Scented candles and a computer screen provide the only illumination in a dressing room framed by purple drapes backstage at the Xcel Energy Center. In three hours, Prince and his New Power Generation will launch their Twin Cities homecoming with the first of three shows that are either sold out or just on the verge. Prince’s voice is deep, subdued, almost lulling.
Prince once had a reputation as being difficult and distant. But at 46, he exudes a wide-eyed vigor about the job at hand: a major tour that brings him to Chicago for five concerts at the Allstate Arena beginning Friday, following a string of commercial and critical coups. These include his nationally televised performance opening the Grammy Awards last February, his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March, and the release a few weeks later of a new album, “Musicology.” It’s already his fastest-selling release in a decade with 872,000 sales, according to Soundscan.
“Anybody can come out with some dirty little tune and have a hit–they’re easy to write,” says Prince, a man who should know. He’s written a few “dirty” little tunes in his time, explicit songs that once put him on Tipper Gore’s most-desperately-in-need-of-censorship list in the ’80s.
The dirt has been swept under the rug of Prince’s past these days, and he’s more likely to quote biblical scripture than he is to perform his lascivious “Darling Nikki” in concert. The dirt is gone, but not the grit. “People are starting to realize,” he says, “that I’m a musician.”
It’s an odd statement coming from a singer who redefined notions of funk, rock, soul, psychedelia and pop in the ’80s by combining them into a seemingly effortless string of classic albums, in which he played most of the instruments himself. Lately, he’s in the news again because he’s been handing out his new compact disc to ticket-buyers at his concerts, in effect mounting an end-run around the traditional music industry-retail store pipeline.
All this has obscured the central reality in Prince’s career: that he remains among the finest live performers of his generation, and that he has helmed a string of stellar bands over the last 25 years, the latest of which may be his most formidable. “Musicology” isn’t a first-tier Prince album–too often it sounds like Prince covering his best moves–but his current tour reiterates that he remains a musical hurricane, an artist who just keeps getting better as he matures.
Prince has been denigrated for his do-it-my-way attitude, even if it means looking silly at times, but a lot of his moves are starting to look downright prescient. As the major labels struggle to maintain their market share and to harness the Internet, Prince has been bolstering his artistic and financial independence and nurturing his fans’ loyalty with his Web-centric NPG label. “I can be part of the problem or part of the future,” he says. “And I know it won’t be like this in the future.”
Prince
When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday
7:30 p.m. Monday-Wednesday
Where: Allstate Arena,
6920 N. Mannheim Rd., Rosemont.
Tickets: $49.50-$75;
312-559-1212.
