Purple Reign
I’ve seen some of the greats perform, from Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to the Jackson Five, David Bowie, and Mick Jagger. None was as electrifying as Prince , whom I celebrate as the 10th anniversary of his death approaches on April 21st. I saw the purple one twice. The first time was at Madison Square Garden in 1988, during the Lovesexy tour. What that show lacked in intimacy, it made up for in theatricality. He entered the round stage in a white Thunderbird Landau replica, designed to match the car his father owned, and hit the audience hard with “Erotic City” and “Housequake” right away. The set was packed with hits. For encores, he performed four Purple Rain tunes. But the more intimate experience I had with Prince took place at a small club in Las Vegas in 2007. The venue was christened Club 3121, named after the home he rented in Los Angeles at 3121 Antelo Road. The furtive, star-studded parties he held there in the mid-2000s were the stuff of legend. The Vegas show was sc...
