From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, May 29, 2006 10:03 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [thebumpsquad] May 28th 3121 Las Vegas Review by Temptation
The reason I did not write a full review of the show? Temptation
was there:
Hold on to your soul y'all, we got a long way to go!!!
Complete Set Lists:
Pre-Soundcheck (7:40pm - 9pm)
Wild & Loose (!!!)
Assorted tunings, lots of stops & starts
What Is Hip? (opening) (Tower of Power)
Work to Do (Isley Brothers)
Get On the Boat!!
NPGMC Soundcheck (9pm - 9:45pm)
What Is Hip? (full version) (Tower of Power)
Work to Do (Isley Brothers)
BEAUTIFUL STRANGE!
(Prince asks for Requests)
Dolphin (guitar instrumental)
Peach (full version w/lead vocals by Moonbeam from NPGMC)
Love Rollercoaster (Ohio Players)
A Case of You (Prince solo keyboard)
3121: The Show (11:30pm - 2am)
Tamar Set:
Stay With Me Baby
Every Little Step
Milk & Honey
I Never Loved a Man (the Way That I Loved You)
Love Changes
When a Man Loves a Woman
(Tamar & the Twinz exit for an extended...)
EMPTY ROOM!!! mind-bending. long. twisted. dark. tormented. guitar
frenzy!!!
(Tamar & Twinz hop back)
Red-Headed Stepchild!!
(EVERYONE leaves stage except for Prince)
DON'T PLAY ME - extended, solo electric, strange dissonant chord
structure, WICKED!!
A Case of You (solo guitar version)
Computer Blue
Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)
The Cross (crowd singalong)
HAIR (funky face in full effect)
12:01
The Ride (band comes back)
Elephants & Flowers
Housequake
3121 (FUNKY - this is the NEW "Days of WILD"-style FONK JAM)
Lolita - HOT w/the Twinz
Satisfied
Joy in Repetition!!! LOVE ME!!!!
Bambi Tease (opening riff, then back out)
Te Amo Corazon - as a beautiful guitar instrumental, then with vocal
Black Sweat!!! Awesome live version!!
FURY
KISS
Happy (Tamar)
AnotherLoverHolenyoHead!!!
All Night Long (Mary Jane Girls)
What Have You Done for Me Lately? (Janet Jackson)
Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough (Michael Jackson)
Play That Funky Music
Wanna Take You Higher (w/Larry Graham on vocals)
WHEW!!!
Where do you even begin with a show like this?? I got my money's
worth from the soundcheck alone!! Achin' dawgs are barkin', back
hurts, legs sore, head poundin', ain't slept in 24+ hours, but had
to give y'all the set list 'cause I wrote it down song by song on a
napkin all night long and dammit that napkin survived!!
Soundcheck notes:
After a long wait (but thankfully positioned right at the open door
so I could hear the pre-soundcheck beautifully and sing along with
J7 while figuring out the songs), we walked in to the funky strains
of my homeland San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area fillin' up the house,
WHAT IS HIP? by Tower of Power!! That was the good welcoming omen I
needed, in light of all the sacrifices, the money, the travel, the
line, the drama (like people were surprised we had to wait)...it all
melted away like a Bay Area sunset over the Golden Gate. I strolled
in with Prince givin' a big WHUT UP, singin' "You became a part of
the new breed, been smokin' only the best weed, hangin' out on the
so-called hippie set!!" Yeah he sang those lyrics with no changes,
even with Larry watchin'...go 'head Prince, you gone JW but you
still be HIP!
As he wound down the first tune, Prince let out a smile so wide it
lit up the whole ballroom. At ease, with his peeps, in full command
and control. He hopped straight into a pure GEM, a straight JEWEL
y'all, an Isley Brothers classic, so so good, "Work to Do!" Prince
leaned back, "Who knows this one?" It was SO good y'all...great
vocal, great song, played to perfection by a band that is so VERY
tight right now. When i first saw this new band at the Fillmore back
at the end of January, they weren't tight yet, they had no shadings,
but now they are ON FIRE with a million different gears and moods
and styles. And these first two cover tunes really showed, they came
to play!
Then the IMP came out. Awww sh*t, y'all know what I mean...if you've
seen P enough times...every once in a while, he gets that wicked
grin. Not the showbiz muggin' grin, I'm talkin' about that "IMP of
the Perverse" grin, where he looks a li'l bit mad, and I don't mean
angry, I mean CRAZY...not in an insane way, but in a crazy-mad-
SKILLS way...like he knows he's on, and he's playing so good he will
mess wit' yo mind!! And then he busted it y'all, like a sweet
cherry....BEAUTIFUL STRANGE.
Words can't accurately describe the space-age plutonium funk rock
that Prince laid down on Beautiful Strange. Strangely beautiful, and
beautifully strange...it was weird, it was trippy, it was
psychedelic...purple beams, then green shadows, all kinds of visuals
going with this molten lava sound...and this is where the 3121 band
showed something unique that sets them apart from the Revolution,
and from the previous NPG bands.
This is a four-piece band, stripped down when they wanna be, but
never too stripped down when you have a man like Prince at the
guitar, and Mr. Hayes with a full arsenal of sounds in his keyboard.
And Cora on the drums is a bad, bad woman...that girl is an assassin
behind the kit. This song earned the ticket price, the flight, all
of it. This was a new band creating a new sound and charting depths
unknown. I can only compare it to space flight, or what I imagine
that would be like. It's that good and that original...if only
Prince would go in this direction exclusively, and not worry with
all the Tamar mediocrity and old soul revue/wedding band numbers.
Ah, but you gotta take the good with the bad, as always with our man
Prince!
I had to pick up my eyeballs off the foor, after they popped out of
their sockets during Prince's extended guitar exploration, and yes
he asked for requests. Keep in mind this is with only 300 people in
the club, NPG Music Club ONLY. Somebody shouted for "Dolphin" and he
played an instrumental, intricate fingerwork, but said he forgot it
(then scoffed back at Mr. Hayes slyly, 'cause he just didn't feel
like playing it). But he gave it a nice few verses for the person
who requested it, very graciously.
Next, "Peach" got yelled out and damn if Moonbeam from Portland
didn't hop up onstage and take Prince's challenge to sing it. They
did a full version with Moonbeam providing some very animated and
heartfelt vocals. Great job Moonbeam, every club member in the house
felt like you were representing us up there, and you did us proud.
What a fun moment, and Moonbeam hit every single word, with
authority and ATTITUDE. The fans went crazy, it was like a huge
release, and even the 8-hour line waitin' peeps were jumpin' up and
down. Thank you Prince and thank you Moonbeam.
The fun continued with "Love Rollercoaster" as Prince invited a
female music club member onstage to dance...NASTY and fun, slippery
and shady, rump shakin' and quake bakin'. Oh my goodness, this girl
was workin' it, and she even did a cartwheel!! She was so good, and
so superbaaaad, Prince fell out laughing at the end, and exclaimed
to the crowd, "Have I got the coolest Music Club in the world or
WHAT??"
Then P made the comment about it being 9:40pm, and since the show
was supposed to start at 10pm, he said, "I gotta go change clothes!"
and turned with a big grin. Then band rolled out, but Prince stopped
at a keyboard and did a sweet Joni Mitchell "Case of You" alone on
the piano. Nice tender version, and I believe the only time P
touched the keyboard all night. Onto the show!! (After almost a two-
hour wait after the soundcheck...grrrr).
Show notes:
Tamar and the Twinz did a nice set to start off the show, with
Prince providing great support on guitar. They've come a long way
since the Fillmore show; Tamar isn't so shrill anymore, she's more
organic in her approach, and the overall blend is more secure and
natural between the players, the dance steps and the vocals. "Love
Changes" was the highlight with beautiful guitar work by Prince.
But still, nobody came to hear Tamar. It was a bit too long, to the
point where you're wondering, WHY is Prince putting so much time,
effort and obvious rehearsal into this sub-par Tamar material? Sure
it's fine, but it's also much ado about nothing. The hardcore fans
were muttering, they didn't pay $312 to see a Tamar show, and Prince
seemed to sense a growing mutiny. So he wrapped up the Tamar set and
went into...
EMPTY ROOM. Wow. A stunner, but not in a comforting "warm and fuzzy"
way. Prince made the song sound like the feeling of the words. Dark,
desolate, dischordant. Pain so lonely you'd take any boy or
girl...transforming into a feverish guitar inferno of blue flame. It
was a wonder to behold, he went inside himself and put his pain
through his guitar. Definitely not for the meek. This is when a lot
of the casual LV scene-makers were scratching their heads back in
the VIP booths, wondering what the h*ll was up. Truly a moment for
the hardcore.
"Red Headed Stepchild" followed, which is one of my favorite Tamar-
included songs, due to the heavy guitar riff. Very similar to "Whole
Lotta Love" for those who haven't seen this one...one simple riff,
played with power and conviction. GREAT version of this, with more
blistering guitar. And it was only a HINT of the guitar greatness
yet to come.
With the next song, the show really moved into that special Paisley
zone where Prince explored his fascinating body of work. Everyone
left the stage except Prince. He proceeded to do a HARD, rather
BITTER version of "Don't Play Me." Not acoustic like the Truth
version, but electric, with some new chordings to update it and make
it fresh. Full version with all verses, and he seemed so full of
conviction playing this, it was very personal. Absolutely brilliant
all the way to the end, with Prince putting out "I already got laid"
as a personal statement of being at the end of the song.
Then as harsh as that song was, he went the completely opposite way
and started playing these beautiful cascading fingerpickings on the
guitar, and did a nice guitar version of Joni's "Case of You." This
was an interesting counterpoint to the piano version played at
soundcheck, and a reminder of how central this song is to Prince's
musical and lyrical upbringing.
"Where is my lovelife?? Where can it be??" Prince screamed as he
launched into the next movement, "Til' I find the righteous
one...Computer Blue!" Great moment, but only a taste; as he evolved
it into "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)." Mind-bending
guitar work on this, as if he turned the guitar inside-out and
played it backwards. I couldn't follow his fretwork, although I was
only ten feet away and looking directly at his fingers. BOOM, Prince
blew my frickin' head off at close range. If I'm dreamin' don't
pinch me 'cause I don't wanna wake up!!!
Prince quickly changed gears once again, strumming the minor chords
of simple truth: "The Cross." The hardcores went wild at the front
of the stage. Everyone's voices raised in song. A late night choir
in the City of Sin. Oh it was sweet. And just as the chorus came up,
Prince stepped to the hardcores and instructed them, "The Christ."
He didn't do it in a preachy way (I was worried about the
infamous "Stauros" speech), just a cool little instruction, sorta
like, "You know how I gotta do it now, don't get me in trouble with
Larry, sing it like this please." Cool moment.
"Hair" got thrown in here too, and since it's traditionally a bass-
heavy song, it was a real treat to see Prince just do it on guitar.
He played some bass lines on the guitar but it was just a very
unique version. Straight pimpin', from the GCS old school, again
with a lot of meaning in the lyrics. I gotta say, if you're into the
art of singing, Prince's phrasing was so on point at this show.
(Phrasing = the way the lyrics are sung, the way certain words are
stressed or emphasized to convey meaning.) His phrasing is always
good, that's one of his gifts. But Prince really sang with a lot of
feeling, and a strong desire to COMMUNICATE through the lyrics, on
this particular evening.
A lengthy blues two-fer followed, with the band rejoining Prince,
and it was a helluva lot of fun if you like great guitar playing. A
full version of "12:01" into a full version of "The Ride."
Absolutely smokin' guitar and gutbucket blues, how can you go wrong?
It's Prince giving a master class in six-string-OLOGY.
Prince polished up this portion with a punchy "Housequake" tease,
and went into "Elephants and Flowers" with Tamar and the Twinz.
Always great to hear this nugget, I never grow tired of it.
Finally, we got to the 3121 songs, and they sounded OUTSTANDING. I
was really blown away by the fullness of the sound on these
tunes. "3121" was stinky funky, staking its claim as the new "Days
of Wild-style" jam. "Lolita" was playful and fun, played like a
new "Soft and Wet" with saucy moves thrown in by the Twinz (WAY more
risque than the American Idol performance). "Black Sweat" was
especially good, maybe because my expectations were low, but it
sounded GREAT live, and Prince got downright naughty and suggestive
with the Twinz.
"Te Amo Corazon" was beautifully stitched and embroidered with the
guitar taking the lead instead of the piano. He played it as an
extended guitar instrumental before going into the lyric, making it
different from the album version, very enchanting. "Fury" was very
strong; as expected.
"KISS" was given a fresh coat of paint. How he managed to find
something fresh in this song is a wonder to me. It's done 3121
style, with this band, a unique version for this time and space.
At this point I'll have to quit typing from sheer exhaustion, having
no sleep in the last 36 hours. I've hit most of the high points
(except for "AnotherLover," which was fantastic to hear 20 years
after its original release). I gotta crash....(dropping down to zero
fuel in the tank....)
Props & Pounds: Big salute to the crowd, because it was hardCORE.
What a treat being with so many of the hardest, HARDEST hardcore; I
haven't been around a group this crazy since the Celebration at
Paisley in 2002. Those that were willing to lay out that much money
even when they shouldn't have, even when they were robbing Peter to
pay PRINCE. Ya see y'all, it wasn't just a few RICH folk that came
out for this, it was the PO' folk who put off rent and bills and
scrimped and did it without a hotel room and drove from Arizona and
LA 'cause they couldn't afford plane flights with Prince holdin'
this stick-up at the gate...flyin' in from the Nation's Capitol DC
and the Empire State NYC and the Shy ChiTown and the biggity biggity
BAY...props out to you people, you did your thing and you BROUGHT
IT: The HEAT y'all, and I ain't talkin' about the Vegas heat, I'm
talkin' bout that NEW POWER. Wild sign high!!
Personal props: J7 in the house, cowboy pimpin' style, with
everybody thanking him for the American Idol scoop! Big ups to Tim
from England and the girls from Italy, damn that's a long way to go
for a show, much respect to you. David in LV, still representin'
after all these years, fresh from Europe and sportin' dreads no
less. And the lovely couple from Indianapolis, great to meet & party
with y'all.
And the Razzberry Award goes to: The management of the Empire
Ballroom, who had the nerve to charge $1,000 (that's right, one
THOUSAND dollars) for a table at the club! What, $312 ain't enough
to merit a SEAT in one of your booths? Vegas excess at its
WORST...ain't nuttin' but a trick to them. I also saw what they did
to a brother who complained about his tab being miscalculated - they
kicked him out without his SHOES, and wouldn't let him go back in!!
Prince, make some arrangements with these fools next time, 'cause
they don't know how to treat your fans!
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