POP MUSIC REVIEW : Prince’s Late-Night Yawn Fest

You’d expect a crowd to be subdued at 3 in the morning, but at a Prince concert?

The 1,200 or so fans who were able to secure coveted tickets to Prince’s “after hours” show at the Palace on Monday morning were tired but primed before the Minneapolis Mystery Man took the stage at 2:15. Word circulating on the floor was that this was to be a wild, loose funkathon: Prince in a plain black wrapper concentrating on the kind of throw-down party jams found on his unreleased, but much-bootlegged “Black Album.”

At the very least, the show might answer some of the questions raised at the Sports Arena about Prince’s new direction or purpose.

Talk about your anticlimaxes.

Rather than partying till it was “1999” (or at least 4:30), the Purple One and his band left the fans bewildered--and not a little disappointed--after just about an hour of music that could be described only as low-key.

During a directionless first half-hour only a reprise of “Lovesexy” (which had been played at the Sports Arena) and a playful but slight version of James Brown’s “Cold Sweat” (with Prince on drums and singer Boni Boyer doing a convincing JB imitation) shot any adrenaline through the crowd.

Then Prince cut the latter off abruptly, announcing that the band was going to change clothes--leaving the audience clearly confused, but again braced for the party to begin.

Instead, Prince and band returned 10 minutes later with a long slow take on the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination” that was interesting, but hardly the energizer the show needed.

When he followed it with “The Black Album’s” “Superfunkincalifragisexy” and another James Brown-like workout, it was too little--and definitely too late.