By Gil Kaufman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

It's fitting that Prince opened his sold-out Tuesday night gig at the U.S. Bank Arena with the hard funking title track from his new album, Musicology. Because the two-hour cavalcade of hits and high stepping that followed was a lesson in the 50-year history of rock, soul and funk, with the indefatigable 45-year-old singer happily playing the part of musical professor.

Hitting the stage in robin's egg blue silk pants, jacket and matching high-heeled boots, the enigmatic pop star stormed into the lead song from his upcoming album to the strains of a thick James Brown-style drummer groove.

More than just hits

Shuffling across the stage like a man half his age, Prince gave notice that the show would be more than the greatest hits review advertised.

Playing in the round, Prince worked every corner of the cross-shaped stage, which included a carpeted, velvet-seated lounge, seemingly for the younger members of his 8-piece side band to catch their breath during his many instrumental and hip-shaking interludes.

Only an artist as confident as Prince could pull out the huge hit "Let's Go Crazy" two songs in and dump encore-worthy streams of purple and white confetti onto his audience and not have the rest of the show be anticlimactic.

With grooves that were part James Brown, part Jimi Hendrix and part George Clinton, Prince paid homage to his heroes with brief snatches of their songs during the show, while undeniably making the evening a showcase for his multi-faceted artistry. He also repeatedly teased the crowd with bits of his biggest hits throughout the night and briefly dropped in bits of songs by such contemporary artists as OutKast, Beyonce and Alicia Keys to show that this was no oldies act. Some of his songs, such as a brief techno funk version of one of his biggest hits, "When Doves Cry," are so indelible, Prince didn't bother playing the signature chorus.

Whether shimmying across the edge of the stage and letting the audience sing the chorus to "I Would Die 4 U," or reaching way back for one of his earliest hits, "Controversy," Prince didn't simply pay lip service to his catalog; he energetically played the songs as if they were written the night before. After his first costume change of the night - into a white silk shirt and pants set with matching boots featuring clear heels with red blinking lights in them - he reinvented the raucous hits "Little Red Corvette" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" as solo acoustic meditations tinged with the blues.

Performance infectious

In the midst of an orchestrated comeback after more than a decade of working on the fringes of the music business (and the album charts), Prince performed with a sense of purpose and experimentation that was infectious.

Even during his most indulgent, flight of fancy guitar solos, the audience sat in rapt attention, glad to have the star back as they remembered him. Teasing and batting his eyes as he encouraged multiple shouts of "O-H-I-O!," Prince never erased a sly smirk that suggested he was having as much fun as his fans. The consummate showman, he ended the show with a slow boil 10-minute version of "Purple Rain," reassuring the audience with the line, "I'm just here to please."