Oh my god!!, What a day, what a venue, what a concert, what a performer.
On the 4th August 2007 myself, Al, Quibee & Nicole had the privilege
of seeing the truly great spectacle that is Prince, 21 nights in London, at the O2 Arena.
Arriving with six hours to spare before doors open, on a beautiful summers day, looking to kill some time. The first revelation of the day was the O2 itself, formerly the Millennium dome I had reservations and shared a pessimism that it was just a venue inside a big tent, how wrong can you be. Approaching the dome with its clean walkways, bubbling pools of water and chrome spear reaching into a clear blue sky the signs were good.
Stepping into the foyer revealed a spacious, light, hi-tech venue, huge screens liberally scattered around continually showing videos of on-site and forthcoming attractions, also housed here where the first of the merchandising stalls, from which I would eventually buy a T-shirt for me, one for Nicole, a tour book, and a pin badge, Quibee got a pendant.
The central arena itself is surrounded by a promenade, which is still being developed, but housed an array Nightclubs, Restaurants & Bars from ‘Frankie & Benny’s’ to ‘The Slug & Lettuce’, Sushi to Mexican and all in-between. It even has an in house multiscreen cinema, of which we took advantage of, killing a few hours with Transformers (a wicked film too by the way). The
promenade, littered with star signed guitars every 20 feet, also has a ‘beach area’, a sanded area with plastic palm trees, deckchairs, bar and band in the background. Once the Promenade is totally finished the venue will be one of a kind and quite possible the best in the country.
So as 6 O’clock approached the masses began to gather at the doors, and at 6:05 the doors opened and masses thronged to their prospective aisle gates, but alas, only to be told that those themselves doors wouldn’t be open for another hour. Another wait, but drinks, food and facilities were available so not all was lost.
When the doors finally open we were greeted with the first view of that amazing stage, from our near front row balcony seats, though half covered with black felt originally, for Nikki Costa’s warm up performance. I enjoyed her set, Al didn’t, but with Nikki’s vocal gymnastics it was enough to get Nicole declaring her admiration for her, maybe I’ve opened her up to more than just one new artist this weekend. She belted out 5 or 6 tracks to a disappointingly half empty arena, people obviously enjoying the other amenities the O2 was offering.
Finishing at 8:20, work now frantically started on clearing the stage for his ‘prince-ship’s’ entrance, the black felt being stripped back revealing the total splendour of the stage, the stage meticulously being towelled down and cleaned. 10 minutes pass, 15, 20, a Mexican wave starts, initiated by three inebriates in the VIP boxes, 25 minutes, slow hand clapping as the anticipation mounts to unbearable levels.
Then the lights dim and the arena is thrown into darkness, a wave of cheers goes up as a group of tell tail torches give away the entrance of prince in his ‘security box’, lost from sight on the balcony the cheers stage side erupt in the darkness as the maestro must be mounting the stage, at 9:05 2 hours of pure showmanship and total musical genius are poised. The first instantly recognisable chord echoes out, followed by “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today……”. We are gathered here today to see a musician and performer with few equal peers. ‘Let’s go crazy’ being the opener to a catalogue of songs and standards that seem to live in the recess of every spectator as every song is accompanied by a 20,000 strong backing group. I’ve seen him several times before, but I don’t recall him lighting up a stage, or an audience quite like this. The stage is magnificent in its simplicity, which is the symbol we all recognise, it glows, pulsates and performs lighting miracles with each change in track, beat and mood. Belting out hit after hit, the mood is pulsating, and not just limiting himself to back catalogue standards we are treated too to the likes of Knarls Barkleys ‘Crazy’, ‘Le Freak’, and a stomping rendition of ‘Play that Funky Music’, all this and two encores, one of which acoustic. A full, and almost tear rendering version of ‘Purple rain’ came second in a night of highlights for me, second to ‘Shhh’ which I had prayed he would play, but never expected he would but did early on. At one point prince states ‘I’m gonna be here for 21 nights, but I’m gonna play each night like it’s the only one’, and that’s what he left me with, the feeling that I had quite possibly witnessed my greatest concert ever, the other 20 may more longer, funkier, even – dare I say – better, but mine felt as special as it could be. Before the show, there are banners, supposedly from Prince, asking you not to take photos, he wants the show to be your memory, and he succeeded
At the end of the night, Al was impressed, Quibee was smiling, and Nicole was in love with the icon I had followed for the last 25 years. What a perfect evening.
Click here for performance pictures from other people (too busy dancing to take my own pics)
My second visit to the earth tour HERE
