TORONTO -- Give Prince back his crown.
The 46-year-old funk-rock superstar, who has taken some unusual jazz and instrumental music detours over the past few years, played the first of two sold-out shows at the Air Canada Centre last night.
And the two-hour-and-40 minute-performance, part of his first coast-to-coast arena tour in six years, recalled his funky, fun and fabulous self from his '80s heyday.
In addition to celebrating the 20th anniversary of his seminal 1984 song and album, Purple Rain -- the last song of the night done to perfection -- the idea behind the Minneapolis native's latest trek is to perform some of his most well-known hits, apparently for the last time.
It's also to celebrate his return to sexy, soulful form on his latest disc, Musicology, even if the recently converted Jehovah's Witness has decided not to perform some of his raunchier songs from the past in concert.
Opening with the title track from his new album, Prince was joined by the eight-member New Power Generation band which included truly amazing drummer John Blackwell, sax players -- and solo artists in their own right -- Maceo Parker and Candy Dulfer, and bassist Rhonda Smith.
"Canada! Are you ready for me?" asked the pint-sized singer-guitarist decked out in a red blazer, white shirt, white pants and white jewelled boots.
"Are you sure?
Given his show started an hour later than scheduled, I'd say the answer would be a resounding yes.
His group initially walked through the crowd en route to the in-the-round centre stage that was in the form of a cross, while old footage of Prince was shown on four large suspended video screens.
Prince himself rose out of the centre of the stage in all his immaculately groomed glory. Within twenty minutes he had changed outfits into a loose, flowing back-and-white shirt.
"Didn't they tell you about the dress code," he said to his red-shoe wearing guitarist at one point. "You're supposed to have white shoes! Old pimps die hard."
The part-time Toronto resident, who married local lovely Manuela Testolini and has a mansion on the Bridal Path, last played here in June 2002 at Massey Hall.
That concert went on for three hours and was a genuine barnburner.
This time out, Prince had 17,000 fans in a hockey arena to deal with but the artist, who has sold 100 million albums over the past three decades, remains a consummate showman. He's a quadruple threat as a talented singer, dancer and guitarist and bass player.
"This isn't MTV," Prince said. "There will be no lip-syncing on the stage tonight. This is real music by real musicians."
Classics trotted out during the fast-paced show included Let's Go Crazy, complete with white confetti, Controversy, Sign O' The Times, Pop Life, U Got The Look -- more than a dozen female fans were dragged up on stage to dance for this one and remained there for several more songs -- KISS, and a shorter versions of I Would Die 4 U and When Doves Cry.
Prince even paid homage to some of his favourite female artists including snippets of Beyonce's Crazy In Love and Alicia Key's Fallin' and his own compositions for Chaka Khan and Sinead O' Connor in the form of I Feel 4 U and Nothing Compares 2 U, respectively.
Not all of his shenanigans worked, however. Like when he stopped mid-song to sit down and read a copy of Rolling Stone with him on the cover.
Quite effective, on the other hand, was his solo and seated acoustic versions -- on a purple guitar no less -- of Little Red Corvette, Raspberry Beret and Cream, which all prompted huge crowd singalongs, and Alphabet Street.
PRINCELY VISIT: While in town, Prince will tape a 60-minute version of MuchMoreMusic Live, that will be broadcast on Sunday at 9 p.m. on MuchMoreMusic and MuchVibe.
The show will see Prince interviewed by Bill Welychka and perform tracks from Musicology plus some of his older hits.
JAM! Rating: 4.5 out of 5
