10-12-97 Irvine Meadows, Irvine, CA

At Irvine, I got there early as well, but this time we heard Larry Graham's soundcheck only. He played I Believe in u during the soundcheck but not during the show. He opened this concert too. He was really good again, with an almost identical show to the Bowl the night before. Most interesting thing about the opening set was that , since I was sitting in front of the soundboard (my seats were DIRECTLY in front of the soundboard), the guy next to me told me that Prince was standing behind me. Sho' nuff, he was sitting in the booth, dancing...err....moving his head around to the music, smiling and bobbing his head. He was wearing the hat from the Somebodys Somebody video. Anyways, after Graham left the stage, he ducked behind the soundboard and, with a speaker in his hand, called them back for an encore. He tried to disguise his voice, but we all knew. Funny to see him duck though. Here was the weird part... when the Graham set was over, he hopped out of the soundboard and into a box, where he squatted and security (about 8 of them) closed the lid, and they wheeled him out to the backstage area. Now I've seen a lot of things, but that was ridiculous. Anyways, just thought I'd share.

Prince took the stage in Irvine a bit after 10pm. About an hour later, Prince went on stage with Jam of the year. He was wearing a silver versace outfit.

The set was funky as hell. He played:

Jam of the Year

Talking Loud and Saying Nothing

Let's Work (the full song!)

Little Red Corvette

Purple Rain

Get Yo Groove on/6

TMBGITW/Glamorous Life

Face Down (w/ Sugar Blue). He did a REALLY long instrumental jam at the beginning of the song that was unlike the versions I'd heard of this song on other concerts. Then he went back into the song and did all the vocals like he did on the Chris Rock show. It was pretty short, that part at least, but really funky. And he was having fun playing the bass on one leg.

The Cross (he dedicated it to Sheila E, who I guess was in the first row)

One of Us

When u Were Mine

Do Me Baby Medley

Sexy MF

If I was your girlfriend

Piano Medley:

Diamonds and Pearls

The Beautiful Ones

Darling Nikki (!!!) This was the loudest the crowd got, when he "pretended" to fight with himself when he played it on piano...

Condition of the Heart

Girls and boys

How Come u Don't call me anymore

take me with u

raspberry beret

Here's where the show got REALLY good though...the encore, which lasted

about 40 minutes.

Jam with Sheila E. on drums

Gett Off (really funky, included the "fast part" he did on D&P tour)

Kiss (second verse sung acapella, also very funky)

I like funky music (with two verses)

Baby I'm a Star

1999

During the encore, Sheila E. played drums, and TORE SHIT UP! She was great!! Problem with the Sheila set, however, is that her timbales and drums were not miced, and it was tough to hear if you were sitting in the upper rafters of Irvine Meadows. Larry Graham also guested during the encore.

There was no aftershow performance, which was a shame. Oh well...

Celebs at the concert:

Magic Johnson

Sheila E.

Morris Day

Anyways, in case u were debating about seeing this tour, don't. It's worth it. The LA Times reviewed both concerts and liked them both. Big surprise. :)