The Grammy winner Prince will perform four times at the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, officials announced Friday.
The Purple One's shows are scheduled for May 3-4, according to officials at the hotel. Fans 21 and over will have to shell out $250 for a ticket (7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.) and can be purchased at the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego's web site.
The announcment come hard on the heels of Prince's mega-set at SxSW last week. Fans waited hours in line to see the free three-hour show, and few went away disappointed: The grooving, brass band-backed funk fest stretched to 3 a.m. and outlasted many fans lucky enough to get inside the exclusive show that also featured A Tribe Called Quest.
As Justin Timberlake and the Smashing Pumpkins headlined other SxSW wrap-ups nearby, Prince prevailed as the toughest ticket Saturday night by performing for only 300 people in his first appearance at the annual music festival that drew 2,200 bands and artists this year.
Prince towered over them all — but his concert at the tiny La Zona Rosa club that sits on the fringe of the SxSW mayhem was no grandiose spectacle. He performed for 2½ hours on a spartan stage behind a giant video board. He contentedly played bandleader instead of superstar, often disappearing backstage for stretches as the band jammed.
The artist will appear in San Diego on a leg of a seven-city West Coast tour with his latest band, 3rdEyeGirl, which is made up of Donna Grantis, Hanna Ford-Welton, and Ida Nielsen.
The artist formerly known as The Artist has been writing music with and for the band, including the recent single "Live Out Loud." A moody blend of edgy rock and funk, it's no rehash of the oversexed Vanity 6.
Prince announced Thursday he would play a similar stand at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco on April 23-24.
