Fresh off the news that Saturday Night Live would be honoring Prince’s many appearances on the show with a 90-minute special called “Goodnight Sweet Prince”, former cast member Tim Kazurinsky has posted the first full footage of Prince’s amazing performance at the SNL 40th Anniversary party. The details of the performance have until now reached the public through snippets on social media or Jimmy Fallon’s account of the craziness on The Tonight Show. But now, after Prince’s untimely death in Minnesota, a full video is finally available to watch and enjoy for the first time.
Prince’s surprise performances over the years, and the stories that follow, always seem better than the last as far as his legacy of always making sure everybody has a great time. As Fallon told it for this party, Prince wasn’t even supposed to play that night – and then Jimmy dared him to get on stage. Of course it’s not like Prince to just back down from a dare or fire up “Let’s Go Crazy” in front of hundred of hammered comedians and SNL staff. There’s a lot to unpack in this video, including:
- Prince opening the song with “Dearly inebriated…” instead of the actual lyric, “Dearly beloved…”
- Maya Rudolph – who has her own Prince cover band – being excited out of her mind and repeatedly screaming “Yeah motherf***er!”
- The Haim sisters not being able to process what’s happening, and just smiling and dancing while everything starts.
- Chris Rock in the corner bopping along like anybody’s dad would do when Prince comes on the radio.
- Jimmy Fallon being incredibly not sober and still managing to get the words right.
- Donna Grantis’ amazing guitar solos living up to all the expectations of a Prince band member.
And of course, Prince at the center of it all being his unique, amazing, once-in-a-lifetime self. The man is wearing a fur vest and metallic jumpsuit and it’s not even surprising, just incredibly baller as always. It doesn’t seem like enough to continuously say “he will be missed” because the simplicity of missing someone when they die doesn’t match the larger than life presence that Prince was (even was hurts). The only, slight, positive to take from his passing is that a world of people are unearthing old stories, videos, and performances like this one.
(via Consequence of Sound)
