NPNY: 21 Nights Afterparty Reivew
I put this up on HQ and wanted to post here too... All the reports are great. I was at the aftershow. Anything happen after NPS? I took all the songs down on the my iphone but see setlists already up. Some random notes... Prince came out wearing black pants and a white sweater with a long white scarf. Started with glasses but took them off early. For the second half - black pants and orange blouse-like shirt with a big necklace - might be the same one from the first show. It was very organized for a prince aftershow. I was worried as it was my gfs first show and I didn't want her to have a bad experience. We got there at 11. Took a little bit of time to check our name and get a wristband (no tickets :( Waited in line - got to chat with Z for a bit. We got let into the hotel at 12:25 or so. Up the elevator. Out into the bar. This was the only bad queue - waiting by the bar crushed a little to get through one door into the small room with the stage. Only about 15 mins though. Room was packed but breathable. Completely agree with Z about the setlist vs actually being there. It was an amazing show., Probably the best aftershow I've been to. Did go to irving plaza a few years ago with Larry and Chaka that was great and didn't go to the World one during ONA so that one might have been better. The covers were all great - many I haven't heard at all and many I haven't heard prince do live. He did a good amount of his own songs - Purple Rain seemed a little out of place with such a rock and then rb show but he seems to have to do it for folks. 3 hours of prince is amazing. And hearing him do Shhh (one of my favs) and then the time/Sheila songs were awesome. That was a highlight for me - hearing prince cover a prince band and do the bird and jungle love. He was in a great mood - maybe best I've ever seen, jamming, dancing, funk face, funny faces, interacting with the crowd. thanks AS - NewPowerNewYork Mailing List website: Www.NPNY.Org - Unsubscribe? Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED], in body place npny - Questions/Help?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NPNY: 21 Nights Afterparty Reivew
Good to see you too, Andy. Here's what I posted on HQ... I was at all those shows--Avery Fisher soundcheck, main show, aftershow at the World--and Xenophobia celebration at Paisley 2002, as well as Butter in NYC in 2006. And I have to say (as I said in my earlier post) this aftershow smoked Butter. There was no Joy in Repetition moment (as at the World--but that was really the only moment that I enjoyed anyway), but I enjoyed this aftershow much much more. Maybe it is because I haven't read/posted much online... my music appreciation frame of reference is less fettered with chatter. I can understand why people use setlists to guage a performance... because they want to see new songs, new material, or see if there are any changes from before, as an indication of artistic growth. But to me that's like comparing a grocery list to the cooked meal. As a performer there are few top chefs out there like Prince who can take what appears on the surface to be a run-of-the-mill list and turn it into a gourmet meal. And I felt he did that last night. I started to take notes on a set list and a few songs into the show I stopped. I stopped because the note-taking was taking away from my enjoyment of the show. I stopped because the note-taking was forcing me to experience the show in a kind of melted ice cream kind of way. You ever accidentally left ice cream out? It melts and all the ingredients kind of separate... putting it back into the freezer will not bring those ingredients back together again in the original mix that would have been as enjoyable as it was intended. So I said, hell I better eat this ice cream while it's good. I put away the pen and the paper, and just took the show in. Sorry if people are looking to get the basic ingredients/set list from me. Not going to happen. Instead I'm going to convey the taste, the overall vibe and energy. If you're the type who eats food trying to figure out what ingredients went into it, be my guest--you'll find enough of that on this thread. But I'm just trying to savor the moment because there *was* something special at last night's aftershow to me... and I'm going to try to put my finger on it. (First, as a disclosure, I was one of the lucky recipients of the HQ contest for the aftershow. For that I am truly grateful! It meant, among other things, Ruth (who was just one of the nicest, professionals I've encountered who is tasked with the awesome responsibility of assisting a megatalent like Prince) escorted winners into the performance venue before the public was let in... so I got close up to the stage, right in front of the steps in the front right. I've been up front before, so this was not necessarily reason for a positive experience or review. But I am not going to lie... it helps :) It also means that as a contest winner we were each given one of those beautiful O(+ wax candle holders as a gift. Ok so on to the show... I have to admit that I had grown weary of Prince's tendency to perform so many covers of other people's songs. Reading reports of the last two years (last time I saw him was at Butter two years ago), I went into the aftershow not expecting much. But while I stood there watching the show, it struck me that Prince is more interested in making his show about MUSIC rather than just PRINCE MUSIC. Even though he is the star attraction and may have an offstage ego of a star, it's a kind of artistic humility on stage that I found endearing last night. His very jazzman-like democratic sharing of solos, and his clear homages to music he's love over the years of his life. Once I stopped fretting about why isn't he playing his music I realized that in a strange way this wasn't about HIM. Prince became this iPod of great music, and plucked one song after another, that he performed, reinvented, reinvigorated, improvised, solo'd, clowned, danced, sang, strummed, shook, that made it clear that yes you are hearing Earth Wind Fire, or Ron Woods, or India Arie, but make no mistake about it this is a PRINCE concert. This was no karaoke, phone in performance. The rhythm guitar licks were SICK. The screams on pitch (I hadn't heard Prince deliver a good scream since 2004 Musicology days), his vocal control precise, and his athleticism took him all over every available space on the small stage. And the smallness of the setting provided such a contrast for the bigness of his talent. The intimacy of the evening... it was like sitting in his living room. Or in his garage, watching a 4 piece band. No overproduction, just hot cold sweat. They had the energy and hunger of a start up, with the professionalism and chops of veterans. It's like Prince succeeded in shifting the focus away from himself... there were points in the almost 3 hours concert where I forgot who he was... where I felt like I'm watching this amazing kid jump around in his garage or living room with his band doing this great music. I felt like an A/R executive who wanted to say we've got to SIGN
Re: NPNY: 21 Nights Afterparty Reivew
Z...what a PERFECT review...I think you summed up the vibe of the evening so well! Thank you...and I always eat my ice cream cold...thanks for the reminder and appropriate metaphor... good seeing you last night as well. No matter how long it has been since the last performance we all just carry on like we just saw each other last weekI love the Prince community! -Portia ps- thank you to Tonia, Patricia, Darlene, Belinda, Utopia, and the will call people for allowing me to sit at the will call table for 2 hours of the lineup. I would not have been able to be there comfortably without your consideration. Thank you. My surgeon thanks you too! In a message dated 10/11/2008 9:35:24 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Good to see you too, Andy. Here's what I posted on HQ... I was at all those shows--Avery Fisher soundcheck, main show, aftershow at the World--and Xenophobia celebration at Paisley 2002, as well as Butter in NYC in 2006. And I have to say (as I said in my earlier post) this aftershow smoked Butter. There was no Joy in Repetition moment (as at the World--but that was really the only moment that I enjoyed anyway), but I enjoyed this aftershow much much more. Maybe it is because I haven't read/posted much online... my music appreciation frame of reference is less fettered with chatter. I can understand why people use setlists to guage a performance... because they want to see new songs, new material, or see if there are any changes from before, as an indication of artistic growth. But to me that's like comparing a grocery list to the cooked meal. As a performer there are few top chefs out there like Prince who can take what appears on the surface to be a run-of-the-mill list and turn it into a gourmet meal. And I felt he did that last night. I started to take notes on a set list and a few songs into the show I stopped. I stopped because the note-taking was taking away from my enjoyment of the show. I stopped because the note-taking was forcing me to experience the show in a kind of melted ice cream kind of way. You ever accidentally left ice cream out? It melts and all the ingredients kind of separate... putting it back into the freezer will not bring those ingredients back together again in the original mix that would have been as enjoyable as it was intended. So I said, hell I better eat this ice cream while it's good. I put away the pen and the paper, and just took the show in. Sorry if people are looking to get the basic ingredients/set list from me. Not going to happen. Instead I'm going to convey the taste, the overall vibe and energy. If you're the type who eats food trying to figure out what ingredients went into it, be my guest--you'll find enough of that on this thread. But I'm just trying to savor the moment because there *was* something special at last night's aftershow to me... and I'm going to try to put my finger on it. (First, as a disclosure, I was one of the lucky recipients of the HQ contest for the aftershow. For that I am truly grateful! It meant, among other things, Ruth (who was just one of the nicest, professionals I've encountered who is tasked with the awesome responsibility of assisting a megatalent like Prince) escorted winners into the performance venue before the public was let in... so I got close up to the stage, right in front of the steps in the front right. I've been up front before, so this was not necessarily reason for a positive experience or review. But I am not going to lie... it helps :) It also means that as a contest winner we were each given one of those beautiful O(+ wax candle holders as a gift. Ok so on to the show... I have to admit that I had grown weary of Prince's tendency to perform so many covers of other people's songs. Reading reports of the last two years (last time I saw him was at Butter two years ago), I went into the aftershow not expecting much. But while I stood there watching the show, it struck me that Prince is more interested in making his show about MUSIC rather than just PRINCE MUSIC. Even though he is the star attraction and may have an offstage ego of a star, it's a kind of artistic humility on stage that I found endearing last night. His very jazzman-like democratic sharing of solos, and his clear homages to music he's love over the years of his life. Once I stopped fretting about why isn't he playing his music I realized that in a strange way this wasn't about HIM. Prince became this iPod of great music, and plucked one song after another, that he performed, reinvented, reinvigorated, improvised, solo'd, clowned, danced, sang, strummed, shook, that made it clear that yes you are hearing Earth Wind Fire, or Ron Woods, or India Arie, but make no mistake about it this is a PRINCE concert. This was no karaoke, phone in performance. The rhythm guitar licks were SICK. The screams on pitch (I hadn't heard Prince deliver a
