Prince on Leno, night 3: somewhere in the middle

I guess I was wrong. Either that, or he didn't live up to his promise.

"Ol' Skool Company," 3/25/09


Listen to Leno say that he will be performing a song from a different CD each night. That did not happen.

On his third night on Leno, Prince performed "Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful," from Lot3s Flower. Just as a reminder, "Dreamer," a song from the same album, was performed on night two.

The purple one's performance on night three was only okay. It didn't reach the heights of Thursday's performance, but wasn't as banal as Wednesday. He found some middle ground, where he does funk by-the-numbers, and it is entertaining, but at the same time not breaking any new ground.

That said, Prince has the ability to take an okay song and turn it into a great live song, which is exactly what he did on Friday night. It was a four-minute party, with some wicked guitar and lively dancing. Thursday's performance had originality, and for that it was better but it was just a good time on Friday night (Note: he tried for this on Wednesday for this).

Here is Friday's performance:

"Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful"



And here is Thursday's performance:

"Dreamer"

Prince on Leno, night 2: now that's more like it

With last night's old-man-trying-to-look-young-and-not-in-a-good-way act, Prince had a lot to live up to...and he did.

I'm serious. The man pulled it off Thursday night on Leno. Maybe it was a better song, maybe it was that he was more inspired, but instead of trying to sound relevant, he proved why he still is relevant. He was shit-hot tonight, instead of just being, well, shit.

This time, Prince performed "Dreamer," a song off of Lotus Flow3r. Instead of rooted in funk, the song is inspired by Hendrix (so much so that he kept teasing "Purple Haze" in is solos), riding a deep groove throughout. It rocked hard, and it gave him ample space to show off what he can do with a guitar. Those sounds are unnatural.

Since the early 00s, Prince has been showing more and more why he is such an underrated guitarist. "Dreamer" on Leno was just another great example, and it makes me want to see him play guitar more.

Jay Leno has said that Prince will perform one song from each of the three discs each night he is on. That leaves a song from the disc by his new protege, Bria Valente. I don't have high hopes.

Note: I liked his little stunt of giving his guitar away to an audience member and walking off, but not long after, I saw one of the show's workers cross the camera with it. Apparently it's only okay to tease someone by giving them a guitar, but once the cameras are (supposedly) not rolling anymore, they need it back. That was cold.

Prince on Leno, night 1: creepy old man

The purple one made his first of three appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this week to promote his new three-CD set, which will be released on Sunday (only at Target, screw you independent retailers!).

On Wednesday, he performed "Ol' Skool Company" from the second disc, entitled MPLSoUND. The song is reminiscent of his work with The New Power Generation, but not in a good way.

In the early 90s, Prince became obsessed with hip-hop, and while he succeeded at times, I am overall not a fan of those forays. "Ol' Skool Company" is a tired rehash of that sound, which makes me want to hate it. And I do.

On Leno, he started the song by teasing a bit of "Purple Rain." Those 15 seconds were the best of it, and it quickly became dull. Prince is supposed to ooze sex, but on Wednesday, I saw a middle-aged man trying too hard to sound like he still had the mojo (making references to Obama and AIG didn't help, especially since Ol' Man Purple has never stood up for the common man. Remember when I said he was only selling the album at Target?).

With "Ol' Skool Company," he did not have said mojo, and in any other circumstance, a 50-year-old man with makeup on would get arrested for doing what Prince did (while the guitar solo and backup vocalists singing the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey was entertaining and helped, it didn't redeem the blandness of the song). A track needs to be good to pull off that act, and it was not

Note: The recorded version of this song clocks in at 7:30. Steer clear, since the hip-hop is played up even more on MPLSoUND.