My Nights in Prince's Purple Circle

This certainly wasn't my first time seeing Prince perform. Remembering his last visit, the Musicology Tour in 2004, took great effort. The music was unfamiliar to me, my seats were terrible and oh yeah, I had the flu, but I didn’t dare miss it. Prince’s Welcome To America came to Oakland's Oracle Arena, this past Monday and Wednesday and later a third night for Thursday was added.

Larry Graham, original member of “Sly and the Family Stone” and of more recent “Graham Central Station”, opened and naturally the audience welcomed him on its feet with applause. There were times you could have closed your eyes, and it would have been difficult to distinguish who was singing : Was that Larry or was that Prince? Despite the fact Prince hadn't come out yet. Clearly a common sound of funk and vocal tones were indistinguishable. But when Graham sang, “Family Affair” and “One In A Million” you knew who inspired who.

Prince came out wearing white pants and a red satin top with gold trimming around the collar. His stage was shaped and illuminated in the glyph symbol he uses as his name. Exactly how he started and where he ended nobody knows for sure. He intoxicated the crowd with so many guitar solos to certain heights less traveled. Songs that included 'Guitar', 'Controversy', 'Let's Go Crazy', and 'Little Red Corvette' that made one blush. 'Purple Rain' brought down purple confetti and illuminated thousands of cell phones. If you didn't get a chance to go to the “Purple Rain” tour, this performance was as close as you could get. It was enough to tear the roof off with little help from the rainstorm that continued outside.

Sheila E came out in a white sequins dress and shifted the excitement with “Glamorous Life” while on percussion. Eventually her Latin persuasion sound infused with 'Love Bizarre'. Oh, but how he awed the audience by returning in a gold sequins pantsuit, to the piano where his falsetto range soared slow and steady. Every woman including those long past age, breathed heavily with desire.

Later Prince taunted Sheila E and the all the women in the crowd by playing a clip of Beyonce's, 'All the Single Ladies', which trailed off with 'Sex Shooter'. Indeed, Prince tormented us with a flirty smile and dance moves that ignited the crowds pheromones . No one dared blink, should he gaze in your direction. But more frequently he gave compelling homage to Sheila E and Larry Graham which was also interlaced with loving teases.

Prince often went on musical tangents that led to arcs with no end or mercy in sight. Just when your energy was tapped out from the last song, he effortlessly recovered with a key change and off to the next one. Later, while at the piano he quipped, “So many hits, so little time...We'll be here all night.” But the Bay Area's best was riding high and ready for the challenge.

Prince reminded us of our days of youth with songs, 'Do Me Baby', 'Alphabet Street', 'Delirious', 'Let's Work', '1999' , 'Kiss', and even reassured us that we “don't have to be Kim Kardashian” to turn him on.

Prince returned wearing a white sleeveless turtleneck, matching white pants and what looked to be Chanel Couture's fur boots. He quickly touched on 'Raspberry Beret'. He impressed us by simultaneously playing the piano with his right hand and the guitar with his left. His musical skills didn't stop there, as he joined Sheila E at the drums. Lovesexy nostalgia took over when they descended together at the end of 'U Got The Look'.

Prince often intermingled recognizable songs such as ‘Darling Nikki’ but to only pull it out from under us before we caught on. It was then, that I decided that it would take one more night for me to experience his performance more objectively.

Perhaps it was his third or fourth encore and almost past midnight, when he promised to return to Oakland soon. And while my ears continue to ring from standing too close to the fire, here's hoping...

Annastasia Allard

Writer for GinMe Productions