"Prince showww..." in Minneapolis 7-7-07

It's been quite a week since Independence day, but certainly a highlight for me was the Prince concert last Saturday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis on lucky 7-7-07. I'd never seen the Tiny Purple One in person before, so when my pal Will invited me and scored some sweet seats only 4 rows from the side of the stage (this pic from the show taken by some random blogger was pretty much the view we had!) I was thrilled to attend.

There's a ton I could say about the show, but I'll focus on the strangest part of it:
He played a ton of hits, but about 70% of those songs were NOT played in their entirety. It was truly weird, and these little song snippets gave the show the feel of a "Prince-medley-revue" or something. Here are some examples:
"Little Red Corvette:" only the first two verses were played...he quit before the bridge
"Raspberry Beret:" same as above
"Let's Go Crazy:" NO verses were played...just the riff and the "we're not gonna let the elevator break us down" lyric...that's IT!
"U Got the Look:" maybe the first half, that's it
"Nothing Compares 2 U:" again, maybe just the first half
"Do Me Baby:" one verse and chorus?
"Seven:" one verse and chorus (heck, this should've been the THEME of the night!)
That's just a few examples, but he was doing it all night. Weird.

Thankfully, he played my favorite Prince songs in their entirety ("Cream," "Take Me With U") as well as other huge hits like "Purple Rain" and "Kiss." Other favorite musical moments included:
+ covers of "Play that funky music, white boy," "What a Wonderful World," "Come Together," and a killer version of The Cars' "Let's Go"
+ Sheila E guest appearance featuring her huge Prince hits "Love Bizarre" and "The Glamorous Life" (with rocking timbale solo!)
+ Wendy Melvoin on guitar!

All this musical fun, plus a water rescue. Yup, after the show me and Will were driving home when my car got flagged down by a random stranger, alerting us to an emergency situation at Lake Calhoun. We ended up preventing an inebriated woman from drowning in the lake until the EMTs showed up, when we were able to fish her out of the water. She was hammered, and weighed about 250lbs, and she totally would've sunk out there...we were laying at the end of the T-shaped pier hanging on to her wrists, keeping her from sinking. 'Twas a bizarre scene, and even now it seems like a dream. She seemed fine once we got her out, thank goodness, but they loaded her up in the ambulance anyway. It was exactly one week after this occurred, so, needless to say, I'm preoccupied with the dangers of water these days. And, wow, thank the Lord for EMTs and paramedics and ambulance drivers.