Prince

21 Nights at the Forum: A People’s History of Prince’s Historic Run in Los Angeles

So it's ten months later, you have seen all the pictures, read all the setlists, know all or most of the surprises and read a million reviews. What I want to accomplish here, it to give you a people's history of the experience as well as my own take and feelings so that those that couldn't be there can come along for the ride.

This is my week with Prince -

Prince - April 21st - The Forum - Los Angeles, CA

When Prince announced he was repeating the 21 nights in London and doing it in Los Angeles while I was there, I was overwhelmed and hoped that I could catch as many shows as I could. The dates (and even sometimes, the venues) in true Prince fashion were only announced less than a week in advance.

As much as I adore him, I have long dealt with some impractical ideas and ways of doing things. Just earlier this year I was at the Superbowl fiasco in Dallas. I glad this isn't lost on him and as a fan-friendly gesture and to encourage repeat attendance, most of the tickets to these shows were only $25 a ticket (including all fee.

Now it’s time to jam - we get inside and see the stage is the unpronounceable glyph from the 2004 Musicology tour.

Caught the end of Sheila E. And the entire Escovedo Family, who were really good, and during the intermission we are shown the George Lopez special that is also unique and I thought it was cool that he went with Lopez instead of the other late-night heavyweights.

Ok, lights are down, the show is starting - the thing that any Prince fan knows and finds equally fascinating/exciting to frustrating/maddening is the unpredictability (and we wouldn't have it any other way) so when a big show like this starts and the first song is When I Lay My Hands on You - an obscure slow track from an internet only LP from 10 years ago, you know that ALL BETS ARE OFF!! - I was floored, I knew the hits were coming, and I enjoy them, but its moments like this is why I am really here and to start off with something like that, just let you know that anything goes.

This NPG, John Blackwell (drums) and Renato Neto (keyboards) from the original NPG lineup, one of the most capable and flexible units he’s ever put together, have been augmented with bassist Ida Neilsen, three dynamite female singers and a pair of dancing twins, that I had been hearing about. In fact, what I had heard was not very flattering, and on Prince.org the general consensus seems to be that no one likes them - Forgive me, but I thought they were amazing - they could sing, dance, were full of grace and drop-dead sexy and really complimented the show.

The show was presented on the enormous glyph-shaped stage taking up about three-quarters of the Forum floor, leaving room for only a few rows of seats and a handful of VIP tables down below. This setup allows more of the audience than ever before to feel up close and personal, at least for the few moments when Prince walks out on the nearest extension, waves hello and does a little dance just for them. And yes, the man can still dance, and it was gratifying to see him do so much of it. Having witnessed most of his tours since 1997, I can testify that this was the most physically active I’ve ever seen him on stage.

I think everyone has their own period that supplied their own personal soundtrack, mine is Under the Cherry Moon/Parade - and though I was expecting to hear Kiss ( and as of late the once super-obscure Sometimes it Snows in April has become somewhat of a go-to in the live shows) my thing every time I go to a Prince showis "will he play anything off Parade other than Kiss?" - And the answer came with a one-two punch of MountainsAnotherloverholenyohead - I was over the moon, and that combined with the energy, and they were NOT part of a medley.

He got even deeper into the catalog, and then the shocking blast of Let's Work, woke up the oldest of the old-schoolers, and a version of the Time’s Cool morphed into Don’t Stop Till You Get Enoughin an unexpected but fitting and affectionate tribute to a one-time rival.

Prince took a second later in the show to acknowledge the incredible history of the Forum and all the great shows he had seen here, and one of them was "I saw MICHAEL JACKSON, in this room."

Then here come the hits and it delivered big - He just seemed like he was just having a blast, and pulled out all the stops, focusing the main set on hits and fan favorites interspersed with some well-chosen covers all the while pulling groups of people (females) up on stage to dance with him. You have already probably heard about him pulling Kim Kardashian up onstage in NYC and then quickly dismissing her for not being funky at all. As I go deeper laying out the details of the week, I'm sure you will recognize some familiar faces. Tonight we saw Christina Millian & Kelis.

As the parade of hits ended, Prince introduced us to the wonders of his remarkable sampling piano, with which he could hold down a single key and play a song. Now the first time I was introduced to this, I thought it was a neat little novelty and a fun part of the show.

The lights would be on, and he would walk over to the "piano" that was just a giant boom-box and it would blast a recorded sample of a song. Of all 5 nights I saw he introduced this tool by playing the unmistakable opening guitar riff of When Doves Cry.

It created an odd and rare intimate moment with Prince just blaring a few recorded notes from his songs, and sometimes other current popular songs like Beyonce's Single Ladies - Suddenly we were at a party and Prince was the DJ and he would randomly stop and start the party with these little blasts.

He even had fun with it, and he would tease with some of his earlier (and much racier material that he doesn't play anymore) - For example he would play the opening line to Darling Nikki (refusing to sing a word of it, claiming "Aw no! I'm in rehab!"), and the place would EXPLODE, cause that's the one song EVERYONE wants to hear, that is guaranteed that he's NOT going to play - and while it was on he would shake his head in mock-disapproval and say "Yall should be ASHAMED of yallselves" - and the crowd would explode into laughter.

Or he would play a few snippets of Scandalous and Adore and people would encourage him to keep going and he would protest "I can't play that, someone would get pregnant!" - It was mildly amusing the first and maybe the second time, but after awhile for me, it grew tiresome and wanted to scream " Instead of playing those songs on your boom-box piano, how about you play them FOR REAL?!!" or also I dubbed it bathroom break time, cause the show is thankfully long and depending on his mood, you don't know how many encores your gonna get, but I'm about to get to all that.

He returned for an encore of the much anticipated Purple Rain that ran about 14 mins complete purple confetti with the crowd chants of the ooh ohh oh oh and the hand swaying just like in the movie) - THIS is what most of the people came for and have been wanting to recreate since the first time they saw the film. I've seen cover bands try to recreate that moment in front of 12 people, all clutching for some resemblance of THAT moment and here it was. In years past for his own reasons, he has denounced that whole movement and dismissed it as a state of arrested development and going against the very grain of his progressive nature. I can recall back in 1998 he would open with the still unreleased Xenophobia and declare "If you came to get your Purple Rain on, better hit the door now, cause it isn’t that type of party" - And a chorus of Prince fans high on elitism would cheer in approval. My stance is that fantasy doesn't really work for me and I appreciate his moving forward and never looking back. As far as the elitists looking down on fans of Purple Rain as just being tourists, well it’s hard to dispute their claims, but it’s certainly easy to dismiss their attitude and just let everyone have a great time and tonight here it was - tonight it was THAT TYPE OF PARTY.

And that was the end of the encore - Ok so what's this one song shit? (See what I did there?) - But surely that would satisfy anyone and NO one was complaining I'm sure - The lights came on, they were playing house music through the PA, stage hands were taking stuff down, people were filing out of the arena. And then - just like that - in true Prince Unpredictability - the house lights go down and the familiar guitar riff of Kiss hits and here he comes!

I was convinced that it was truly over. And right when I was - Bam! the lights go down again! And he plays Controversy.

This time it was truly it (so according to the security team that was telling us to take our ass home) - no complaints.

Setist:
When Eye Lay My Hands On U
Crimson & Clover (Tommy James cover)
Take Me With U
Guitar
Anotherloverholenyohead
Shhh
Mountains
Everyday People (Sly & The Family Stone cover)
The Glamorous Life (With Sheila E.)
Nothing Compares 2 U
Raspberry Beret
Cream
Cool (with Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' interpolation)
Let's Work
U Got the Look
Let's Go Crazy
Delirious
1999
Little Red Corvette

Sampler Set:
When Doves Cry
Hot Thing
Nasty Girl
Black Sweat
Sign "O" the Times
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Darling Nikki
Forever In My Life
I Would Die 4 U
Encore 1:
Purple Rain
Encore 2:
Kiss
Encore 3:
Controversy

Prince - April 22nd - The Forum - Los Angeles, CA

Just like last night by the time we got to our seats, the opening act was already on, and tonight we caught the end of Mint Condition, who were really good. Ok, so here we go the show starts, and remember what I said last night when he started with When I Lay My Hands On You - that all bets were off? Well one thing that he has done since the Emancipation LP came out in 1996 is that frustratingly, he seldom, if ever acknowledges his current release. Meaning, he will only play one or two songs from the LP is currently supporting and in many cases, none at all. So tonight he starts with Beginning Endlessly yet another slow and moody song, and it’s from the latest record 20Ten, and it’s the first time it’s ever been played live.

He doesn't stop there, you can already tell the mood he's in and this is going to be one for the ages. How lame is it when you go see an act you like, and they play the same setlist every night instead of giving you a truly unique experience each and every time. And with 21 shows he has his work cut out him, but he has soooo much to choose from (which makes the covers a little irritating sometimes) and that's the fun, to see where he's gonna take it.

Three of the first five songs were all from the new album, including Laydown and Future Soul Song - and the other two, were jaw-dropping with him finally playing something off The Gold Experiencethat's not Shhh or The Most Beautiful Girl in the World - when he launched into Endorphinmachine I flipped out, followed by the increasingly less obscure She's Always in My Hair.

He let up and delivered a few hits before a one-two hit of covers that we would go on to see him do many times of the Time's Cool interspersed with a nice little nod to Michael Jackson' Don't Stop Till You Get Enough into Kool and The Gang's Hollywood Swinging that was changed to Inglewood Swinging due to the neighborhood we were in. He pulled up Cuba Gooding Jr. and Rosario Dawson to dance with him for these numbers.

I had read that he was planning on having some special guests at a few of these shows, and not just the celebrity fans in attendance that he brings up to dance (or not dance in Kardashian's case) and after doing Misty Blue from Shelby J's album with her singing lead vocals, he introduces Alicia Keys to duet on How Come You Don't Call me Anymore? She covers this song on her first LP and she famously inducted him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

He was so moved by her speech that if you want to the Musicology tour that year, you will remember that he screened it to the audience before every performance.

Well now it was the fake ending part and now this time we knew better, the lights coming on don't mean shit and it’s just a matter of just how much more are we gonna get?

Thankfully we are patient, then suddenly the lights hit and the place already half empty, still goes crazy and Prince and the band return!

The first encore was D.M.S.R and what has to be Prince's favorite song of his, If I Was Your Girlfriend, cause in the dozens of shows I've seen in the past 15 years, he's never not acknowledged it in some way.

He returned two more times for one song encores like he did the previous night of Controversy and finally closing with Purple Rain.

Remember what I said about the PR ending last night and people have been waiting their whole lives for that moment? Well after last night, I wasn't sure how we case gonna recreate that, but he did, and it was magical. I was seeing tears of joy and people just overwhelmed all around me. Who else can you say this about?

Setlist:
Beginning Endlessly (live debut)
Laydown
Endorphinmachine
She's Always in My Hair
Future Soul Song
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
Cream
Cool / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (The Time/Michael Jackson)
Let's Work
Hollywood Swinging (Kool & The Gang cover)
U Got the Look
Misty Blue (Shelby J. on lead vocals)
How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore (with Alicia Keys)

Sampler set:
When Doves Cry
Nasty Girl
Sign "O" the Times
Alphabet St.
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Darling Nikki
Encore 1:
If I Was Your Girlfriend
D.M.S.R.
Encore 2:
Controversy
Encore 3:
Purple Rain

P.S. - An interesting postscript to this show was after security said that yes, the show is now really over, we had both had to pee, so we were both in the lobby for a good 20 mins after the show officially ended and since he messes with you so much you leave each night, expecting to hear that you there were 3 more encores after you left and you should have stuck around etc.

Well as were leaving for good suddenly we hear screaming, but the house lights were still on, and then suddenly I see what they are screaming about as Prince passes right by us on his bicycle!

INTERMISSION
Ok, so now you have had a chance to take a break and digest the first two nights before we dive into the next run.

So here is what we know so far about the shows:

Depending on which show you get, he starts with either D.M.S.R. or an obscure slow song. Your going to hear quite a few covers and almost certainly you will hear: The Time - Cool w/ Michael Jackson - Don't Stop Till You Get Enough,
Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music White Boy, Kool & The Gang - Hollywood Swinging (Inglewood), Bob Dylan - Make You Feel My Love

Also: If Sheila E. in the house (and she normally is) Prince and the band will perform her two hit singles with her: A Love Bizarre, The Glamorous.

You will definitely get a Sampler Set and its almost guaranteed to go like this:
When Doves Cry, Nasty Girl, Sign "O" the Times, Single Ladies (Beyonce cover), The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, Darling Nikki.

• There will be celebrities and some select fans dancing onstage.
• Their will most likely are at least one special musical guest that will perform with Prince.
• You will get multiple encores that one of will most certainly start with Kiss and end with Purple Rain.

I didn't grow immune or unappreciative, but with these other shows the spots I was looking for were the ones that didn't fall into any of the above categories.

Prince - April 28th - The Forum - Los Angeles, CA

Just like the previous two shows, I showed up early, and went to our seats to see the last bit of the opener.
This time this practice really played off in spades as Prince showed up during opener Cassandra Wilson's set out of nowhere and like it wouldn't be bizarre to everyone else around him, they duet on an obscure track, When Were Dancing Close and Slow all the way back from his 2nd LP in 1979.

Things only got weirder/more awesome from there, as I mentioned above as I was laying out the routine, I think I had it all figured out and with this show, he abandons most of it out of thin air.

Even the crowd was weird for this one making it truly unique - The Forum was only half-full. Large chunks of empty seats were everywhere. The two previous shows, and the next two shows were all sell outs, yes this was a Thurs night, but it was like a boycott or something. Almost the entire upper level of the arena (known as the Colonnade) was covered with a large black curtain.

In true unpredictable fashion, he show started even slower and DARK, literally. For some reason, Prince kept the lights very low for the first 30 minutes or so of the show. He even asked to turn the stage lights off completely at some points. The show opener was another obscurity, Joy In Repetition from, in my opinion the criminally underrated Graffiti Bridge soundtrack album.

And it just kept getting weirder, as this was followed by an India Arie cover Brown Skin with Shelby J. singing lead and then he hit us with a Purple Rain b-side I've been waiting to hear my whole life - 17 Days - That might have been my favorite moment of the week.

Unfortunately, the audience didn’t seem to match his enthusiasm for the track, nor did they really respond to any of the other songs he had played so far.

How does he respond? He doesn't budge an inch - and hits us with two more covers, one most would know, Janet Jackson's What Have You Done For Me Lately?, and one I'm certain that almost no one would know, Stargard's Theme Song from Which Way Is Up? Truly freaking weird even for him, And? It just kept getting weirder, this was followed by two more covers: Graham Central Station's It's Alright and Bob Dylan's Make You Feel My Love, that Shelby J sang, that she followed up with her own cover of Misty Blue, an old Bob Montgomery song that Dorothy Moore made popular in the 70’s.

Where was Prince? He was gone for literally like 20 mins, but when he returned he let the crowd, who seemed bored off the hook and it them with the first four songs in a row from 1999.

He abandons the Sampler Set entirely (which I was pleased by) and that's it for the main set, and this time he does Purple Rain for the first encore.

It sounded great, yet the song’s presence felt wrong this time as its epic scope and grandeur seemed out of place after sitting through such a strange, and oddly-paced main set.

Encore number two was a free-for-all jam featuring parts of The Time's The Bird and Jungle Love, with Sheila E.'s A Love Bizarre and snippets of Housequake mixed with a reprise of Controversy.

He returns a third time just to do the Kiss encore and by the time the lights come on for the third time, most of the crowd, sans for a few thousand are already on their way home.

With only a few thousand people left at The Forum, and with the houselights on high, Prince and the band performed a spectacular jam of three more covers of: Wild Cherry's Play That Funky Music White Boy , Hollywood Swinging once again as well as Lakeside’s Fantastic Voyage. Watching this with all of the houselights on was simply spectacular.

For most people, obviously that would be enough for one night. Most patrons including us figured the show was definitely over by now, and most left for the night. Yet a thousand or so people stayed put also including us.

I’d never seen anything like it. The few that remained stomped their feet, and screamed and yelled. It was now close to 12:30am, yet none of these people were ready to go home. They demanded one more encore.

Unbelievably, the lights came down one last time, and Prince walked out to the stage for one more song.
What song does he do? Not only was it another cover song but an impossibly obscure and extremely somber cover of Roxy Music's More Than This. Let me tell you something, no one saw THAT coming.

It's one o'clock in the morning and he's singing Roxy Music covers, unbelievable. No matter, we wanted more Prince...we got more Prince. It was a great moment, yet a bizarre way to end a bizarre show...the strangest Prince show I ever saw, and conversely, one of the best.

Setlist:
When We're Dancing Close and Slow (with Cassandra Wilson)
Joy in Repetition
Brown Skin (India. Arie cover)(With Shelby J)
17 Days
Shhh
Controversy
(Theme Song From) Which Way Is Up? (Stargard cover)
What Have You Done For Me Lately (Janet Jackson cover)
Partyman
It's Alright (Graham Central Station cover)
Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)(Shelby J)
Misty Blue (Shelby J)
Let's Go Crazy
Delirious
1999
Little Red Corvette
Encore 1:
Purple Rain
Encore 2:
The Bird (The Time cover)
Jungle Love (The Time cover)
A Love Bizarre (Sheila E. cover)
Encore 3:
Kiss
Encore 4:
Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry cover)
Hollywood Swinging (Kool & The Gang cover)(Changed to Inglewood Swinging)
Fantastic Voyage (Lakeside cover)
Encore 5:
More Than This (Roxy Music cover)

Prince - April 29th - The Forum - Los Angeles, CA

After Mint Condition's opening set which I enjoyed more this time than last week, it was time for the party to start. Unlike last night, where the mood was dark and strange, or in the past shows where he opened with something slow and obscure, he got right down to business, and re-created the other moment from the Purple Rain film that everyone loves by starting the show with Let's Go Crazy complete with the "Dearly Beloved..." speech in the beginning. Anytime I've ever seen him even acknowledge the song, it was always incomplete and with a much different arrangement.

He kept that momentum going with a string of big hits and even revisiting Mountains and 17 Days seemingly just for me, until he started pouring on the covers once more.

For almost a solid hour is what a cover song/jam fest, starting with Rick James' Give It To Me Baby - and then three more we have already heard at almost every show this week.

Then he did something special - still doing covers, but Prince has been very outspoken about the influence that Carlos Santana has had on him and he proved that by doing a three song instrumental Santana medley of: Jungle Strut / Soul Sacrifice / Toussaint L'Ouverture.

This was followed by another special medley that we had not yet seen - one of a deep blues influence and of his storytelling/rapping to the girls thing he likes to do of: The Question of U / The One / Gingerbread Man / Beggin' Woman Blues.

So happy to see another acknowledgment of Graffiti Bridge and to get to hear a new song as well.

Sadly the rest of the show was exactly the same as some of the others we had seen this week, and having seen four shows now, the rest was totally predictable and no more surprises.

The encore consisted of the Bob Dylan cover Make You Feel My Love - sung by Elisa Fiorillo and then into the big Purple Rain ending that is still awesome every time.

He did the two more encores/one-two songs each thing with the first one being Kiss and then doing Controversy and A Love Bizarre again with Sheila E. , before wrapping up for good with the same Sampler Set: Still a great show, but easily my least favorite of the ones we had seen so far, but then again if this was the only show I saw I'm sure I would be walking away saying that it was the best show I've ever seen.

Setlist:
Let's Go Crazy
Delirious
1999
Shhh
Mountains
17 Days
Give It To Me Baby (Rick James cover)
Everyday People (Sly & The Family Stone cover)(Prince on bass)
Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry cover)
The Glamorous Life (Sheila E. cover)
Medley of Santana covers:
Jungle Strut / Soul Sacrifice / Toussaint L'Ouverture
The Question of U / The One / Gingerbread Man / Beggin' Woman Blues
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
Cream
Cool / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
Let's Work
U Got the Look
Encore 1:
Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)(Elisa Fiorillo on lead vocals)
Purple Rain
Encore 2:
Kiss
Encore 3:
A Love Bizarre (Sheila E. cover)
Controversy

Sampler set
When Doves Cry
Nasty Girl
Sign "O" the Times
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Darling Nikki
Single Ladies (Beyonce cover)
I Would Die 4 U

Prince - April 30th - The Forum - Los Angeles, CA

This was the only show where I didn't see any of the openers, but I think it was the Sheila E. and he family once again.

The lights hit and has laid out previously, this was one of the shows he starts with D.M.S.R. - but then he surprised the shit out of me with doing Pop Life, one of all-time favorites.

I had been hearing whispers all week long that Gwen Stefani was gonna an appearance sometime during this run. Only fitting as they have collaborated several times in the past, and she fits the mold of powerful/fashionable female that he is so drawn to.

And here she comes, and instead of doing the song he wrote for her and No Doubt, they do So Far, So Pleased - A miracle unto itself of hearing him actually playing something off of Rave N2 the Joy Fantastic - one of my least favorite records because of the way its sequence and content reeks of Clive Davis' music industry shenanigans of trying to duplicate the success/formula of Carlos Santana's Supernaturalby having him duet with current artist to milk them of their relevancy. But it was cool to hear something special and with Gwen Stefani no less.

He goes way back and leaves Controversy out of the encore set and couples it with I Feel For You - He had mentioned to the crowd that it was a popular Chaka Khan song back in the day, but made sure to point out that he was the one who wrote it haha.

Speaking of duets, (and covers) they continue into the first encore, where he is joined by yet another special guest, Nikka Costa and together they burst into a jaw-dropping version of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love.

The longer they went on, the weirder and better the song choices got.“We gonna be here all night!” he’d promised earlier, and as he led his crew into easily the best (and longest single) encore of the run, with some truly rare and amazing songs of: Something In The Water, Strange Relationship, How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore and a few others.

A little after midnight, more than three hours after Prince had first taken the stage at the LA Forum, after the house lights had been turned back on for the fourth time and most of the audience were already on the freeway headed home, about three thousand people stayed in their seats, refusing to call it a night. Throats ravaged from hooting for four encores in a row, they banged on their chairs and stomped their feet until, unbelievably, the lights went back out as the band re-took the stage for the fourth time.

During the part where he invites the (female) crowd to dance onstage, Stefani joins him once again, this time bring up the rest of No Doubt as well as her husband, Gavin Rossdale as well as...Kirstie Alley,

What had started out as a suitably immense arena show with big hits, dancing girls, confetti and Prince’s usual over-the-top showmanship took on the vibe of an intimate after-hours jam. With the Forum mostly empty as the band dove into obscure songs with long instrumental passages, it felt like we’d been let into a secret show that nobody else knew about.

That's why there was no need for after-shows on this run because a) He is doing 21 freaking nights - b) He's basically doing the after-shows right there in the arena! - I didn't know just how right I was about this statement (see below) as I end this run in amazing style!

Setlist:
D.M.S.R.
Pop Life
Musicology
So Far, So Pleased (with Gwen Stefani)
The Question Of U / The One
I Feel for You
Controversy
The Glamorous Life (with Sheila E.)
Nothing Compares 2 U (Duet with Shelby J)
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret
Cream
Cool /Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (with Gwen Stefani)
Let's Work
U Got the Look
Encore 1:
Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)(with Nikka Costa)
Something In The Water
Strange Relationship
How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Encore 2:
Kiss
Purple Rain
Encore 3:
Sexy Dancer / Le Freak (Chic cover)
Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry cover)
Hollywood Swinging (Kool & The Gang cover)

Sampler set
When Doves Cry
Nasty Girl
Party All The Time (Eddie Murphy cover)
Single Ladies (Beyonce cover)
Sign "O" the Times
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Darling Nikki
Hot Thing
Black Sweat
Love
Encore 4:
The Bird (The Time cover)
Jungle Love (The Time cover)(with No Doubt)
A Love Bizarre (Sheila E. cover)

After the show, I'm in the lobby by the blocked off curtain to backstage and just by a sheer miracle, I run into Rashida Robinson. She's a DJ and we have done gigs together in the past - she was heading backstage and I call out to her, and she turns and sees me, smiles, asks if I'm coming to the after-party - ummmmm...After-Party? - I asked where it was and she said it was right here at the Forum in a private club upstairs namely aptly - The Forum Club.

The Forum Club - NPG aftershow - April 30th

I go outside to smoke and then make my way into the club - security wasn't really feeling that I was alone and not dressed as nice as everyone else but they let me in regardless.

It was after 1am when the band came out and starting jamming Let's Work and Endorphinmachine until Prince came out and did She's Always in My Hair.

The club is really small and security would trip on you if they saw you trying to take pics.

The jammed a bit more and did a couple more covers, this time Chaka Khan's Sweet Thing and again Shelby J did India Arie's Brown Skin.

They jammed on Bambi and finished up with the theme from Which Way is Up? once again. A short set, but I was just so grateful for Rashida's kindness and what a perfect way to end my last night.

Setlist:
Let's work/Endorphinemachine (instr)
She's always in my hair
Future soul song (instr)
Sweet thing (Chaka Khan cover)
Brown skin (India Arie cover w/ Shelby J)
Bambi (instr)
Laydown
(Theme Song From) Which Way Is Up? (Stargard cover)