Price concert a trip down memory lane
He is the purple man himself; a man who has been described as a God, the man who has changed his name and who will forever be known as a one-name icon. Prince.
When you go to a concert to see Prince, you never imagine that it will be possible to see Donyell Marshall and Bryon Russell of the Utah Jazz, hear the saxophone riffs of the great Macey O’Parker and see the man himself. When it comes to Prince, though, anything is possible.
Wednesday night, April 25, the E Center hosted Prince and his New Power Generation band. The night got off to a soulful start with new all-girl group Milenia. The group played a mellow 30-minute set where it got some help from a male staff in playing a “treat your woman right” set. Milenia brought down the house with their voluminous voices.
The Fonky Baldheads attempted to get the crowd up with their rap and R&B songs, but didn’t even do justice for themselves until Prince got up to help them out with a song. People had come to see him, which was evident in the growing numbers of fans who arrived as it got closer for him to come on.
Prince finally made his ascent to the stage a little past 9 p.m. As soon as he came on and opened up with “Uptown” I knew why I and many others had paid $70 to see him perform.
He connected with us throughout the whole night as he mixed up some of his new songs with the old. His remakes of such songs as “Kiss” were a welcome surprise as a whole lotta funkiness was added with horns and some magical bass playing.
My personal favorite, “Little Red Corvette,” started off a medley of wondrous old hits from his Purple Rain album, which included “Little Red Beret.”
He involved the ladies from Milenia for some back-up vocals as well and got their help in getting some men and women from the audience up on stage.
An added bonus of the night was having the saxophone melodies of Macey O’Parker there. There are people in this world who go to a concert just to see Macey O’Parker and Prince fans were lucky enough to see him and O’Parker.
For an experience I know I will only witness once in my life, it was filled with unforgettable moments and tears as I listened to the all-time great songs of “Purple Rain” and “Nothing Compares to You.”
This show was clearly not a disappointment.