wonderfully frenzied chaos that only an artist of his magnitude could produce. Make no mistake about it; this was Prince! This was not an unpronounceable symbol, not The Artist Formerly Known As, but Prince, in all of his exciting, electrifying, androgynous glory. After a six-year hiatus from touring, Prince had finally returned to the open arms of his adoring fans with his Musicology Tour, which he claims will be his last tour with performances of hits from the 80s and 90s.

In Cleveland his devoted fans varied in age, race and background. There were those who had the stately presence and dress of matriarchs, there were those outfitted for the club exuding the giddiness of youth and then there were those former “wild children” of the ’80s who had clearly dusted off their skintight pants and fishnets for the event. Needless to say, all of these people were clear indicators of Prince’s phases, which range from erotic exhibitionist to the more spiritually-minded Jehovah’s Witness that he is today. The one thing that everyone in Gund Arena did have in common that night was an undeniable penchant for the “Purple One.” The anticipation in the arena was tangible as every pause in the background music was taken as indication that Prince would soon take the stage and finally, at about 8:10 p.m., he did.

Adorned in a purple tuxedo jacket, white slacks and eye-catching sparkly heeled white boots, Prince rose from the center of the stage and began singing and dancing to the title track of his new Musicology album. As showcased in the recently released video, the single is a throwback to the live funk and soul of the 70s and early 80s that inspired the young Prince to create much of his great music. Therefore it was appropriate that he followed the song with “Let’s Go Crazy” and “I Would Die 4 You,” two songs that showed his abilities as a live musician from the Purple Rain soundtrack.

From there he went into the slower, more sexually charged “Shh” from The Gold Experience. And continued to slow down the tempo with an acoustic set that included “Little Red Corvette,” “Cream” and some of the more blues-inspired songs on the new album like “On the Couch” in which he alludes to the type of misery that many men face when they are exiled to the couch instead of sleeping in the marital bed.

Prince then took a break and, upon return, stepped things back up with his renditions of Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” and “The Way You Move” by Big Boi from OutKast proving that he is still very much in touch with the pulse of current pop music. In fact, Prince shared the stage with Beyoncé in a spectacular performance in this year’s 46th annual Grammy Awards ceremony and was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by OutKast and Alicia Keys.

His induction into the Hall of Fame reinforces the fact that Prince is at a stage in his career where he could easily retire, yet he is striving to continuously make good music. He actually states that part of his reason for going on the Musicology Tour is to educate audiences accustomed to computer-generated hits about the joys of live music.

And teach he did. Throughout the night he wowed the audience with his live musicianship that was only enhanced by the accompaniment of his re-formed New Power Generation band, which includes Maceo Parker (saxophone), John Blackwell (drums), Greg Boyer (trombone), Candy Dulfer (saxophone), Chance Howard (trumpet), Renato Neto (keys), Rad (vocals and keys) and Rhonda Smith (bass). Not only are they awesome instrumentalists, but some like Dulfer and Smith are also remarkable vocalists. Together, the band kept the energy going throughout the night until they eventually closed with “Kiss,” or so they thought.

Fans were not willing to let Prince go that easily. Not one person moved after the lights went down and he exited the stage. The clapping continued, the flame of lighters could be seen throughout the arena and the chant of “We want Prince!” was more than audible. This went on for about five minutes until Prince finally returned and rewarded us with three more songs including “The Beautiful Ones” and the apparent favorite of everyone, “Purple Rain”. The audience sang the words of the song with Prince and even did the high-pitched “oohs” at the end, though understandably not as well as he did.

The song seemed to create a sense of coming full circle for everyone at the show. For the audience it reminded us of the Prince that we fell in love with more than two decades ago. For Prince it marks a point of reference in his career from which he could now completely deter or recapture and improve upon. It is clear from his stage presence at the concert and from his new album (copies of which were so graciously given to all ticket-holding concert members at the door) that with Musicology we get an older, wiser Prince who is just as viable and appreciated as he ever was, and who seems to realize that making good music is more important than having great record sales.