Prince was present last night in Ana Moura's concert in Gafanha da Nazaré, a small fishermen's village on the outskirts of Aveiro, here in Portugal. She is a fado singer, and also sang with the Stones in Lisbon, and has participated in Tim Ries Rolling Stones project. Prince is very fond of her.

In the meantime, a Prince surprise gig was announced for next Saturday in Lisbon, Coliseu dos Recreios. Single price of 50€ GA. Just scored two tickets, and I'm really excited about this. I love this kind of attitude from him, and finally I will be able to see him live, one of my all time heroes. Miles Davis said several times he is a genius, and he was right. For 50€, I think it's a great great opportunity.

I'd love to see Prince. I never thought much of him in the past. I knew he was talented, and knew he had some pretty good songs, but it wasn't until the past 10 years or so (when he played While My Guitar Gently Weeps with Tom Petty and his Super Bowl performance) that I saw he's a pretty damn good guitar player.

I also saw a standup comedian on Comedy Central talking about being at a Prince concert and he acted like it was the coolest thing ever.

I'm not crazy about his studio work. It's not bad, I enjoy it but I'd never buy his discography. However I'd love to see his live show.

awesome . please make sure you give us a review of his show . enjoy !!!!!!!!!!!!

Have never been disappointed in a Prince show. I saw a club show in LV before he did the residency there that was spectacular. Was like a 3 hour funk party at Prince's house. Enjoy!

Can you send him over to London, please?!

Saw four of his club shows here, which were all so different and all just amazing. I was less keen on his arena shows by comparison, but they were still something to behold. Have fun (you will and at a bargain price, too) and tell us all about it here afterwards.

Prince has started sending a few tweets, btw - see Prince 3rdeyegirl

Quote
Torres
Miles Davis said several times he is a genius, and he was right.

Back in the day Miles scorned a true genius (Hendrix) so he tried to make up for his mistake by putting lil Roger on a pinacle...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-15 14:56 by dcba.

Prince doesn't know how to be famous. He's a jerk.
But he is a talented musician.

"A surprise gig next Saturday".....is not a surprise anymore.

Quote
rocknola
"A surprise gig next Saturday".....is not a surprise anymore.

Even surprise gigs need attention sometimes...

Saw him in the early 90s, he is great and a mean guitar player. Enjoy the show!!!!

Quote
Munichhilton

Quote
rocknola
"A surprise gig next Saturday".....is not a surprise anymore.

Even surprise gigs need attention sometimes...

Especially if they're not sold-out 24hrs before showtime...

The man came to Portugal to meet a friend and decided to book a concert hall for a concert within 2 days. That's short notice enough for me to consider it a "surprise".

As for the selling-out, they added today 1000 tickets to the initial 3000. I guess the demand is big.

Thanks for the thumbs-up from all of you guys. I'll make sure to review the experience here. Cheers!

Prince is the BEST.

Love Prince.

For a surprise gig, I think it would be cool (but hard to do it in reality) if it was like a suprise party for someone...

Get an audience seated in the theater, then bring in the performer, who thinks that he/she/they are just part of the audience... going to listen to a show. Everyone yells "SURPRISE!!" Then he/she/they would do their performance.

Ok, spur of the moment. Never know where Prince will turn up! Enjoy.

Fantastic, Torres. Prince and Fado! Unexpected combination.

I'd see one of his concerts in a heartbeat. The guy is talented. Not a fan of a lot of his stuff. Maybe ignorant is the correct word. I never gave most of his work a listen.

Besides the radio stuff. Does he have any deep cuts that are guitar-driven, slightly uptempo?

I'm not a fan of Prince but I respect him and what he has done musically.

Setlist :
[www.setlist.fm]

28 songs!? Wow!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-19 09:23 by dcba.

OK, I'll start to say that this was the most incredible musical experience in my life, and you'll understand ahead.

1st, it was a beautiful day around Lisbon. it was a hot, pleasant day, the city is crowded with tourists, and the venue took place in the coliseum in the touristic old part of the city. I got there around 6, and given the small crowd already present, I decided to stay. A truck was parked at the door, and because the concert was announced with short notice, there were no signs, posters or anything printed. People passed on the street and asked what was going on there.

We (me and my wife) had to wait until 20:30, when the doors opened.by that time, two huge lines spread along the street, and then the 1st surprise: since we were already inside the building by that time, we got a yellow bracelet that gave access to the FOS area. Only about 50 people got it. When we got in, we saw how lucky we were. The stage is really small and there is no distance between the rail and the stage. I could put my hands on the stage, from my leftmost position. As for the rest of the crowd, they had to be behind a rail positioned a good 5m behind us. The FOS area was also almost empty, but the yellow bracelets were very limited. The concert started with 1h delay, and during that time, several people entered the FOS through a backstage door. They were VIPs or something, I don't know. They kept coming until the FOS was also pretty much crowded.

At 10, the 3 girls come to stage. The drummer then asks people to put away all the electronics (already very controlled by security), and she gives 10 sec for people to photograph the 3 of them. Then they take their position (I,m really close to the guitar player), the lights go out and the drum starts beating. Then the man enters, wearing some black vest and silky pants, one leg white, the other black. Under the white you can see his shoe flashing when he walks like those kiddie snickers. Amazing! And then it all starts. Let's go crazy. For those who like rock, that was really something. The girls rock like crazy, and Prince showed how much of a guitar god he is. Soloing all through the night with Donna, we got sounds a la Hendrix, with Prince, with an afro hairdo, giving a rock night, without a break, smiling once in a while with that look over the corner of the eye, sometimes pretending to stage dive on top of us, and then holding back and like saying, I fooled you alright! It was pure rock, and it was LOUD. I did take earplugs, but only put one, from the side of the speaker (idiot, after reading all the warnings here... I got the ringing on the right ear, but it seems to be over now).

By the 1st encore we got Prince on the keyboard, on the opposite side of me, and the classics like Diamonds and Pearls. All the time we was pushing for Portugal, that was constant through the concert. He regretted Ana Moura couldn't be there, but she's on tour in Brazil.

By the 2nd encore, something crazy happens. With him still in the piano, making people shout for Portugal, he says, let's get Portugal on stage, and from the corner doors, some of the VIPS that entered late in the FOS starting entering the stage and dancing. I'm next to the speaker, and this girl next to me climbs a step (there was no rail here) and squeezes herself between the speaker and some equip boxes or whatever. I thought, this is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I asked my wife if she wanted to go, but she was too tired. I climbed the step, and got to stage, but the security noticed and wanted to stop me from going further. Behind me there were more people trying to climb, so he had to leave me and I got righ next to Donna. At this moment Prince is on the piano, and the stage is full of mainly girls, dancing like crazy. The security, 3 guys, were very nervous, and I wanted to get closer to Prince, as I couldn't even see him, as he was surrounded by people. I then moved to between the drums and the bass player, and they were so nice, always smiling while playing and we dancing. Now the best: One of the security guys sees me and comes and pulls me. I thought it was game over, but he pulls me right to next the piano, in front of Prince. We are like 5 people around him, dancing, I'm so close I can see the electronic display on his keyboard and then he starts the classics, Alphabet Street, Sign O' the Times, and it was pure magic. I couldn't believe that was really happening, I look back, wave at my wife on the rail, I can see the teleprompter passing the lyirics, the coliseum going crazy...
Then Prince stops, the security says it's time for people to leave the stage, and me and a woman stand next to the man. She shakes his hand, I extend my arm and he shakes mine, very careful not to let me hold it firmly. By this time a huge security guy comes from behind him, very jumpy, and the others rush me with the rest of the people off the stage through the back door. I return to my place, and 2 more encores to come...

That moment itself made my night, but the final moments were no less exciting. We even got a Nothing Compares to You beautiful version. All the time talking about Portugal, how he loves it here...After many requests from the crowd, he gives a signal to Donna and she starts Purple Rain. A purple light and smoke covers Prince, sitting in the Piano, playing so close to the original version. As the song ends, people singing, he passes a green message of a small planet, with many people, and how we need to take care of one another...


I'm sorry I have no pics for you, I got 2 warning BEFORE the show, they were extremely cautious about that. I'm glad for that, since in the end everybody just enjoyed the great great show. Prince is incredible. He is extremely nice, played all the instruments, and really knows how to drive the crowd wild. A magical night for me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-19 12:31 by Torres.

wonderful story, Torres. Congratulations, and thank you for sharing. I've looking if Prince play in Spain, but it seems that he will not play here...

Wonderful indded Torres.
Congratulationes on a great show.

Jeroen

WOW Torres ...

-------------------
Keep On Rolling

Sounds like a great show. Thanks for posting!

great review. Cant access youtube as I'm at work but on 3rdeye blind's channel there's a pretty awesome performance of 'Guitar' from the Lisbon show. Maybe someone can post it.

awesome review. i wish i was there, sounds like a really great show !!!!!!!!

Thanks guys for all the nice words, and thanks Gazza for the video hint, I hadn't seen it yet!

What a great story and a wonderful experience. These sort of things rarely happen to fans,but in your case it did.
Just seen the video that conveys just how good the whole show must have been.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-19 15:47 by crawdaddy.

Thanks crawdaddy, it was really something special