non-stop dance party with Prince - n. charleston coliseum - 03/30/11

last night, my pal, charles, and i went to the north charleston coliseum to see the one and only Prince (since he is a god, he deserves to have his name capitalized). charles bought tickets for himself and his wife, leah, and she had no interest in going (what?!?!), so he offered it to me. i graciously accepted! we were in section 229, which was in the upper reaches about halfway down the left side of the stage. no matter, because the stage was so big, i don't know if there was a bad seat in the house.

we arrived shortly before 6 o'clock and waited outside until the doors opened. luckily the rain held off while we waited. once inside, charles got some grub in the form of nachos and a brew, while i just got a bottled water (i ate chick-fil-a with the wife and kids earlier, then washed that down with a venti skinny caramel macchiato from starbucks). we then went to find our seats. we sat there chatting randomly through text, calls, and in person with various people that we knew were there in the crowd somewhere.

right around 7:40, the opening act, lalah hathaway hit the stage with her background vocalists and excellent band. they put on an impressive set of solid soul music. the vocal harmonies were beautiful, the guitarist was playing some sweet solos, and the rest of the band laid down the rhythm. i learned that she is the daughter of legendary soul singer donny hathaway. i enjoyed the set.

Prince hit the stage at 8:36. the stage was dimly outlined in lights, the crowd started roaring, then we hear... "dearly beloved...". the crowd went NUTS as they ripped into 'let's go crazy'. the girl next to me was so excited, she started weeping, seriously. i had to steady her so she didn't fall forward and go tumbling down through the rows. charles and i both started boogyin', as did every person in sight. you never knew two white boys could move like this! it was intense.

Prince continued on, wowing us with hit after hit. there were a few songs i didn't recognize - i have to be honest, i have not followed his career as closely as some - but the music was groovin' and the booties were shakin'. my friend, katie, had a much better seat and got a few excellent pics that she gave me permission to use. here is one of them.

photo courtesy of my pal, katie campbell

Prince was in great spirits throughout the entire set, which lasted over nearly 2-1/2 hours. his dance moves were sweet - no way that dude is over 50 years old. his voice was intense, completely on point. his guitar skills are desirable to say the least. he was shredding through solos, my favorite being during 'purple rain'. the faces he made (which we could see on the 'jumbo-tron') as he hit some of those notes were true emotional guitar faces. if you are a guitarist or a spouse of a guitarist, you know what i'm talking about. i recorded a snippet of 'purple rain' with my crappy camera phone. gives an idea of where we were and how awesome it was. after the video is a picture from our point of view.

above video and photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

one of the highlights was when he said the the crowd, 'charleston, i told you not to get me started... ya'll 'bout to get pregnant up in here.' oh man, that had me ROLLIN'. so smooooth. a few minutes later, he said, 'ya'll pregnant yet?', then started grinning and covering his face to hide it. he played two encores and finally left the stage at 10:52. we had such a great time, and big thanks to charles for hooking me up with the ticket. i wouldn't have been able to go otherwise.

photo courtesy of my pal, katie campbell

the setlist was uploaded by some kind soul on setlist.fm here. it seems accurate the best i can tell. thank you, Prince, for coming to charleston. it was an amazing show that many, many people will not soon forget.