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Yesterday afternoon, seemingly out of nowhere, The Troubadour announced that Prince would be playing two last minute shows in their tiny club Wednesday night. With almost no warning, tickets went immediately onsale for an early 7pm show and a late 11pm show. Because I am totally crazy, I jumped at the chance to get a ticket for the 11pm show … and then had enough time to get a ticket for the 7pm show as well. It turns out that my friend David Russell and his friend Chris were also attending the 7pm show so we met up at the Troubadour to begin what turned out to be one of the most amazing nights of live music I’ve ever seen.

This is the message that the Troubadour sent out yesterday announcing the 2 Prince shows:

I met up with David in line at around 5:45pm and then we were met by Chris shortly thereafter. The 2 shows that Prince played last night were very different in scope and style. The first show as more laid back, with lots of slow songs and long instrumental jams. Altho the set list looks short, the songs were interspersed among 10-20 minute jam sessions of just beautiful instrumentation. Here are some photos I managed to snap of the 7pm show and the setlist played:

Early Show – Setlist:

Stratus (Billy Cobham cover)

*Instrumental Jam*

Power Fantastic

Somewhere Here On Earth

I Love U But I Don’t Trust U Anymore

Boom

*LONG Instrumental Jam*

Let’s Get it On (Andy Allo on vocals)

Computer Love (Zapp & Roger cover)

I Wanna Be Your Man (Zapp & Roger cover)

Colonized Mind

When She Comes (*New Song*)

Shhhhh

U Will Be With Me

Controversy

Musicology

Encore 1:

A Case of U (Joni Mitchell cover)

Encore 2:

Pop Life

Beggin’ Woman Blues

Power Fantastic and A Case of U were my faves but the show vibe of the show was just chill and cool as Hell. It was during this first show that I was closest to Prince. I was not 5 feet from the man all night. You could tell, it took a while for him to warm up to being so close to the audience. But once he did warm up, he was playful and joking with the crowd all night long.

The second show, damn, now that one was worth the price of both admissions all in one. While the first show was slow and jammy, the second show was LOUD, fast and really rocking. Prince came out and said, “I hope you are ready for some rock and roll” and he blasted his guitar from that track all the way until the final encore at 2:30am! It was more difficult to sneak photos for the second set but here are the few I managed to snap along with the setlist:

Late Show – Setlist:

I Like It There

Endorphinmachine

Bambi

Dreamer

Wild Thing (Troggs cover)

Colonized Mind

Brown Skin (India.Arie cover, Shelby J. on vocals) 

Misty Blue (Dorothy Moore cover, Shelby J. on vocals)

Musicology

Crimson & Clover (Tommy James and the Shondells cover)

Waiting in Vain (Bob Marley cover, Andy Allo on vocals)

I Want to Be Free (The Ohio Players cover)

Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry cover)

She’s Always In My Hair

Peach

Future Soul Song

Stratus (Billy Cobham cover)

AnotherLoverHoleInYourHead

Get Up Stand Up (Bob Marley cover w/ Let’s Go Crazy guitar riff ending)

I mean … what can I say about this setlist? Legendary comes to mind. To be able to see Prince rock out to these songs in such an intimate setting … I am truly blessed. I kept trying to remember to be in the moment, to relish what I was experiencing because it really was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Before the second show started, I got to meet Glee‘s Darren Criss (who was really very sweet and so nice) but all I really could focus on was Prince on stage. After the show, I got to meet Prince‘s #1 female vocalist Shelby J. and was able to tell her how much I love her performances. She took my hands into her hands and thanked me … it was just the most amazing night of live music EVER! There were moments when Prince would use his guitar to “battle” with Mike Phillips on the saxophone that just BLEW my mind! It was unlike anything I’ve EVER seen before. I’m telling you, I could go on and on and on about all the tiny nuances of last night’s shows but I’ll never be able to convey what it was like to be in the presence of such awesome musicianship. I am SO excited for the rest of the Forum shows that Prince still has yet to perform in the coming days and weeks but I know, nothing will ever compare to being able to experience the shows I got to see last night. I am a very lucky man.

Plans for tonight? Sleep. I have to make up for the sleep I did NOT get last night. Ahhh … what sweet dreams I’ll have :)

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