The phenomenon that we're officially dubbing 'The 12 Days Of Prince' continued yesterday as the pint-sized pop star treated fans to a two-and-a-half-hour gig at Shepherds Bush Empire.
Prince, who's been running round London Town dishing out surprise after surprise like a lycra-clad Santa for the past few days, used Cerys Matthews 6Music radio show to announce the gig – doors were at 7PM and whoever got in the queue first, got in.
The queue was SO LONG. There was one family who'd travelled from Birmingham. 'We heard the announcement on the radio at 12, jumped straight in the car, made it down here in 2 hours 20 mins (not bad going for those of you not familiar with the M1) then queued for four hours.’ Others had come from as far as Plymouth and Southampton.
Ticket prices were thought to be £70, which there was a fair old bit of grumbling about, so people were chuffed when they got to the door to find out they could get in for only a tenner.' How much did y'all pay for your tickets tonight?' Prince asked. ‘£10? Oh well that's nice' he smiled. He'd known exactly what he was doing all along.
Let’s just take a moment to talk about Prince’s backing band 3rdEyeGirl. Ida Neilsen on bass looked like a Flash Gordon extra, the impossibly beautiful Hannah Ford on drums is one drumstick away from captaining the cheerleading team and Donna Grantis on guitar; holy moly. In a black leather catsuit with McQueen-esque crystal encrusted boots and half her head shaved, she looked a-ma-zing. Hannah told us she loved us sooooo much but would we not take any pictures on our phones? The band find it easier to connect with the audience if it's not through the medium of technology. Remarkably, this being a request straight from Prince, everyone complied.
[ASSETHERE=image]
No must-see event in London is complete without a visit from Cara Delevingne and yep, she was there, headbanging away with pals Nick Grimshaw and Will Heard. On the other end of the celebrity spectrum was George Clinton, who in a white fedora was arguably the only person in the room cooler than Prince.
Opening with Pretzelbodylogic and blowing through one blockbuster guitar number after another, Prince eventually slowed down and played a piano medley of greatest hits –Diamonds and Pearls, Purple Rain, When Doves Cry… Weirdly, it was mostly done in the dark. Prince seemed to like the dark. Or really bright lights. Lots and lots of flashing lights.
After the medley it was smashing encore after smashing encore. Six in total – we think, it was kind of hard to keep track, before finally finishing with a guitar heavy, smoke filled, hugely enjoyable version of Bambi. There was a lot of clapping, screaming, dancing in the aisles, banging on the wall – security looked like they wanted to murder someone.
The whole thing was magnificent. Less gig – more the best dance party you've ever been to as Prince pirouetted (literally) his way between stunning piano solos and epic guitar solos. Best. Sunday. Ever. How am I today? Oh well I can’t hear a thing. But at least the last thing I heard was Prince.
Follow Jess on Twitter @jesscommons
Pictures: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.