The artist formally known as....

currently known as


As my cousin put it... he was born to entertain, and entertain is what he did in Arras, a town 1 hour north of Paris on July 9, 2010 in front of 20, 000 people.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Stage names

The unpronounceable symbol (later dubbed "Love Symbol #2")

In 1993, during negotiations regarding the release of Prince's album The Gold Experience, a legal battle ensued between Warner Bros. and Prince over the artistic and financial control of Prince's output. During the lawsuit, Prince appeared in public with the word "slave" written on his cheek. Prince explained his name change as follows:

The first step I have taken towards the ultimate goal of emancipation from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros. was to change my name from Prince to the Love Symbol. Prince is the name that my mother gave me at birth. Warner Bros. took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music that I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros... I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity, was the Love Symbol, a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about. This symbol is present in my work over the years; it is a concept that has evolved from my frustration; it is who I am. It is my name.^[100]

"Prince" is a trademark owned by Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc. It was initially filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2005 in the categories of printed materials, clothing, electronic commerce, and entertainment services based on first commercial in 1978^[101] Various searches to the USPTO did not find any registrations or transfers of "Prince" or related names by Warner Bros. In 1991, PRN Music Corporation assigned the trademarks "Prince", "The Time", "Paisley Park", "New Power Generation", and "Prince and the Revolution" to Paisley Park Enterprises.^[102]

Prince has used pseudonyms to separate himself from the music (either his own or that of others) he has had input in; "I was just getting tired of seeing my name," he said, "If you give away an idea, you still own that idea. In fact, giving it away strengthens it. Why do people feel they have to take credit for everything they do? Ego, that's the only reason."^[103] These pseudonyms include: Jamie Starr and The Starr Company (for the songs he wrote for The Time and many other artists from 1981–1984),^[104][105] Joey Coco (for many unreleased Prince songs in the late 1980s, as well as songs written for Sheena Easton & Kenny Rogers),^[106] Paisley Park (occasionally used in the early 1990s for his production credits on songs, including those written for Martika and Kid Creole),^[107] Alexander Nevermind (for writing the 1984 song "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton),^[108] and Christopher (used for his song writing credit of "Manic Monday" for The Bangles).^[109]

In 1994, Prince mailed someone a disk containing the font outline for the "Love Symbol #2" with instructions stating that the symbol "is now the Artist's legal name and should be used whenever referring to him in print." However, in 1997, he copyrighted the symbol, which had been prominently featured on the cover of his Love Symbol Album.^[110] Thus, fair use of the symbol depends in part on whether one is referring to the album, or the artist as he was legally known during the 1993–2000 time period.

A little more about this artist:

Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson, June 7, 1958) is a singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He has been known under the unpronounceable symbol , which he used between 1993 and 2000. During that period he was frequently referred to in the media as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince", often abbreviated to "TAFKAP", or simply "The Artist"^[1]

According to Robert Larsen in his book, History of Me and I, Prince is "one of the most talented and commercially successful pop musicians of the last [thirty] years", producing ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career.^[1] Prince founded his own recording studio and label, writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of the instruments on his recordings.^[1] In addition, Prince has been a "talent promoter" for the careers of Sheila E, Carmen Electra, The Time and Vanity 6,^[1] and has written songs for these artists and others (including Chaka Khan, The Bangles, and Sinéad O'Connor), many of which have become hits, making him one of the most successful artists in recent music history.

Prince is reported to have written hundreds of songs, some of which have been released by Prince under pseudonyms or recorded and released by other artists.^{[citation needed]} Prince also has hundreds of unreleased songs in his "vault".^[1] He has won seven Grammy Awards,^[2] a Golden Globe,^[3] and an Academy Award.^[4] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year he was eligible.^[5]

In that same year Rolling Stone ranked Prince #28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[6]

Prince's music has been influenced by Rock, R&B, soul, funk, blues, New Wave, electronica, disco, psychedelia, folk, jazz, and hip hop.^[1] His artistic influences include Ike Turner, Sly & the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana,^[7] Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Duke Ellington,^[8] Curtis Mayfield,^[9] and Stevie Wonder.^[10] Prince pioneered the "Minneapolis sound", a hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B and New Wave that has influenced many other musicians.^[11]

Okay... so here is the story of my day, the fact that I am here living and able... I will share it with you :)

So my boss is an avid fan of Prince, she let me leave an hour early so I could get there as soon as possible. Doors opened at 17h and the concert started at 20h. Good thing they gave everyone 3 hours to get in... all 20, 000 of them!

Prince had requested that everyone wear purple for his concert... I didn't get the memo, but my boss did and so another colleague let me borrow a purple bracelet and there were purple flowers I put in my hair... so last minute, I had done as he requested :)

I took the train to Arras, about a 50 minute ride. As soon as I got off the train I asked someone to point me in the right direction... once I was on my way, I just had to follow the crowds.

There were so many people in line...and it was HOT outside! But an 45 minutes later, I was past the gates.
Kept walking past the security....


Through the arch way....BAM... the MASSIVE stage!!!
I didn't waste any time, I tried to get as close as possible...however, there were two types of tickets, some really expensive ones for the Carré d'Or (gold square) and then, everyone else.

So I was about 4 rows away from the barrier ... quite far, but there were 2 big screens and one MASSIVE one! So I was satisfied, and I could still see Prince, even though he is SO tiny!


His opening acts were:

Mint Condition

Mint Condition is an R&B band from Saint Paul, Minnesota. Formed in the late 1980s, its original members were lead singer (and in-studio drummer/percussionist) Stokley Williams, bassist Ricky Kinchen, guitarist Homer O'Dell, pianist Larry Waddell, keyboardist Keri Lewis, and keyboardist/saxophonist Jeffrey Allen. Currently, this line-up remains intact, with the exception of Lewis, who left the group to produce for other artists. The group is well known for its highly diverse musical style (able to play anything from traditional jazz stylings to mainstream R&B and rock-based music to funk grooves and even Latin and Jamaican-based rhythms) and also its captivating live performances. The band is also well known for their well written and produced R&B ballads, mainly in the 1990s.
and Larry Graham and the Grand Central Station:

Larry Graham, Jr. (born August 14, 1946 in Beaumont, Texas) is an American baritone singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as both the bass guitar player in the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station. He is credited with the invention of the slapping technique, which radically expanded the tonal palette of the bass, although he himself refers to the technique as "Thumpin' and Pluckin'." ^[1]

Larry Graham is ranked #3 on Digital Dreamdoor's list of "100 Greatest Rock Bass Guitarists of All Time."^[2]

Both opening acts were good, but when you're standing on your feet in the same position surrounded by other people for HOURS at a time... you just want the main act to come on. Plus I didn't have my cousin Chahira to rub my back like last time I was at a massive outdoor concert.

At around 20h15, Mr. Prince himself came on stage!!!! He sang a wide variety of songs such as: Kiss, Purple Rain, 1999, Nothing Compares 2 U and Little Red Corvette. I was gutted he didn't sing Raspberry Beret, but that's okay!

I was VERY impressed with his electric guitar skills, the man is a master with this instrument

He got the crowd into it, was smiling a lot, even got the mayor of the city dancing on stage with him!!! He said if he had it his way, he would party with the French all night! Apparently he wants to move to Paris!

Look at the crowd!!!!!!!
I love this next set of pictures!!!




He was so funny on stage too.... he kept on coming back... he did about 5 encores!!!!


One of the things I like most about going to concerts is observing the crowd and what kind of people certain artists attract. I had no idea with some of these people.... I saw about 10 people with the Prince symbol tattoo on their back!!!!! What the heck?!?! And I thought I was an avid fan! hahaha

Okay so the concert ended at around midnight, and my train left at 22h30---oops! Yea right, like I was going to leave 15 minutes after he got on stage! I did however buy a 1.5euro insurance, that if I got to the station at least 2 hours after my train, I would be entitled for an exchange. So I was speed walking like you wouldn't believe, dodging crowds and crowds of people, racing back to the train station. I got there at 00h15. I tried using the machines, but they said I had to speak with an agent. All the ticket agents weren't there, so I talked to a head train person. I begged and pleaded saying I was here within 2 hours, paid the extra, so he wrote a note on my ticket and said come back in the morning for the next train...which was at.......8h35. NOOOOOoooo... what was I to do?! Well... I went and sat in an Irish Pub until about 1h30 when they closed, knew that all hotels were booked, considered hitch hiking back to Paris, but in the end... decided to be adventurous and sleep in the street for the night. Like I said, I'm living to talk about it :) I found a little corner around the corner from the train station, sat myself down but heard scary noises so ended up walking around the lit area near the train station. At about 3h I went and sat next to the train station doors where there was about 30 other people, a security guard, and a big dog. Why I didn't do this in the first place?! NO idea... anyways, I wasn't alone. But what poor planning... I don't know why they wouldn't add a train back to Paris at 1h30 for just one night... ridiculous!!!! At around 5h a little café near the station opened up and everyone ran inside to get warm, have a cup of coffee and fresh croissant, as did I. About 75% of the tables had people with their heads down on them, trying to get some sleep. At 6h the train station opened and I moved myself in there and sat on a bench beside two brothers. Eventually we go to talking and they're really cool. It was so funny, probably funnier because I was over tired, but hilarious watching their relationship with each other, one was 24, the other 18. This picture they drew me actually says it all:

It was so cute, they kept adding to it, making it more and more detailed! The 24 year old is Batman and 18 year old is Robin. They also gave me names of great french groups to look up!

We ended up waiting until 8h when the doors to the ticket sales opened, I went in there and exchanged it for a new ticket. hahaha.. The teller was looking at my ticket, reading the note on it and asked me, "Who did you see last night?" And I said, "PRINCEEE" and he was like, "No, who signed this ticket?" hahahha..oopsy! I said I was just a little over tired and that french isn't my first language, not that that has anything to do with it!

So the B & R and I took the train back to Paris, exchanged facebooks and have become friends :) The great thing is... they are SOOOO Parisian!!!!! Like when you think Parisian guys, you see them, for real. The older one and I are going to check out some expos together soon! Woo hoo! High five to French speaking friends!!!!

Anyways, I ended up getting home at 11h and woke up at 17h30. Wow... it was well worth it though, for sure!!! Batman and I kept saying... it was all for PRINCE!