This is not music, this is a trip! Or at least it will be.

This is not music, this is a trip! Or at least it will be.  I know, right now you are asking yourself, "What the hell is he talking about?" All things will be revealed and all will make sense in due time.  At least I hope it will make sense.  I never know when I start writing these things where they are actually going so who knows.  So it's been months since I've posted anything here and I would love to give you a great reason why that is but I can't. To be perfectly honest, I just haven't made the time. It seems I got caught up in this thing called life and the next thing I knew, it was April.  So why post now? Well, I'm glad you asked (I know, I know. You didn't, I did but play along, damn!).  Way back in January, Prince debuted a show he was calling the Piano & A Microphone Gala Event at Paisley Park.

Now this was the same show he was going to take on a European tour last year (or at least very similar) before the Paris attacks changed his mind. No backing band, no guitar.  Just Prince, his piano, a microphone (see how he came up with the name, pretty ingenious, huh?), his vast musical catalog and that voice of his. Hearing these new, stripped down piano arrangements of these Prince songs I grew up listening to was amazing.  It was like rediscovering the songs all over again.  Huh, what's that? How did I hear them? Uh....well....you see what happened was.....uh......damn, what's with the questions?  Maybe I'll reveal that in another post at another time.  Maybe I won't.  For now can we just concentrate on the topic at hand? Thank you.  So where was I? Oh yeah, we were about to journey Down Under because in February, Prince announced an Australian Piano & A Microphone Tour. He performed 11 shows in Australia and New Zealand.

Then on his way home to Minneapolis, he stopped off in Oakland and performed three shows there.

Later, at the end of March, he would have shows in both Montreal and Toronto. 

The thing about all the North American tour dates is that they have been announced like his previous Hit 'N' Run tours with very little advance notice.  And that leads me to why I decided to post here after all this time.

Yessssss!!!! That's right!!!!! Prince is bringing his Piano & A Microphone Tour to The Fox Theatre in Atlanta and guess who has a ticket to the 7 p.m. show? ME, that's who!!!!!! I'll be headed down to the ATL to enjoy this intimate once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience Prince in a way I (and most of you) have never experienced his music. To say I am excited would be the understatement of the year. That excitement has done nothing but build over the last week since the show was originally scheduled for April 7th but was postponed just hours before the show due to Prince having the flu. Here is the original press release for the April 7th show.

Prince – Piano & A Microphone Tour

Thursday, April 7 at 7:00 & 10:00 p.m.
The Fox Theatre, Atlanta
Presented by Rival Entertainment
ON SALE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30th AT NOON
Reserved Seats: $350, $275, $211, $175, $100
Tickets may be purchased by calling 855-285-8499 or online at foxtheatre.org.
The Fox Theatre Box Office will be open at Noon for in-person sales.

Every ticket purchased to Prince’s Piano & A Microphone concert includes a CD copy of his new album HITNRUN – Phase II, which will be distributed to ticket holders upon exiting the venue.

Prince will bring his Piano & A Microphone tour to Atlanta on Thursday, April 7th, for two exclusive and intimate shows at The Fox Theatre.

For those blessed enough to attend, everything about these exclusive performances has been carefully considered to deliver special once-in-a-lifetime experiences. The repertoire will be culled from Prince’s vast 39-album catalogue and each performance will have a unique set-list that evolves in real time, song-to-song. Fans should expect to witness special interpretations of well-known hits alongside rarely performed B-sides and new, never-before-heard material.

Prince’s Piano & A Microphone tour commenced on January 21 at his US recording studio, Paisley Park, where he stunned fans who travelled from all over the world to see him perform two very personal shows. According to a Rolling Stone review of these shows, Prince performed on a stage decorated sparsely with candles and shrouded in smoke. The show was framed by the story of how he mastered the piano and emerged from the shadow of his father, jazz pianist John L. Nelson. “The set moved chronologically (with a few exceptions) through the first decade of Prince’s career,” Rolling Stone reports, “including at least one song from each of his first 10 albums.”

In addition to classic songs from albums including 1999, Purple Rain, and Sign o’ the Times, the set-lists have also featured covers by Joni Mitchell, Paul Robeson and Ray Charles; songs Prince has written for other acts including The Time, Sheila E. and Vanity 6; and even a Thelonious Monk-style version of the theme to Batman.

SPECIAL TICKETING ARRANGEMENTS
To address ticket scalping concerns, the following procedures will be put in place to ensure that Prince fans and NOT resellers, are able to purchase tickets to these performances:

Ticket limit per customer: There is a strict limit of two (2) tickets per customer, per show. Any customer found to have purchased more than two (2) tickets per person, per show will have their additional transactions cancelled. Ticket dispatch / will-call / entry: Tickets will not be distributed in advance. Tickets may be picked up from the Fox Theatre Box Office on the day of the show. Pickup for the 7pm show will begin at 10am, and pickup for the 10pm show will begin at 1pm.

STRICTLY NO PHOTOGRAPHY OR VIDEO ALLOWED.

USE OF MOBILE PHONES WILL NOT BE PERMITTED DURING THE SHOW.

So there you have it world, that is why I am back and now that I am, I promise to post more often.  Hopefully I will be able to post my thoughts on the show if I can find the words.  Stay tuned and I will let you know. Until then, I will leave you with these pictures......