On the eve of the ninth anniversary of the Minnesota icon’s death, Cynthia Erivo reminded Coachella festivalgoers that nothing compares to a good Prince cover.
The Oscar-nominated and Tony-winning “Wicked” star sang a riveting version of “Purple Rain” on Saturday night at the megafestival in Indio, Calif., during an unannounced appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Clips of the choir-accompanied performance are going viral Monday, with Rolling Stone and other music news sites pinpointing it as a highlight of Coachella’s second weekend.
“Would you like a little Prince?” Erivo can be heard asking to cheers for what turned out to be the LA Philharmonic’s finale.
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Natasha Bedingfield and Laufey also joined Dudamel and Co. for the first stand-alone performance by an orchestra at the trendsetting festival (not counting its appearance a weekend earlier at Coachella, when LL Cool J joined in).
This wasn’t the first time Erivo has gone viral covering Prince. Her soaring rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U” at the Kennedy Center’s New Year’s Eve concert in December was a big hit for PBS, with almost 5 million views of it online. Erivo has a new solo album coming out June 6 — the day before Prince’s birthday — so maybe she’ll pull more from the Purple Playlist in her promotion of the record.
Prince’s death on April 21, 2016, will once again be marked at his studio-turned-museum Paisley Park in Chanhassen on Monday with a candle lighting ceremony at 4:21 p.m., which will be livestreamed via Paisley Park’s social channels.
Admission is also free all day Monday from 10 to 5 p.m. at Paisley Park, 7801 Audubon Road, Chanhassen. At 7 p.m., the museum will screen the Prince concert film “Welcome 2 America 2011 — Live from Greensboro, N.C.,” tickets for which are on sale on at paisleypark.com for $40.
Paisley Park makes a bigger deal of Prince’s birthday with its annual Celebration, June 5-7, tickets for which are also on sale now for a lineup that includes Morris Day and the Time, Jesse Johnson, the Family and many other Purple associates.
