Prince Snatches Fairytale Ending Away From Chicago

By Michelle Meywes Kopeny in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 25, 2012 6:00PM

Outside of a couple of moving songs (but let’s be honest, aren't "Purple Rain" and "When Doves Cry" moving no matter what?), it sounds like Prince’s concert at the United Center last night was a total let down. For fans who were stoked to see the legend on the first night of his Welcome 2 Chicago three night stand, they got a set mostly powered by backup singers and his band. Apparently Prince barely even picked up a guitar and actually left the stage during one of the many covers of the evening.

Twitter was a-buzz this morning of the two biggest disappointments of the night, though: a surprise two-song encore that came almost an hour after the end of the show (long after the house lights came up and most of the crowd had already left), and a House of Blues “Purple After Jam” where he didn’t even play. Although tickets for the “after jam” don’t have Prince’s name on them, fans who paid between $50 and $75 surely feel they’re entitled to a refund.

Our friends over at Gapers Block chronicled the evening, capturing the conflicting excitement and disappointment of long time fan's first time seeing Prince live. Even Greg Kot’s headline says the artist was “more fizzle than sizzle.” This coming from a guy who just last week was humbly bragging to the Twitterverse that he was at rehearsal with the Purple One for an interview (one of the few humblebrags that we can get behind).

Let’s hope that as Prince says, no two shows are alike, because he’s still got two nights left to play here, and a legion of fans wondering if they’ve wasted their money.