Live Review

Prince & 3rdEyeGirl - Manchester, Phones 4 U Arena (17/5/14)
Prince can be notoriously hit and miss live. One night he'll play a greatest hits set and the next night he might play a two hour long funk jam. Tonight leans mainly towards the former whilst still having touches of the latter.

The show opens with a glorious heavy funk rock version of Lets Go Crazy, which features some great guitar solos, both from Prince himself and fellow guitarist, Donna Grantis. A great start.

All the individual members of 3rdEyeGirl are very good musicians and as a unit, they're a very tight band, not afraid to play around with the classics and deliver renditions different to their studio counterparts. Take Me With U, for example, is transformed into a straight up rock song while the verse of Little Red Corvette is a smooth soul ballad and all the better for it. The uptempo chorus sounds a little lightweight in comparison.

U Got The Look is excellent while Musicology is deliciously funky and full of swagger. Kiss is awesome, much funkier than on record and it really gets the crowd on their feet while When Doves Cry is incredible tribal, electronic pop.

This band is equally adept at playing funk, pop, blues and rock. In their hands, even weaker tracks such as Like I Love My Guitar have much more power live.

With such a vast back catalogue, Prince makes every effort to play as many tracks as he can in the allotted time so some songs aren't played in full. The one chorus and verse that we get of I Would Die 4 U is amazing. The midway point of the set is turned into an '80s megamix, complete with percussive mixing which turns the arena into one big party.

An extended intro to Purple Rain gives the great man a break before he appears to perform a brilliant smooth soul version of the track before the powerhouse guitar solo reminds us all what a great rock song it's always been. Astounding. Controversy keeps the good vibe going. 1999 is another crowd favourite but the sound strangely drifts in and out during the track.

Nothing Compares 2 U is spine-tingling and emotional, and this heralds a medley of slower tracks. We even get a couple of verses of Beautiful Ones (but not the climax unfortunately). The pacing of the set isn't perfect and this emotionally draining sequence saps the energy from the crowd. What they need is for Prince to play something upbeat to raise the energy levels back up. It takes a few songs before a dense and funky version of 'Play That Funky Music' recovers the good feeling. This is a minor criticism however of what was otherwise an excellent Show.