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Detroit Free Press - January 14, 1997
"The Former Prince Heats Up Detroit In Long-Awaited Return"
Written by - Brian McCollum

They got crazy Monday night at the State Theatre.

They also got sanctified by the sound and fortified by the funk, as the artist formerly known as Prince nodded back at 15 years of music to lay down 135 minutes of heavy-duty groove.

This first show in four years from the elusive artist was the hottest ticket Detroit's seen since last summer -- and one of the most rewarding it's seen in a long time. More than 3,000 fans endured an hour-late start, and a bone-frosting wait outside the theatre, to hit the town's biggest party of young '97.

Inside, things heated up quick, as Prince took the stage dressed in a lime-green tunic and velvet bell-bottomed pants, kicking off the night with the new "Jam of the Year."

If today's 38-year-old Prince is a tamer, more accessible Prince, there was enough coyness in the alluring stage shtick to satisfy any fan who was long ago swept up by a career laced with mystery and eccentricity. After a long and successful battle to get out of a disputed contract with Warner Brothers Records, this current 14-city jaunt though small venues is Prince's self-proclaimed liberation tour -- and a chance to reconnect with fans. Prince may be pop's ultimate egomaniac, but Monday was one night when he looked eager to share his obsessions with the world.

"Freedom is a beautiful thing," he told the crowd early on, and he looked ready to prove it, bounding across the stage and including the balcony in his playful flirtations. He and his tight five-member band locked into a near-continuous groove for the entire night, plucking mostly familiar tunes from a career repertoire that numbers into the hundreds of songs.

They turned "Purple Rain" into a muscular anthem, mutated "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" into a snazzy instrumental jam, and transformed "Raspberry Beret" into a crowd choral piece. Prince's middle-aged voice occasionally went gritty, but his range was intact and his falsetto still sublime.

Fans weren't as familiar with selections from "Emancipation," Prince's recent three-disc set and his first since leaving Warner. On new tunes such as "Face Down," the artist was at his most active, drawing the crowd in and even enticing it to sing and chant along.

There's nothing quite like a Prince show, which storms through heavy-metal hell, floats through gospel heaven, and touches down on just about every other cathartic spot in between. Monday night found Prince in typically virtuosic musical form, as he took turns at guitar, bass and keyboard: He propelled "Face Down" on bass with lurching, angry pops, and used his guitar to make a fiery, fluid blues-metal showcase from Joan Osborne's "One of Us." The show was smoothly paced and tightly choreographed -- a stadium-worthy concert crammed into an intimate hall, led by a stylish, precise light show and a big-bottomed sound.

The new musical year may be only 14 days old, but Monday night in Detroit is going to be hard to top -- unless Prince follows through on his vow to stage an arena tour later this year. Fans can cross their fingers, when they're done catching their breath.