ATWIAD Masquerade Ball June 7th, 1985
You are requested to attend
“AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY”
Masquerade Ball
Friday, June 7th
Time: 7:00 pm, till 3:00 am
Best costume will be judged at midnight
Admits you and one guest No costume No admittance
Rock star Prince and +250 friends held a purple masquerade at the Prom Center in St. Paul to celebrate his 27th brirthday. Prince flew in people from all over the United States, said Harry Givens, owner of the Prom Center. "It’s great,“ Givens said. "It’s a masquerade and the ballroom’s never been decorated like this in my 30 years.“ An estimated $20,000 was spent on the party to create a “carnival atmosphere”.
Inside were giant spiral purple staircases, two big brass beds, glittery booths, candies everywhere, mirrors, mannequins, international food stations, pinball machines and even Pee Wee Herman, according to one guest.
Security was unusually tight and the press wasn’t allowed inside.
Songs:
• A Love Bizzare - w/ Eddie M. (sax), Sheila E. (drums)
Prince And The Revolution open the show with the first public performance of "A Love Bizarre”, which would see release over two months later on Sheila E’s “Romance 1600” album.
• Mutiny - Prince (bass), St Paul Peterson (vocals), Susannah Melvoin (vocals), Eric Leads (sax), Eddie M (sax), Jerome Benton (vocals), Sheila E (drums)
Another new song follows as Prince and The Revolution are joined by St. Paul Peterson, Susannah Melvoin and Jerome Benton from The Family for an over 14 minute version of their song “Mutiny”. St. Paul sings lead on this performance. The Family’s album would not see release until September of that year, so this was another new song to those in attendance.
• Sheila E drum solo
• Sometimes It Snows In April - Prince, Wendy, Lisa, Sheila E.
This song would not see release for almost another year, on the “Parade” album in March, 1986. The song is a work in progress at this point as Prince sings the first two lines of the song, then it becomes an instrumental performance.
• Irresistable Bitch - Prince and The Revolution + Eddie M. & Eric Leeds on sax
The first familiar song of the night starts a 30 minute non-stop funk marathon
• Possessed
• The Bird
• Drawers Burnin“Possessed” then runs into a brief workout on The Time’s “The Bird” featuring Jerome Benton helping with the chants. This leads into the seemingly improvised “Drawers Burnin’”, a hilarious song with Prince singing in his ‘Morris Day voice’ and Benton again backing him up on the chant. This song has also been referred to as “Burn It” in the past.
• Holly Rock - Prince & the Revolution + Sheila E (timbales) Eddie M & Eric Leeds (sax)
The night closes with a 13 minute version of "Holly Rock”. Again a debut as this song would not be released until September on the “Krush Groove” soundtrack
Band: Prince (vox, bass), Bobby Z. (drums), Brown Mark (bass), Wendy (guitar), Lisa (keyboards), Dr. Fink (keyboards)
*Guest(s) Sheila E. (vox, drums), Jerome Benton (vox), Susannah Melvoin (vox), St. Paul (vox), Eddie M. (sax), Eric Leeds (sax)
