Prince Announces East Coast Concert Series

Thursday evening Prince announced a series of concerts in which he"ll be joined by guests Maceo Parker, Cassandra Wilson, Janelle Monae, Sheila E., Mint Condition, Esperanza Spalding, Sinbad and others. "I've got lots of hits," Prince, wearing sunglasses and a black suit with ruffles, said at a press conference at the Apollo Theater in New York. "Bring footspray because it's gonna be funky." (Watch video above.)

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Details are unclear, but Prince said the shows will begin on a "Purple Day in December in the year 2010." A LiveNation rep said that the plan is for a multi-night stand, called "Welcome 2 America," in the New York area. Prince hasn't played an extensive U.S. tour since 2004, though he launched a brief residency in Las Vegas in 2006 and headlined Coachella in 2008.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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