Just got back from Memorial Day weekend in Vegas...had a great time.  Saw

 2 shows by the Artist...one really awesome show and one really okay show.

 

 Saturday night, Larry Graham opened in the "jam of the year encore

 presentation" show at the MGM Grand Garden.  They announced the show only

 2 weeks before, so they only sold about 60 percent of the available

 tickets.  During Larry's set (which was the same one he's done in most of

 the JOTY shows), TAFKAP came out on stage during the second song, Free,

 dressed in the mask from the My Name is Prince video.  Throughout the

 entire GCS set, he played his guitar offstage and sang backing vocals.

 The Artist joined Graham on stage during The Jam.

 

 Here is the setlist of the concert:

 

 The One (intro)/Sign of the Times (!!!!!)

 Talking Loud and Saying Nothing/It's Alright

 Let's Work

 Delirious

 Purple Rain

 I could Never Take the Place of Your Man

 The Christ

 Let's Go Crazy

 She's Always in my Hair

 Pop Life (intro)/U got the look

 Nothing Compares 2 u

 Kiss

 Gett Off/Gett Off Houstyle

 Take me with u/Raspberry Beret

 

 Encore:

 (some new song about being in a cage)

 Baby I'm a Star

 1999

 Come On

 

 The highlight of this show was by far the awesome version of Sign of the

 Times...the guitar work on the song was amazing.  I've heard this song on

 many boots, but this was the best version I've ever heard of it.  It was

 also cool to hear She's Always in My Hair live...one of his best songs,

 IMHO.  We also heard 1999 for the first time he's played it this year.

 During the encore, a cage dropped down from the ceiling on top of the

 keyboards, where Prince was playing and he rapped a couple of verses about

 being in a cage.

 

 The band was Larry Graham, Jerry Martini, Cynthia Robinson, Rose Stone,

 Mr. Hayes, Kirky J, Rhonda Smith, Estelle (I think that's what her name

 is) on percussion, and the Artist.

 

 Not too much else interesting about the show though.  I was kinda

 disappointed with the show, which the Artist was only on stage for about

 1:45....I guess when they said the Jam of the Year Encore Presentation,

 they really meant he was only going to play the songs he normally plays in

 the encores of the shows.

 

 Celebrities spotted at the show: Janet Jackson, Woody Harrelson, Kat Dyson.

 

 After the show, he announced he'd be playing an aftershow the following

 night at Studio 54 at the MGM Grand...

 

 On Sunday, I saw Kirky, Jerry Martini, and Mr. Hayes walking around the

 MGM during the day and I asked all of them if the show was going to be

 different the following night.  Their answers, collectively, were "it'll

 be a little bit different, I'm sure..."  Well, little did I expect, the

 entire show was different!

 

 They played so many songs I'm sure I'm forgetting some right now, but

 here's a good try at a setlist for the 3 hour, 10 minute show!

 

 

 ...

 plus numerous and gratuitous guitar solos, keyboard solos and drum solos

 

 The show started at 12:10 and went until 3:20.

 

 With the lights off, the Artist came on stage first and slapped "high

 fives" to some of the people in the front...I got one! :)  He stayed on

 stage the entire night, and didn't even go to change clothes through the

 first 2 hours of the show...something uncharacteristic of him.  He sang

 backing and lead vocals with Larry on all of the Sly Stone covers...many

 of which I've never heard live before.  Nobody in our group can remember

 what they opened with..we think it was Everybody's a Star, but that song

 was definitely played last night.  The Artist played keyboards throughout

 most of the GCS set, and his intro to Everyday people included the opening

 riff to Forever in my life, and then he started to sing it.  The audience

 was singing louder than he was, so he ended up backing the audience...I've

 never seen that at one of his concerts!  At one point in the show, he

 mentioned that Janet Jackson was there the night before and wished that

 she had stuck around so he could "ask her about the Sly and the Family

 Stone songs she samples."  The people around me had seen a few of these

 JOTY concerts (that's an understatement!) and we started some of the

 chants before the Artist or Larry could lead the audience through them.  I

 think that it was because of our chants they played some of the songs they

 did.  We started the Everyday, Everyday chant at the beginning of Everyday

 People, which really surprised Larry it seemed...that was really cool too.

 He also mentioned that they were opening Paisley Park at 3am every Friday

 to "everyday people."  We'll see if that happens and how long that will

 last. :) After Thank U (falletinme be mice elf again), Larry left the

 stage and Prince called up Rhonda Smith, who stayed on stage the rest of

 the show.  Rhonda and him busted into an awesome version of the Santana

 Medley, though there was something wrong with his guitar, which seemed to

 upset him. Next was Mad, which was on top of a drum loop and we all

 started chanting "mad" before he sang anything.  It wasn't anything like

 the studio version to the song and he sorta improvised the song with the

 audience continuing to chant "mad" with a bunch of guitar solos and a lot

 of hopping around. After that, the Artist sat down at the keyboards and

 started speaking the first verse to Face Down, which drove the audience

 crazy.  He then broke into a groove that resembled Mary Don't U Weep, but

 turned into an awesome blues version of If I had a harem...he sang the

 entire song for the first time since Lovesexy!!!!!!  Next was a short

 version of The Ride, which was just long enough to include all of the

 verses. :) Next was The Ballad of Dorothy Parker and 4, from Madhouse,

 fully backed by the band...it sounded really awesome, just like the

 version from the Sign of the TImes rehearsal cds.  I've never heard that

 one live in a show before either (I heard it during soundcheck at the

 Hollywood Bowl in 1997 though...this version sounded better. :) )  After a

 few more songs and a lot more jamming, he left the stage.

 

 During the first encore, he played an awesome keyboard version of Face

 Down (clean version), sounding completely different than the version he

 played during the Love4oneanother shows.  Interesting how he supposedly

 doesn't curse anymore, but he said "we do this shit every night in

 Minneapolis."  Anyways...

 

 Next was another surprise.  He started with the loop for 18 and over and

 the intro sample to Mr. Happy, but then  busted into a full version of

 Acknowledge Me!!!  Right before the last verse (come on pretty baby sit

 your butt on the chair), he rapped part of a new song, possibly R U Ready.

 Then he left the stage again.

 

 In the second encore, he came out and played SOmebody's Somebody on

 keyboards...next was a cover of the Elvis Presley song Teddy Bear,

 followed by a 10-minute version of Courtin' time.  He left the stage

 again.

 

 For the third encore, he played a completely different version of Talking

 Loud and Saying Nothing, mostly on guitar, w/ Larry Graham. George Johnson

 from the Brothers Johnson joined them on stage (after a delay...he

 couldn't seem to tune his guitar) and then Kat Dyson came out and joined

 all of them on the stage.  Since they seemed to be in a guitar shortage

 with all of the guitar players on stage, Prince played air guitar...I've

 never seen him do that either.  Larry stayed on stage for I Wanna Take You

 Higher and The Jam.  During I wanna take you higher, Kirky J came out on

 stage with a portable drum machine and Rhonda played some drums while

 Kirky danced.  Larry tried to keep up  with him, but couldn't.  Prince

 came out to join them and was making fun of Larry's dancing, mimicking his

 steps.  He also reintroduced a few Purple Rain-era dances, which was a lot

 of fun to watch.  Finally, the show ended with a full version of Purple

 Rain, with a completely different intro. 3 hours and 10 minutes from when

 it began, the show ended. And by the time I got back to my hotel, the sun

 was already out. Damn!

 

 All in all, this was the best show I've ever seen him play.  Celebrities

 spotted in the audience: Ice skaters Oksana Baoul and Rudy Galinda.  Jason

 Priestly was also there supposedly, but nobody from our group saw him.

 

 Time to go to sleep now...I'm beat! :)

 

 -Alan