These are the highlights and low-lights of my trip to the celebration.. I stole the tracklist from Uptown1. Thanks Everyday had its one great moment, so I listed it.




DAY 1


The plane into Minneapolis was delayed 3 hours because of bad weather there. This apparently happened to a bunch of others flying into MPLS. I met up with my partner in crime for the week, Bino. We made a mad dash for the rental car place, then the hotel, then to Paisley Park. I heard there were tours at Paisley that day, but after an hour they cancelled them because some fools were rooting through his drawers, cupboards and personal stuff. We saw the limo bring Prince to the park. He cracked his window a lil bit, to see the people, then pulled into the gates.


He did the usual touring set.




OPENING ACT:Maceo Parker. He was OK. The end.




TRACKLIST:


Rainbow Children


Muse 2 The Pharoah


Xenophobia


A Case of U


Mellow


1+1+1 is 3


Love Rollercoaster


The Ride


The Other Side of the Pillow


Strange Relationship


Sing a Simple Song - Larry Graham appearance, imagine that.


La La Means I Love You


Didn't cha know


When U Were Mine


Avalanche


Family Name


Take Me With U


Rasberry Beret


Everlasting Now


Joy in Repetition - I love hearing this live!






MOMENT: The realization that I was IN Paisley Park listening to PRINCE!!








DAY 2:


We saw him SPEEDING into the park in his lil white BMW with the Gold rims. The air conditioner was broke (in Paisley, not the BMW). The ground was all slimy I guess from the condensation. After Sheila, we were all herded outside while they tried to fix the air and clean the floor. When it couldn't be fixed Prince decided to rent out the ENTIRE theater down the road and took us all to see 'Minority Report.' When he said, "I'm gonna take yall to the movies.." I thought he meant he was going to play some songs from his movies..


He did an abbreviated piano-based set.




OPENING ACT:Sheila E. Put on an awesome show! She played 2.5 hours WITH NO A/C!!! She's not only the funkiest female out there, but also a class act and a professional! She did mostly her old stuff she hasn't played in years. She even did 17 Days. She did a version of 'Desert Rose' by Sting, it was awesome. To end her show she did a slow song about someone always being there. Thats when she broke down. It was moving to see so much emotion in a performer. We saw her sitting alone to the side of the stage, getting herself together. A little while later she came out and finished the show with a bang... an awesome version of 'The Glamourous Life.'




TRACKLIST:


Rainbow Children instrumental


Power Fantastic (I missed the first 2 songs because they didn't herd us in fast enough.)


Extraordinary


Here On Earth


With You - A stunner! Who would have thought he'd play this random track off his 2nd album!


Pearls B4 the Swine (Instrumental) - I wish he would've sang this, such a good song.


The Ghetto


Sweet Baby - Another tune I'd never expect him to do live anymore. Great!


When the Lights Go Down - ditto. what a random tune to play.


Strollin'


Gotta Broken Heart Again - This blew me away, too! A track from DIRTY MIND??? Did he even play this on the dirty mind tour?


You've Got a Friend - James Taylor Cover. Sheila Came out and helped him sing. I didn't even know he liked this song!


Pop Life - So funky... even funkier than the slimy floors.




After this we went to the theater with Prince. Imagine a line of cars from paisley all the way down to this little theater! I thought it was a classy move to treat us all to a movie. The projectors kept screwing up. I was expecting the theater manager to come out and say, "the projectors broke, so we rented out Paisley Park to make it up to yall." The movie was ok.




MOMENT: Feeling the emotion from the entire crowd when Sheila got emotional.




DAY 3:


We decided to do the dayside stuff at Paisley. Got there at the end of the discussion session... it was Tavis Smiley, Londell McMillan, Dr. Cornell West, and Michael Eric Dyson. I didn't give a shit about what they had to say, and left after 2 minutes. I checked out the Paisley Museum, it was cool to see all the guitars and instruments. Chilled in Studio B listening to the live tracks. People were so comfortable there, one chick was snoozing on some pillows! How do you sleep in the middle of paisley park???




OPENING ACT: Victor Wooten. Man, people have been saying this guy is a Bass God! I was bored. I can appreciate that his bass playing is top notch for those who know bass playing, but I was bored silly. I did like his tricks, like having the little lights on his bass, him spinning the bass around his back, and playing his brother's guitar while the brother played his bass. Other than that...I was bored.




TRACKLIST:


Days of Wild - with Larry Graham on bass, imagine that. Doesn't this guy have a band of his own?


The Jam - Larry Graham kinda took over P's stage. He introduced everyone else except Rhonda, who was on piano because this old fart was playing bass. How rude.


Dolphin


Sign O' The Times - AWESOME new arrangement.


The Work, Part I


Paisley Park - So great to hear this one live.


Renato's Keyboard Solo


Peach/"It Ain't Over" Jam - We saw the 2/3 reunion of the Game Boyz! Kirky J and Damon Dickson! I guess Tony couldn't get anyone to cover his shift at Blockbuster.




At the end, Prince introduced us to his "It ain't over" chant. It seemed to be a recurring theme. I liked the "it ain't over" chant on this night... then it got old. I thought he had made it up on the spot, then I heard it on the other aftershows from earlier in the year.


He and the band marched in through the audience, then marched out at the end. Pretty cool.




MOMENT: Sitting in the studio listening to the live recordings... I wanted to call everyone at home and ask, "How did *YOU* spend Sunday afternoon? I spent it sitting at Paisley Park listening to unreleased music!"






DAY 4:


We spent the day in Minneapolis seeing the Prince "sites." We went to Calhoun Square, ate some great BBQ at Dave's Famous there, then saw where the old NPG Store was. Its now a funky furniture and knick-knack store called "Go Home." It still has the purple door. We went to DJ's Music Emporium. Had very few Prince items for sale, a few calendars and t-shirts. Plenty of "smoking accessories" though. Went to the sculpture garden. It was nice.




OPENING ACT: Norah Jones. Heard she was great, missed her altogether. We got there late, but glad to see the chairs. Met a nice Dutch Couple.




Prince did an acoustic set with just him and the guitar and the occassional conga accompaniment from Kirky J.




TRACKLIST:


Don't Play Me - was on the acoustic album, he kinda had to play it.


Whole Lotta Love - I heard he was rehearsing this, but it didn't sound quite right on just an acoustic guitar.


7 - Crowd favorite.


Tangerine - didn't expect to hear this!


A Case Of You - totally expected to hear this.


Pink Cashmere - another curve ball... GREAT!


One Kiss At A Time - what a random track to be played live! Loved it!


Alphabet St. - he threw in a lil bit of the Beverly Hillbillies Theme.


Girls and Boys - neat to hear this on the acoustic guitar.


Motherless Child


The Truth - another one I kinda expected to hear.


"Guitar Playin' Man" Jam - made up funny lyrics about bill collectors and telemarketers.


The Other Side Of The Pillow


She Loves Me 4 Me - I hadn't heard this one live before. Great.


Peach/"It Ain't Over" Chant - Kirk's daughter came on stage to dance.


Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do - I loved the dig at Lenny Kravitz... he poked fun because the 2 songs sound mysteriously alike.


Forever In My Life - I loved the acoustic version on the SOTT movie, and this one was better!


Last December - Another crowd pleaser.




He took a quick break then the band came out for a Jazzy set.




Take The A Train/Strollin' (Instrumental)


How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?


Diamonds and Pearls


The Beautiful Ones


Free


Starfish and Coffee


Sometimes It Snows In April


I Love U, But I Don't Trust U Anymore - last few songs were in a piano medley type deal.


Prince and the Band (New Song!) - I liked this one. "Pass my tape go directly to jail." a dig at bootleggers?


Xenophobia/Bustin' Loose Chant - changed up the horn part a little bit.




MOMENT: Seeing the city where Prince grew up, and his old haunts. Realizing Prince was going to do an acoustic set.






DAY 5:


THE BEST DAY!! Went to Paisley for the dayside activities. I was surprised to see the discussion session was with Eric Leeds and Renato Neto! what skills these two men possess! Renato Talked about his background, and his days with Sheila E's band. Eric had some great stories to tell. My favorite was the background on Madhouse. (the entire album was just Eric and Prince, recorded over 3 days!) He also told us the story about Prince forgetting about him and leaving him in LA! Then he talked about the band missing Prince's 'audibles' when Miles Davis was playing with them! I'm not really an autograph hound, but I got both of them to sign my Xenophobia flyer. They were both very gracious and appreciative of the fans' compliments. I was thoroughly impressed and feel like I learned something about the life of a musician in Prince's camp. Then more chilling in Studio B, listening to the music. I sat in the studio B lounge for a bit and chatted with the security guy. He had some funny stories to tell.




This was the first day they introduced the wristbands. I thought it worked ok. We saw the "Speak Your Mind" booth, the question was "Are you injoying yourself, what would you change?" I said my peace. Later that night, I saw my ugly mug up on the screen before Prince's Set!






OPENING ACT: Bernard Allison - He was the best of the opening acts in my opinion (Sheila doesn't count as an opening act in my book!!!). He turned it out on the blues. His "talking guitar" gimmick got old after a while. It was funny when he walked back to Prince's couch, and Prince hit him with a pillow!




TRACKLIST:


Prince Guitar Solo


Bambi


Whole Lotta Love - Cool to hear this... he did it right.


Something In The Water (Does Not Compute) - Man, I was blown away by this!!


The Question of U


The One - Different arrangement, very nice.


Jazz Jam


I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man - GREAT NEW VERSION!! A little Slower, but still ROCKS!!


Ain't No Sunshine - Nice change of pace, very Princely tune in the first place, glad he finally did it.


She's Always In My Hair - Great guitar song, and he kicked some ass on it!


The Ride (w/Morris Hayes on keyboards)


Alphabet St. (w/Morris Hayes on keyboards)


Blues Jam (w/Morris Hayes on keyboards)


Elephants & Flowers - He never played this one live before, its one of my favorites from GB.


All The Critics Love U In New York - Another stunner! I never thought I'd ever hear this one live!


Beautiful Strange




Calhoun Square (Encore) - took on a new meaning since I actually visited the place the day before.




MOMENT: Meeting Eric Leeds, and seeing myself up on the screen.




DAY 6:


Hung out in the parking lot at Paisley, found out that to get the best numbers in the "wristband" giveaway, you had to take part in a dance contest. So following the lead of Damon "God's gift to choreography" Dickson, we all did the "cha-cha slide" and some other stupid dance. It paid off, we got #23 & #24 for the line! Later on, we pile in, and I'm one person away from the stage!! Front row center! Met a bunch of nice people around us. Then met some idiots who tried to force their way up front. Fucking Dorks that yelled smart ass remarks to everything Prince said. It was hot and crowded, and people kept pushing and trying to get in front of me. It got old... quciBy the end of the night, we were sitting in the back of the room just much more comfortable. We thankfully missed Larry doing his "touch my bass" routine. I would've surely wiped a booger on it. I didn't mind hearing the regular Rainbow Children set again, I knew it would be somewhat different.




OPENING ACT: Musiq... not my cup of tea. He was wearing a cool t-shirt of Jimi Hendrix mixing on two turntables.




TRACKLIST:


The Rainbow Children


Muse 2 The Pharaoh


Money Don't Matter 2 Night


Xenophobia


A Case of You


Mellow


1+1+1=3/Housequake (small portion)/Love Rollercoaster


The Other Side of The Pillow


Strange Relationship


Sing A Simple Song (w/Larry Graham)


La, La, La Means I Love You


Didn't Cha Know


When You Were Mine


Avalanche


Family Name - still my favorite track off of TRC


Take Me With U


Raspberry Beret


The Everlasting Now


Days of Wild/"Soul Child" Jam (w/Musiq) (Encore) - Again, less is more when it comes to Larry.




MOMENT: Being that close to Prince... hearing the clicking of the pick hitting the strings.




DAY 7:


We went into Downtown MPLS to see First Avenue and Quest (the former Glam Slam club). We then went to Paisley and got in line, they handed out Symbol pins and necklaces.. the same ones they were selling for $15! Then they gave out Days Of Wild CD singles on the way in!!! It was Prince's way of saying thank you. Instead of fighting for a good seat or place close to the stage, we looked for the one that gave the best view of the whole stage.




Opening Act: Rachelle Farrell. What should have been a 1 hour set was 2 hours. Her songs were a year long and had been playing for months. I've heard her singing compared to monkey mating calls... thats pretty accurate. I liked her better when she went by Macy Gray.




Tracklist:


Najee Flute Solo


One Night Alone


Adore - the 'smash up my ride' skit involved his lady and Rachelle going to the club to see Musiq.


I Wanna Be Your Lover


Do Me Baby


Condition of the Heart - A beautiful surprise!


U’re Gonna C Me


Empty Room - Blew me away, not only because this is a great song, but the sheer rarity of him playing it live!!!


How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore ?


Nothing Compares 2 U


Shake/Automatic - Another shocker! I recognized the bassline of Automatic at the beginning of the song, but he threw us a curve when he started singing Shake!


Manic Monday - could've done without Karaoke night at Paisley Park.


Soul Sanctuary - Another random song I never thought he'd do live, but this is a beautiful song.


God - Never thought I'd hear this song live. Had tears in my eyes the entire time.


Last December


Purple Rain - A no-guitar version, simply stunning.


Annastesia - Kip Blackshire, Rachelle, Musiq, and Larry came up. The only funk coming from Larry is that which came from his feet when he took off his shoes.




We then danced til 3, then went to Denny's and chatted with other Prince folks!




Moment:I got choked up when he sang God and when he said, "If there was ever a moment in life I wish could last forever, this is that moment."




Other observations: Its sad when people bring their kids to an event like this just to get attention. Kids don't belong at a hot, loud place at 2 am. And it sucks when kids who can't appreciate whats going on are in the front row while those of us who paid $250 are stuck in back.




Also, "Fanlebrities" folks who walk around like their shit don't stink because they're popular in the "prince fan community." What is this, high school? "Oh I can't wait to meet so-and-so!" jeez.




All in all, it was an amazing experience... I met some wonderful people and heard some great music. I hope to meet more people next year!