Wish I had been there, by the sound of things.
It was in the middle of his belligerent period where he didn’t want to play any hits. The gig started with just a kick drum from the stage and Maceo Parker walking through the audience, playing a medley of James Brown and JBs riffs. The horn section was Maceo, Fred Wesley and Candy Dulfer. He was always a music fan and student, and only played with the very best. The first fifteen rows were all hardcore NPG fan club. He played mainly rock and jazz, a Led Zeppelin cover, and a lengthy solo acoustic guitar section. One tiny snatch of Little Red Corvette and that was it. It was a long show, over three hours.
And another ..
Then we got the tip off that he was doing one of his legendary after shows at the Islington Academy. We raced down there, got in. A DJ was playing a set of the deepest Prince cuts (who was that guy?) – the band’s backup gear was all set up on stage. He than came on and did one of the funkiest sets I’ve ever seen – pure James Brown jamming, bringing the band in and out, giving the drummer some, long solos for all the band. Absolutely red hot show. On a Partridge-esque side note, the only two celebs in the house were Leo Sayer and Bill Oddie.
People who’d been before said stay until the end, there’ll be an encore – and then stay beyond the encore, just don’t leave. The keyboard player was on his own riser, miles away from the band, strangely. Prince played an stunning stripped down version of ‘Love Is A Losing Game’ and talked about Amy very fondly, as a peer. Came back on and did an encore, it was amazing. That was that, the lights came up, some people left, lots of people stayed. Someone wearing a wedding dress did an interpretive dance in silence. Everyone just sat around chilling, the cleaners came around sweeping up. Then maybe an hour later, the lights suddenly went out, everyone screamed and he came back on and did another entire set, bringing various people up on stage until around 2am. It was like this cavernous venue had just turned into his private club and we were his guests.
I still remember seeing him at the Wag, what a sharp guy.
