So Prince has been onstage for about an hour now.
Prince came on stage in a flowing white tunic, adorned with sequined trim, leading the Coachella congregation in a sermon of funk.
They brought people from the audience onstage to dance, the band members singing “Hallelujahs” and Prince playing guitar and hiding behing speakers and just being coy.
The first 20 minutes was a reunion of sorts, with Morris Day and the Time around to do “Jungle Love” and Sheila E. to do “Glamourous Life.”
Finally, he launched into 1999, getting the crowd (which had slightly thinned during the 1980s reunion) pumping and jumping.
He also played “Little Red Corvette,” at a slower pace and implored the crowd to sing along with the line leading into the chorus, “It’s Saturday night, I guess that makes it all right.”
But many of the songs seemed drawn out, with Prince and his band doing weird, meandering covers, such as Sarah MacLachlan’s “Angel” and the Beatles’ “Come Together.”
I think Prince was really trying to relate to the Coachella crowd, though. He played Radiohead’s “Creep” and I half-expected Thom Yorke to show up.
He didn’t.