Just to catch a Prince performance, I had seen a total of five episodes of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Now that he's about to pass the reins over to Conan O'Brien, I feel bad that I hadn't watched the show just for the sake of watching. I watch The Colbert Report because I think Stephen Colbert is hilarious. That is, 80% of the time, he's hilarious. The other 20% he's either being ridiculous about something or I find myself on the other side of the argument he's fighting for.

Prince has been on Leno a bunch of times and I had seen all but one of them ("Dinner with Delores" was the performance, unless of course there was an appearance before 1997 that I don't know about). Every performance is different, which is even more important when I'd been on a show more than once.

The show itself was fun and funny. Not just becuase Leno made a joke about Prince, and I quote "The economy's so bad that Prince is buying his clothes off the rack." That was one of 10-15 punchlines of a joke that begins with "The economy's so bad..."

Billy Crystal was a nice guest and the song he did later on was actually funny. But of course, I was a little ticked off that he took up almost the entire show. Leaving no room whatsoever for Prince to even talk... it was all on the performance.

The performance itself, I'm sure someone will say something about it to give him/me grief, but I'm not going to go there because I love the performance.

When Leno made the annoucement, he said he'd be performing "Somewhere here on Earth"... needless to say, I was excited. Beyond excited! That got me thinking how much I love the Planet Earth album because all of the songs were his mental letter, where he mind was at the time. He seemed to be in the mood for love, wanting to find another girl, wanting to try again to make a relationship work.

The curtain opened to reveal a very cozy contemporary setting. It was a clash between a bar and a jazz club. The band and a few people that are either very lucky or friends of his took all of the seats at tables with long, thin legs, round tops. Some people, I'm sure he knew personally (I caught a glimpse or two of Bria Valente sitting at the bar).
He came out in a sparkling, black and silver shirt and had nothing but a microphone stand to serenade the audience. The song itself was slightly up-tempo, which turned me off just a little in the beginning, but he held on to the performance for its duration. He sung in falsetto the majority of the time, but occasionally, he'd speak or sing in his regular register.

Halfway through when the band took over, he went to an easel and made strokes on a canvas. I thought for sure, really thought, that he was painting a portrait or some sort. It would fit right in with a movie, but it was actually a message for/about Jay Leno. The only thing that annoyed me that night aside from the lack of interview was my not having enough time to read what it said. I'm sure somebody figured it out, so I'll wait and see what happens there.

The way this was set up, aside from the set design, made this one of my favorite of his Leno appearances. In fact, I think it puts Ol' School Company and Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful to shame.
Mainly because it seperated him from the band. He was practically the only one on the set worthy of mention. But the music itself provided by the band was well-done and well-played. Not bad at all for a live version of this song, but of course, I'm partial to the album version.

Then Prince's whole presence on stage, the attitude he had and the way he carried himself, I hadn't seen him like that in a while. His attitude brought me back to his earlier days, somewhat and the occasional ad-libs/sound effects (I don't know what to call them, honestly) made him sound 10 years younger.
I have to address his hairstyle for a brief moment because it caught me slightly off guard. Initially, it appeared like he shaved the left side of his head and combed his hair over it, which made me think of his Parade-era hairstyle. Then I took another look and realized that there was nothing shaved off, haha. It was just combed weirdly to that side.

The best part, I think, would have to be the fact that Prince didn't wear sunglasses. I was half-expecting him to, but he didn't. Being able to connect with your audience is one of the most important things any performer needs to keep in mind. Of course, I'm especially partial to Prince maintaining somewhat of an internal dialogue with his audience by letting us see his eyes.
Early on, I've talked about how he just had this effect on me when he performed. I'd look in his eyes and get completely lost, phase out of reality and focus on the message he was trying to send. The first two of the three appearance on Leno that week in late March were like major adrenaline rushes, which I rarely come by as it is.
Last night, I found myself completely mesmerized and it had been forever since he'd made me feel that way. He had a certain spark in his eyes that was positively magical.

It got me thinking: Prince is in a wonderful place right now. He really seemed very happy to be there and enjoyed himself. In the end, that's all that matters.