Last night I attended the Prince concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, one of the several dates he has played here as part of his Welcome 2 America tour. Yes, I flew into New York from Los Angeles specifically to attend the show. Let me preface all of this by saying that the best concert I've ever been to was the Purple Rain Prince concert in 1985 held at the then-Reunion Arena in Dallas. I was ten-years-old. We were behind the stage so all we saw were the band's backs. Despite this, it was the best concert I have ever attended. Until last night.
Usually when people post concert reviews here on SoulBounce, they might include the set list. I don't know what it was, so please don't ask me. I do know that he played all of my favorite songs. I prayed that he would play "Pop Life" and he did--while I was onstage with him, Chris Rock, Kim Kardashian (poor stiff Kimmy), and several others including my own mother who got to do The Bump with him earlier during the show.
I don't know how long the show was as I was not looking at my watch. The lyrics to the songs--in case Prince actually forgot them onstage--were written in "Prince Typography," meaning they were almost identical to symbols-as-words mystical language that can be found in Purple Rain's liner notes. I know there were about 6-7 encores which only leads me to believe that Prince feels his fans should work for what we want. One of the encores included Cee-Lo and Prince collaborating on Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." I missed Cee-Lo's opening act but I did touch his arm accidentally. His sweat got on my wrist. It glittered like a luminescent pool in the moonlight.
Like true Prince lore, there was an afterparty. It was epic. At one point I was sandwiched between Prince, Talib Kweli, and Questlove who were all drinking something I figured was some sort of fantastical elixir. It turned out to be espresso but I nonetheless wanted to see if their espresso was something that only music royalty was allowed to imbibe. Prince and Talib Kweli later performed an impromptu song together.
Onto the most exciting part of my evening: I met Prince. I. Met. Prince. I had a conversation with him about varied subjects, inlcuding politics, the music industry, his dedication to the arts and desire to help children of color succeed. His eyes are beautiful. I looked in them. I imagine--and I mean this in all seriousness--that Michael Jackson was trying to attain this same look artificially. He shook my right hand. Something about it seems strange today, as if it is aging backwards. In any case, I have never been more in awe of a man's clothing and hair in my entire life. Everything was impeccable. Please forgive me for my unelaborate sentences. I am still in shock.
I am going to stop typing now. All I can say is that last night was the best night of my life. All while keeping my clothes on. Below is video of Prince doing what he does best: grooving to the beat of his own drum.
