RALEIGH -- Seven years ago, Prince brought a tour to Raleigh that aimed to demonstrate who was the boss (him, of course). Wednesday night brought him back to the RBC Center, and the underlying context this time seemed to be a demonstration of just how many employees, underlings and spinoff divisions he's had.

Prince really was kind of the Motown of the 1980s, with an instantly recognizable sound. Whether it was his name or somebody else's on the Paisley Park Records label, you always knew it was him right away.

That point was made before Wednesday night's performance even began, as the video screens showed a series of videos by '80s-vintage Prince associates including The Family, Sheila E., Andre Cymone, The Time and Mavis Staples. Then after Prince introduced her as "my inspiration, the voice of seven generations, the bridge, my sister," opening act Chaka Khan came out and began with the hit he wrote for her, 1984's "I Feel For You."

As for Prince's two-hour headlining set, it was so tightly scripted he needed teleprompters to keep track. It was intermittently amazing, too, although the opening stretch was a touch too manic. "Y'all know how many hits I got?" he asked. "Wanna hear 'em tonight?"

Yes, but not crammed into a single half-hour. After beginning with "When Doves Cry," he launched into an ADHD-friendly medley featuring regrettably abbreviated snippets of "Sign o the Times," "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," "Hot Thing," "If I Was Your Girlfriend," "Scandalous" and I can't even recall what else.

If the format left something to be desired, Prince and his crack band showed impeccable virtuosity and showmanship. He himself did very little playing during the opening stretch, because he was too busy conducting, directing, shimmying, strutting, preening and stalking the crowd like a gigolo on the make. He put in some impressive footwork as he sang, especially considering that he was wearing red high heels.

Things were just picking up with "Raspberry Beret" and "You Got the Look" when Prince vacated the stage to do an outfit change. And that was when his backup singers sang Sarah McLachlan's "Angel," which was no less dreary as a gospel number than it is as soundtrack for those animal-cruelty commercials. It felt interminable.

Fortunately, Prince returned bearing a guitar. He brought Chaka Khan back onstage for a cameo performance of "Sweet Thing," in which she got a much kinder mix than during her own set (she'd been barely audible over the muddy, indistinct roar of her backup band). The following "Controversy" got everybody hopping up and down, and Prince played some of his best guitar of the night.

A cover of Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" made the perfect excuse to invite a few dozen folks from the audience onstage to dance. After that, it was one bullseye after another: "Let's Go Crazy," "Delirious," "1999," "Little Red Corvette" and an epic 10-minute version of "Purple Rain." The encore version of "Kiss" (with the "Dynasty" lyrical reference changed to "Real Housewives") made for a nice victory lap.

He's still the boss, for sure.

david.menconi@newsobserver.com or blogs.newsobserver.com/beat or 919-829-4759

ADDENDUM (4/7/11): What's in Prince's refrigerator?

Here's a last-minute biggie from the concert-announcement front -- Prince's "Welcome 2 America" tour will play Raleigh in less than two weeks, March 23 at the RBC Center. It's part of a six-date swing through the Carolinas including March 21 in Columbia; March 24 in Charlotte; March 26 in Greensboro; March 28 in Greenville S.C.; and March 30 in North Charleston.

The official on-sale date is Monday via Ticketmaster. I've been unable to get ticket prices yet, so I'll post them later. They probably won't be cheap. Then again, if Prince's last show in Raleigh is any indication (see below), it might well be worth whatever you have to shell out.

UPDATE: Tickets will cost $20, $49.50, $79, $119 or $199.

SECOND UPDATE (3/14/11): The $49.50 price has been changed to $49.

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Prince's Purple Reign
By David Menconi, News & Observer
4/26/04

RALEIGH -- Spinning across the stage at the RBC Center, Prince brought his band to an abrupt halt with a slashing gesture. It was only the first song, but he already had a question.

"Raleigh, " he asked slyly, "did y'all miss me or what?"

The nearly full house answered with a delirious, deafening sound of affirmation -- the word "roar" just can't do it justice. Satisfied, Prince restarted the band, and off we went on a two-hour ride that exhausted and satisfied everyone in the building. Prince's current "Musicology" trek might be the most-hyped tour on the road right now, but Friday night's show more than matched its advance buildup.

Imagine running into an old friend you haven't seen in so long you don't even remember that you miss him, and he manages to make you laugh and cry in the first five minutes. It was like that. Or imagine going back in time to watch James Brown in his prime, or Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the 1927 Yankees. It was like that, too, a genius and his group at the absolute top of their game. Most artists are pretty much done by the time they get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Prince got in last month, and he sounded like he's just getting started.

Calling his tour and album "Musicology" implies an educational bent, and Friday's set made a convincing case for the importance of Prince's place in the music world. The set list consisted of sprawling medleys of Prince songs interspersed with snippets of other songs, including current hits from direct descendants OutKast and Beyonce Knowles plus vintage covers. Prince danced, preened and played up a storm, with just the right amount of playful humor. During a mid-show acoustic interlude, he started playing Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" and abruptly stopped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, " he smirked. "Thought I was The King there for a sec."

The first 45 minutes were almost too overwhelming, one peak after another at a pace that was impossible to maintain. The show commenced with a video montage of Prince over the past 25 years, with Alicia Keys' Hall of Fame induction speech serving as narration. Then Prince rose up from beneath the stage, looking sharp in a white fringed suit and singing from a gold-plated microphone. "Purple Rain"-vintage hits dominated the early going, including "Let's Go Crazy" (with confetti raining down from above, less than 10 minutes into the show), "I Would Die 4 U" and "When Doves Cry."

Prince's current version of the New Power Generation is an astonishingly tight ensemble, and he conducted it with his customary precision. The horn section included saxophonist Candy Dulfer (his main distaff foil throughout the show) and Kinston native Maceo Parker, who held forth with a lovely instrumental version of the Louis Armstrong chestnut "What a Wonderful World" during Prince's first costume change. Hefty keyboardist Chance Howard also contributed a great lead vocal to the Sam & Dave classic "Soul Man."

The real show-stopper was a four-song solo acoustic set, with lots of audience participation on "Little Red Corvette" and "Raspberry Beret." Audience participation also dominated "U Got the Look, " in the form of a dozen audience members brought onstage to dance.

Things flagged a bit during the second hour, when the crowd started to get antsy about some of the hits he wasn't playing ("1999," "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" were among the missing). But the energy level was back up for the closing "Take Me With U" and a three-song encore that closed with an otherworldly 10-minute version of "Purple Rain."

It was great to have Prince back -- and hard to imagine how the mainstream did without him for so long.

It's been a while since we heard anything about the fate of Project Prince and Project Cardinal, two economic development projects that had the potential to bring two major companies to Raleigh.

The companies behind the code-named projects were widely rumored to be Radio Shack (Prince) and Fannie Mae (Cardinal). Radio Shack is currently based in Fort Worth, Tex. while Fannie Mae has headquarters in Washington D.C. and major operations in Dallas.

On today's Highwoods Properties conference call, CEO Ed Fritsch was asked about the two projects by an analyst.

After saying that Highwoods did not know who the mystery companies were, Fritsch said the trail appears to have gone cold.

"We haven't heard much on them lately," Fritsch said.

Fritsch was also asked whether the leasing environment has improved in recent months in the markets where Highwoods operates.

Fritsch said the company is seeing more activity on the leasing front but it's not yet resulting in a lot of deals getting signed.

Fritsch said the Raleigh real estate investment trust believes its strong balance sheet is giving it an advantage in a leasing environment where brokers have become much more worried about a landlord's health and ability to pay out commissions.

Some excellent advice to start your day off:

(Thanks, Justin.)

As of last Wednesday, I am officially 33 years old. (Please hold the applause.) And man, do I feel old!

Yeah, some of you are saying, "Oh Craig, you're still young!" I just spoke at a college function with a bunch of teenage, mostly female, aspiring journalists — and all they could talk about was "Harry Potter" and "Twilight." Every time I name-checked some old movie, they looked at me like the RCA Victor dog. To all these Robert Pattinson-loving kids, I'm a geezer! I might as well have my own condo up in Boca! Thank you for being a friend, dang it!

For this edition of the Condition, I needed to talk to someone who understood my pain. Fortunately, another friend of mine just celebrated his 34th birthday on Saturday. His name is Jason Shawhan, a Nashville-based film critic for these publications, a blogger, an employee at this awesome movie theater and a man of many aliases. (He'll always be Jean Genet Ramsey to me.)

We basically talk about our current lives as aging, desperate film critics, bad movies we clean the house to and moviegoing birthday memories. We also talk a bit too much about Prince — most specifically, stuff involving bootlegs (one of us may get a call from Prince's lawyers soon), the whereabouts of Prince's female associates(especially that one who purified herself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka) and why he won't get a hip replacement. It's another one of those installments where movies kinda take a backseat to, well, everything else.

I hope you enjoy me kvetching for thirty minutes or so. As Jason says, "It's just a rich tapestry of sad." You can also download it here.

FRIDAY: The Man Who Viewed Too Much finally comes out of the shadows and makes an appearance on the Condition.

— Two reviews: “Tropic Thunder” (in Wednesday, Life, etc.) and “Henry Poole Is Here” (in today’s ‘Sup).
— A Pop Life interview with “American Teen” director Nanette Burstein, which already incited an irate reader to call me up and chastise me for not calling the filmmaker on her more “outrageous” statements. (She also said this is what she expects from a “bad journalist” who wrote a piece a few weeks back about lusting after Angelina Jolie, even though that’s so not what I said in the piece. Oh, nutjob readers, how much you amuse me!)

As for film-worthy things to do in the next few days, right now, the Carolina Theatre is in the LGBT swing of things with its 13th Annual Gay & Lesbian Festival (which I reported on last week).

Later in the week, the Colony will have His Royal Badness performing in one of their auditoriums. That’s where “Purple Rain” will play as this month’s “Cool Classics” flick on Wednesday night. (Jealous, Jason?)

Finally, I just have to report that you will have not one, but two chances to see “Juno” on a gigantic outdoor screen tomorrow night. The N.C. Museum of Art will be playing it at 8:30. However, 30 minutes later, the NCSU Campus Cinema will have one of its free “Screen on the Green” shows at Harris Field and play it there. If you are blind or have low vision, I suggest heading over to the N.C. Museum, since it will include audio description courtesy of Arts Access. If you’re just broke, head over to N.C. State.

CORRECTION: In my "Henry Poole" review, I say the water stain in the movie looks like Jesus Christ. But, according to this TV ad I just saw and several other reports to the contrary, it's actually the "face of God." (Call me crazy, but I thought it was Christ since it's more plausible, considering there are paintings of him and all that.) So, remember, it's not Jesus, it's his daddy. I can't wait until the church-going folk get on my case about that one — "It's not Jesus, it's God! Do your research!"

See how Blackwater is connected in Washington.