Prince’s Welcome 2 America tour pulls into the Garden for the fourth and final time on February 7 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Madison Square Garden
31st to 33rd Sts. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Monday, February 7, $20.10-$179.50, 7:30
www.thegarden.com
www.3121.com
Prince’s Welcome 2 America tour returns to the Garden on February 7 for its fourth visit, after stops on December 18 and 29 and January 18 (in addition to a pair of shows at the Izod Center in New Jersey). His Most Purple Majesty’s first East Coast jaunt since 2004 has featured tunes from throughout his career, with the setlist changing every night, ranging from “Kiss,” “1999,” and “Take Me with U” to “Controversy,” “Baby I’m a Star,” and “She’s Always in My Hair,” from “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” “Little Red Corvette,” and “The Beautiful Ones” to “Adore,” “Scandalous,” and “Insatiable,” as well as some strange, offbeat covers (Sly and the Family Stone and the Time, sure, but Sarah MacLachlan?!). Each show also includes various special acts opening up and later joining him and the New Power Generation onstage; past guests have included Sheila E., Larry Graham and Graham Central Station, Esperanza Spalding, Cassandra Wilson, Maceo Parker, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Mint Condition, and Janelle Monae. For the February 7 show, Cee Lo Green of Gnarls Barkley and “Fuck You” fame will get things going before the Purple One ascends the unpronounceable-glyph-shaped stage in the center of the Garden floor. We caught the January 18 show, and it was plenty funkalicious, with Prince wailing away on the guitar, crooning to a woman from the audience, shaking his booty with Jones, and continuing through several lengthy sets of arena-rattling encores. There are tickets still available, so grab them as soon as you can and get ready to go crazy.