Anniversaries often bring reunions. And to mark the 20th anniversary of “Purple Rain,” Prince reunited with some of the players in his musical past — Morris Day and The Time, guitarist Wendy Melvoin and former protege Sheila E.
“This hasn’t been done like this in a long time,” said veteran musician Larry Graham, who performed at Friday’s Essence Music Festival show at the Superdome in New Orleans. “This is just right on time.”
Prince’s show, the kickoff to the three-day annual concert festival in the city, was a five-hour party attended by 50,000 people, the largest crowd for a concert in the festival’s 10-year history.
The show started out on a bizarre note — Prince, onstage in a disguise of a straight-haired wig, hat and beard, playing the guitar on inline stakes as relatively unknown performers danced or sang around him. The most famous person to come on stage at that point was Graham, formerly of Sly and the Family Stone and Graham Central Station.
Then, the mysterious figure onstage announced Sheila E., and the audience erupted in cheers as she ran through her 1984 hit “The Glamorous Life.”
Day and the Time, billed as the opening act to Prince, emerged later. Day, who starred with Prince in the groundbreaking film version of “Purple Rain,” joined his preening sidekick Jerome as they sang old hits like “The Bird” and “Cool.”
Prince didn’t hit the stage until nearly 11 p.m., but the crowd didn’t seem to mind — middle-aged women squealed like schoolgirls and young men barely older than Prince’s 25-year career bounced up and down as he performed classics like “Little Red Corvette,” “Controversy” and “Adore,” as well as material from his most recent album, “Musicology.”
Sheila E. rejoined her former mentor onstage to perform along side him on “A Love Bizarre” and other tunes, while Melvoin — who along with keyboardist Lisa Coleman were simply referred to as Wendy & Lisa in his old Revolution band — also sat in with his New Power Generation band.
Other surprise guests included Chaka Khan, who joined Prince to sing “I Feel For You” — a cover of his song that she made a monster hit in the 1980s; and old school rapper Doug E. Fresh.
The high-energy show ended on an emotional note as Prince performed “Purple Rain” and spotlighted drummer John Blackwell, whose 2-year-old daughter, Jia, accidentally drowned just days earlier. An emotional Blackwell pointed to the image of his little girl on his T-shirt, as Sheila E. embraced him and the band walked off the stage.