The Key Club, West Hollywood, CA 7/25/98:

Well, to date, this one seems to last in my memory as one of the best concerts I've ever seen Prince perform, which might be because it was at a really small place, I was up in the second row, and there was fairly little drama, other than us waiting outside the club and inside for nearly 10 hours to hear Prince perform. The concert was actually a warmup for his Europe tour, which lasted for . At one point he actually said that he was going to play for 3 1/2 hours. He lied though, he only played for three. :)

Ticket sales were actually very organized. There was the usual fiasco of lots of people arriving just before tix went on sale around 8:00 p.m. and eventually cutting in line with people they knew at the front. The front portion of the line just got wider & wider as the time drew near. But hey, we know this is always going to happen, and it didn't affect whether we got in or not.

Fans paid $40.00 and were given a wristband instead of a ticket, and were allowed to buy 1 wristband for a friend if needed. With the wristband, we had the option of going straight inside, or leaving for awhile to change clothes, eat dinner, or whatever & come back later before showtime. Those of us who went straight inside basically had our choice of the closest spots in front of the stage. Apparently all 600 tickets eventually sold out, and the line stretched clear down several blocks. The show was actually a party to celebrate the grand opening of the Key Club, which had been known formerly as Billboard Live on the Sunset Strip.

The Key Club is a very small venue, even smaller than Club Townsend (January 98 aftershow). They came up with the good idea of playing lots of Prince songs while we waited 3 hours until showtime. Of course, all of the hardcore fans were singing along with every lyric. Two pairs of female & male dancers came out for awhile, and this also prevented any boredom during the long wait.

The band took the stage around 11:15 p.m., and what followed was 3 hours of funk and seduction ending around 2:15 a.m. Same band as the Tonight Show appearance (Rhonda, Mike Scott, Marva, Morris, Kirky J), with Larry Graham joining on stage for the first few songs & 1 song later. O(+> thankfully abandoned the "Coolio" hairdo, and went back to the straight hair parted in the middle, with 3 butterfly pins at the back. He first wore a floor-length black outfit similar to the Vibe show, changed into a white JotY tour outfit, followed by a red JotY outfit with a white bowler hat w/ black "Come On" strip around it. Everyone in the band wore the Moonwrap earrings.

Highlights & funny moments:

- Performances of Nothing Compare 2 U, Love...Thy Will Be Done, (Let's Get) Funky, long slow version of The Ride, 1 verse of Erotic City, The One, and Come On remix.

- O(+> was in an especially great mood because just about everybody closest to the stage shook his hand, and he was joking & smiling a lot throughout the show.

- During Let's Get Funky, he threw in Halle Berry's name during the lyrics, because she was watching from the balcony. Jaleel White ("Urkel") was also there.

- When O(+> did a fast double twirl on stage, one of his moon earwraps flew off into the crowd. 15 people dove onto the floor & a guy eventually picked it up.

- About 5 white towels were thrown into the audience, and 1 red towel with the O(+> symbol, which O(+> himself used & threw toward the crowd, got caught up on a lighting fixture just below the balcony where Londell McMillan was sitting. It reminded me of when a basketball is shot and it gets wedged next to the rim.

- At one point, O(+> looked up at the upper side balcony where Halle Berry was partying at the railing, and he said "Uh-oh, y'all didn't know I could see up your dresses from down here, huh? Honey, your skirt's so short I can see what religion you are!" (OK, wrong gender but still funny!).

- Instrument malfunctions seemed to mess with his mood during the intro to Love Thy Will Be Done, which lasted more than 5 minutes before he started singing.

7/25/98 setlist:

Days Of Wild instrumental

Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin

"You Can Sing It If You Try" (tune of Mary Don't You Weep)

Free

Larry Graham bass solo

Everyday People

The Jam

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Purple Rain

Freaks on This Side instr. jam/Erotic City verse

Push It Up

Jam Of The Year

"Turn It Up" jam

Let's Work

Delirious

Love...Thy Will Be Done

Let's Get Funky

The Ride

Sly & The Family's "Higher" jam from Woodstock

I Want To Take You Higher

Come On remix

Come On pt. 1

The One

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Nothing Compares 2 U

MadSex

I Like Funky Music inst. jam

777-9311 intro

Do Me Baby/Adore/Insatiable/Scandalous/Howcome/Do Me Baby

If I Was Your Girlfriend

Take Me With U/Raspberry Beret/Mr. Happy

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Among the other celebrities spotted at this show were D'Angelo, Halle Berry, Perry Farell, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Larenz Tate, Damon Wayans, Wesley Snipes, Chris Rock, Puff Daddy Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale.