A tall man wore a purple-and-black paisley suit with a white ruffled shirt. One fellow donned a purple sequined fedora with a matching blazer. A blonde woman sported a purple jean jacket with silver studs in front of her right shoulder.
There were enough purple outfits and T-shirts to think this might have been a Vikings rally. But if you didn't have pendant of Prince's glyph, you might have felt out of place. Friday saw the most hard-core Prince audience that ever witnessed his heyday band, the Revolution, in concert at First Avenue.
Fams (Prince didn't like the word fans) flew in from New Zealand and Canada and from Atlanta to Los Angeles to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the movie "Purple Rain," which made Prince and the nightclub in which it was filmed world famous. For these Purple faithful, it was a special night full of the familiar and the nostalgic as they got to hear Dr. Fink jam on "Baby, I'm a Star," Lisa Coleman ask "Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb?" in "1999′′ and Wendy Melvoin play the opening guitar notes of "Purple Rain" that she composed at age 19.
The Revolution's first concert in 41⁄2 years certainly wasn't as emotional and cathartic as their trio of First Avenue gigs in September 2016, just a little more than four months after Prince passed. Friday's show wasn't fun in the sun like the Revolution's local performances at Rock the Garden in 2017 and Basilica Block Party in 2018. But the joy in the room was palpable as 1,500 Prince lovers sang.