1. WHY VEGAS?
Prince has been a frequent Vegas visitor since the late '90s, playing full-scale arena concerts (Aladdin, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay) and intimate late-night club sets (Studio 54, Utopia, House of Blues). In May, he transformed the Empire Ballroom into Club 3121 for a pair of weekend performances. Still, the thought of the musical icon inhabiting a Southern Nevada hotel venue seems to have taken both diehard loyalists and casual observers entirely by surprise.
"I never, ever, ever considered the thought of becoming a Vegas headliner crossing his mind," a Sydney-based Prince devotee with the screen name "EyeFunk" posted at fan site Housequake.com after an image of the Rio appeared on Prince's official 3121.com site in early October.
Industry insiders aren't as stunned. "Prince has traditionally enjoyed playing clubs," explains Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of concert trade publication Pollstar. "The only surprise to me, I suppose, is that he's not doing it in [his native] Minneapolis."
Prince's personal DJ, Rashida, points out that Las Vegas offers a nightclub scene few cities can match, along with an opportunity to play for vastly different crowds every time out. "Vegas is a city where people come from all over the world, just to go out, hear music and come to shows," Rashida says. "So it's gonna be whole new groups of people for him to touch, to affect."
Bongiovanni speculates that national promotions firm AEG Live might also have played a role in helping steer Prince toward Vegas, home to another of its top music clients. "They have a very close working relationship, and I'm sure they had discussions about the idea of how Prince might adapt to Celine [Dion]'s business model, though certainly not on the same scale," Bongiovanni offers.
Exactly what that scale might be, in terms of the Prince show's longevity, remains the most uncertain piece of the remaining puzzle. "We've agreed for it to be an open-ended relationship," says Michael Weaver, the Rio's vice president of marketing. "To the extent that he is able to do this, we'd love to have him here, but he does have other commitments in 2007 that will demand his attention."
Rashida clears up some of the uncertainty. "About three months," she estimates, but then quickly adds, "but it's all up to Prince. In terms of the way everybody rolls—the band, the crew—it's just go with the flow."
2. WHY THE RIO?
Probably the most perplexing aspect of Prince's Vegas arrangement, particularly for local residents, might be his choice of venues. Not that the Rio, or the room formerly known as Club Rio, is entirely unhip, but Southern Nevada boasts plenty of newer (Wynn Las Vegas) and snazzier (the Palms) joints, many of which, one assumes, would be willing to turn a nightclub over to Prince, at least for the short term. Yet Prince's new home sits a few feet from a keno lounge and a giant-sized Wheel of Fortune machine, with attendees serenaded by the Rio's Masquerade Show in the Sky while standing in line.
The relationship dates to May, when Prince guested with Morris Day & The Time at a Club Rio gig. "When Prince came into this room there was such a tremendous feel," Rio President Marilyn Winn testified at last week's media preview. "The feeling was right."
Could that lone experience so thoroughly have seduced an artist as world-traveled as Prince? Or, as AEG President John Meglen suggested at the same pre-event press conference, might the artist really have chosen the Rio simply "because it's purple"?
Rashida speculates the choice was made because of the specific configuration of Club Rio—a 900-capacity round room with tiered table seating and a sizeable dance floor—along with its existing technological capabilities, chiefly the array of large video screens encircling the perimeter. "With all those big screens, it's gonna be an audio-visual experience, and for that I think it's the perfect place," she says.
Considering Prince's deal with the Rio includes not only his own performance schedule —with full creative control over the content, hours and scope of those shows—but also "Prince Presents" Wednesdays featuring talent hand-picked by Prince (up first: R&B veteran Chaka Khan) along with the creation of the adjacent 3121 Jazz Cuisine, a restaurant operated by Prince's personal chef, Lena Morgan, it's quite possible the Rio landed the show due to its willingness to depart from the typical headliner-venue relationship.
"When you have the opportunity to work with an artist of his caliber, and he contacts you and says, ‘I have a question,' you respond with, ‘Yes,' and then, ‘What was your question?'" Weaver says. "It was absolutely his vision, for both the restaurant and the club, and he was looking for the appropriate place to launch it. It was fortuitous for us that he found the Rio appealing."
As for what Prince can do for the Rio, Weaver reasons the possibilities are endless. "This is unheralded in terms of its importance to the Rio," he says. "It changes the aura of the hotel, brings it into a new environment of high-quality entertainment, not unlike the transition that occurred at Caesars Palace with Celine Dion."
3. WHY NOW?Prince's 2004 tour raked in some $87.4 million, tops among North American tours that year and, Bongiovanni surmises, for any year in Prince's 30-year career. Which presents an obvious question: Why would Prince break from touring now to set up shop in Las Vegas?
"At $125 a ticket, Prince will be able to make a nice little profit on those shows, but I don't think his prime motivation for doing it is money," Bongiovanni says. "I think he's just doing it because he likes the idea of being able to do it. I would imagine he will tour again, but at this point it allows him to continue performing, and I think he's a musician at heart."
To a large extent, the Vegas club gigs are an extension of the past year's house shows at Prince's Los Angeles mansion, during which he invited friends, fellow musicians and—for one Willy Wonka-esque purple ticket promotion, seven members of the general public—over for informal performances.
"We did awards-show after-parties, jam sessions, sometimes just dinners where intelligent minds got together and conversed—the house was the place for that," Rashida recalls. "The band setup was always there, the DJ setup was always there, and at a moment's notice it would be time to bring people there. This is a way of bringing it to the public."
Of course, it's difficult to say exactly why Prince does anything, from changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993 to changing it back to Prince in 2000. "Prince is such an enigmatic figure. I don't think anybody's ever figured him out," Bongiovanni says. "Next to Bob Dylan, I suppose he's maybe the most perplexing person in the industry."
4. WILL IT BE SUCCESSFUL?
There's no denying Club 3121 provides a spectacular vantage point to see and hear Prince's legendary live prowess. It's hard to imagine being physically closer to the man in performance, with even the farthest second-level table close enough to make out the musicians' expressions without the aid of binoculars.
During a 15-minute glimpse of his new show, Prince played his latest single, "Fury," along with versions of classic tunes "Purple Rain" and "Let's Go Crazy." That marked a departure from his typical club fare, short on recognizable hits and long on free-form jams. Time will tell which direction he veers during full shows, and whether his backing band will expand beyond its current five-piece formation (bass, drums, keyboards and two female vocalists/dancers).
Though video screens were active during Rashida's pre-show DJ set, they went surprisingly dormant during Prince's performance, displaying only a representation of the Rio's exterior. The stage setup was also fairly sparse, though the incense burning nearby provided a welcome olfactory touch.
Considering that, reportedly, neither of May's Empire Ballroom shows sold out, it's natural to wonder whether Prince has the drawing power to fill his new club each and every weekend. Then again, those tickets cost $312 apiece, and in Vegas headliner terms, $125 hardly sounds pricey anymore.
With a capacity under 1,000 per night, it's also not as if Prince has to fill Caesars' 4,000-plus Colosseum five nights a week, like Dion. The prediction here is that the Rio will have no trouble attracting curious locals and partying tourists—not to mention oft-returning Prince zealots—for as long as their main man desires to hold court in Las Vegas.
5. WILL PRINCE GET FAT?Prince's possible descent into a late-career "Fat Elvis" stage has dominated message boards since news of his impending Vegas arrival first hit. A few comments posted on Prince.org:
"Dead like Elvis!" [2freaky4church1]
"Prince has just become Barry Manilow; this is not the raw funk/rock legend of the '80s; this is a tired, generic R&B artist looking for some money in a newly commercial career." [Spookymuffin]
"Well, at least he's not doing state fairs." [AsianBomb777]
Another user, with the screen name McGee, even posted a doctored photo of Prince shaking hands with the Vegas-era Elvis.
A few supporters quickly sprung to Prince's defense:
"I didn't want dude to go the path of Fat Elvis and Barry Manilow ... But any sensible person that has done their homework about the club and the gigs should know that this is a totally different situation." [murph]
"People saying he is doing Vegas for the money makes no sense; he could earn far more quicker through another tour without doubt ... Prince, as usual, is taking the less-trodden route for a star who can still command stadium audiences." [metalorange]
"People that have no sense (or knowledge) of history have decided that it is cheesy ... 2 play the Vegas circuit. They either have no knowledge or interest in the story of Vegas, and some of the great musical events that have occurred there." [Giovanni777]
The ultimate approval rating of Prince's new Vegas venture will likely depend on how relevant he stays in the years to come. After a period of general mainstream indifference, his last two albums, Musicology and 3121, have been warmly received, as was his recent return to traditional touring. If that streak continues beyond his Rio stopover, Prince could be the hip contemporary artist who finally shatters any remaining stigma of Vegas as a last resting place for faltering artists.