Prince at Hop Farm

 

 In a wonderful moment of blogging fail, this is the only picture I took of the whole day. If you would like some context, his Purpleness is the one in white second from the left...

Regular readers of my little blog will know that I love my music. It is a really important part of my world and I am always willing to try out new music and see almost anyone live - from big festivals to my mates' band in a pub. Which is how I came to be at the Hop Farm Festival on Sunday. 

During 2007 Prince played over 20 nights at the O2 in London, the Aussie went to see him twice and has been raving about it ever since. Now I like Prince, but I always put myself in the 'greatest hits' kind of fan category. I've certainly not bought any of his albums for years and I was a little wary of going to see Prince live because he has a reputation of being more than a little unpredictable. But I know that anyone that was good enough to evoke that kind of reaction in my big antipodean must be worth checking out...

'Worth checking out' is probably the biggest understatement ever. Prince's set on Sunday night is probably the greatest live performance I have ever seen.

From an amazing live soundcheck (this is a man that knows how he wants his music to sound), Prince and his incredible and extremely talented live band just played hit after hit after hit, several cover versions and a couple of amazing 'jamming' pieces. Then came back for three encores. The level was interaction with the crowd surpassed anything I have seen at a festival before. You could feel the whole crowd was uplifted and Prince really looked like he was enjoying himself. Now in his 50s, he looked superb dancing around the stage in a white suit and glittery towering gold heels. His energy is infectious.

The lights and almost theatrical choreography were spectacular. Staring up in to the summer night's sky while glittery purple confetti rained down on us during Purple Rain will probably live with me forever. "This is real music!" Prince kept shouting. It certainly was and it's going to take some topping. Just phenomenal.