.In a way, I feel bad after this show. I'm 26, and I have already seen the best show of my life. That might sound defeatist and exaggerated, but it's true.


First of all, the venue. The old Millenium Dome is now a state of the art collection of bars and restaurants with a cinema. And further inside the Dome is a 20,000 seat arena, at which Prince is playing 21 nights in support of his new album Planet Earth (which is being given away at the show).

The support act..... well, she was ok, but I don't really care.


Prince came on about 9, and opened with dry ice and "Let's Go Crazy"..... is there a better set opener? Apparently he's rehearsed 130 songs and is playing a different set list every night. The stage is in the middle of the floor (so he's playing in the round) and is in shape of the famous symbol and lights up at various intervals throughout the evening. And I am sitting about 20 yards from Prince.

He follows it up with "Take Me With U", and I'm wondering will he play the whole "Purple Rain" album? Full of energy and bounding around the stage like a madman, even though he's 49. His band are obviously well drilled, and his drummer in particular is very impressive, Prince even saying to the crowd "Not bad for a woman, huh?".

From there it's the new single "Guitar", which Prince's onstage dancers seem very eager to groove too, then "Sshh", then "Musicology" and "Pass The Peas". The evening then takes a disco turn, with the whole arena swaying to "Play That Funky Music" and "Le Freak" and generally bouncing up and down, especially when Prince asks "who in this house knows about the Quake?" which leads to lots of people shouting "we do!".

We are then given some old school stuff - "I Feel For You" (best known over here as a Chaka Khan song) and "Controversy", before a piano and sax interlude with just two members of Prince's backing band, which includes "What A Wonderful World" and the sax player holding a note for about 2 minutes, which got a huge, huge cheer.

The rest of the band and the little purple dude then returned for "Cream" (upon which my homie Spoon commented "this needs more cowbell"), "U Got The Look", If I Was Your Girlfriend" (with what sounds a very painful falsetto) and "Pink Cashmere" ("I love this song", says Prince prior to starting it). Then "Lolita", then "Kiss", one of his biggest UK hits, which naturally gets the cheer it deserves.

Then there's a truly magical moment. I am writing this aware I will almost certainly get mocked for this, but when he starts playing "Purple Rain" instrumentally and the whole stage lights up purple, and everyone in the arena is on their feet singing the backing vocals from the end of the song, I looked around at the faces of the people in the crowd and it seemed as though all of them were close to tears. I know I was. It was such an emotional moment and just one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. To share something like that with so many other people was strange but something I'll never forget.

For the encore, Prince returned alone armed with just a guitar. He began playing and singing "Little Red Corvette", and then stopped abruptly, saying "get over that song" before walking away from the mike, smiling. He returned to the mike to continue the song, and followed it up, still alone, with "Raspberry Beret". There was a great deal of audience participation for these two numbers. The band then returned for a beautiful rendition of "Sometimes It Snows In April", and an upbeat cover of "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, before his Royal Badness brought the show to a close with an emotional "Nothing Compares 2 U", which, for you septics, is best known as a 1990 no 1. hit over here for bald songstress Sinead O Connor. Prince sings it with such fury and emotion that it is truly his song.

And so ends the show. Simply unbelievable and the best show I've ever been to, hands down, and probably the best I will ever attend. A great venue, the last time Prince will play what he calls a "Greatest Hits" tour, a free copy of the album, and I didn't even pay for my ticket because it was a birthday present from Nicola Red Smile

All in all - what a show. Til next time.....

Biggie.