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"Graham Central Station" was the opening act (don't know if there were any other O.G. members of the group up there besides Larry Graham). They were solid, but shit didn't really get real until Oaktown-native Graham did his extended bass solo. They finished with an extended Sly and the Family Stone medley, then left the stage, only to have Prince come out. He launched into "Mountains," then finished off the set (with Graham making his way back to the stage) with really dope renditions of "Everyday People" and "Take You Higher."
Then there was a 20-minute break. Then Prince took the stage for real, launching into a medly of "Uptown," "Raspberry Beret," "Cream," Time's "Cool," and "Let's Work." What made it REALLY dope was Shiela E. being up there on stage with him; she played her ass off. After finishing off with "U Got the Look," he left the stage, and then Sheila did "Glamorous Life" for dolo, which was one of the best parts of the performance.
Anyway, then Prince takes the stage again, followed by Carlos Santana, who does "Soul Sacrifice" and rips it. Then the back-up singers got some shine, doing a few solo numbers. Then Prince and Sheila E. did a duet of "Love Bizarre" (again, banging) and followed it up with "Controversy." He finished off the "set" with "Purple Rain," which had the crowd going absolutely bananas.
The first encore was like 30-45 minutes, with him doing "Kiss" and "If I Was Your Girlfriend," and then finishing it was a slow jam set ("Insatiable," "Scandalous," and "Adore.") He come out for one more encore, doing "Bambi" and "Welcome 2 America." It was a little bit of an anticlimax ending the show with a song most people probably hadn't heard before. Part of my thinks he was planning a third encore, but since the show started late (Graham Central Station was still doing their soundcheck when they opened the doors), it ended late, and I suspect the Oracle Arena was happy about paying cats for overtime.
So yeah, it was REALLY dope. Eaisly one of the top three or five shows I've ever been too. I'll say this: for someone who apparently has a bum hip, that little motherfucka can move. He didn't do the splits or anything, but he did just about everything else. And as I mentioned before, Sheila E. was one of the extra highlights of the show. That woman played her ass off, and, if I may be so shallow, looked damn fine while doing it. Shoot, I don't care if she's 55, she looks smoking. And, more importantly, she's still got it musically. -----------------
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