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.