lisa was a genius in getting us to the rbc center early. she wanted to have a tailgate; we brought sandwiches and beer (and oreos) and got to the parking lot around 6pm. we sailed right in and didn't have to deal with traffic problems at all. there were a few other people doing the same thing, and all were playing prince's music from their car stereos. it was a relaxing time.
mary's friend molly happened to be working inside the arena, passing out copies of prince's new cd, "musicology". (she apparently is a rabid hurricanes fan, and had signed up on some 'help wanted' list to get herself into free hockey games. she was surprised to have been called to help for this, but certainly didn't complain.) mary kept calling molly inside the stadium; molly gave us updates as to what was happening behind the closed doors.
dave & shayne found us around 6:30 or so. we drank a few more beers and told stories about being trapped in a car and having to pee. funny how many people have stories like that.
we had a fantastic people-watching spot, perched there on the grass. from middle-aged, geeky white people to young, styling black people... there were women decked out to the nines in skimpy dresses and stiletto heels, and there were 20-somethings in purple jumpsuits and raspberry berets. it was a really nice, mixed crowd and i wondered aloud what other artist could draw such a wide range of people.
we also chatted about the rumored "after-party". i had heard it would be at a club called 'the office' in raleigh. we all vowed that if we were conscious, we'd go. we'd heard such good things about the after-party the last time he was in town...
anyway, we finally went inside around 7:30 or so. mostly because lisa had to pee. :-) we also attempted to look for molly, but really... the rbc center is so fucking huge that even if you tell someone, "look for me in this very specific, unique spot" you're bound to miss them. so having failed at that task we went a got a couple of beers and found our seats.
i have to say that lisa outdid herself in getting us these tickets. she had originally gotten them via ticketbastard, but then decided to try to exchange them for better seats at the rbc box office. she sweet-talked the employee into not giving us the seats that the computer deemed best (which were so far back you could actually touch the ceiling), but rather picked our seats by hand. it paid off. we were in the first row of the upper balcony, with a virtually unobstructed view of the stage. nice.
it has literally been a decade (and maybe more) since i've seen a rock show in a stadium. of course i knew that acoustics in a concrete arena would be bad, but i didn't remember just how bad until the lights went down and a video began playing on the giant screens over the stage. it was a montage of veryquick clips of prince over the years. interspersed were segments of what i now know to be alicia keys introducing prince at his rock and roll hall of fame induction. her speech was incredible but you could hardly understand what she was saying... everything sounded muddy over the speakers and reverberated a zillion times before hitting our ears.
still, it got everyone excited and soon the He appeared on stage. god, i can't even remember what his first song was, but everyone was up and screaming. he looked really great in a white fringed jumpsuit, and i found myself constantly torn between watching the tiny real prince on stage and the giant televised prince on the screen above him. i finally decided that i felt too removed from the event if i watched the screen and i consciously tried to focus on the stage.
he was accompanied by a horn section which included maceo parker, as well candy dulfer, as a skanky female sax player formerly relegated to the world of smooth jazz. i wished i could hear more precisely what the ensemble sounded like. the only parts that really cut through the muddle were the saxophone solos. the drummer was astounding, and the female bass player was cute as she lounged on the sofa area of the stage.
we all worried a little when prince teased us with very small snippets of his old songs, mooshed into a medley. i knew this was supposed to be his last tour of the 'old stuff', but when he didn't even make it through the complete songs i started to get a little bummed. but then he did "dance music sex romance" and either my ears had finally adjusted to the sound or this song was arranged differently... but i was on my feet and dancing. i had totally forgotten about that song, and loved it.
i just found a fan review of the show, which does a better job than i do at remembering the set list. (and here's another. then there's dave menconi's review.)
the most phenomenal part of the show for me came after the costume change. prince came back on by himself, dressed in red fringed jumpsuit, and began singing solo acoustic versions of some of his otherwise-dancy songs. he started with "little red corvette" which was one of the coolest things i've ever heard in my entire life. that song as a ballad is really amazing. also acoustic were "raspberry beret", "cream" (oh my god, this was so good, too... he would stop the song to instruct the audience on how to sing along), a very short silly snippet of "jailhouse rock", and "7", one of my all-time favorites.
he was really coy and sweet during this portion of the concert. it was all a big show, of course, put on for our entertainment, but he'd take a few moments just to pick at the guitar between songs, or he'd spin around a little on his rotating chair and he just looked like a regular guy on stage for a few minutes.
of course there was the obligatory bring-cute-ladies-on-stage section of the show that i could have done without, but by the time he finally finished up his set with "kiss" and "take me with you" i really didn't care. the man can move and he's fascinating to watch.
of course there was an encore. he did 3 slower tunes ("beautiful ones", complete with sexy writhing on the floor, "nothing compares to you" and "purple rain") and they turned into anthems for the audience. everyone was singing along, so loudly at times that prince would just stop singing. (i'm sure he's tired of singing these songs anyway.) by the end of "purple rain" everyone was swaying back and forth, humming those high-pitched "ooh oohs" at the end. i kind of wanted that song to go on forever.
afterwards i felt totally dazed. it was sensory overload. i was a little in shock, too, to think that i'd been waiting 20 years (!) to see this man in concert. the only thing that could have made it better would have been a more intimate venue with better acoustics. the set list was great, though, with just enough songs that i didn't know. (there was a slow one in the second half with lyrics something like "i used to sing dirty songs, but now i ain't that guy"... it was an amazing groove. i'd like to know what that song was.)
on the way out i ran into an old acquaintence, karen. she said she had gotten stuck in the massive parking lot traffic on the way in and had missed over an hour of the show. she didn't get in until 9:30! i hate to admit it, but i went right over to lisa and told her this and we all felt smug and happy about our early arrival and tailgate party.
when we got out of the building the parking lot was jammed, of course, so we pulled out our lawn chairs and the beer and sat back for a half-hour or so while the cars cleared out. molly phoned mary, and told us she had somehow already gotten to the club where the after-party was being held. when mary got that news you could see her get excited. she wanted to pack up the beer and plow right over the line of cars to get there.
we finally arrived at the office around 12:15, i think. there was a huge line to get in, and i couldn't imagine that everyone could fit inside. i hadn't ever been to the office before, so didn't have any idea of how big it was, but there were hundreds of people waiting and it just didn't seen physically possible that we could all get in.
yet, we did. it cost $10 and a lot of patience, but we got in. there were 2 dance areas (one with fireplace and waterfall) and one loungy bar area. there were also a million men looking to hit on women. this club was a total meat market. i think we all got hit on at least once. (and jostled by countless shitfaced women.) after a while people started to pack into the smaller dance area that had a curtained-off stage. there were so many people it stopped being a dance floor and became a sardine can.
at one point all of the tv's in the club started playing a tape of the concert we'd just attended! it was the edit that had appeared on the screens over the stage. it was weird re-living a show we had just seen... but you know what? the audio was PERFECT. we got to hear the music as it sounded there on stage. and it was phenomenal. the horn section was tight, the vocals were tight... nothing muddy about it. i thought to myself that the $10 admission price to get into the club was worth this alone. of course, it would be nice to see prince up-close, too...
from where i was standing on this packed dance floor i could see people-figures behind the gauzy curtain, and every once in a while people would squeal like prince was going to come out. we stood there for almost 2 hours, though, and he never did. i don't know what he was doing... maybe he just wanted to hang out, alone, at a club after the concert. maybe he was waiting for all of us to look like we were having a good time. maybe he didn't like us. i don't know.
mary eventually went to ask a club employee if prince was ever going to perform, and the guy said, "he has been." i hadn't noticed. mary said she heard his voice from behind the curtain a couple of times, just talking or saying "hello, raleigh" or some such. but that was no performance. around 2:40am we finally left, more than a little disappointed.
still and all, it was a really fun night. i'm so glad lisa urged us to go. (i had intially balked at the $50 ticket price, but after considering how my step-mom 20 years ago forbade me to see him, it was well worth the retribution.)
i think if i could hold one lingering memory from this show in my brain forever, it would be... hm, two memories. one: the solo acoustic set... it just felt really intimate. and two: his moves... the man can still dance and wiggle like no one else.
Posted by xta at April 24, 2004 12:17 PM | TrackBack