Marshall Charloff & The Purple xPeRIeNCE at West Theatre. Photo by Jill Fisher.

As “Prince” himself announced on Wednesday, May 8, it looked like a real live dance party at the West Theatre. The big event was Marshall Charloff & The Purple xPeRIeNCE, a tribute performance to the late great Minnesota musician, Prince Rogers Nelson.   

Normally I eschew tribute concerts but after having seen the re-released movie Purple Rain (after Prince’s death in 2016), touring Paisley Park back in 2022 and viewing Prince on YouTube I have become intrigued by the man and his legacy. After all that I’ve still been on the fence as far as being a true Prince fan. So I decided I had better take another look at what the music world and his fans make of his body of work.  

The concert on this Wednesday evening began about 7:40 pm beginning with just the four backup band members grooving to the Purple One’s music and building anticipation for the main man. These four dudes—Tracey Blake (lead guitar), Ron Long (bass), Cory Eischen (keyboards) and Ron Caron (drums)—are no slouches when it comes to making authentic rock and roll music, each having stellar creds.   Eischen, who is also a sound designer, played with Prince’s protégé group Mazarati and numerous other well-known Minneapolis bands. Blake, who hails from Davenport, Iowa, and is an inductee into the Midwest All-Music Hall of Fame, has made his home in Minneapolis and played with New Power Generation. Bassist Long, who was mysteriously clothed in henchman’s garb, has accompanied Christina Aguilera and others of that ilk and recorded with Spike Lee. Caron, a Michigan native who has called Minneapolis home for years has played with the notable bands Tina and the B-Sides and The Melismatics. In other words, these are indeed world class musicians as the xPeRIeNCE website proclaims and with which I concur. You can find each of them on YouTube and judge for yourselves.  

Strutting out onto the stage as Prince in a tight-fitting black ensemble, Marshall Charloff looked every bit the part with his nearly identical body height and build. As he launched into his first number women in their 40s surged to the front of the theater to get as close as possible to the stage. They knew all the words to every song (an ability I lack not being of the Prince generation) and were clearly entranced by the impersonator. (There is no clearly designated dance floor at the West but for certain acts just try and stop people from crowding up to the stage—audience members in the first few rows unfortunately have their view blocked if they don’t join in.)  

Charloff’s portrayal of Prince shows off his own musical talents on the electric guitar and keyboards. But it is his vocals and movements that convincingly conveyed the late star’s persona and demonstrated his own highly honed abilities. Add to this 10 costume changes (some partial, with different tops exchanged to transform his black getup) and someone could really begin to believe this was Prince incarnate. The women in the audience sure responded like he was! I myself became so wrapped up in the rockin’ songs that demanded dancing I failed to take decent notes. I do remember the first set included the songs “U Got The Look,” “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and “Kiss.”

Charloff abandoned the stage at one point venturing up the theater aisle into the audience playing his guitar all the while.   When Charloff tossed his guitar to their roadie, who fortunately was ready to catch it, and sat down in front of the keyboards he asked the crowd whether they wanted to hear his nice or his sexy songs. Of course “SEXY!” was the overwhelming response. And so we heard “Cream” and “Darling Nikki” along with a few others. Charloff invited requests and he actually played some of his more laid back and romantic tunes. One prompted him to ask the (few) men in the audience to sing “Most Beautiful Girl in The World” along with him to their dates.  

During the concert there were numerous announcements about the band being “from Minneapolis, Minnesota!” and Charloff related how they proudly state this wherever in the world they are playing (which reminded me of how Three Dog Night was introduced at its Symphony Hall concert on March 3: “…from Los Angeles, California!”). Turns out these musicians are great ambassadors for our state.  

This energetic and at times rambunctious show, had Charloff spinning, prancing and falling backwards holding a mic stand ready to bounce back up again as he continued with classic Prince moves. The constrained space on the stage was a bit problematic as I witnessed him bumping his head on the raised drum platform. A temporary cabana-like enclosure was erected on the left edge of the stage from which Charloff emerged at each costume change. Evidently the second-level green room was not sufficiently convenient.  

Other songs covered included “Nothing Compares 2 U,” “Little Red Corvette,” “1999,” “Baby, I’m A Star” and “Raspberry Beret.” (I was sorry I didn’t wear my red beret in honor of that song!) During this latter number Charloff engaged one-on-one with a female fan who was given the opportunity to sing a verse or two of it. She did a fine job on both tune and lyrics. The crowd went wild for that too. And what amazed me throughout the concert was how those audience members who came up front reacted to Charloff as if he was actually Prince—wanting to touch him and gain his attention.  

As the concert drew to a close, Charloff saved the best for the encore number: “Purple Rain.” That put everyone over the top, though I must point out that the lighting didn’t do any justice to the purple sequined suit that was saved for this moment and which looked to be several different colors other than purple!  

Charloff spent some minutes after the final number explaining to the audience what their show was all about: the music. He emphasized the importance of live music: “No tone correctors, no dubbing, no AI!” And, as many other bands have expressed, he praised the West as a venue worthy of the audience’s support. He projected a warmth and sympathy that may or may not have been reflective of Prince himself but, given his audacious covers of the Purple One’s artistry, I believe I’ve finally become a Prince fan.  

Driftless Revelers

Saturday, May 11, the Curmudgeon and I took in a three-band show at Wussow’s Concert Café at the invitation of Matt Sayles and the Driftless Revelers. The band, which has come to be a regular act traveling up to Duluth from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, opened with their usual set of amusing and musical commentary on all things silly, sacrilegious and subtlely profound. (You’d never guess from this set how fine Matt’s vocal qualities are and how seriously soulful his compositions are as evidenced by the CDs of his I’ve listened to.) I’ve reviewed this band before and its 2022 CD American Fork Standards and now they’ve released a new one: Live at the Slowpoke Lounge. This live recording captures a new assortment of the band’s wacky songs, anecdotes and non-sequitur dialogue they are known for. At this gig, their pal Misisipi Mike joined in for a few songs, including his infamous original “Tattoo.”  

Davey & The Midnights

The next band to play was Davey and the Midnights which is presently based in Indianapolis, Indiana, but which was formed in 2017 in Los Angeles, California. It was stated that this gig was their first ever in Minnesota. The foursome—Davey Allen (keys and lead vocals), Mike Wilson (electric guitar), Corey Dawson (bass) and Mike Sanson (drums)—have the Americana genre in their bones and demonstrated it masterfully during their nine-song set of both traditional covers and original compositions. Some incorporated sounds of New Orleans/ Dixieland jazz (a bit reminiscent of Dr. John and Randy Newman). “Patti Your Hair Is One Fire” is based on a true incident involving Patti Smith and “Nights With Lucinda” is a tale referencing Lucinda Williams. Their original number “The Meter Maid” enumerates all the jobs one would rather do than to be a meter maid who does nothing but give out parking tickets. Very clever with its simultaneously humorous and serious lyrics. They ended their set with “Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation.”  

Third up this evening was the ever-popular Saltydog which I’ve reviewed several times previously. They began with their well-known original songs “Barfly” and “You On Me” but some wonderful instrumentals made up most of their set. Saltydog has certainly explored jamming, seamlessly flowing from one tune to the next. All in all it was a worthwhile outing to Wussow’s.