There have been Prince tributes all year long, on every music awards show from the MTV Awards to the AMAs. This one finally got it right.
It feels like it’s been an eon since Prince suddenly passed away last spring, but it hasn’t even been a year yet. In fact, we’re still in the “tribute” period to Prince as it were, even though we’ve been having them at every music themed award show for eight months and change.
From the completely atrocious choice to have Madonna do one at the MTV Awards, to the “at least it was serviceable one” at the AMAs, it feels like every time someone tries to live up to Prince’s music they fail. Until now.
Tonight, we had a two part tribute to Prince. The first part starred his friend and musical colleague Morris Day and the Time, doing their own hits from the Prince era. (Most of which were written, arranged and recorded with Prince in attendance.) The second was the tribute to Prince himself, performed by perhaps one of the only artists working today who is up to the task: Bruno Mars.
Check it out:
Mars didn’t just pay tribute to Prince, at times it seemed like he was channelling the Purple one himself. His rendition of “Let’s Go Crazy” didn’t just get the audience on their feet, it literally had them going crazy in the aisle and yelling back the “uh oh let’s go” portions at the tops of their lungs. He then wailed it out on the guitar, as only a Prince song should end.
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It was finally, after all these months, the best tribute to the Purple one we’ve had since he passed, and perhaps the only thing that could have topped Beyonce’s performance earlier in the evening.