I had been chasing Prince on twitter trying to find out where he would play his next London show, I found out from 6 Music that he would be at the Empire in Shepherds Bush on Sunday night. I emailed my daughter who is in India, she has been on stage with his nibs, wow…..she contacted his manager, hours of nail biting and then the email, I have a plus one. The Strypes are back in town at the beginning of a UK tour, so meeting them at their hotel I asked Josh if he would like to join me. Niall wanted to come too. We walked across the green, or the Bush, to jump the mile long line to the guest list box office, at this point Niall snuck in for £10.00 Josh and I were on the guest list. Our seats were just above the stage. It was by far the best show I have ever seen, every detail of his hit and run tour seems to be well combed through and thought about. Prince plays like I imagine Hendrix may have played, with such passion and soul, it was perfection to watch. The band, 3rd Eye Girl were amazing enough, just incredible, and Hannah the drummer smiled all through the show singing like a teenager. If only music could always be as joyful as this. Just a £10 ticket and he played for 2 and a half hours. I was all funked out by the time I got in the car to drive home. The show tonight reminded me of going to shows when I was a kid, it switched all the right switches inside, it moved me and made me want to be like that, although that would never happen. Josh who is 18 understood that feeling much better than I. Niall was down on the floor and heard some kids talking about the people in the guest list seats above, us, they spotted me as being Bryan Ferry! (ironically I used to manage BF) Niall told them it was not Bryan Ferry it was that bloke from Squeeze, but they were convinced I was Bryan. They thought the guy next to me was Gordon Ramsey, it was in fact our agent Angus. I caught Prince in a glance as he looked up, for that split second I hoped he would say to himself, thats that bloke from Squeeze, or was it Bryan Ferry? What a wonderful night thank you Kiran for sorting the tickets out for me, I was emotionally drained by the end of the night, but would go again tomorrow to see that show, possible the greatest show on earth. Once Squeeze was playing in Minneapolis, he sent a note via his engineer Femi, it simply read “I know your stuff!” and tonight I certainly knew his. Grace, ice cream all summer long. Now where is that rehearsal room?

Setlist

‘Pretzelbodylogic’
‘Let’s Go Crazy’ (incl. ‘Frankenstein’ interpolation)
‘Funk’n’roll’
‘She’s Always In My Hair’
‘I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man’
‘Guitar’
‘Plectrum Electrum’
‘Fixurlifeup’
‘Marz’ (Incl. ‘Johnny B Goode’)
‘Colonized Mind’
‘Chaos And Disorder’

[Piano set]
‘How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore’
‘The Beautiful Ones’
‘Diamonds And Pearls’
‘Purple Rain’
‘Do Me, Baby’
‘Adore’

‘Forever In My Life (instrumental)’
‘Thunderstorm’
‘When Doves Cry’
‘Sign O’ The Times’
‘Nasty Girl’ (instrumental)
‘Housequake’
‘A Love Bizarre’ (instrumental)
‘I Would Die 4 U’
‘Hot Thing’
‘777-9311′ (instrumental)
‘The Most Beautiful Girl In The World’ (sample)
‘Mr. Goodnight’ (sample)
‘Breakfast Can Wait’ (sample)
‘Play That Funky Music’
‘Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)’
‘Cause And Effect’ (incl. ‘Love 4 One Another’)
‘Endorphinmachine’
‘Dreamer’
‘Screwdriver’
‘I Like It There’
‘Bambi’

‘Junction’