The Review - MUSIC - grooves with CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS Published: 4 October 2007
Purple reign comes to an end at Dome
REVIEW PRINCE
O2 Arena
IT’S over. After 21 nights, 46 encores and 63 costume changes, Prince’s residency at the O2 arena is finished. I managed to grab a couple of tickets on eBay for 40 quid each.
Were they worth it? Probably.
The diminutive pop diva appeared from a puff of smoke in the centre of the ‘symbol’-shaped stage. The funky disco beats commenced and the cat in the hat strutted around in a dapper pink suit proving he hadn’t lost his moves as middle age roles on.
He belted out his hits from Get Off to Controversy and proved guitar prowess in a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love.
In fact he bashed out loads of covers from the Beatles to Kylie. But these were at the expense of some of his other hits including my personal fave Alphabet Street, and Raspberry Beret was cut down to less than a minute in a piano medley with some of his lesser-known stuff.
His encore was Nothing Compares 2 You, which he wrote but I’m sure most people associate with the dire warbling of snake-headed Sinead O’Conner.
As he changed his set every night, it was a roulette as to what he played. And on the penultimate night, the crowd were left wanting more. But after grossing a tidy £11million in ticket sales, I’m sure the shrewd little guy will be back soon in a fresh set of threads to lap up more.
ANDY DANGERFIELD
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