Prince: Another legend I’m glad I witnessed

My parents saw him as the purple pervert. Critics lauded him as a groundbreaking genius. His peers either loved him or were insanely jealous (Rick James). But I just loved the music.

I finally got to see Prince live in Atlanta about 10 years ago, and it remains the best concert I’ve ever seen. I figured a legend like that could kinda mail it in, but he went above and beyond with a show that lasted more than two hours. And when the entire band disappeared into the stage for intermission, Prince re-emerged by himself with an acoustic guitar and performed several songs alone.

In the last several years, I’ve knocked a lot more artists off my bucket lists of shows — including The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Elton John. Lest you think that list is a little too British, keep in mind that my other concerts began with the Beastie Boys in 1987 and since have included such names as James Brown, Hank Williams Jr., Merle Haggard, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Taj Mahal, The Spinners, Kool & the Gang, Sugarland, Rod Stewart, John Mayer, Garth Brooks, Def Leppard, Dixie Chicks, RunDMC, Lourdes and Jimmy Buffett.

Those are just the ones off the top of my head, and it should be noted that I’ve seen Jimmy Buffett at least 8 times and John Mayer twice. I got my wife and I backstage with Mayer and our photo taken with him, which means I have brownie points for life.

In this coming Sunday’s column, I write about the acts I’ve seen and the fact that I’ve just about run out of bucket list acts to see. I guess I’d put Norah Jones and Ingrid Michaelson on that list. Otherwise, I guess I just need to see Buffett a few more times before he calls it quits.

Knowing I’ve got a pretty eclectic taste in music, who else do I need to put on my concert bucket list? Let me know.

Be sure to check out my column this Sunday at this link for more about the artists I’ve knocked off my bucket list and some you need to add to yours.