“Well, I’m not one to get bad reviews,” he deadpans. The dates haven’t actually been confirmed yet, but the concept has: he’s going to perform solo, playing the piano, in a succession of theatres. Photograph: Tim Roney/Getty Images Paisley Park looks less like a mystical utopia, more like a branch of Ikea While we’re listening to Andy Allo sing Roxy Music’s More Than This, Prince suddenly appears on the stage and beckons us over. Then we were told we were getting a treat, which turned out to be listening to some cover versions Prince’s current protege, Andy Allo, recorded with the man himself on guitar. We are seated at his feet because we are supposed to be asking Prince questions: we’ve been summoned to Paisley Park at short notice, apparently because Prince “had a brainstorm in the middle of the night, two nights ago” and decided this was the best way to announce a forthcoming European tour.įirst, there was a tour of the studio accompanied by Trevor Guy, who works for Prince’s record label NPG: he’s friendly, effusive about his boss’s talents and a little evasive when someone asks him whereabouts in Minneapolis Prince actually lives. As skinny as a teenager, sporting an afro and almost unnecessarily handsome at 57 years old, Prince looks flatly amazing, exuding ineffable cool and panache while wearing clothes that would make anyone else look like a ninny is just one among his panoply of talents. The socks and flip-flops are white, as is the rest of his outfit: skinny flared trousers, a T-shirt with long sleeves, also flared. We are literally sitting at Prince’s feet: feet, it’s perhaps worth noting, that are wearing a pair of flip-flops with huge platform soles teamed with socks. I am currently on the stage of the latter, along with four other representatives of the European press. Photograph: Michael Ochs ArchivesĪnd there are two full-sized live-music venues: a vast, hangar-like space that also features a food concession – form an orderly queue for Funky House Party In Your Mouth Cheesecake ($4) – and a smaller room decked out to look like a nightclub. Prince, performing in 1985, in his superstardom heyday. There are murals depicting the studio’s owner, never a man exactly crippled by modesty. There is something called the Galaxy Room, apparently intended for meditation: it is illuminated entirely by ultraviolet lights and has paintings of planets on the walls. The symbol that represented Prince’s name for most of the 90s is everywhere: hanging from the ceiling, painted on speakers and the studio’s mixing desks, illuminating one room in the form of a neon sign. Inside, however, it looks almost exactly like you’d imagine a huge recording complex owned by Prince would look. It sits behind a chainlink fence in the nondescript Minnesota suburb of Chanhassen, and there’s no getting around the fact that, from the outside at least, it looks less like a mystical utopia, more like a branch of Ikea. It’s all a bit difficult to square with Paisley Park, the vast studio complex Prince built a couple of years later. “There aren’t any rules in Paisley Park.” “Love is the colour this place imparts,” it continues. Thanks to Big Al for the Love. Might have to do another one very soon.Paisley Park, the lyrics aver, is filled with laughing children on see-saws and “colourful people” with expressions that “speak of profound inner peace”, whatever they look like. We have a feeling who wanted that on.Īnd…for those that missed it, here is the 19 minute “Days Of Wild & Loose” jam Andy sent out a tweet last night talking about being in the studio and watching the NBA Finals. We talked about Andy Allo’s “Superconductor” CD due for release later this year and a few other purple things. Only he and his travel agent know for sure. Yes, the one and only PRINCE was/still is in town. Good mernin’ good mernin’! Drfunkenberry just did a radio interview with Big Al from Sacramento V101.1 where we talked about a guest they had in town.
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