Prince Rocks A (Purple) Rain-Soaked Halftime Crowd

Now that James Brown has passed into the great beyond, Prince really should petition to take over the title of "the hardest working man in show business." Hip-replacement surgery be damned, the 48-year-old diminutive singer delievered an explosive, high-energy set this Sunday featuring fireworks, a symbol-shaped stage, and even a nod to supergroup Queen.

Donning a tailored powder-blue suit, peach shirt, and a snazzy black "doo rag" (no doubt a result of the torrential rain shower he was performing under), Prince and his trusty Hohner Telecaster guitar ripped into Let's Go Crazy, asking for some help from the audience on the choruses. Prince is playing a lot of guitar these days, and never fails to impress with his lightning-fast runs and impassioned string bending.

After a short nod to 1999, Prince segued into "Baby I'm A Star," another uptempo rocker from the "Purple Rain" soundtrack. Even though Prince claimed he was retiring all the old songs on his last tour, I guess he decided to air a few of them out once again for the appreciative Super Bowl XLI crowd.

With marching band in tow, Prince then headed off into the land of unexpected cover songs, running through a verse and chorus of Proud Mary, before switching to a matching powder-blue Strat and the Dylan/Hendrix classic All Along The Watchtower, which morphed into a similarly-structured Foo Fighters song that I have heard a million times but have no idea what it is called. After seeing him work out a funky solo over the riff to Rock Lobster during last week's press conference, I guess nothing should faze me by this point.

Finally, the rocking ten minute set concluded with the obligatory version of Purple Rain, played on the "symbol" shaped purple guitar that must give his chiropractor fits.

All in all, an energetic if unsurprising set (excluding the covers, of course). The problem with seeing Prince is that he has so many great songs in his repertoire, he always leaves you wanting more. But after ten minutes of standing in the pouring rain jumping around like a man half his age, I'm sure even Prince was pleased to bring this eclectic set to a well-deserved close.