1984 - the video of "When Doves Cry" was playing over and over on the TV in the promotion of an upcoming TV channel called Canal +. (the kind that pay - a bit like cable TV). Anyway, I was 13, thought that the guy coming out of the bath tub with a rose in his mouth was pretty sexy. This was my introduction to Prince. Then came the movie Purple Rain....and gosh I loved the clothes...Yes my teenager years was the 80's . Yes I did have the look (or trying to have the look - since the parents were not particular keen on it but who cared I was a teenager).
2009 - I saw Prince in various settings before but the best so far was last Saturday, at the Montreux Jazz Festival, at the auditorium. The sound was so clean. A crowd of 3,500 people, and me in the front row. 25 years later, Prince is still the sexy man who came out of that bath tub. Saturday's shows (he performed them back to back) are his only shows scheduled for Europe in 2009.
The set was amazing, picking up from his earlier years, re-arranged in a jazzy mood....His guitar playing wowed me, his stage presence was perfect, eclipsing himself to make room for his band members when appropriate, his voice - gosh the guy can sing...
I really felt I was re-discovering Prince (and music) all over again. He is the kind of musician that lifts you by his music and what he has achieved. I remember one line in Purple Rain, when the venue manager says: "No one cares about your music but you" - think about this, that might have been true but Prince stuck to it, did what he wanted, not responsding to "the trends"....If anything, he should be an inspiration to us all (as my friend Peter said).
Saturday, I re-discovered Prince, I re-discovered music...I got inspired.
