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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