Prince

Phones 4u Arena, Manchester/Touring

3/5

THESE ARE strange times for the 1980s triumvirate of megastars. 

Michael Jackson has just released a posthumous album of tracks reworked by today’s top-bill artists, Madonna has become a follower rather than trendsetter and Prince has spent years in the commercial wilderness after endless record label wrangles.

That all seems about to change on the back of a series of career rekindling guerilla gigs with new backing band 3RDEYEGIRL and now a handful of sold-out arena dates around the country. 

Expectations are sky-high in ManchesTer as Prince’s band, cheerleader-like, squeal about the importance of not using mobile phones and being in the moment throughout the set. 

Then a shimmering curtain rises to reveal  Prince in front of a purple, glyphic squiggle mic stand, sporting white satin flares and perfectly teased afro.

As he rips into Let’s Go Crazy, huge vents of dry ice billow upwards. Consummate showman as ever, Prince commands the front of the stage to swap effortless licks with bassist Ida Nielsen and guitarist Donna Grantis. 

A bass-heavy reading, the number does little to diminish expectations while also signposting the style in which he’s chosen to rework his 30-year back catalogue.

Although not as dramatic as Bob Dylan’s mishandling of his back catalogue, Prince reinvents a medley of hits — Take Me With U, Raspberry Beret and U Got The Look — in the style of a ’70s funk-rock house party. Yet teased out, slowed down and given hard Hendrix-like guitar solos, the playing lacks the lightness of touch that made them such pop classics. 

A more natural fit for this funk-rock style is recent single Guitar — “I love you Manchester/but not like I love my guitar” — which temporarily lifts the pace of the set. 

Musicology works effectively too as a near-perfect pastiche of James Brown funk as Prince slides across the floor and demonstrates that despite reportedly needing two hip replacements his ability to move smoother than upstarts like Justin Timberlake remains unimpaired.

That “feel good” breakdown is part of a wider effort to create a non-stop party atmosphere. Although dampened by several funky jams too many, Prince’s dedication to mood extends to an exacting level of control freakery as he barks instructions to the sound and light engineers. 

This culminates in him ordering the audience to whip out their mobiles during Hot Thing, which transforms the darkened auditorium into a field of glow-worms.

The attempt at creating intimacy in this arena’s dead space is  furthered during a three-song piano interlude. Under The Cherry Moon may sound like Sparks gone wrong but the stripped-back, truncated rendition of Diamonds And Pearls is haunting. 

The closest Prince comes to genuine intimacy is during a cover of Tommy James And The Shondells’Crimson And Clover, which playfully breaks into snippets of The Troggs’ Wild Thing. 

The sweetly soulful vocals on the number prove that Prince has lost none of his range despite some high-register struggles on Kiss. They also show that he’s still in control of the game even if some of the new arrangements during the 25-song set are probably more fun for him to play than for the audience to hear. 

Touring SSE Hydro, Glasgow tonight and First Direct Arena, Leeds tomorrow. Details: www.3rdeyegirl.com.