Peak Experience for Purple People Pleaser

Orange County’s pop life finally received a coat of purple Sunday night, and the hue was anything but drab.

The Artist Formerly Known as Prince’s O.C. debut, coming 10 years after “Sign ‘O’ the Times” and 19 years after his recording debut, filled Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre to three-fourths of capacity. Empty seats are a sign of lost luster, mainly self-inflicted, and of exaggerated self-importance, which led to a venue-record top ticket price of $125. (Fleetwood Mac will match that this weekend with its sold-out, three-night stand.)

Besides such ludicrous decisions as ditching a perfectly good moniker and calling himself a “slave” to the wicked music biz, an insult to his audience’s workaday realities, Prince lost the ability to edit himself. Quantity overtook quality in a profusion of ‘90s releases that revealed him as less than special.

Make that no longer special on record. In concert, the ex-Prince reclaimed his crown as the best song-and-dance man of his time. The flair and vitality of his dancing were spectacular; the Artist’s moves were a visual embellishment so perfectly timed and dramatically shaped, with effortless spins, struts and amazing splits. The sight enriched the sound. Add flash at the piano and with the guitar, authorship of a batch of enduring hits and undiminished vocal ability for an unequaled example of all-around talent, spurred by unabated zest for music and stagecraft. Plus, he was in an upbeat, playful mood.

*

Ironically, the Former big deal was all too ready to edit some of his best stuff in concert, as “Little Red Corvette” and “Raspberry Beret,” among others, were tossed into medleys. But there was plenty of juicy material to be done justice during the two-hour show.

As always, the Ex sang fervently of sex and of high religious aspiration. But he was at his most emphatic, and his funkiest, in excoriating the record industry in the hammering “Face Down.”

*

For all his bizarre career moves, the Artist, at 39, has landed in an honest spot, backing principle with deed by bailing out of all contractual ties and selling his music himself. With his extraordinary skills and infectious enthusiasm obviously intact, his show left one rooting for him, weird as he is, to find the inspiration to produce another defining pop moment, a great, mass-impact album that will compensate for all the egotism and silliness and rekindle the grand days of Purple reign.