Paisley Park has big, purple plans for April with an “enhanced tour experience” that includes new immersive audio/visual displays and the chance for fans to leave their mark in the Chanhassen studio-turned-museum.
Dubbed Prince4Ever, the month will also feature the previously announced four-day Celebration 2017, held during the one-year anniversary of Prince’s death, April 20 through 23.
General admission and VIP tour groups will have access to the new museum features in April, which include:
- Rarely seen video footage and audio clips added to the Paisley Park exhibition spaces, which “will bring a heightened sense of presence to Prince throughout the tour.”
- A fan photo opportunity in a candlelit setting, with snapshots taken before April 21 integrated into a special video that will premiere online on that date, the one-year anniversary of Prince’s death.
- A tribute fence on the grass next to the north parking lot, bearing the messages and other items left on the exterior fence in the weeks after Prince’s death. Tourgoers can add their personal messages to the fence throughout the month. Paisley Park also will open its grounds for free on April 3 and 10 for fans who would like to add to, or merely view, the memorial without paying for the tour.
As for Celebration 2017, it’s already looking like a hit. The $999 VIP tickets are sold out, with the $499 general-admission passes disappearing quickly. The price on those will increase to $549 on Feb. 1. Billed as four days of live music, panel discussions and presentations from “musicians, creative personnel, special guests and friends who worked closest with Prince and knew him best,” Celebration 2017 will feature the Time, the Revolution, New Power Generation and 3rdEyeGirl. It’s drawing the interest in the U.S. and abroad, with tickets sold to fans in Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, South Africa, Japan, Spain, Thailand, England and Australia.
For details, go to officialpaisleypark.com.
IN THE CLUBS
Speaking of Prince, former Pioneer Press music critic Jim Walsh has published a new book, “Gold Experience: Following Prince in the ’90s,” that revisits his coverage of the Purple One through interviews, essays, columns and reviews. Walsh has some good tales to tell, as he was close enough to Prince that he was asked to write the liner notes for his “Gold Experience” album. Walsh is launching the book with a Q&A session at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Amsterdam Bar and Hall in downtown St. Paul. He will follow it up with stops at Barnes and Noble in Edina (Jan. 28) and Magers and Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis (Feb. 8).
Walsh has another, entirely different event planned Friday under his singer/songwriter guise the Mad Ripple. It’s the “Anti-Trump and Pro-Music and Pro-People Hootenanny,” a day of live, round-robin music that runs from noon to 9:30 p.m. at Studio 2 in south Minneapolis. More than a dozen musicians will join Walsh, including Brianna Lane, Katy Vernon, Matthew French and Jon Magnuson.
Our incoming president is also the focus Friday night at St. Paul’s Black Dog Cafe Lowertown, with a protest concert featuring Dakota Dave Hull, Charley Dush, Greg Herriges, the Beavers, Siama Matuzungidi and others. Admission to the event, dubbed the “#Defend Civil Liberties Music Benefit,” is $20, with all proceeds going to the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
