We went to see Prince last night at Scotiabank Place here in Ottawa. Part of his “Welcome 2 Canada” tour. I’m so tired and sore today from dancing for 2+ hours, but what can you do? It was worth it. I never thought I’d get to see him live.
I’d post some photos from the show, but we weren’t supposed to take any. I took some, but I’ll be a good girl and not post them here.
Prince and his band were amazing. Very tight, very visually entertaining. He always has women musicians in his band, and that’s awesome. They played pretty much every song I wanted to hear. Some were part of medleys, which was ok with me. I’d rather they play a few verses of a song than not play it at all. Purple Rain was played in full (of course) and it was fantastic (of course). When they shot purple & gold glitter (see above pic) out near the end of the song, it was pretty much perfect.
Shockingly, they did several encores. As the last encore started, we ditched our seats and ran up next to the stage, as Prince suggested. That was pretty sweet. We were right up with the people who paid $500 for VIP tickets. We danced around with a bunch of other folks who were similarly into it.
And yeah… if I had one complaint, it would be that the audience kinda sucked. I think it’s an Ottawa thing, to be honest. I’ve noticed it at Bluesfest before, mostly in bigger venues. No energy. Just kinda phoning it in, if they’re into it at all. All take, no give. When Prince tried to get people to sing along, it was almost dead. Half the audience seemed to just sit down and wait before the band came back for encores. Some left. It’s like they don’t know how concerts work. Like when Prince said everyone should come up to the “dance floor” in front of the stage, we were the only ones in our row to go! It was truly bizarre.
Anyhow, other than that, it was pretty decent. Prince knows how to put on a show.
wish I had been in Ottawa for the concert! love that you got up to the dance floor at the end!
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Hi. You’re right, it is an Ottawa thing. It’s the same at Senators games as well. I’ve been to a few dozen concerts in Ottawa and the only ones I’ve ever seen in Ottawa that had any real energy were punk shows at Barrymore’s on Bank St., once at the Civic Centre when Metallica played back in 1990-something, a Canada Day show at Lansdowne Park and a Midnight Oil / Tragically Hip concert.
Actually… Lilith Fair at Lansdowne Park (’98?)was kind of nuts, but only for the Sarah portion (I was covering it for a magazine).
I can remember a Blue Rodeo concert where everyone just sat through the whole thing, except this one flower child woman who danced in circles. I thought she was kind of flakey-cool, but some people actually got annoyed at her. Weird.
I sent you an email a few days ago… or yesterday, about the column thing. It had a few links in it, so it might have gone to your spam folder.
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