Hey y'all
Here's a review from this past weekend (4/20 - 21) of my experience at 3121 in Vegas. Do not hold me to a complete set list as I was in a very good spot and Prince kept coming to my side of the stage and standing right in front of me playing and dancing. So I was having way too much fun to get all the details, but I think I did pretty well considering. This is the not kind of report that Alan and Ayan are known for so don't expect that.
Of course upon my arrival at the airport in Vegas we were greeted with this poster.
This was a major theme all over Vegas. This poster was everywhere and on everything. It was very clear that Vegas knew Prince was in town. Rio did a fantastic job of advertising his presence there, that's for sure.
We were walking to the Rio so that we could take some daytime shots of the interior and low and behold sitting at the corner ready to turn into Cesar's Palace was a Rio shuttle bus with Prince's mug shot all over it. Of course I had to take photos of it. Since I got really excited seeing him that large and in charge. It was quite an experience as you realize no matter where you go you see his photo everywhere. Well, we got on the shuttle and took a breather as there was no need to continue walking knowing we would be standing all night. Boy was my feet killing me by the end of each night with me asking myself - why are U not sitting in a VIP seat?
Well, we got to the casino, took some shot of the interior and I was very surprised that at 1pm folks were sitting in line. I just couldn't believe it. I was thinking.. damn the doors open at 10pm. Why sit in line that long in order to get in to stand all night or sit on that hard ass cement floor knowing he's not coming out until midnight. I know i'm way past that phase and after this experience I may consider being past general admission. The only complaint I have with the casino.. it was so damn dark, it's a wonder any of the photos came out, but here are some interior shots of the club entry.
Club Photos:
I was disappointed to see that the Jazz Cuisine restaurant was closed and it didn't look like it was going to be opening anytime soon. That kinda set the tone for me to know that an aftershow was not on the horizon. I was however looking forward to eating there on Saturday. Oh well, missed that 3121 chocolate dessert.
Friday Night
We got to the club around 9:15pm or so and just walked right in and right to the front near the stage. Met some cool sistas from LA - Erin and Mia, hope you ladies made it to work on time on Saturday. Johnnie from London, April from Chicago and Craig from Atlanta - it was cool hanging out with you guys on both nights. Craig is still just as crazy as every. Met his sista who was mad cool as well.
Both nights opened with the video montage of the various dances with some Prince intertwined while the DJ played everybody songs except Prince. I think there were 2 -3 Prince song played while we waited for the show to begin. I know it should not, but it continues to amaze me why Prince can't seem to get the fact that his music is the only music we need to hype us up before he comes out to play. I wasn't that impressed with DJ Rashida. When I say I wasn't impressed, i'm talking about the music selection and the mixing. It was clear to me that she had a setlist of songs to play as they corresponded to the video montage that was playing. Still, more Prince music at a Prince party is the way to go. He did select two songs from his video collection from the musicology tour to open up his gig, which I thought was great.
The show started around 12:10am and ended 1:40am. Very short but funky. He opened the show sitting on a stool in the middle of the stage with a keyboard. Once the band kicked in on the first song he was on his feet jamming the rest of the night it was just too funky. Prince was jamming so his legs would not let him sit down. It was as if they had a mind of their own. Every time he grabbed the stool to sit, his legs starting to dancing and he had to just give in to the funk. He didn't sit the rest of the night.
Every time he came over to my side of the stage all I could think of was damn he is still fione and Johnny was just swinging and dancing right along with him. (Ladies you know who Johnny is, right) At one point, he pulled up his shirt and I bought died as it's very clear he hangs to the left and appears to be alright for a little man. He looks very handsome and so well rested and all around damn good to be turning 49 in June. He wore black - shirt/pants with white jacket with black accents with white wedge shoes with the red lights in the heels. He later dropped the jacket and just wore all black. For the encore he wore same shirt/pants with a yellow jacket with a white shawl type hoodie attached. - white pumps. His hair was curly all over.
Here is the set list:
Superstition
Higher Ground
Tell me something good
How come U don't call me any more
Do Me Baby
Strange Relationship
Family Affairs
Lolita
Black Sweat
Kiss
Musicology
Prince and the band
Pass the peas
Play that funky music (Paris Hilton, not)
What have you done for me lately? (Shelby)
Partyman
Rollercoaster
I never loved a man (Shelby)
Gotta Broken Heart Again
Cream
U Got the look
Purple Rain
Let's go crazy - Encore
Favorite jam of the night had to be Gotta Broken Heart. That was by far the funkiest I have ever heard that song. It was so awesome I got chills. He was shy one verse on Do Me Baby, otherwise it would have been the first time in a long time he performed the entire song. I have to say I was sleeping on Shelby, that sista can blow. At some points it seems like her voice was too powerful to back up Prince, but they worked it out. He has a really cool orange guitar that he just made talk. His guitar playing was really on point all night long. It was scary and he knew it. It was very clear that he was in a zone. The crowd was into it and he could feel the energy.
I think I may be the only one who doesn't get the hype surrounding the Twinz. I was more annoyed that they just wouldn't get out of the way. At first I was excited when they were not out there with him in the beginning of the set. They later came out towards the middle of the set on Friday night. I was excited since I flew all the way to Vegas to see Prince not all the other folks. No disrespect to any of them, but I typically just want to see him do his thang. I will say that they must be mighty tired at the end of the night. They were tossing their hair so i just knew those short wigs were going to come flying right now. I know their necks and hips must hurt at the end of the night from all that tossing and popping. They were a little bit too much for me.
When Prince invited the fans on stage and ran through the VIP, Paris Hilton was in the house. Prince said on Play that funky music "I know she can sing this song" or something to that effect. Shelby gave Paris the mic and she look like she was completely out of her element. Johnnie from London took the mic from Paris and broke it down for Prince. He had to comment on what a fantastic job she was doing. One other funny comment of the night which further shows his playfulness - a female fan was on the stage dancing during this same song and it was clear to all of us that she could not find the beat, i'm just not sure which instrument she was listening to, but she was having a blast. Prince looked at her and said, "u're cute, but you can't find the 2 and 4, it's like this" and he broke out dancing. It was classic Prince. People often say when he's clowning around that he was in a good mood, I think he was being very playful and having fun.
I will say this. The only complaint I have is that they need to stop serving alcohol and give the folks some water. Once they got that alcohol in their system and Prince would go out on the riser to sing, they got to pushing and it was just crazy. I know at one point I was ready to kick this guy and his girlfriend's ass. I had to turn around and tell him if he hit me in the head one more damn time it was on. It was the girl's b'day but this sista didn't give a damn. It was hot, my feet were hurting and I was sick of them pushing me. Okay, I got that out.
No After show. This one guy that works there said he doubt there will be anymore for the rest of the time he's there. I was however still hopeful for Saturday night. I did get a lovely Prince guitar pick from the tech at the end of the night for my collection.
Saturday
My feet were killing me and I had on some very comfortable shoes, but it's Vegas and it's a lot of walking.
We got there around the same time as Friday and the line was wrapped around the club/casino. I wasn't hopeful for a good place near the stage and was so regretting not spending the money for VIP seats despite the fact that they were away from the stage, but then I've been up close to Prince at numerous events but was going on the authority of folks who had been there. Nevertheless, had a great spot, again Prince favored the left side. His entire performance can be summed up in one word. WICKED. The show was off the chain. Show started about 12:10 AM and ended 1:50 AM. I was hoping when he said we're going to jam until 5am that an after show was in my horizon. Craig and I got real excited when he said that. Not. I didn't really complain as it was a great performance and it was clear he put his all into it.
The show opened up with a group called Mosaic. They rocked the house. These brothers do not use any instruments but once they started to make singing (free styling/beat boxing) you started looking around for the band. They were tight. Prince's band was standing in the background just in awe of them. I think all of us were in awe of them as well. They later came back on stage and hooked up Play that funky music white boy.
I will admit that I have not been a really big fan of Prince's current band. I will however give them their props, for they were on point and didn't miss a beat or a sign coming from him. They really got him going and were just as funky and pushed him to go further. He even commented that one lick from the bass player was so funky he wanted it again and then we started chanting "Prince play that bass" and he tore that shit up. I was glad to see Renato back and briefly spoke with him on Saturday night after the show. Glad to see Maceo and Morris Hayes back in the fold.
The show: Morris Hayes kicked it off with his white church hat and a wicked version of Satisfied. I told him after the show that if he ever has to find another job, he should use his performance on Saturday night as his resume. It was just stupid. He was very humbled about it. He kindly informed us that they would be heading to LA for about a month and then possibly a tour in June.
There was a professional photographer there taking photos of Prince. It was kinda funny in that he at one point had to just drop a pose. At several moments you could see him trying not to pose then he just gave up and flashed her a wonderful smile. I did not get to find out what the photographer was there for, the staffers didn't have a clue. I do know that Prince was dressed sharp. He came out in a white suit with an orange silk shirt with matching ascot. Then he switched to a silver/gray shirt. When the photographer left, he put on a black tunic set with the shiny sequined material around the collar and wrist. No one can ever accuse him of not being on point when he dresses up and goes out.
Saturday Set list.
Satisfied
Girl & Boys
Down by the river side
Lolita
Black Sweat
Kiss
Shh - (Prince guitar playing on this song was fierce)
Rock me Baby/Peach ( Shelby - not sure that's the name was I was not familiar with the song)
Musicology
Prince and the band
Pass the peas
Play that funky music
(Anthony Anderson and Macy Gray were in the house and Prince pulled them on stage, Mosaic did the honors of singing - Macy was totally not prepared to be on stage, she didn't have on her wig or makeup, lol but was dressed very casual in blue jeans and baseball cap)
Baby Love (I'm not sure if this is the right title as I did not recognize the song, but Shelby took the spotlight)
Las Vegas medley - with Prince making up words to create a song about Las Vegas
Cream
U got the look
If I was your girlfriend
Pink Cashmere (Definitely the song of the night)
New song I called Happy - the premise was Prince was making his woman happy and her girlfriends were hatin' on her for it. very catchy, nice melody and good vocals
Purple Rain - encore
The store had all kind of cool merchandise for sale. I thought it was interesting that out of all the folks who have taken the trip there since November no one really talked about the merchandise for sale. They had thongs. Yep, thongs. They were sold out but they were selling thongs. How can we not know this before now? The only thing missing were the Purple Rain coats condoms. They also had a really cool 3121 black towel, but was sold out. The girl said they were not ordering anymore since they were closing up shop. I did however finally get the Hawaii picture book, some incense and a poster. Each night Prince toss out a 3121 towel after wiping his forehead. You know it was chaos with folks trying to get a hold of it.
There was this one simply fantastic photo of Prince sitting on the floor leaning against this tiled wall with no shoes on. Yes, both of his feet were showing and it's evident there's nothing wrong with his feet amid all the rumors. The photo was not for sale but this one fan offered to pay them $3,000 for it and they sold it. One of the girls who work there told us. The photo captured his true essence in every form, almost like a candid shot. I just wish I had taken a photo of it. (i'm just a do right kinda girl, I asked the security girl if i could take a photo and she said no. Craig who was with me told me to do it anyway, what could they do, kick me out - the show was over and i was never coming back.).. but again, I try to do what's right. Hopefully, someone else took a photo and it will eventually surface. Now, I will say the photo was very nice but not $3,000 of my money and y'all know I love Prince.
All in all it was a wonderful experience. There was no security, they didn't check a freaking thing. The only thing they were concerned about was folks taking photos of Prince. You could see the security folks going after the folks who used their camera phones. But what about the bootleggers. This was an ideal set up for them. I understand the first three months of shows are already out on a 5 disc set. Damn. If y'all hear about the 4/20 - 21st shows being out, holla at a sista.
Well, that about sums it up for me. I had a blast seeing him again and can't wait until the tour. Thanks for hanging in to read this very long review.
Ange