The upcoming episode of Saturday Night Live is notable for two main reasons. First of all, it will be hosted by former cast member Chris Rock, whose last appearance on the show was almost 20 years ago. Second, per Rock’s request, the musical guest will be diminutive Minnesota native Prince Rogers Nelson, who is apparently going to commandeer the entire broadcast at some point for almost 10 minutes.
Instead of performing two musical spots – as happens every week – Prince will play one eight-minute long jam session with no commercial interruption. He will be backed by his all-female band, 3RDEYEGIRL (guitarist Donna Grantis, bassist Ida Nielsen, and drummer Hannah Ford Welton). [AJC]
This — the thing where Prince is having SNL abandon its traditional, long-standing two-break format so he can wail away for eight minutes smack in the middle of the show — is a very Prince thing to do. And it’s something almost no one else could get away with. (“Hello, Lorne Michaels? Yes, this is Iggy Azalea’s representative. Would it be okay if Ms. Azalea performed an extended jam session that takes up almost 10% of the epis-… Hello? Hello?”) I don’t even know how many other people would even think to ask. But that’s why he’s Prince, you know? I’m still convinced he personally summoned the rain for his Super Bowl performance of “Purple Rain.”
Anyway, there’s no word yet on what he’ll be performing, but with tons of new music coming out recently you can probably bank on a solid chunk of that. And if any of you are worried that an 8-minute jam session might get dull, please zip ahead to about 3:30 in the video below. Case closed. Case very, very closed.
