Celebration 2024
As a present to myself and my daughter, we went to Celebration 2024 in Chanhassen, Minnesota. While this was a wonderful time of bonding over our mutual love for Prince and his music, there were also some severe disappointments. The musical performances, however, were excellent. The Revolution, Morris Day, and the Time, NPG with their new lead singer MacKenzie, were awesome! MacKenzie has an amazing voice and makes no attempt to imitate Prince. He has a similar impish sense of humor, though, that was fun to watch on stage.He approaches the music with respect and delivers it with a reverant joy. Another highlight was a young, 15 year old Aussie guitarist named Taj Farrant. He is incredible and, I think, Prince would be extremely proud of his efforts when playing his music.
The disappointment came from the quality of the tours of Paisley Park and the condition it is in. The exterior of the "Egg" structure is peeling all over, which truly saddened me. Further, the VIP tour was rushed and hosted by a person who, while well spoken, knew nothing about Prince. The tour quality had deteriorated significantly since I took it in 2019. Londell McMillian, who recently took over the helm of activity at PP, took on the role of MC at the Gospel breakfast and droned on about the "snafus" that had occurred this year and how they were working to ensure better outcomes going forward. While I hope that is true, it sounded like empty rhetoric to me. The place where Prince did so much of his incredible work deserves to be treated with greater respect and more tender care. Prince loved his Purple fams and would be horrified at them seeing Paisley Park operating in its current condition. Will I go again? Yes, if health and strength allow, but I am glad that I have a better memory to hold onto from having been earlier. Paisley Park is in my heart and always will be.