The net result is that Prince and his fans are partying like it’s 1984, when he was a crossover pop culture phenomenon with the “Purple Rain” film and album project.īut he categorically rejects the idea that this is a comeback.

He did the same at his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction a month later, where admirer Alicia Keys telling the gathering that “There are many kings…but there’s only one Prince” before he paid homage to fellow inductee George Harrison with a stinging guitar solo on the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”īut mostly Prince is making his statement on the Musicology tour, filling arenas while his album of the same name has hovered around the top of the Billboard charts – partly thanks to a clever plan that includes a copy of the CD with each concert ticket purchased. He blew everyone away when he opened the Grammy Awards in February. “It’s a respect thing,” he told them.Īnd these days, it’s all about respect for Prince – more so than in the past dozen years or so.

“What’s my name?” he shouted, smiling as the more than 20,000 enraptured fans shout back the answer. Six weeks ago, Prince was jamming hard in front of a sold-out crowd at the Palace of Auburn Hills, on its feet and whipped into a frenzy even though it’s early in the show. And despite his veiled persona and taciturn reputation, Prince was actually very talkative. The ground rules for his occasional interviews were no recording or photography, though some discreet note-taking was allowed. And there was plenty just out of his “slave” phase, he had new music in motion, a variety of Internet-related projects and as hot a live show – a 360-degree experience on a cross-shaped stage – as he’d ever put on.

On a warm July afternoon, before one of his three Musicology Live 2004ever shows in suburban Detroit, Gary Graff was granted an “audience” with Prince to chat about everything he was up to at the time.

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