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Prince at the Super Bowl


I normally don't write about his purpleness. My lasting memories of Prince stem from a Prom I went to in 1986. My behavior that night was not so respectable. We don't need to get into it.

But last night, at the Super Bowl, Prince tore it up, man. With the rain coming down in sheets, he was the consummate entertainer, giving 100% in what looked like miserable conditions. The best moment came when he RIPPED through the Foo Fighters "Best of Me" (with a brief intro from "All Along The Watchtower"). I've always loved the song the way the Foos did it, but Prince brought chills. There was such passion in his voice and his guitar playing was AWESOME.

Finally, with the rain still pouring, he went through an inspired version of "Purple Rain" that, I feel, was the best of any of these bloated half time shows at the Super Bowl. Better than Sir Paul last year (which was routine, in my opinion), better than Justin, Janet and Janet's nipple, and WAY better than Aerosmith and the junky teen pop stars they threw out there with the boys from Boston.

Short of Springsteen, I don't think anyone will be able to top this half time performance. When he cut the music off and had the entire stadium singing the final vocalizations from "Purple Rain", he really united everyone there. And with the skies opened up with the downpour from the heavens, it was a majestic moment.

Aloha.

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