Prince was a singular talent whose influence has touched pretty much every conceivable genre of music. So it’s only fitting that the task of paying tribute to his life and work be taken on by a similarly diverse group of musicians. Foo Fighters, Beck, John Legend and Mavis Staples were all among the stellar list of artists gathered together by the Grammys and musical director Sheila E to perform at ‘Let’s Go Crazy: A Grammys Salute To Prince’, a TV special recorded on Tuesday night and set to hit screens in April around the fourth anniversary of the Purple one’s death.
Our host for the evening was Maya Rudolph, who opened the show with a hard-to-beat brag: she was in the room at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 for the George Harrison tribute performance of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, when Prince delivered that ridiculous solo and effortlessly blew the likes of Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne off the stage. Starting the night with that reference set a high bar: would anyone attempt something equally audacious as a tribute to Prince himself?
The Collected Works of Kevin EG Perry 