(Just saw that today is the anniversary of Prince's last show. I wrote this about seeing him just before he was gone.)
On February 28, Prince played two shows at the Paramount, a gorgeous old 2,000 seat theater in Oakland. He was mourning Vanity, whose memorial he had just attended. It was just him and a piano for the whole show. He'd never tried anything like it before this tour, and even the most faithful fans I spoke to were wondering if he could pull it off. He was as vulnerable and searching as I've ever seen him in the 28 years since the first time, and he slayed. A week later, he came back to Oakland, alone with a piano again, taking on 20,000 people in an arena, and he transformed all of us again. So fiery and alive. Here's how the first of those Paramount shows began. A kaleidoscope of fathers and rainbows, JFK, Batman, television, Sly, Flint. Taking us with him, weaving fast and free through his dirty, divine mind. Mourning someone gone too soon, none of us knowing that soon he'd be gone too soon too. Less than two months later, he was dead. Put on some headphones and spend some time with a brilliance and bravery that will never really have an analog. Love this life.