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NeoSoul Review



 
New Power Soul (April 11, 1998)

by Paul ryneski


I was one of the lucky souls to get through the phone lines to get my tickets for NPG Records presents New Power Soul as soon as they went on sale. I arrived at Irving Plaza around midnight for the 11:59 pm show. The line to get in was extremely long as people started lining up before 8 pm to get in and get close to the front of the stage for this general admissions show. Scalpers were selling tickets for $125 or more at midnight. Some unlucky persons bought fake tickets. Some V.I.P.s who decided they really weren't into Prince also sold their tickets, but of course those buyers were not on the list to gain entrance to the balcony level of Irving Plaza. I thought I saw Kennedy the V.J. upstairs, and I heard John Leguizamo and critics from the New York Times and the Village Voice were there, too. I later learned there were a lot of other famous people there, too, including some who couldn't get upstairs themselves. The line moved slowly into the building shortly after midnight.

 

At about 1:40 a.m., funky music came on. They played samples from NPG's New Power Soul, Chaka Khan's Come to My House, and Larry Graham's GCS 2000, all upcoming releases on Prince's independent record company. We listened to them for 80 minutes until the show started. Just before the show started Prince poked his head out of the side curtains and drove the crowd wild. Others were upset about how late it was and called him a "fu*kin' asshole."

 

Finally, the show started with Thank You Faletinme Be Mice Elf with Larry in white, Chaka in purple, and Prince in gold. Prince followed that up with Days of Wild from Crystal Ball and Everyday People. During the intro of the latter, Prince said, "I don't know what happened, but this is not a song about a car." Larry then played "I Gotta Be Free" from GCS 2000. Chaka Khan brought out her own bass player, guitarist, and backup singers for Sweet Thing, You Got the Love, and Tell Me Something Good. Tell Me got really jazzy at the end and then moved into reggae territory. Prince then introduced the band during the Funk National Anthem, The Jam. The show ended at 4 a.m.

 

The crowd obliged with applause and shouts to bring the band back out. Mayte, Prince's wife, joined them for the encore of Mad Sex, which started with a shout of "Where It's At." Prince told us to look for the new albums and threw chocolate coins out to the crowd. He told us that if we supplied the love, they would supply the music. He then brought out George Benson to play the guitar George "christened" him with. As they played I Want to Take You Higher, Doug E. Fresh climbed on the stage at the end of the number and forced the band to stay longer as the human beat box entertained Prince and the audience. Prince and Doug did an old school rap. Doug started leading the crowd in chants of "Who rocks the hardest? The artist rocks the hardest." The band started playing Push It Up with the Jam of the Year chants. Several other chants followed, like Turn this Mutha Out, "I feel like Bustin' Loose, Bustin' Loose" from the Chuck Brown song, and O-e-o from Gonna Be a Beautiful Night. Doug then did La-Di-Da-Di, blowing away the crowd and closing the show with some hometown upstaging of the hardest rocker.

 

I'm sure many were disappointed not to hear Purple Rain and When Doves Cry, but there was no doubt that this was a New Power Soul show, an aftershow. If the crowd was upset, Prince kept the crowd from booing or leaving (even the VIPs upstairs) until 5 a.m. on Easter weekend. It was good enough to make me forget his strong arm tactics and lies perpetuated over the Internet and through the press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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