“We ain’t taking no prisoners tonight, y’all,” Prince told his sold-out audience at Oracle Arena Wednesday, in the middle of his three-night stand in the Bay Area.
He wasn’t kidding. Zig-zagging his way from the opening “Let’s Go Crazy” to pieces of “Delirious,” back to “Let’s Go Crazy,” then through “1999” and “Little Red Corvette,” Prince refused to even pause for applause, finally ripping through a soulful extended guitar solo at the end of the latter, while thousands of people kept the beat with their hands.
His opening barrage ended when he sank into the huge stage in the center of the arena floor (shaped like his famous unpronounceable symbol), but even then the audience barely had time to catch a breath. Instead, Sheila E. rose up in his place, bringing the entire crowd to their feet again with a knockout performance of “Glamorous Life” that had her playing the drums with her elbows by the end. She joined Prince for the rest of his set, stepping into the spotlight again for a duet on “A Love Bizarre.”
What the two have in common, besides tireless energy, is incredible moves. There were times when watching Prince in action recalled what it must have been like for audiences seeing James Brown in 1968. He practically floats across the stage, and how he fuses his dance steps with masterful guitar work has to be seen to be believed.
Dressed to the nines, as always, in red silk (then yellow, then white), he drew not only from his best-known hits, but on great, lesser-known early material like “Controversy,” which he dedicated to his “old-school” fans.
The second half of the show took an odd turn when he busted out a sort of history of funk and disco, barreling through a medley of 70s hits like “Play That Funky Music,” “Le Freak” and “Rollercoaster of Love.” I’d rather have heard more of his own songs, especially with such a long and prolific career to draw on, but instead he brought opener (and his longtime mentor) Larry Graham and band out for some funk jamming. Finally, Prince wound up dancing on top of a piano for the wrap-up, closing up with “If I Was Your Girlfriend” and “Kiss” before an epic encore rendition of “Purple Rain” and a sampling of more hits.
The most bizarre incident of the night came when the Purple One dropped an arena’s worth of jaws by tossing someone in the audience one of his guitars. It wasn’t such a great move, it turns out, since the “lucky” recipient was immediately set upon by the people around him. Apparently, it was just a stunt anyway, and he didn’t get to keep the guitar. He’s got to be the only fan who went home disappointed.
