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It was a Friday the 13th and Prince was at the Nation’s capital ready to do what he does best, put on a show like no one else!  This night there would be no bad luck, just three hours of great music from arguably rock’s greatest front man ever.

The set kicked off with the title track from his new album Musicology which is in essence a tribute to the funk and soul artist who paved the way for modern music (Earth, Wind and Fire, James Brown, etc.).  This song works very well in a live setting especially with the masterful band that Prince has assembled.  Candy, the saxophone player got to display her wonderful skills on this song.  This show was in essence was Prince’s hits of old infused with new life.  “When Doves Cry” was played early the set and was re-invented into a seven minute long dance party.  All 30,000 in attendance were up and shaking their money makers to this classic. 

What’s different about this tour is that all of the raunchy numbers like, “Darling Nicky,” “P-control,” “Dirty Mind” were eliminated from the set list.  Other songs had lyrical re-workings that display Prince’s newfound belief in Jehovah’s Witness teachings.  For example, in “I Would Die for You,” the lyric “I’m your messiah” has been changed to “He’s your Messiah.”  “Alphabet Street” has some sexual innuendo, “I would like to watch” was even cleaned up, now he says “I would like to watch TV.” 

An amazing thing to behold - the crowd that comes to the Prince concert.  There are few artists that can draw pretty much every demographic to a show: Black, White, Asian, gay, straight, young, old ­ they were all there, partying with The Purple One.

One highlight of the show was “Shhhh,” which featured the magnificent drumming of John Blackwell.  He is a talent to witness live with his powerful drumming and showmanship.  Prince also had an amazing guitar solo in this song that tore the roof off this place.  The energy of the crowd erupted like a volcano when the first notes to “D.M.S.R” were played; he pulled five audience members on stage to dance with him.  The booty shaking really got out of control when prince did a re-make of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity.” You could tell with this tour, Prince was trying to highlight what a musical genius he is because there were no gimmicks; it was just him and great musicians playing excellent music.  Even when the band left the stage and his Royal Badness was left on stage with just an acoustic guitar, he still rocked the audience.  He had the whole MCI center singing along to acoustic versions of fan favorites like “Little Red Corvette” and “Adore” among others.  It was mesmerizing to see an artist captivate an audience with just his acoustic guitar.  After the acoustic set, the tempo was brought back up with a full-out hard rock version of “Sign of the Times.”  This tempo was maintained for the rest of the set, until he got to the song that everyone was waiting for ­ “Purple Rain.”  After this, Prince left the stage and left everyone there wanting more. 

All-in-all, this was a dynamite show, and probably one of the last times that Prince will play his hits, but school was definitely in session and Prince was the teacher.  The lesson was that even in an age where manufactured pop reigns as king, that a prince with raw talent can still stand up and challenge that throne.  “And besides…you must become a prince before you become a king.”