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"Last night in L.A., after all the Oscars were handed out, Prince played host to several hundred diehard fans &amp;#x2014; and a few famous names &amp;#x2014; at his all-night afterparty. The stars certainly had their pick of flashy post-show parties Sunday night &amp;#x2014; the Vanity Fair bash at the Sunset Towers Hotel, Elton John&amp;apos;s annual AIDS Foundation soiree at the Pacific Design Center, Madonna&amp;apos;s get-together at Guy Oseary&amp;apos;s pad, Demi Moore&amp;apos;s house party for her closest A-list friends (check out photos from some of the night&amp;apos;s bigger bashes) &amp;#x2014; but those looking to get their groove on until the wee hours of the morning headed to L.A.&amp;apos;s Avalon Ballroom, where Prince was playing a solid mix of covers and hits.\r\nUnlike Prince&amp;apos;s past awards show after-parties, typically held at his Hollywood Hills home and thrown under a strict by-invitation-only policy, this one was open to the plebes among us. At $100 per person &amp;#x2014; first come, first serve &amp;#x2014; the show doubled as a launch-pad for his soon-to-debut Website Lotusflowe3r.com. A few hundred hopefuls had lined up on Hollywood and Vine hours in advance, knowing full well that it would be a very long wait. After all, the Purple One was still sound-checking at 11:30 p.m. and doors had yet to open. Shortly after midnight (and while Prince and select guests were being entertained by an all-girl jazz band upstairs at the Avalon&amp;apos;s exclusive lounge Bardot), an orderly crowd made its way inside filling only half of the venue&amp;apos;s main floor &amp;#x2014; not that the post-Oscar folks (some still wearing gowns and tuxedos) were complaining after a full day of elbow rubbing.\r\nStarting close 1:45, the nearly two-hour set kicked off with a tease &amp;#x2014; the opening progression to &amp;quot;Purple Rain,&amp;quot; which brought out the diminutive Prince, strolling onto the stage carrying a blinged-out baton. He soon traded it in for a guitar and, backed by a three-piece band (keyboardist Morris Hayes, drummer Cora Dunham and bassist Joshua Dunham), backup singers Shelby Johnson and Olivia Warfield and killer harmonica player Frederic Yonnet, Prince launched into a string of covers, beginning with the Cars&amp;apos; &amp;quot;Let&amp;apos;s Go&amp;quot; and segueing into &amp;quot;Crimson and Clover&amp;quot; mashed with &amp;quot;Wild Thing.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;I&amp;apos;m the DJ tonight,&amp;quot; he boasted from the stage shortly after dedicating the night to Oscar winner Penelope Cruz and giving a nod to celebrities viewing from the VIP area. Among them: Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah, Angie Harmon, Tyler Perry, Maroon 5&amp;apos;s Adam Levine and Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson.\r\nAnd while the bars had closed twenty minutes into the performance, Prince&amp;apos;s banter kept spirits high. Introducing a bellowing rendition of the Beatles&amp;apos; &amp;quot;Come Together,&amp;quot; he asked his subjects: &amp;quot;I&amp;apos;m here and you&amp;apos;re here, that&amp;apos;s all we need to start a party, right?&amp;quot; Indeed, as Prince launched into the Rolling Stones &amp;quot;Honky Tonk Woman&amp;quot; and then surprised all with a true-to-the-original take on Jimmy Eat World&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;The Middle,&amp;quot; the dance floor had filled considerably. By the time &amp;quot;Jungle Love&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Play That Funky Music&amp;quot; came around, the place, as they say, was jumping. Prince closed out the set by asking for volunteers to join him on &amp;quot;The Glamorous Life,&amp;quot; the song he wrote for Sheila E., then proceeded to invite audience members to the stage for free-for-all, to which a couple dozen brazen fans eagerly obliged.\r\n&amp;quot;Turn those Blackberries off and dance,&amp;quot; Prince chided just after three in the morning, his guitar hero energy not waning in the slightest. The crowd&amp;apos;s energy, however, was another story. Still, diehards hoping to hear more from the Prince hit list stuck around until the bitter end, and weren&amp;apos;t disappointed to get &amp;quot;I Feel For You&amp;quot; as an encore (at 3:22 in the morning). But he never did come back to &amp;quot;Purple Rain,&amp;quot; and with awards season over, it may be a while before we get another chance.\r\nRelated Stories:\r\n&amp;#x2022;  Prince Plots Three New Albums for 2009: &amp;quot;This Music Is Nasty, But It&amp;apos;s Not Dirty&amp;quot; &amp;#x2022; Prince Premieres Four New Songs On L.A.&amp;apos;s Indie 103 &amp;#x2022;  Oscars: Slumdog Scores Best Picture and Music Category Sweep, Penn Wins Best Actor"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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