WOW!
Thanks! I thought I was there.
peace*
Willette
On 4/24/2011 1:29 AM, Barbara wrote:
Prince Makes Musical Nod To Michael Jackson During Los Angeles Concert
Posted 36 minutes ago by Billy Johnson, Jr.
It's long been rumored that '80s pop icons the late Michael Jackson and Prince had a feud. Whether or not this is true, it didn't matter Friday night when Prince played the Forum in Inglewood, California during his "21 Nite Stand" tour. The "Purple Rain" singer paid homage to the King Of Pop.
When performing a cover of The Time's "Cool," Prince's 7-member band the New Power Generation fused the song with a rendition of Michael's "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" from his "Off The Wall" album.
It was subtle. Prince didn't offer any set up or explanation, but the crowd loved it. For this part of the show, Prince pulled on stage VIP guests, protege Sheila E. and Academy Award winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., to join the party. A surprisingly wild Cuba ended up tossing his jacket off the stage.
Prince also acknowledged Michael during an interpolation of Kool And The Gang's "Hollywood Swingin'" that he dubbed "Inglewood Swingin'." An original lyric refers to seeing Kool And The Gang in concert. Prince altered the artist name to Michael Jackson.
Prince also paid a nice compliment to Alicia Keys. The new mom and wife was a surprise guest who sang as a duet with Prince his song "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?" the b-side to his hit "1999." Alicia's version appears on her 2001 debut, "Songs In A Minor." Alicia was at her vocal best, and had the new mom afterglow even in simple fitted black pants, coat, heels, and hair pulled back in a basic bun.
Prince fawned over Alicia. After she joined him at his purple grand piano for the song, he pumped his hands in the air, and chanted "What about this? What about this?" He referred to her as "beauty personified" and literally patted himself on the chest in awe.
When Alicia sang "How come you don't call me anymore?" during one run through of the chorus, Prince joked that it might have something to do with her husband Swizz Beats.
Prince was having such a good time that he commented that he had too many hits, and even dismissed his lack of radio airplay as of late. "I don't care if I'm never on the radio again. I love music," he said.
During his 1-hour-and-40 minute set on a custom stage shaped like his famous logo, he offered newer songs and classic hits, "Purple Rain," "Cream," "Adore," "Raspberry Beret," "Let's Work," "Sign O The Times," "Darling Nikki," "If I Was Your Girlfriend," "Dance, Music, Sex, Romance," and "Controversy." In addition to The Time's Cool," he also performed songs by some of his other proteges, an instrumental of Vanity 6's "Nasty Girl" and Sheena Easton's "You Got The Look."
He changed his outfits as often as Lady Gaga does at an award show, and the 52-year-old veteran could still dance as well as any entertainer twice his age.
After his third encore, I anxiously waited 30 minutes, hoping he would return to perform "Kiss," "1999," and "I Wanna Be Your Lover." When the VIP section dispersed, the cleaning crew started sweeping the stage, and the engineers manning the projectors hanging from the ceiling abandoned their posts, I foolishly assumed the show was over.
I was disappointed to find out later that Prince hit the stage again for a fourth encore. I would have loved to see it.
I'm thinking about catching the show again while he's still in town.
Peace & PurpleLove,
Barbara
Don't need no reefer, don't need cocaine
Purple Music does the same to my brain.
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