The day Prince took over a field in Kent.

“Prince is going to perform in a field in Kent” read the text from a friend. You’d think we’d be surprised, but we’d all learned to expect the unexpected from the Purple One by then.

I think it’s one of the things I’ll miss the most about him. The randomness of it all. His world was always full of surprises. Sometimes an unexpected show, sometimes BAM! Here’s a new album — you didn’t see that coming, did you? He reveled in whipping us up into a frenzy. All of us longterm prince.org posters knew he’d be right there, reading all of our posts, laughing to himself at how much fuss he was causing… again.

Another thing I’ll miss is his timing. Maybe it’s personal projection, maybe he was always going to be the one I latched on to, but I strongly felt that whenever things in my life weren’t going well, whenever I needed some hope, some positivity, he was there. One of his earliest ever recordings, in 1976, is a song called “Make It Through The Storm”, and for me at least, he was the one that helped me do exactly that.

Timing. Almost exactly 5 years prior to his death, in late April 2011, I had one of the worst weeks of my life. A 7 year relationship that had me on the cusp of moving to another continent, ended abruptly, and my entire life changed. It was the right thing, but that wasn’t so easy to see at the time. I had a very cloudy couple of months, and truth be told, I don’t remember much from that time period. But then, the clouds lifted.

Prince was coming.

I hadn’t seen him since he’d been in London in 2007. 4 years with no purple fix is a long time. The highs of that funky summer in London, where I saw him perform at least half a dozen times, and I met him, and made so many new purple friends, and so many memories…..Those times weren’t easily forgotten, and at this time in my life I needed them, and him, more than ever. And he was coming. I bought my ticket.

Some weeks later, I traveled down the day before the festival. In another stroke of luck, it turned out that my stepsister lived some 10–15 minutes drive away from the festival site. I hadn’t seen her since my relationship ended, so a night of extreme drinking and pouring-my-heart-out was had….. which led to the worst hangover of my life. I stumbled into the festival late in the afternoon with a pounding head and proceeded to get extremely caffeinated and waited for Prince.

Arriving at the festival.

Me at Hop Farm. Hungover. But excited :)

It’s my belief that funk ought to be a recognized medicine. Prior to Prince’s performance, something awesome happened and my haziness and hangover cleared in an instant. Prince decided that, in the middle of a British field, he’d remind people what his extended world looked like. Out of nowhere, the huge video screens lit up with movement, and what was played?

The best of Paisley Park Records. “100MPH” by Mazarati was played. “Love is Contagious” by Taja Sevelle, “The Screams of Passion” by The Family, and more! As a huge fan of all of these acts and songs, I wondered how many people at the festival would know them .

Seeing the likes of Mazarati being played on a massive video screen in the middle of a field in Kent was……..Probably one the most surreal events of my life. I happened to come across a group of about 20–30 people who I knew, but hadn’t traveled there with, and we settled into our position in the middle of the field.

Suddenly, the Earth cracked. At least, that’s what it felt like. A guitar rang out and there they were — Prince & The New Power Generation, getting their groove on with the still-unreleased song “We Live (2 Get Funky)”

30,000 people in a field were indeed getting funky, as Prince and the NPG tore their way through “Let’s Go Crazy”, “1999”, “Raspberry Beret”, “Cream”, “Let’s Work” and many more! I had a transcendent moment of pure bliss when “Purple Rain” played as the sun was setting, followed by jets of purple confetti being shot out across the crowd.

Three encores followed, including a guest appearance by Larry Graham. Then, “If I Was Your Girlfriend”, with newly anointed NPG member Andy Allo gazing adoringly at her boss, and a finale of “Baby I’m A Star”…..just like in that famous movie filmed so many years beforehand.

Every time I saw Prince, it was a unique show- that was par for the course with an artist of his caliber. Hop Farm, though, stands out. Festivals weren’t a common occurrence for him. This remains the only time I saw him outside, and with a crowd that weren’t all there just to see him. That meant it was a different type of show, but Prince being Prince, he knew exactly how to play it, and he delivered, as usual, an absolutely spellbinding set that was perfect for the occasion.

For me, it was the first time that year that I was able to see some perspective, have some closure to the troubles I’d been going through, and see that life wasn’t so bad. My healing had begun, and all it took was a dose of some Purple Magic.