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Saw Prince the other night....

M

maxvalentino

Endorsing Artist Godin Guitars/ Thomastik-Infeld
Feb 19, 2001
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Southern California, USA
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#1
I caught Prince on his current tour the other night, with Rhonda Smith playing bass. Incredible show...phenomenal band (very tight, very funky and very live...nary a sequence nor sample to heard all night). Prince himself was masterful, engaging, entertaining..and one helluva musician (and very much in control of both the band and the audience).

But...Ms. Smith KILLED! Absolutely stunning basswork; creative (her new rhythmic takes on "sign O The times" and "Kiss" were very cool..and tres funky!), supportive, massive sounding..and very present! One short solo spotlight was afforded her, but throughout the show her deep and engaging basswork was both felt and heard. An uncanny ability to both supply support, inject counter melodies and maintain a deep and funky groove. The show itself was like a textbook study of how powerful and fun "real" live music can be; but Rhonda's lines thru the show were a fantastic example of just how deep and inventive bass playing can be......
.....and applied the grease to old songs like "let's work".

great show..gues I am gonna have grab that DVD everyone was raving about a few weeks ago...

Max
 
#13
:cool: :cool:

I would LOVE to see their show!!!! As a performing keyboardist (as well as a bassist), the lack of sequencing and sampling is a huge plus in my book. Technology is nice, but getting back to the essence of true live performance is where it's at. :)

(I'm a bit guilty myself, I use sampled congas / bongos / clave / handclaps with my band, but I'm working hard to replace samples with the real thing) :o

:)
 
#14
Hmmm...the ONLY thing I don't like about the Live At The Alladin Las Vegas DVD is a loud synthetic 'clap' that seemingly appears on each & every Beat 4 of each upbeat tune.

Anyone recall those handheld 'clappers' from the '80s?
 
#15
On the DVD, you could see John Blackwell hiting a pad with a big X on it so he wouldn't miss it........at least it was the drummer hitting it, and not a loop. John Blackwell is a badass!!
 
#18
Little G said:
JimK

You can pick up her new album at www.rhondasmith.com

Great album ;)
Click to expand...

Don't know about new, but it is pretty nice. I've had "Intellipop" for 2 or 3 years now. Rhonda's playing is tight. The lyrics are "ehh" and the vocals are not very good. I usually feel the same about Victor Wooten's lyrics and singing and I have all his solo stuff. I'd rate Rhonda a half notch higher on lyrics and a full notch higher on vocals. Did I mention that Rhonda's playing is tight? I recommend getting the CD.

Peace,

James

BTW - I have tickets to see Prince June 21st. (Anticipation......Anticipation is making me wait.....et cetera et cetera)
 
#19
So I just got back from seeing Prince in Sunrise, FL. All I can say is WOW!!!!

I've been to a ton of concerts, and that show definitely ranked in the top 5. I was totally blown away! I've never seen a crowd of what must have been about 20,000 people singing along and gettin' down like they were tonight.

And, as mentioned before, John Blackwell, Jr. is one SICK drummer! Prince gave him like 5 featured solos throughout the night, and for good reason. That man can play some skins!!

Sadly, Rhonda Smith only got one short feature, but Prince did say something like "Rhonda's takin' you all to school", which she did, briefly.

Long story short - if Prince comes within 4 hours of you, GO TO THE SHOW!!!!!! I promise you will not regret it!
 

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