Prince - The O2 Residency

When Prince announced a series of shows in the UK for 2007 we were pretty quick off the mark to get tickets - particularly as it was said that this was the show for all the big hits - and with a back catalogue such as the amazing purple one has at his disposal it was certain to be a gig not to miss. It was also a great opportunity to check out the O2 as a venue - so all round it looked set to be a stunner.

It has to be said that with tickets at just £35. 50 and the CD thrown in it represented pretty amazing value for money - quite rare in this day and age it has to be said - we thought we simply couldn't fail with this one.

It should have been one of the most memorable gigs we've been to and we should have left the venue raving about having heard (and joined in with) more hits than you could shake a stick at - after all, this is the master, this is an astonishingly talented musician, this is a sex God, this is a legend and this was a real value for money gig - so why then after the first hour did we feel like leaving? Why at the end of the evening did I feel like sobbing all the way back to the car eh?

Well - there are only so many sax solo's that can fit in to a major gig like this - there was just far too much jazzy sax solo for our liking - and it went on and bloody on - so from a funky sax solo where you thought 'yeah that's cool' you ended up wanting to scream 'shut the fuck up and get on with what we've come for' - yeah the sax guy was good - but he wasn't the purple one and it wasn't the sound I'd gone to hear.

For some obscure reason audience members were invited onto the stage to pratt about (sorry - dance and sing) with Prince and the band of merry funksters - yawn, yawn and bloody yawn.....

The lighting was frankly annoying because it meant that most of the time you couldn't see Prince very clearly....

The sound quality on the vocals was poor and unclear - what was that all about? - the overall sound in the venue was good so wtf?...

We had to endure over an hour of non non-descript sax solo's, audience on stage and general not what we'd come for before we finally got a rendition of 'Kiss' - hurrah we thought - here we go - finally we're on...but no- disappointment after disappointment followed - covers anyone? I didn't go all the way to the O2 and endure 3 hours of driving to get there for covers and furthermore if I was into Gnarls Barkley I would have gone to see his show and not Prince!

As for the 'encore' debacle - what is it with performers and using what should be set playing time as an 'encore' eh? after one of these the purple one did actually play 'Purple Rain' which was simply stunning - but overall this gig was a major league disappointment - where were all the hits we'd come to hear? no Raspberry Beret, no Little Red Corvette, no When Doves Cry, no Sign Of The Times, no Nothing Compares To You, no Alphabet St, no 1999 - in fact virtually all the songs we'd gone to hear weren't played - and that's why I left the gig just wanting to cry!

The thing is that Prince is playing different stuff for different nights so it's a bit of a hit and miss affair and it's just the luck of the draw as to which Prince experience you're going to get when you turn up - some people are getting a simply stunning show - others who are unlucky enough to go on the wrong night are getting short changed - thought about getting some more tickets and trying again - but with my luck I'll be bound to get another duff night.

If you're off to see his royal Princeness hope you get one of the good nights - I've heard that when he does his stuff it's simply amazing!

The O2 is a simply great venue and we'd really recommend it highly - having had an appalling time at both Twickenham and Wembley last year we'd sworn off stadium gigs - but were tempted back for this gig and discovered that the O2 is a bit different and certainly well worth a visit - at last a stadium where we think you'll get to both see and hear the gig you've gone for!

Parking is a tad pricey at £20 a pop - but having said that we got in and out so easily and with absolutely no queueing that we'd gladly pay the necessary premium - no idea whether this is the norm but if it is then the O2 have really got this right. In fact those who went by tube and bus seemed to have drawn the short straw as there were massive queues for these.

Okay - so it's a big corporate conglomerate and they charge lots and make absolutely enormous profits - but then again so does everywhere else - wherever you go these days you are going to get ripped off one way or another - at this venue you have a lot of choice - you can buy quality food and drink - what an absolute joy to go somewhere and be able to get decent food and drink.

Shame they haven't put in enough toilets - there was the usual queue for the women's lavs - would have expected and appreciated a bit better from a new venue of this caliber.

I got really confused about the security - they had what looked like state of the art scanning systems set up on the way in but it seemed to be a choice as to whether or not you actually went through them - I simply couldn't be bothered with it and wasn't challenged - so how does that work then?

There was a stunning 'beach area' which was fun! real sand and deck chairs for chilling out - so you can go to the gig early and have plenty of different things to do as opposed to the usual nothing on offer that you get with most venues - we found the range of food and drink available astonishing with everything from Starbucks to Sushi all within the compound.

As with all things these days you can't smoke inside - there is an area where you can get outside for a quick ciggie but we never found anything in the arena itself - the problem with this is that once you enter the arena for the gig they have a 'no re-admissions' policy - this is a right royal pain in the arse at venues and just adds an unnecessary level of discomfort - sort it out please. Many people were sparking up on the way out and this wasn't challenged by security

The arena itself is quite impressive and feels far more intimate than many other stadium type venues - the seats are actually comfortable! The visuals appear to be good - we had reasonably good seats but looking around the arena it seemed probable that you would get quite a good view wherever you were seated. Overall the sound was brilliant - we thought there was a problem with the vocals on the night we were there, but think this probably had more to do with the sound engineer responsible for Prince's mic as opposed to a problem with the sound at the venue itself.

Security seemed quite good at the venue and although they were quite laid back on most things it was obvious that they certainly weren't going to allow people to dance in the aisles - this was enforced to the nth degree! But aside from that they didn't seem overly heavy handed and were not enforcing the rules - we felt this was okay because it gave a more relaxed vibe - there were enough staff on duty to make you feel that if there were problems there were enough people to deal with it - but they didn't seem jobs worth to the extent that they really hack you off which can happen at some venues. Those that we encountered were friendly and professional and that can make a a huge difference.

The policy about whether or not you can take a camera is confusing - we mailed the O2 prior to going but to date have still not got a response from them - come on customer services you really should respond to your customers.
We phoned the O2 on the day of the gig to ask for clarification and were told that an ordinary camera was fine but they didn't know whether the artists would allow people to use them during the show. In the event there were notices up saying that the artist would not allow photographs to be taken and that anyone doing so would be evicted from the venue. This, as you can see, was not enforced and plenty of people were taking pictures during the gig - in fact if they had tried to enforce this one half the audience would have been missing! in this day and age we don't think the camera rules are realistic or enforceable anyway - professional cameras are easy to spot and remove -so it would make more sense just to ban those and allow ordinary members of the public to take in their cameras.

Overall the O2 is a simply stunning venue and one that we would be both happy to return to and confident in recommending it to others. Go check it out - we don't think you'll be disappointed in this one...they've done good and big stadium events are back on the list! - thank you O2!

The O2 website