Watch at 3:27 when Prince upstages every white guitarist ever and MONSTERS all over “While my Guitar Gently Weeps” so hard that even George Harrison’s son goes 10/10 fanboy.
Apparently no one one stage knew that Prince was going to go that hard in his solo. From what I’ve heard during practice sets, Prince played a very subdued version of the solo. When he came out for the real thing, he turned it up to 11 and surprised everyone. You can even see the shock and awe in the other artists’ face, especially Tom Petty’s. Apparently Prince wanted to prove Rolling Stone how wrong they were for snubbing him on their recently released 100 Greatest Guitarists list where he wasn’t even ranked. This was all a big fuck you to Rolling Stone that Prince orchestrated. (Originally he wasn’t supposed to perform, but managed to get in at the last minute.)
Reblogging for some excellent commentary.
This is the best.
this performance is broken down and lovingly reviewed by Daniel Ralston of MTV News. Read it [HERE] – it’s entertaining as hell. excerpt:
For the next 30 seconds, you’re in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame normalcy zone. Keep going. Pardon the rock-dad parlance, but Prince starts cooking at 3:56.
At 4:01, Prince does this pinch harmonic solo that lets you know it is fucking on. These kind of solos are almost always bad, and if anyone else was playing over a Beatles song it would be straight trash, but this is Prince, so it’s incredible.
lots of really great gifs in the article, too.
Holy shit.
Dhani Harrison suddenly becomes all of us. He is watching Prince solo while falling backward into the arms of a security guard. Harrison’s smile in that moment is everything you want from music. Admiration, joy, fun, and spontaneity. The kid is living while memorializing his father.
326 Miles 