Thank u deeply 4 making the Love 4 One Another food and clothing drive a success! What a beautiful way 2 celebrate life and love along with some great music and great people. We give a BIG hug 2 the beautiful fams who, after seeing the bins stand empty a couple days, personally challenged others 2 all bring something the next day. U all proved u were willing 2 do the work -- by one pm the following day, one bin was overflowing and another was nearly there, and they filled once again Thursday.

A very special thank u goes out 2 Laura and Damon who, even while working their yayas off all day and night in the heat and rain, still found time 2 motivate fams 2 bring more stuff. U r onederful and beautiful people indeed and we thank u 4 all ur hard work, smiles and entertainment u provided throughout the xtreme weather conditions. The celebration would not have been the same without u. Gratitude also 2 the woman who said she brought $100 worth of groceries because she wanted 2 give back 4 all the years of music she's appreciated... thank u much.

2 all the fams who participated, we appreciate ur generosity. The items went 2 Youthlink/The Bridge/Archdale, which has programs and a shelter 4 homeless, runaway and struggling teens in the Minneapolis area. Dig this: all u fams from all over the globe came 2gether as one 2 help out ur younger brothers and sisters in need in one city. Now imagine taking this gift of giving back home with u, each of u doing even the smallest act of kindness right in ur own hometown. In an instant we've impacted the entire planet. Abundance can b everywhere y'all, and the word means flow, so let's keep the flow goin! Much love 4 all of u... c u next time!

-Love 4 One Another

7 nites alone with Prince got me so high eye had 2 look down 2 c myself flying home at 35,000 feet. THANK U Prince 4 1ce again not only leaving ur front door, but ur heart, open so we could come and visit u. THANK U 4 welcoming in2 ur home every face ur colorful place attracts, and 4 letting us walk ur halls, sit on ur motorcycle and lay r heads on ur pillows. THANK U 4 filling r ears with REAL music, r hands with a free CD, r eyes with a free movie, r minds with knowledge, r souls with The Truth and r hearts with love.

This is a thank u note in the key of C, as in now eye understand. Eye never come 2 the Park bcuz of what eye know, but bcuz of what eye don't. Eye don't just come 2 dance. Eye want 2 learn and eye am 4evergr8ful that with Prince, it's always a party with a purpose.

Whether it was attending a workshop given by one of the many REAL musicians on hand like Maceo Parker, Sheila E. or John Blackwell, listening 2 Femi Jiya in Studio B or sitting in on the XCELLENT discussion moder8ed by Tavis Smiley, eye left Paisley Park with more than just a suntan. Scuba gear should have been handed out at the door of the NPGMC room 4 that discussion...We got deep! What does it say about the English language when the HEAVIEST conversations r also the most enLIGHTening? THANK U Prince 4 inviting guests 2 work r minds as much as ur music worked r bodies.

Eye was hoping 4 a Bible discussion, especially after hearing all the different answers 2 the Speak Ur Mind question: What is God's name? We need 2 agree. Only then will we live in harmony. We've seen what happens when HARMONY is fractured: HARM ON N.Y. Just like a soundstage full of 1,000someodd voices hitting the chorus of "The Everlasting Now", we need 2 put r egos aside if we want 2 c this song as something more than just Chapter 13 of The Rainbow Children.

The nitely shows at the Park were HOT...figuratively and literally. C what happens when we stop referring 2 rselves as FANS? ;) Actually, the warmness in the soundstage was all Prince's fault. Nevermind sweating himself out of his suit, he was so FUNKY he almost sweated us out of rs as well! Eye wouldn't have it any other way...Cool is 4 the other side of the pillow.

Eye left Paisley each morning sure nothing could top the per4mance eye'd just xperienced and was proven wrong everysinglenite. 2 witness Prince alone on a stool with his guitar blew my mind as did the solo piano jam on jammiez nite. When it comes 2 songs, eye don't play favorites, but eye will admit that on several occasions, as hot as it was in the soundstage, Prince's song selection sent shivers up my spine. Eye lost my voice in the soundstage somewhere around the 6th nite but didn't bother looking 4 it knowing my gratitude would ultim8ly transcend mere words anyway. 2 quote one of Prince's old friends, the purple piano: BEAUTIFUL.

The only shadow cast on an otherwize brilliant week was the way admittance in2 the nitely concerts was handled. Eye watched folx who had been chilling in the 4mer Love4oneanother room earlier in the day allow chaos and disorder 2 rule their world the minute security swung the big g8 open on the first nite. Another nite eye watched those in charge allow folx who'd been standing in line 4 5 MINUTES in2 the Park B4 folx who'd been standing in line 4 5 HOURS. And, b-ing encouraged, l8er on in the week, 2 dance "sexy" 4 an armband was neither appropri8 nor appreci8ed. And it certainly clashed with the RESPECT Prince always shows his famz.

When control is given up 2 some1 other than God, chaos ensues. Eye watched it happen every nite. Those of us who subject rselves 2 higher authority almost always wound up in the back. Eye think the solution lies within the problem. That is, while Prince was inside talking about surrender, folx were outside trying 2 CONtrol things. Something 2 think about...

After spending 7 daze at Paisley Park 2 attend Xenophobia eye found myself at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International airport at a security checkpoint with a security guard searching my bag which was full of Xenophobia goodiez. Talk about irony... Less than 10 feet away, dark-haired men were getting their shoes checked. In my bag was also a copy of the June 24 edition of the Star Tribune. In it was an article on Xenophobia entitled, "With Prince, u're with the in-crowd".

While at Paisley Park eye personally met people from Germany, Canada, France, Japan, Singapore, The Netherlands, England and all over the U.S. When xenophobia is defined as "an intense fear or dislike of 4reign people, their customs and culture, or 4reign things", it was ONEderful how the diversity of the "in-crowd" reduced xenophobia 2 little more than a word printed on the lamin8s that hung around r necks. No other artist can bring so many different people 2gether as one.

All of us who made up Surrender Town btween June Twentyone - 27 need 2 seek permanent citizenship. He's got the whole world in his hands...but he's not who we think he is. We need 2 surrender rselves 2 God, whose name eye know is Jehovah. With time trying 2 CONvince us it was all just a dream, eye know that every ending is also a bginning. In other words...It ain't over!

Thank u NPG. Take a bow as eye clap my hands 4 Prince and his band. Thank u guest musicians, guest speakers and Paisley staff. If ur last December comes, know that eye remembered 2 remember u.

Eye also have 2 thank God, whose name means "He Causes 2 Bcome". What started out as a post in the Paisley Newz section on February 18, dspite last minute changes, rain and xtreme heat, ended up b-ing a ONEderful success bcuz He always causes his purposes 2 bcome reality. Nothing is cre8ed in disagreement, c? Perhaps the best place 2 start would b 2 say we had a glorious week! Agree?

And finally, XTRASPECIAL THANX 2 Prince 4 letting me come 2 the Park and play with u. U were truly a FAMtastic host! Whether u were displaying ur God-given gift during one of the brilliant nitely per4mances or displaying impressive courage by telling a soundstage full of folx the importance of knowing God's name, u followed ur heart and gave all that u had. Eye will ALWAYS love and respect that about u.

The road u r on is narrow and will surely cost u some "fans" along the way. But, eye want u 2 know that eye will walk this road with u bcuz eye know where it leads. Don't let anybody but God change u, Prince.

After all that u gave us, eye hope we were able 2 leave u with more than just chalked up sidewalks. May the choir of voices that joined in on the chorus of "Last December" assure u that even tho radio, MTV and awards shows have 4gotten about u, we will ALWAYS re-member...as ONE, and ultim8ly as WON in The Everlasting Now.

Thankueversomuch. Eye love u, brother.

LOVE
Terri Ferriero
Clearwater, FL

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for what was one of the best weeks of my life. The music and the atmosphere were just amazing and impossible to describe to those who were not there. For those of us who were, we can just nod knowingly at each other. Words fail to describe the feeling, inspiration and love the week gave each and everyone one of us.

Thank you to Prince for being one of the biggest givers...organising (with your fantastic staff) such a great week. I know a lot of thought and a great deal of effort went into it and I am not alone when I say that it was greatly appreciated.

I do hope that this becomes an annual event, we could achieve so much coming together like this....you will always receive my support, so once again NPG Thank You and I shall look forward to next year!!

Peace, Vince

Thank you again for letting we the people that have one thing in common - your music- come and chill with you in your house. The word thanks cannot express my gratitude. I just know every year it gets better and better.

This year seems like everything I requested for the previous years came true: a photo op inside of Paisley; an acoustic set by Prince.

Your sets were phenomenal. The acoustic set on Monday was my dream concert - you on stage with a guitar and piano and no other musicians (except Kirk). Of course, I cried when you got to song number three "7." I couldn't believe I was experiencing my dream concert.

The Rock Hard In A Funky Place set on Tuesday that you kicked off with Bambi was... I just know by the time you got to song number four, "The Question of U" I was crying. You took all my energy, and I thought we were suppose to keep it balanced.:-) But, PLEASE!!! release this night - the world needs to hear you rock!

Because Tuesday was so exhausting, I truly forgot what you played on Wednesday. But, it was beautiful. And please, release Xenophobia with the lyrics.

Thursday, I couldn't believe it was about to end. "God" was beautiful and the lyrics that were written over 15 years ago says it all - "equally." Overall, Prince: A Celebration 2002 (Xenophobia) was very emotional.

Thank you for 24 years of inspiration, and for introducing me - through your music - to many of my friends. See you next year at Prince: A Celebration 2003... and hopefully, at your induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - 25 Years!!!!!

Bianca... the Beautiful
Chicago

-Alan

Wow.what a week! Just got back from my third "Prince: A Celebration," and this year's activities (particularly the concerts) were light years better than ever before. The week was much more organized than the previous two years, with special guest lectures during the days, mostly current and former band members, with only a small section of Paisley Park open to guests. Generally, the plan of action during the day was to get to Paisley Park in the early afternoon to see who the posted guests were for that evening, stay at the Park until around 3-4pm, go back to our hotel room to change and then head back to Paisley Park for that night's concerts.

There were supposed to be two shows during the week at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Minneapolis, but because it "would have been too difficult to move all of the band's equipment to the other theater," both shows were moved to Paisley Park. Nightly tickets were sold at $100 per night, and the Friday and Wednesday shows were sold through Ticketmaster at various prices.

After this week, I figure that I've seen 37 Prince concerts (plus or minus some), and I will say that at least five of these shows would rank in my top 10 of shows I've ever seen him play. I really think Prince succeeded in surprising this crowd, playing lots of songs that he's never done live before. To this crowd of die-hards, I don't think many people missed the fact that he didn't play "Kiss," "When Doves Cry," "Little Red Corvette," or many of his other staple songs. Instead, we got bluesy, different versions of songs we've never heard him play, and to this crowd random album tracks were the highlights. With the exception of the two standard "Rainbow Children" tour shows, Prince left the audience standing on their toes, waiting on edge for what he was going to do next.

The nights didn't go as late as they did in years past, allowing most of us to actually sleep during the week. Also, for the first time, there were chairs set out during three of the concerts so we didn't have to stand for 8 hours. Most of the opening bands took the stage around 8pm, and Prince let them play as long as they wanted to (which was both a good and a bad thing, depending on how much you liked the band that was performing).

During almost all of the shows, Prince and the band wore suits and Prince had his lyric book out since so many of the songs had never been performed before. Also, even though Prince played several songs more than once, the arrangements or performances of the songs were different on almost every occasion (with the exception of several songs from the standard "Rainbow Children" set list).

During Victor Wooten's set, he made up a chant about Xenophobia, which the audience repeated throughout the week. On the first night, Prince made up a chant of "It Ain't Over," which the audience chanted at the end of every show throughout the week after these awesome performances.

All in all, Prince was much more accessible than ever before at this year's event, walking around Paisley (and popping in and out of the sessions each day) almost everyday and even going some places without bodyguards. This is a far cry from the Prince who, at the first "Celebration," was almost a circus act in the way that people more than stared at him whenever he came out in public.

In the 6+ (out of 7) different shows he played, we saw 100 different songs.

Here is my day-by-day recollection of this great week:

Day 1 (Friday):

Got into town, arrived at Paisley Park around 2pm, just in time for the "guest speaker of the day," engineer Femi Jaya. We couldn't hear him since the speech was in Studio B, so we left. This was the only speaker session of the week to have taken place in this small area, the rest were in the "NPG Music Club" room which held more people. During the day (and throughout the rest of the week), they were playing two of the future NPG Music Club CDs, a live compilation of songs from the Rainbow Children live 2cd set, and mentioned that they were also going to play a cd called "It Ain 't Over," a compilation of songs played at aftershows from this tour. From the songs I heard from the 2cd set, it seemed like every city was represented, including Anna Stesia from the first LA show J Love Rollercoaster seemed to be removed from the performance of 1+1+1=3, probably for copyright reasons.

At around 9pm, Maceo Parker took the stage for a 2+ hour funky opening set. Though I like Maceo Parker as a solo artist, when waiting for Prince to play, I think a one-hour set would have kept the audience's attention better than he did. Highlight of the show for me was "Baby Knows," and when he was finished playing. J Not surprisingly, nobody from the audience called for him to come back out for an encore. J Greg Boyer, the horn player from Prince's band, played with Maceo through his set.

After Maceo Parker, they showed a video of several people in town for the Celebration telling about their expectations for the week.

At about 11:50, Prince took the stage. Following was Prince's set list:

Rainbow Children
Muse 2 the Pharaoh
Xenophobia
A Case of U
Mellow
1+1+1=3/Love Rollercoaster
The Ride/Alphabet St. (bluesy)
The Other Side of the Pillow
Strange Relationship
Sing a Simple Song (w/ Larry Graham)
La La La Means I Love U
Didn't Cha Know
When U Were Mine
Avalanche
Family Name
Take Me With u
Raspberry Beret
Everlasting Now

Encore:
Joy in Repitition/The Band

Notes about the show:

During "Xenophobia," Prince announced that if you "came to get your 'Purple Rain' on, you were at the wrong show (even though he did play the song on the last night). The guitar solo at the end of "A Case of U" was longer than I've ever heard him do before. It seemed to me that Prince wasn't really into this show (possibly due to technical difficulties) up until "1+1+1=3," when a Japanese guy was called on stage and wouldn't dance. Prince asked his name and he said "Tuna." Prince started to joke about "putting him in the can" if he didn't dance, and the audience was laughing. At the same time, some older guy who must have been a friend of Larry Graham 's, came up on stage and got next to Prince and felt compelled to tell Prince that he had just arrived in town. Prince had no idea of who he was and jokingly called for security. This guy then did some sort of breakdance the audience roared with laughter, and Prince went with it. He played this song for about 15 minutes, including singing the last verse twice. Also, during this song, two young children, dressed like Prince from the "My Name is Prince" video (complete with the hat with the chains) were let on stage to dance, and Prince was laughing and playing on the audience on this one. At this point, Prince was back in this show. Next came the only real "rarity" of the set, a mostly instrumental version of "The Ride" (at which point Prince said "I was just trying to see if the guitar worked." After about 10 minutes of "The Ride," Prince mixed in a bluesy, random version of "Alphabet St."

During "Strange Relationship," Prince asked if we liked the radio stations in Minnesota, and of course everyone booed. Prince then said he was looking for something to call us in Minnesota, and he decided on Surrender Land, as in that we should surrender our expectations throughout the week. Knowing Prince, this was probably the title of a new song he's working on.

Before "When u Were Mine," because it was so late, Prince said this was going to be the last song of the night, but he played another half hour. The rest of the show was pretty much like the other shows on the tour that I've seen. I'm very happy to see that he's playing most songs complete, with the exception of "Everlasting Now," which he shortened to one verse and the chorus several times, as he did in Los Angeles.

After "Everlasting Now," the lights stayed off and Prince came back for a 10-minute, awesome guitar version of "Joy in Repetition," with a blistering guitar solo, and added some lines from a new song called (tentatively) "Prince and the Band." At that point, Prince ended the show, surprisingly not preaching during this set. All in all, a very enjoyable set, particularly for the many people in the audience who had never seen this show before.

I have to give Maceo Parker and Greg Boyer a lot of credit though, since both were on stage the entire night (which was more than five hours for each of them).

Day 2 (Saturday):

Guest speaker Sheila E. was supposed to speak at 2:30, but was 45 minutes late. She explained how she plays the drums, and told several stories to a packed room of fans. The most interesting to me was one fan who asked the question about how she could play the drums wearing high heeled shoes during the "Sign o the Times" and "Lovesexy" tours. She said that she had to adjust her posture on the drums because of it and that caused her to shorten her calf muscle in one of her legs by a half inch over her other leg. The session lasted about an hour, and the air conditioning wasn't working properly, making that hot afternoon in Minnesota even hotter.

At around 8, they opened the doors to Paisley. The air conditioning was still not working properly and we were all really sweating, even before Sheila took the stage, around 9:15. The theme for the night was a pajama party, and about 1/3 of the audience members were wearing pajamas. Following was the tracklist of songs that Sheila E. played:

Africa Intro
Shortberry Strawcake
Belle of St. Mark
Oliver's House
Noon Rendezvous
Sister Fate
A Love Bizarre/P Funk Medley
I'll Take U There
Holly Rock
Hold Me (with Eddie M)
17 Days
Alphabet St.
Transmississippi Rap
Alice through the Looking Glass
Band Intros
The Lord is Good
Love Me Like that
Closer
Slight Accent
Desert Rose
Virtuosity
Drum Solo
Don't Worry About a Thing
River God
Who's Taking Care of You?
The Glamorous Life

In a word, this set was awesome. Sheila explained how Prince really helped her out "back in the day" and dedicated the first part of the set to him, playing a lot of songs I've never seen her play in the 20+ times I've seen her live. Her band was also different, consisting of Eddie M. and the rest were people I've never seen her play with. She sang almost every lyric for the first part of the show, which was also different since her manager (and former Bride of Funkenstein lead singer) Lynn Mabry does most of the singing these days. Of all the times I've seen Sheila E live, this was definitely the most fun, and just about the entire audience was loving the music and Sheila. Towards the end of the show, Sheila was playing a song called "Who' s Taking Care of You," which must have been a very personal song to her, and started crying, which the audience felt sympathetic and several people around me were getting a little "misty eyed" over it. I respected the fact that, before going into the couple of Christian songs that she played, she mentioned that she was a Christian and that was what she believed, and did not at all try to force it on the audience. Of the bands that played during the week, I think Sheila had the warmest reception by the fans, and it appeared to me that she was overwhelmed by the number of people singing along with her songs. As many of us danced throughout the show and were dripping wet with sweat, Sheila apologized several times for the lack of air conditioning.

After Sheila was done, an announcement was made that a crew had come in to fix the air conditioning, and that everyone had to exit Paisley Park while they did that. In a festival seating/club atmosphere, many of the people (including myself) who were up close were very upset, but couldn't do anything about it and had to exit the building. We were told that we would get our original places back, but that was feudal, and a lot of people from the back upgraded their place on the floor when Paisley was opened back up a half hour later.

When we got back in at 12:30, Prince was already on stage, jamming with the band on an instrumental version of "Rainbow Children." None of his guitars were out on the stage, and his keyboards and piano were in the middle of the stage. This was the beginning of the random setlists he played throughout the week. The air conditioning was still not working properly when we returned, but it was certainly better than it was during Sheila's set.

This concert was basically did a piano lounge set of slower songs consisting of the following:

Rainbow Children jam
Power Fantastic
Extraordinary
Here on Earth
With U
Pearls Before the Swine (Instrumental)
The Ghetto/The Band is Tight
Sweet Baby
When the Lights Go Down
Strollin'
Gotta Broken Heart Again
You've Got a Friend (with Sheila E)
Pop Life

This set was awesome, with most of these songs performed in their entireties. When's the last time you heard a fully orchestrated version of "With U"? J To my knowledge, Prince has never performed that song with vocals before. "Power Fantastic" sounded amazing, as you might expect. I don't think that song has been performed other than at the New York soundcheck earlier this year. During the song, Prince mentioned that he and the band were going to make the show a short set because they were going to go see the new Tom Cruise movie "Minority Report" after the show, and invited the audience. For "Here on Earth," the vocals were pretty low and it was hard to tell what song he was playing. As I mentioned, "With U" really took the crowd by surprise. He sang it in falsetto (as he sang most of the songs that night) and the audience I think was in shock and hardly reacted as he played it. After the song, Prince gave a wicked smile, knowing that he had just shocked most of the people in the room with that rare performance.

"Pearls Be4 the Swine" followed, as an instrumental, and Prince asked the audience if they knew what song he was playing. After the first chorus, Prince made the band stop and they launched into a long cover of Donnie Hathaway's The Ghetto, which was mostly a chant of "The ghetto, talkin' about the ghetto." Prince added in some lines from the new song "Prince and the Band," which boasted about how tight the band sounded together.

Next surprise of the night was "Sweet Baby," which was sung in its entirety (for the first time that I'm aware of). The song made several girls in the audience cry, and nearly everyone in the crowd was singing the song, as if it had been one of his biggest hits. Prince followed with a really jazzy, reworked falsetto version of "When the Lights Go Down," which I barely recognized since it sounded much different than the version on "The Vault." Prince played "Strollin'" next, started the first verse on his piano by himself, then sang it (along with the rest of the song) again, accompanied by the band. A slowed-down, falsetto-sung, jazzy version of "Gotta Broken Heart Again" followed, sounding completely different than the studio track from 1980. Prince changed the lyrics from "The Little things u said, the things u do 2 me in bed" to "The little things u said, the things u do 2 me instead."

Prince announced that the last song of the night would be a cover of James Taylor's "You Got a Friend" that was dedicated to Sheila E. Sheila came back on stage and sang part of one of the verses with Prince, and Prince also turned the microphone over to a member of the audience to sing one of the verses. Prince mentioned "Minority Report" again, and decided to play one more song, "Pop Life," with the same sort of sound that "Strange Relationship" has. "Pop Life" was played complete (all three verses). I found it strange that Prince would end such a mellow show with a danceable tune, but as evidenced throughout the week, Prince was full of surprises. With that song, Prince ended the show and gave us directions to the movie theater. At first, we thought Prince was kidding about the movie, but he wasn't. The crew bought out four screens at the nearby movie theater and nearly everyone from the concert went over to see the movie for free. Prince apologized about the short concert (which lasted about 75 minutes) and told us he would make the next night "extra long." The movie started at 2:20 (happy now, Ben? J) and we got back to the hotel around 5am. A couple of nights later, someone asked Prince during one of the concerts if he liked the movie, and he said he "thought it was strange."

A couple more notes about the concert:

The members of the band were dressed with the pajama party theme (except Maceo Parker, who wore his customary suit). Maceo Parker and Greg Boyer looked like they hadn't played these songs too often, and sat through most of the show and shared the sheet music to the songs. Prince wore a tunic similar to one that I've seen him wear at shows where the theme wasn't a pajama party. J He was also wearing orange flip-flops without heels.

Day 3 (Sunday)

Sessions during the day were apparently a panel discussion four people including Tavis Smiley (formerly of BET) about religion, politics and the music industry, attended by Prince and Mani. The discussion lasted around 3 hours, from what I heard. I decided not to go to the park that afternoon, instead catching up on some sleep from the late night before.

We arrived at Paisley Park at 8:15, and bass player Victor Wooten (and his backup singer Divinity who opened for Wooten) was already on stage. Though I didn't know anything about him before that night, I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with his show. An obvious master bass player, the songs were funky and fun (including a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile"). He demonstrated his mastering of the bass over and over throughout the show. Among the members of his band was Speech from Arrested Development, and Speech sang their version of "Everyday People" during Wooten's 2+ hour set.

Prince came on stage around 10:45, walking through the audience with Kirk Johnson and Larry Graham and played the following set during their short 70-minute funk set:

Days of Wild/We Want the Funk/I'm Back in Love Again (with Larry Graham)
The Jam (with Larry Graham)
Dolphin
Sign o' the Times
The Work
Paisley Park
Peach/It Ain't Over

Notes about the concert:

All songs during this show were played complete. "Days of Wild" alone was almost 20 minutes long, and so was "Peach." "Dolphin" was the slowed-down, bluesy version that he's been playing on some of the aftershows, which sounded amazing, but for me the real surprise of the night was the slowed-down, bluesy version of "Sign o' the Times" that I didn't even recognize. Prince let the audience sing the chorus for "Dolphin" and "Paisley Park." Though I didn't notice, Prince was noticeably frustrated with the sound on a couple of occasions and even hit his guitar tech Takumi in the head once to complain about it. I think this is the reason why the set was so short. As the band walked off the stage and back into the audience, they had started an "It ain't over" chant which lasted about 5 minutes. One of my friends had said to Prince "it ain't over" and he said "yes it is" and that was that.

After the concert, a bunch of us went back to the nearby Chanhassen Inn for an impromptu karaoke party.

Day 4 (Monday)

Though I didn't stay for them, the guest sessions during the day were engineer Femi Jaya, Maceo Parker, Femi Jaya again, and Prince's lawyer, Londell McMillan. Prince attended part of the Maceo Parker Q&A session.

I arrived at Paisley at 8:10 (there was a downpour on the way in.gotta love the summer weather in Minneapolis) and Norah Jones was already on stage. Another artist I knew nothing about before the Celebration, her smooth vocals and 5-piece band were reminiscent of Sade or music you might hear at a jazz club. Her set consisted of several cover tunes (including one by Hank Williams) and some that were from her debut cd. One thing also different about the night was that for the first time at any of these Celebrations, there were seats set out on the sound stage floor. Jones' set lasted just over an hour.

For the first time at any of these Celebration shows, chairs were set up since the set was so mellow.

After her set, the techs in the band set up Prince's "Beautiful" piano (the one that has the word "Beautiful" on top of it) and quickly put it away in favor of a chair and conga set for what was about to be one of the best sets I've ever seen Prince play. With only an acoustic guitar and percussion, Prince came out in a suit and played a 45-minute acoustic set starting at 9:45. Here's the tracklist:

Don't Play Me
Whole Lotta Love
7
Tangerine
A Case of U
Pink Cashmere
One Kiss at a Time
Alphabet St./Beverly Hillbillies Theme
Girls and Boys
Motherless Child
The Truth (extended with extra lyrics about 1 percent of the people who have all the money)
Some People Call me Crazy (full song)
The Other Side of the Pillow
She Loves Me 4 Me
Peach/It Ain't Over
Wherever U Go Whatever U Do
Forever in my Life
Last December

Prince announced that he would be right back with the band, and Renato Neto then came out and played a short keyboard solo, which turned into Asswoop (from the unreleased Madhouse 24 cd).

Following is the set list to the second part of the show, which also lasted around 45 minutes:

Asswoop/Strollin'/A-Train
How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore
Diamonds and Pearls
The Beautiful Ones
Free
Starfish and Coffee
Sometimes it Snows in April
I Love u But I Don't Trust U Anymore
Jazzy jam
Prince and the Band
Xenophobia jam/Bustin' Loose

On the acoustic set, obviously including some songs Prince has never played live before, one of the many highlights of the show to me was the falsetto-sung cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." An acoustic version of "7" followed, with the audience singing louder than Prince. One of my favorite songs he's ever written, I was ready for him to say, "Thank you, good night" at that point and would have probably been happy. But he kept going.

Next was "Tangerine" (from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic), followed by "A Case of U," sounding much different than it did at the first concert. Another highlight was a complete version of "Pink Cashmere," sung beautifully in falsetto. Next was a barely recognizable "One Kiss at a Time" from Emancipation that sounded about as different from the released track as can be (I didn't recognize the song, even when he did the chorus). A bluesy "Alphabet St."/Beverly Hillbillies Theme followed, with Prince singing the first verse, then speaking out the last "excuse me baby" verse. "Girls and Boys" followed, and then a cover of Sweetwater's "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," sung in falsetto.

Next was "The Truth," which included an extended portion with extra lyrics about the one-percent of the people on earth who have all the money, and Prince asked the audience if it minded that he substituted the words MF out of the song, and nobody objected.

A new bluesy song, tentatively called "Some People Call me Crazy" was played in its entirety I assume, with lyrics like "some people call me crazy, some people call me all night long/I just wish those telemarketers would leave me the BLANK alone." There was one part of this song where someone from the audience yelled out "I love u Prince" and Prince replied, "I love U 2, but not the band" and went back and explained the comment. I thought it was funny.

Next was the complete "The Other Side of the Pillow," followed by an abbreviated "She Loves Me 4 Me," probably lyrically the best track on "The Rainbow Children." A random acoustic version of "Peach" followed, including a chant of "It ain't Over" which got the audience involved again. Another surprise, "Wherever U Go Whatever U Do" (one verse only) followed, and then one verse of "Forever in my Life," which the audience sang most of it and Prince sang backup to the audience. The acoustic set ended with "Last December," which the audience sang the chorus.

As keyboard player Renato Neto jammed while the techs tore down the instruments, Prince came back on stage to jam with the rest of the band on a long instrumental piece of Asswoop (from the unreleased Madhouse 24)/Strollin'/Take the A-Train. Prince sat down at the keyboards and did a short piano medley which had about 1 verse from "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore," "Diamonds and Pearls," "The Beautiful Ones" (2 verses), "Free," "Starfish and Coffee," "Sometimes it Snows in April" (the audience went wild with this song), and finally "I Love u But I Don't Trust U Anymore," which was cut short by Prince in the middle of the second verse. A really long jazzy jam followed, as Prince threw the lyric books down on the floor, visibly disgusted that his guitar tech missed his cue to turn the page in his lyric book. Prince walked around the stage for a minute, and then lay down on the floor under the keyboards singing a long rap of how funky and tight his band is. Next was an instrumental track from Xenophobia (that we heard at the LA soundcheck), along with a chant of "Feel like Bustin' Loose" ended the brief second set.

After this amazing show, there was dancing to mostly Prince music in the aisles, as fans began tearing down chairs to have room to dance.

As much as I hate to have said it, I almost wish Prince would have played a few more acoustic songs and ended the show without the piano medley, making it the perfect night, but still it was pretty cool.

My faced hurt me from smiling after this show.

Day 5 (Tuesday)

During the afternoon, Eric Leeds and Renato Neto did a question and answer/jam session with a packed room of fans for almost 90 minutes. Interesting points included Eric Leeds answering a question about the first Madhouse CD. He said that he and Prince were the only 2 musicians that actually appeared on it (no musicians on the CD were credited in the liner notes of the disk), and that the whole CD was recorded in three days in Prince's home studio. Prince overdubbed all of the music, playing drums, keyboard and guitar. When "Madhouse 8" came out, Prince was so afraid of criticism he would get from the press about him diving into the jazz/instrumental arena that he had Eric Leeds make up names for the musicians in the band, and said they were friends of his from Atlanta. Leeds said that this plan went well until a jazz columnist from Atlanta said he'd never heard of the musicians. Eric told it better than I did, but it was amusing.

Leeds also mentioned that he loved working with Prince because the show is never the same twice.even if he plays the same songs, he lets the band play their solos differently. During the Parade tour, Prince changed the set list every night, keeping a basic list, but substituting several songs. Leeds mentioned that the band rotated "A Love Bizarre" and "Mutiny," and Prince wouldn't tell the band until right before the song was going to play during the show which song they would play. He would give an "audible" cue to the band by punching his fist in the air, which was the cue for the band as to which song they should play, to keep them all on their toes.

Leeds also mentioned that he'd played sax 15 years before he met Prince, and he was disappointed that two of his most prominent music videos featured him playing bass guitar on the Family's "Screams of Passion" (he said he never played a bass guitar before), and violins on Prince's "Glam Slam," even though he never really played the violin before.

Someone asked Leeds to play the sax intro to "Adore," which he did, (and "Crucial" which he didn't, and even asked if that song had ever been released) and finally Neto and Leeds jammed to end the session, and the jam included riffs from the unreleased Madhouse track "Baby doll house."

Neto wasn't asked too many questions, though he mentioned that he and the band had learned more than 25 new songs for the Celebration, and that he was from Brazil and spoke very little English before joining Sheila E's band (when he played with Eric Leeds back in the late 1990s).

Eric Leeds also said that the best thing Prince ever did for him was inviting him over to his house for dinner when the guests were Miles Davis, Sheila E., and Prince's father. You got the feeling that Leeds is an articulate, well-educated guy, and I wish that session went longer.

At around 8pm, blues guitarist Bernard Allison took the stage for a 1½ hour set. Another act I'd never heard of prior to the Celebration, Allison tore it up. With rattlesnakes on his hat, I think the audience was overall pleased with the show, including his cover of Jimi Hendrix' "Voodoo Chile," many blues songs and the "Star Spangled Banner" that he ended the show with.

Prince came on stage at 10:45 for an amazing 1¾ hour blues/rock and roll set. Here is the tracklist of that show:

Voodoo Chile Intro
Bambi
Whole Lotta Love
Something in the Water
Question of U/The One/Fallin'
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
Ain't No Sunshine
She's Always in my Hair
The Ride (with Morris Hayes)
Alphabet St./Long jam
Elephants and Flowers
All the Critics Love u in New York
Beautiful Strange

Encore
Calhoun Sq.

The show began with Prince by himself on the stage with his guitar doing a several minute solo (sans backing band) from Jimi Hendrix' "Voodoo Chile" (does everyone who plays at Paisley Park cover this song? J). The band then came out for an awesome "Bambi" that, for the first time since I remember, was sung complete. Prince had to refer to his lyric book for part of the song, but damn.what an amazing version. He even included the line "Bambi I know what u need/Bambi Baby u need 2 bleed." Bambi segued into a 10+ minute falsetto-sung cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" which Prince ripped it up on guitar. Next, a dance beat came from the drums, and I didn't recognize the song, until Prince sang "some people tell me I got great legs." Something in the Water--complete! The groove was totally different than the one on the 1999 album, much more danceable, and it lasted about 10 minutes.

Next, Prince picked up his symbol guitar and ripped into a guitar-heavy version of "Question of U" where he sang the first verse only before a blistering guitar solo. Prince told the audience to "break it down" and began singing "The One" which included the chorus to Alicia Keys' "Fallin'."

A slow jazzy groove that resembled that version of "Sign o' the Times" from the other night became a complete version of "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," and the song sounded totally different than it ever has before. He broke it down and sang a cover of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine," very bluesy and soulfully. A longer version of "She's Always in my Hair" with several guitar solos made the crowd go wild. He then called up Morris Hayes to play keyboards for a long version of "The Ride," and told him to stay on stage for a 10+ minutes long jam on "Alphabet St."

A song that sounded like a faster version of "Calhoun Sq." followed, and became a complete version of "Elephants and Flowers" which Prince had the audience sing the chorus several times. He said that he'd never played that song live before, but hopefully we'll hear it again, because the song rocks.

Next, a bass and drums dance beat came on, and that became a complete "All the Critics Love u in New York," which shocked the audience. Prince ended this awesome set with a blistering, bluesy version of "Beautiful Strange."

Afterwards, he came on for an encore of a rockin' "Calhoun Sq." All in all, the show was one of the best I've ever seen played by anyone, proving that Prince is one of the best guitar players living.

Day 6 (Wednesday):

As we waited for the discussion, the audience was treated to a showing of the unreleased "Sign o' the Times" tour warm-up show from 3/21/87 at First Ave. in Minneapolis. He also showed this video the next day.

The discussion session in the afternoon was with Larry Graham. Graham and Prince's drummer John Blackwell played and answered questions for an hour. Graham wore the bass throughout the Q&A, and answered questions sometimes with his bass. Blackwell and Graham played portions of several songs, including The Jam, Dance 2 the music, thank you falletinme be miceelf again. I was pleasantly surprised that no questions or mentions of religion were asked.

The seats for the concert, which had been set up for the previous 2 shows were removed, probably to accommodate more people.

Musiq Soulchild played for about 80 minutes, and I was actually surprised he played at Paisley and was respected by Prince since he didn't really sound much different to me than any of the other pop acts out there right now, plus he doesn't play any musical instruments. Prince later explained that he though Musiq was a good role model for the children because he doesn't cuss on stage, and he's still popular. I thought Musiq was just okay, again, nothing in his set really stood out in my mind as extraordinary

Prince's set started at 10:55 and lasted 2 ½ hours. Since this show was one of the two sold for the Orpheum Theater, I think Prince felt obligated to play another standard "Rainbow Children" set, as he did on Friday. Following is the setlist for the show:

Sax intros by Najee and Eric Leeds
Rainbow Children
Muse 2 the Pharaoh.
Money Don't Matter 2night
Xenophobia/Bustin' Loose
A Case of U
Mellow
1+1+1=3/Housequake/Love Rollercoaster
The Other Side of the Pillow
Strange Relationship
Sing a Simple Song (w/ Larry Graham)
La La La Means I Love U
Didn't Cha Know
When U Were Mine
Avalanche
Family Name
Take Me With u
Raspberry Beret
Everlasting Now

Encore:
Everlasting Now
It Ain't Over/Talking Loud and Saying Nothing/I'm a Soul Child (with Musiq/Larry Graham)
Days of Wild/We Want the Funk

Eric Leeds guested on stage during most of this show, since Maceo Parker went home after the Tuesday show. Najee and Eric began the show by doing solos from crates set up in the VIP area opposite the stage.

Despite the show being a repeat, essentially, of what we saw on the first night, most of the people I spoke with thought this was the least favorite show he played this week. It started out okay, with a slightly different instrumentation on "Rainbow Children," and the addition of the complete "Money Don't Matter 2Night," which Prince had the audience sing the chorus.

Many felt that the worst part of the night was next, as Prince began preaching about religion during the "Xenophobia/Bustin' Loose" jam, going off for almost 10 minutes in the middle of a really funky groove about how everyone in the room needed to agree that Jesus Christ is the son of God. After the show I was speaking with a European gentleman who is an atheist, and he told me he walked out at that point. Until this point, Prince hadn't preached at us, and going five shows without the preaching I guess spoiled me.

One rarity during the show was a little bit of "Housequake" that was played during 1+1+1=3, with the horn part being played by Eric Leeds. Before "The Other Side of the Pillow," Prince asked the audience what is cool. He said that Miles Davis is cool, and told a story about how Miles Davis told him how he would give Prince a belt buckle if he'd wear it. Prince said that the buckle was so ugly that he refused Miles, and Miles told him, "well, FU then."

During the show, Prince said he wasn't going to talk about race during the show since it separates people, yet played "Avalanche" (which is about racism). Interesting about this song that Eric Leeds missed his cue and played his sax when he wasn't supposed to.

For "Raspberry Beret," Prince had the audience sang most of this song.

"Everlasting Now" ended the set (first verse only), and instead of ending the show, the band went into the second verse, which led into a long jam of "It Ain't Over/Talking Loud and Saying Nothing/I'm a Soul Child" with Musiq on vocals and Larry Graham on bass. Musiq came on to ad lib some lyrics, but his ad libbing skills were really not developed, as he kept repeating the same thing over and over. Graham stayed on stage and the band ended the show with a really long, complete version of "Days of Wild/We Want the Funk."

In the audience at the show were: Morris Hayes, Geneva, Kip Blackshire, Jellybean Johnson (from The Time), the lead singer from Mint Condition, and Rachel Ferrell.

Prince announced that the next day's guest speaker would be drummer John Blackwell, and (when he saw Jellybean Johnson in the audience) jokingly said that he should attend the Blackwell seminar.

Day 7 (Thursday)

The day speaker session with John Blackwell lasted for two hours. I didn't go so I could attend the barbecue put on by prince.org, the Dream Factory and Bump Squad California fan clubs. More than 100 people attended the barbecue, and there was karaoke, trivia and tattoo showoff contests. I heard the Blackwell demonstration was amazing, and very well attended. The barbecue continues to be one of the coolest things that happen during Celebration week.

At the concert, upon entry all attendees were given a free CD single of the "Days of Wild" performance from the Montreal aftershow from last week, which I thought was really cool.

Jazz artist Rachel Ferrell came on stage around 9:20, and played a 2+ hour show. Before Prince came on, a new dance remix of the Rave track, "So Far, So Pleased" was played.

Seats were set up on the floor, for the third time in the week.

Prince took the stage at midnight, and following was the tracklist for the two-hour set:

Najee flute intro
One Night Alone
Adore
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Do Me Baby
Condition of the Heart
You're Gonna C Me
Empty Room (with Najee)
How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore
Nothing Compares 2 U (with Eric Leeds)
People Without/Shake/Automatic
Manic Monday (guest singer, Connie from audience)
Soul Sanctuary
God (featuring Kip Blackshire, Rachel Ferrell and Musiq)
Last December (the only time of the night where Prince played guitar)

Encore:
Purple Rain
The Greatest Romance Ever Sold/Anna Stesia (featuring Kip Blackshire, Rachel Ferrell and Musiq)

The week ended with another great show. A full version of "One Night Alone," with Prince alone on keyboards (he stayed behind the keyboards for all songs except "Last December") began the 2-hour set, followed by a beautiful version of "Adore," and a medley of "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Do Me Baby." "Condition of the Heart" followed, and Prince sang through the second verse, for the first time ever (usually this song is a verse or less). "You're Gonna C Me" followed, played complete and sung in falsetto, and the band finally came out to join Prince on stage.

The biggest surprise for me all week was the next song, the unreleased "Empty Room" was next, and Prince introduced the song by asking if anyone from the audience has ever had their heart broken, and explained the lyrics to the song before singing it. Interesting that all of the guitar parts of the song were replaced with Najee's flute solos. The soung sounded amazing, and I never thought I'd hear it live.

Next was a complete version of "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore," followed by "Nothing Compares 2 U," with Eric Leeds doing the sax solos.

Another few surprises followed, as Prince started playing the music to the unreleased "People Without" and called people up from the audience to dance o stage as he sang the lyrics to The Time's "Shake" over a completely different music beat, and even threw I a verse from "Automatic." This lasted almost 10 minutes and really sounded cool.

Next, he asked if there were any singers in the audience and invited a fan named Connie on stage to sing the next song, which was "Manic Monday." Prince didn't tell her what song it was going to be, and he asked her, before singing it, if she was nervous and he said, not as nervous as he was. He called that part of the show, "karaoke night with Prince." It was pretty amusing, and we were pretty much blown away that he played that one.

And while we're on the subject of random, he played a complete version of "Soul Sanctuary," sung beautifully in falsetto before launching into a 15+ minute version of "God" that featured several solos by Najee and vocals by Prince, Kip Blackshire, Rachel Ferrell and Musiq. The last song of the set was "Last December," which was also played complete (even including the DAT Millenia backing vocals at the end of the song), and was the only time of the night where Prince played guitar. This song sounded awesome live too, and the audience was really into this song.

For the encore, Prince came back to do the entire "Purple Rain" from the keyboards, followed by the last song of the week, the music to "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" with the lyrics to "Anna Stesia" sung over them. During the song, Prince invited the audience to fold up the chairs to make us a dance floor for the song and to dance after the show was over. Kip Blackshire, Rachel Ferrell and Musiq came back on stage to provide vocals to this random 15-minute jam. The group chanted, "stay and party all night long," and with that, this amazing week was over.