Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Prince plays surprise London show, plans more

By | Published on Wednesday 5 February 2014

Prince

That Prince is a funny little fella, isn’t he? We knew that he was planning to hold a press conference in Lianne La Havas’s living room last night to announce his upcoming tour with new band 3rdeyegirl. However, everyone involved did a very good job of keeping it secret that the tour would start immediately after that press conference.

Sipping a cup of tea in the company of La Havas, her housemates and three journalists, Prince said that he and the band had been playing together “for a year, and it’s perfect”, and then performed two tracks from their debut album, ‘PLECTUMELECTRUM’ acoustically.

But the tour, that was the thing he was supposed to be talking about. And on that topic he announced that he and the group would be playing a series of “guerrilla gigs” (ah, remember when they were a thing?) throughout February, saying: “We’ll work our way up, if people like us, to bigger venues”.

Starting that process, Prince and the band quickly departed Lianne La Havas’s living room and headed straight for the Electric Ballroom in Camden, where they played the first show of the tour, announced as an “open press soundcheck” in a tweet by the musician’s manager. Fans who made the speculative trip to the venue were treated to an hour of songs from ‘PLECTUMELECTRUM’, plus a cover of Wild Cherry’s ‘Play That Funky Music’ and Prince’s own ‘I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man’, from ‘Sign O The Times’.

Prince closed the show by saying that he and the band would “be back tomorrow, earlier and funkier”. A subsequently released countdown timer confirms that they’ll perform at the Electric Ballroom again at 7pm.

Watch a clip of the group performing new song ‘I Like It There’ last night, from whence the countdown timer is linked, here:



READ MORE ABOUT: