By Paula Yeoman
Five purple spotlights shone down on a stage empty but for one piano and a microphone.
If there was ever any concern that Prince on his own would not measure up to Prince with a band, it was gone the moment the purple one's silhouette appeared behind a screen and the palpable anticipation in Auckland's ASB Theatre turned into rapturous, giddy applause.
'I Would Die For You' opened the first of two sessions from Prince and his New Zealand leg of the Piano and Microphone Tour, and it felt like every single one of those lucky enough to have snapped up tickets for this intimate gig would have died in return. There was no chitchat. This was only ever going to be about the music - music and a masterclass in the intricacies of emotional and mesmerizing live performance that only a true legend like Prince could deliver.
'Little Red Corvette' mashed with 'Dirty Mind' followed his opening. There were plenty of songs I didn't know, but as Prince plucked away like some sort of crazy blues, funk and jazz genius on that piano he brought me to the brink of tears in the most vocally exquisite rendition of 'Purple Rain', to my feet and in a state of pure joy on hits like 'Raspberry Beret', 'Cream' and 'Kiss' and down on my knees when he closed with 'Nothing Compares 2U'.
The man had sass. He had swagger. He had style. He came to party, and for two-and-a-bit hours he made you forget that you'd forked out hundreds of dollars for the privilege. He took you back to those heady 80s and 90s days when he owned the charts. And still, he captivated on the songs you'd never heard before. He reminded us what true live music is all about. No bells and whistles - just a man, his microphone and a piano.
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