Prince performs first UK festival

Editor Katie Watkin's 4-7-2011

 The 53-year-old star came back for three encores in what was his first open air gig in England since 1993, despite years of Glastonbury rumours.    

The Minneapolis musician does not have a strong association with agricultural life - unless you count the time he took a girl in a raspberry beret "down by Old Man Johnson's Farm". 

But other aspects of the gig felt more like his infamous "aftershow" parties, with extended instrumental jams featuring an athletic seven-piece band.  

The show  opened with a five-minute funk workout - a lightly-borne necessity, as Prince and his band endeavoured to set their sound levels after previous acts, including Tinie Tempah and Larry Graham, suffered from distorted bass and indistinct mixing.  

It was a fascinating insight to how the fastidious musician organises his live band - calling on instruments to drop in and out, while issuing instructions to off-stage technicians and sound engineers. His sense of humour is undiminished, however...  

A glitzy rendition of Nothing Compares 2U elicited huge cheers - until Prince slyly announced, "I didn't write that song. That's Sinead O'Connor's song [O'Connor made the song famous, after Prince donated it to one of his ill-fated 1980s side projects, The Family]." 

 The night ended with Prince dancing on top of his purple baby grand piano to 1987's If I Was Your Girlfriend, which segued into a triumphant, accelerated version of Baby, I'm A Star.  Prince now goes on to play a number of festivals across Europe, including Belgium's Sint-Puetersplein on Tuesday and Ireland's Malahide Castle on 30 July.