Prince

Credit: AP Photo

Prince’s Welcome 2 America tour is coming to a city near you... maybe.  On Thursday,  the Purple One announced from the Apollo Theatre stage in Harlem that he was mounting a tour featuring some of his favorite acts: Janelle Monae,  jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, R&B group Mint Condition, Lelah Hathaway, Sheila E, Esperanza Spalding and James Brown’s legendary saxophonist Maceo Parker.

He left out small details like any venues or cities other than that the tour will start in December. He’ll serve as Master of Ceremonies and that he and the New Power Generation will also play each gig.

“If you've been to one of my shows, then you know what time it is,” Prince told the crowd, according to a statement. “You need to come early and come often because every time we play it's always something new. I got a lot of hits. Bring friends, bring children, and bring foot spray because it's gonna be funky.”  Okay, for any of us who have been to a Prince show (and if you haven’t, you need to), he’s always late so you don’t need to come early. The foot spray is optional.

This sounds like an incredible revue. What we love about the diverse bill is that that only obvious thing unifying these acts is that they are all great at what they do and that’s what music should be about. No genres or gender boundaries, just great sounds.

Prince also announced that he will auction off the guitar he plays on the tour to benefit Harlem Children’s Zone.