>Dance, Music, Sex, Romance
>Nothing Compares 2 Prince
>by Ned Lannamann
>
>http://www.portlandmercur...id=9078424
>
>IT'S HAPPENING. It's really happening.
>
>The grumbling of a few—over the unsurprisingly high ticket
>prices, naturally—quickly receded, leaving the rest of us to
>bask in the phenomenal news: Yes, Prince is coming to
>Portland. Yes, Prince is playing two shows, including a late
>set that probably won't kick off until after midnight. Yes,
>Prince is fronting a pared-down, all-female trio called
>3rdEyeGirl, ripping out heavy fuzz-rock jams like "Bambi," a
>shredder that appeared on Prince's 1979 self-titled album. And
>YES, Prince is playing a venue that has a smaller capacity
>than Minneapolis' First Avenue, the club where the infamous
>live scenes in Purple Rain were shot.
>
>For naysayers, it's easy to focus on Prince's idiosyncratic
>quirks: that overtly, femininely sexual persona. That
>diminutive stature. The odd, shocking marriage of religion and
>sex in his lyrics. The lost years when he changed his name to
>an unpronounceable symbol in protest against his record
>company.
>
>But none of this matters when you listen to his four perfect
>albums: 1980's Dirty Mind, 1982's 1999, 1984's Purple Rain,
>and 1987's Sign o' the Times—not to mention all the
>just-as-perfect singles: "I Wanna Be Your Lover,"
>"Controversy," "Raspberry Beret," "Kiss," "Cream," "Sexy MF,"
>"P Control." Prince redefined funk by adding synths and Linn
>drums; he redefined R&B by making it blatantly, juicily
>pornographic. He redefined rock simply by being better at it
>than everyone else, and he redefined pop by effortlessly
>making all of his sex-hungry, art-damaged weirdness sound
>contagiously good. What David Bowie was to the '70s, Prince
>was to the '80s—a chameleonic songwriter and performer,
>prolifically turning out platters of inventive, strange,
>iconic pop that busted through genre demarcations, allowing in
>their wake no room for vacuous imitators, but plenty of
>inspiration to go around. When Prince had the world's ear
>(1982-1989, roughly), the global music conversation was better
>directly because of him.
>
>So what keeps this tour from being a greatest-hits retread?
>(Not that there would be anything wrong with a set of Prince's
>best-known songs.) In a telephone interview, 3rdEyeGirl
>guitarist Donna Grantis told me, "It's been a long time since
>Prince has really built a show from scratch. His previous
>shows were more centered around the greatest hits, whereas
>this 3rdEyeGirl show is like a darker, more stripped down,
>rock 'n' roll outfit. We'll be playing some songs that have
>never been heard live before, but have been part of Prince's
>catalog for years."
>
>Grantis, a well-established guitarist with a long résumé of
>jazz, rock, and fusion under her belt, was asked to come to
>one of Prince's jam sessions after 3rdEyeGirl drummer Hannah
>Ford saw her shred on YouTube. She's understandably giddy
>about playing next to Prince—who's no slouch on the guitar
>himself. "It's mind-blowing and awesome and so inspiring," she
>says. "I feel like I have front-row tickets to witness some of
>the most phenomenal guitar playing of all time." She adds that
>the live show will be very freeform and improvisatory, playing
>to Prince's strengths as a "master bandleader" as well as
>allowing Grantis, Ford, and bassist Ida Nielsen show their
>chops.
>
>Of course, Prince's chops will be front and center, Grantis
>says: "For anyone who has really wanted to hear Prince just
>wail on guitar, this is the tour to check out."