April 2017 - #Atozchallenge - Predictably it's P

P is for Prince.

In retrospect of course I am so glad we got to see this legend.  I think this was a spur of the moment show as I know he was used to doing that.  I got my tickets just days before the concert and usually I am like months ahead!

When we drove into the parking lot we were handed a piece of paper that said essentially "NO PICTURES OF ANY KIND."  I have a problem (as I've mentioned before) with stars who say they don't want their pictures taken during the concert.  I am very respectful and never use a flash and don't keep the camera up in front of other people's faces, blocking their view.  I pay a lot of money for good seats and I am not trying to sell the pictures, I just want to use them in my personal scrapbooking to remember the evening.  After all, I'm getting older and you know how the memory goes!

In any case, I snuck my camera in and managed to get a few shots, certainly nothing like I usually am able to take.  This is what I did with them:

I got a printout of the venue layout because the stage was in an unusual shape and right in the center of the arena.  The black dot is where we were sitting.  Larry Graham of Graham Central Station (and formerly of Sly and the Family Stone) opened the show and really got the crowd into it. 

Then, in the darkness, we saw Prince riding a bicycle into the arena.  Unfortunately I missed pictures of that.   Instead, I got shadow pictures of him playing the piano.  That was quite stirring.

In the above layout on the left I used a digital printable from Ephemera's Vintage Garden Purple Reign collection.   She made that collection specifically to honor Prince and I was so excited to use some of it.  I printed the piano and background words on tissue paper and then tore the edges all around.  I also inked the feather and then added some sprinkles to make it shine.  I love the way it turned out.   Here is a close up:

As you can see from the set list below, he sang quite a few songs, although some of them were in medley fashion, leaving us wanting the whole song for sure!  He joked that we would be there for days if he sang each song all the way through. 

I had to really sneak to take these pictures so of course not all of them turned out the best, but given that Prince has left us, I am so happy to have them.  The ushers were walking around making sure that no one was using a camera, even so far as to put their hand up in front of someone if they were caught.  Yet at one point Prince took out a camera himself and took pictures of the crowd and during the last song, Prince told us all to take out our cameras and cell phones and use them because he wanted to see the lights!  It was a great show.  

Have you seen Prince?  Got in trouble for taking pictures at a concert?  Love to hear about it!  

You can click over to the main A to Z Challenge page to see what other participants have come up with for this letter, and come back to see what Q has for us!