http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-prince25jun25,1,206126
.story?track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-entnews&ctrack=1&cset=true
>From the Los Angeles Times
POP MUSIC REVIEW
Prince charming at the Roosevelt
For fervid fans, it was a fantasy come true: an intimate night with the pop
star (for an eye-popping price).
By Ann Powers
Times Staff Writer
June 25, 2007
There are shows, and then there's the pop fantasy realized. Having Prince
practically sit in your lap as he takes a guitar solo midway through his
debut at the Roosevelt Hotel? As the credit-card commercials say: priceless.
Eyebrows have been raised over the exorbitant ticket prices for the artist's
seven nights of shows, billed as "3121 Live," at the Hollywood hot spot
$3,121.00 for dinner and tickets for two; move the decimal point one space
to the left and you've got a standing-room spot but once the funk-rock
maestro hit the stage Saturday, all questions of money melted away.
The 200 beautiful people perched on couches or crowded into the corners of
the lush Blossom Room had purchased the right to forget that Prince was
there to do his job. Arena shows are often so rote; the chance to see one of
the great arena-level musicians playing in an intimate (and, therefore,
casual) was as rare as getting a soft seat at the Staples Center, and it
needed to feel that way.
Prince knows this. Always one of the hardest-working, if most unpredictable,
men in show business, recently he's figured out a way to reinvigorate the
live experience for himself and his audience. His trick has been to
transform often denigrated gigs the Vegas run, the hotel engagement into
rare opportunities. He squashed the idea that appearing at a casino is for
has-beens with his recent tour de force at the Rio; now, he's reclaiming a
space once reserved for wedding bands and also-rans and making it a private
domain where royals play.
Saturday, he began his set sniffing a flower and ended by triumphantly
throwing down the microphone. In between, he performed a few hits ("Kiss," a
hard rock version of "U Got the Look") but mostly concentrated on getting
his powerhouse band in the pocket on material that stayed funky even when it
simmered down into a slow jam.
The show started late, which is Prince's way. Absent the main attraction, a
horn section anchored by funk founder Maceo Parker marched in playing "When
the Saints Go Marching In," just like a New Orleans second line. The quartet
wound through the room, which had been equipped with leather couches and
coffee tables to hold $400 bottles of Patrón tequila, and the mood suddenly
turned from Hollywood fabulous to Crescent City warm and rowdy.
After the horns joined the rest of the band, which included the hard-hitting
drummer Cora Dunham and the noted Brazilian keyboardist Renato Neto, Prince
finally strode out. Within moments, he was in the audience. This was a
constant: Everyone not anchored to the stage by an instrument got out and
pressed the fan flesh. The festive mood broke down audience expectations and
kept the excitement high, even when Prince focused on newer or more obscure
material.
Only one awkward moment emerged during Prince's forays into the crowd. He
approached the daunting bunch on what could have been dubbed the "hip-hop
power couch" it included Diddy, Death Row Records founder Suge Knight,
Erykah Badu and Nas, among others and tried to hand the microphone to Nas.
The rapper declined to ad-lib, however, simply muttering, "I love Prince,"
and handing back the hot potato. Prince then tried to work his charm on Ms.
Badu; she gave up a half-hearted rhyme about sisterhood, but it fizzled out.
About half of those seated on the couch then abruptly departed (though Nas
and Badu both stayed).
Other loose-limbed celebrities made up for that aloofness.
Laker-turned-actor Rick Fox danced goofily with his sister; actress Penelope
Cruz got one of those front-row hugs. Singer Nikka Costa even joined Prince
onstage, belting out a rather metallic rendition of "Purple Rain."
The stars could let loose because of the house-party atmosphere Prince
established by leading his band into the place where grooves and group
interaction matter more than delivering sing-along choruses. Digging into
his song bag and pulling out such gems as the carnal "Shhh" and the
proto-electro "Girls and Boys," he was like a host running down to his wine
cellar and pulling out that special bottle for good friends.
The house party is, after all, the model for Prince's current live act.
After staging several legendary fetes at the West Hollywood manse he once
rented, Prince clearly decided that their mood could be translated to more
formal setting. It's as if this former hit machine, tired of playing the
commercial game, redirected his focus on the informal process of making
music with friends and then decided to let his fans (those with enough
green, that is) in on the fun.
One flaw not unlike what might happen at a real house party marred the
evening: The sound needed work. Prince's spoken asides were barely
decipherable through an echo-prone microphone, and his singing also
sometimes got lost. Such kinks can be worked out, though, and could be
expected in a room that's also been used for bar mitzvahs.
The sound got better during the jazzy jam session that the most elite
members of Saturday's audience witnessed after Prince's initial 90-minute
set. Moving into the hotel's cordoned-off lobby, they perched wearily on
different leather couches as the band unwound with a tasty selection of jazz
standards. Long solos impressed, but the absence of the night's leader
dulled the mood at first.
Prince finally showed up at nearly 4 a.m., teasing the crowd with a fiery
guitar solo and then decamping to the back of the room. Twenty minutes
later, he returned, sunglasses affixed the his head, and picked up a
five-string bass. The crowd started to dance.
Perhaps not everyone who'd scored this special ticket expected a dream night
that would end with Prince, the great original, leading the crowd in a
rousing version of "Brick House" by the Commodores. Isn't that what karaoke
nights with pals are for? But this didn't sound like karaoke. Seeing Prince
rip it up three feet away, and getting to sing along too? Priceless.
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