The Tribune’s Greg Kot gets a look behind the scenes as the musician and his 20-member ensemble rehearse for United Center residency
By: Greg Kot
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CHANHASSEN, Minn.— Prince is rolling his eyes.
“The hardest thing with musicians,” he explains to a visitor to his Paisley Park recording studio, “is getting them not to play.”
The quintuple-threat singer-songwriter-producer-performer-multi-instrumentalist is running a nine-piece band through a vigorous rehearsal in preparation for a Monday-Wednesday residency at the United Center, and right now the arrangements are getting too busy for his liking. He’s like a drill sergeant in a brown, button-up, Asian-style long coat with a hypnotist’s lulling voice.