Take your mama out
Perhaps it was an odd choice of date, taking my mum to see Prince on the second night of his lengthy sojourn at the O2 (or “Millennium Dome” as I prefer to dub it, on account of the year of its inauguration and its hemispherical appearance).
Normally our mother-son bonding involves lengthy games of Scrabble. However, Mrs Godwin expressed mild interest when I mentioned that I had a spare ticket to Friday’s performance, so I thought I'd extend the invitation to her. It seemed a fair deal: she gave me life and unconditional love; I would take her to a pop concert.
Of course I had misgivings. “I’m just not sure it's appropriate company for watching a gyrating, sex-obsessed midget” I confessed to a colleague. "That's no way to talk about your mother", I was told. Judging by the ecstatic reviews, I reckoned the show ought to be entertaining enough to transcend the oddness of the juxtaposition - and besides, as mums go, mine is pretty hip to the jive. I just really hoped that Prince didn’t make it awkward by playing “Sexy MF”, for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who Googles the lyrics to that steamy jam.
What I hadn’t banked on were the difficulties presented by “Millennium Dome” itself. It has generally been appraised as a success since AEG and O2 spruced it up. This was my first visit and I was not bowled over. “Ghastly” was Mrs Godwin’s verdict, as we walked down the Disneyland-style avenues, past fake beaches and chill-out bubbles, trying to find somewhere to eat that didn’t have a massive queue outside. I can’t envisage any universe in which I’d be happy to wait an hour to dine in Nando’s.
So we stood in line for takeway sushi, and ate it outside, sitting on an uncomfortable metal bar, gazing out over a paved, treeless expanse at malfunctioning fountains, cart-wheeling litter and beyond, the gas ring and the vast iron hanger containing David Beckham’s Football Academy. An all round entertainment experience it was not.
Once we had found our seats, things began to look up. The arena is a vast improvement on Wembley and Earl’s Court: good sightlines, clean bogs - if you have to go to a venue this size, it may as well be here. “That stage is a funny shape, though”, said Mrs Godwin, imagining the platform in the shape of Prince’s famous symbol to be a permanent fixture. The Purple One was, of course, brilliant, performing as generous a show as you could have wanted for £31.21 a ticket. Only the muddy acoustics - really bad actually - and his decision to let his saxophonist perform a five-minute solo of What a Wonderful World let him down.
But the escapism was short-lived. Mum left early and got the tube; I lingered, to travel home with some friends - by which time entering North Greenwich station was an impossibility, and taxi queues snaked ominously. We opted for the boat, and two and a half hours later finally made it back home. Embarassed, I texted my mother to apologise for a weird evening. Next time we'll stick to Scrabble.
The show was ok.
The after show a wash out.
As a paying fan for 20 years
I expected a little better treatment,
and for the price £31.21,
I coughed up £225.
I am sure that prince is satisfied,
but not I.
Posted by: Alice | 08/08/2007 at 02:08 PM
I saw Prince last night and it was a brilliant set - he's not got the moves that he used to but what a great performer. He also spent over an hour at the official after show party in the Indigo - fantastic. I did hear that he didn't go to the after show every night so i guess I am one of the lucky ones.
Posted by: Teresa H | 08/08/2007 at 06:17 PM
Dear Sir,
In response to your Article on the prince concert you attended with your mother on 3rd August, I would like to voice my opinion on the same concert.
I went with my girlfriend (seen two concerts before Billy Joel and Pink), my sister (seen in excess of forty concerts), her partner (seen more concerts than Elton John has performed), and obviously myself (Been to about twenty concerts).
We were all very disappointed with the concert as it seemed to lack any continuance. The bands intro at the beginning was excellent albeit a bit longwinded, but then the Majestic Prince emerged onto the awesome stage and instantly slowed the pace of the concert down again. After four songs he disappeared for about ten minutes which was rather strange. We were not impressed when he mentioned four songs that he could sing and then proceeded to do none of them.
He seemed to do Purple Rain back to front with an overly long introduction which meant a couple of verses were cut and it seemed to end rather quickly. I don't know why we had to listen to one of his backing singers sing Crazy. Good song good voice but would have preferred to hear Prince sing Little Red Corvette or any other of twenty songs that I was looking forward to but was denied.
My biggest criticism is this. The four of us that went to the concert have a lot of experience with concerts, but we were all genuinely sat there at the end of the concert unsure as to whether or not it had finished. I dare say you heard the tannoy announcement asking people to make their way home as the venue was closing and then the resounding BOOS' that circled the arena. We were not the only ones to stick around and estimate about 15 thousand people like us were unsure and ultimately disappointed with the end of the performance. I would imagine that over the course of the twenty one nights he will cover every song that anyone would wish to hear, but still feel thoroughly deflated after that concert.
Still a fan and respect his brilliance but I would like him to perform in my front room on Xmas eve to make up for it.
Carl
Posted by: Carl | 10/08/2007 at 11:21 AM
just to correct my commemts
my ticket price was £125
sorry for the mistake.
Feel like Carl though,
so bring it on Prince
Posted by: Alice | 13/08/2007 at 11:35 AM
Tuesday the 14th rocked! Not a single dud song, with most focused on his hits! Kiss was mega, cream went down well and even some of the more saccarine stuff was aptly placed in the set. Opening with 1999 was the peak of the concert's atmosphere though. It does suffer from poor acoustics and even though I was in row A, there was a distinct lack of crowd atmosphere.
The afterparty banished these bug-bears as Prince lept to join Beverley Knight for a whopping 2 and a half hours! Breathtaking stuff, as the smaller, more intimate venue brought out the electric atmosphere and really got the crowd going. When he came on again to do partyman at 3:10 am, the place erupted. All hail his purple majesty!!
Posted by: Tom Hughes | 15/08/2007 at 05:59 PM