I don’t remember why I was in Berlin in November 1994. Probably because of Prince and his performance at the MTV Europe Awards, but maybe it was a coincidence.
The day of the awards my friend Yvonne and I got a tip from another Prince fan that Prince would play an aftershow at Tränenpalast (Palace of Tears, a former border check point between East and West Berlin). We went there around 9 pm and were the first in line. The guy who gave us the tip arrived soon after us. For hours we stood in the cold, more and more people arriving. Some sharing stories of what he played at the awards and we all hoped he would play at this small venue later in the night. Talking about songs we’d love to hear.
Around 1 am they let us in, I believe we paid 50 DM. Yvonne (who I actually had met in 1990 on the bus to Waldbühne in Berlin to see Prince on the Nude Tour. We managed to push ourselves to 2nd row at that concert.) and I ran to the front of the stage and clutched to the barrier, slightly on the right side of the stage.
At around 3 am Prince walked on stage with his band and played for nearly 2 hours. None of his big hits from the 80ties, mostly recent material or what would end up on The Gold Experience album. We were in heaven. I loved that he played Billy Jack Bitch at the end, a song I was really into. At one point during the concert his microphone stopped working. He said “KAPUTT” and everyone just screamed and screamed! Soon they brought him another mic and the show continued.
When the concert was over at 5 am Yvonne and I walked out of the Tränenpalast with the biggest smiles on our faces.
I’m very happy that I grew up with Prince.
Love him and miss him so much.