Looking Back On One Of The Highlights of Summer of '14: The Essence Festival

As is the case every year, summer has flown by. It’s hard to believe the last day of summer and the official start of fall is just days away.

The following is a look back at one of the highlights of my summer: attending the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans over Fourth of July weekend with my good friends Mary and Renee. The highlight was Prince’s performance at the Superdome on the Fourth.

Prince and the current configuration of his New Power Generation band, an all-female lineup known as 3rdEyeGirl, delivered a greatest-hits show that touched on many eras of his nearly 40-year career.

Fan favorites like “Take Me With U,” “Kiss” and “U Got the Look” mixed with a few rarities like “Sometimes It Snows in April” and “Party Man” from the Batman soundtrack and cover versions such as Janet’s “What Have You Done For Me Lately.”

Surprisingly, there were no guest appearances from previous band members or collaborators. Prince performed Sheila E.’s “The Glamorous Life,” but the famous singer/percussionist wasn’t in the house, and The Time’s “Jungle Love,” but Morris Day was nowhere to be seen.

And for fans who were hoping for a one-night-only reunion of The Revolution, considering this is the 30^th anniversary of Purple Rain, there was no such luck. (Read my review of Purple Rain: The Complete soundtrack at this link: http://chrisbournea.blogspot.com/2014/08/prince-to-release-new-music-purple-rain_27.html)

It would have been equally cool to have an appearance from an early band member such as Andre Cymone or an original NPG member such as Rosie Gaines adding vocals to “Diamonds and Pearls,” which Prince didn’t perform.

A selfie in the Superdome just before Prince took the stage.
Yes, I wore purple, as many in the audience of 90,000 did.

The same night that Prince took to the main stage, R&B diva Stephanie Mills was performing in one of the smaller lounges at the Superdome. It would have been really cool to see her join him for a duet of “How Come u Don’t Call me Anymore,” which she covered in the ‘80s.

Overall, Prince’s Essence set was a crowd-pleasing show that was a good intro to his catalog for younger concertgoers and nostalgic for longtime fans.

Before Prince took the stage, rising neo-soul star Janelle Monae warmed up the audience. With her funky sound and unique style, Monae is a throwback to Prince’s ‘80s heyday. She could have easily been one of the Minneapolis genius’ protegees signed to his Paisley Park records as part of his deal with Warner Bros.

Monae closed her set with her rendition of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” which she performed during the tribute to His Royal Badness when he received a lifetime achievement honor at the BET Awards in 2010. Prince wowed the crowd by coming out and playing guitar on “Let’s Go Crazy,” and later opened his own set with the classic from the Purple Rain soundtrack.

An added treat to the Independence Day night of the Essence Festival was that veteran producer and guitar hero Nile Rodgers and Chic took the stage just before Prince.

Rodgers got the Superdome crowd on its feet with hits spanning his amazing four-decade career, from the ‘70s disco era up to the present with his Grammy-winning production on cutting-edge dance group Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.”

A cellphone pic I took of Nile Rodgers photographing

 the Superdome crowd before starting his set.

 

 

Rodgers took the crowd down memory lane, even bringing out Sister Sledge member Kathy Sledge to sing “We Are Family,” which, of course, turned into a sing-along among the 90,000 packed into the Superdome.