Sheila E. / Liv Warfield / Donna Grantis / Judith Hill at Paisley Park, Chanhassen (11 March 2019)

Sheila E Tour Dates

Liv Warfield Tour Dates

Donna Grantis Tour Dates

Judith Hill Tour Dates

Pink was added to the familiar Purple at Paisley Park as International Womens Day extended past the Friday and the weekend, to welcome a marathon concert and first-ever all-female musical event held on the grounds.

The occasion was #WomenWhoRock, a mostly private, invite-only event sponsored by business-to-business tech company SAP that brought together on the same stage for the very first time Judith Hill, Donna Grantis, Liv Warfield and Sheila E., with Shelby J serving as the evening’s emcee.

Less than five hundred people attended the well-run five-hour event, the majority being SAP employees (local, national and international) with everyone being bused in from the local high school, so as not to clog up the streets around the studio complex, for an evening that celebrated women in a manner, that despite the corporate auspices, Prince would have surely approved of.

After some requisite short speeches, the evening’s entertainment began with a forty-five minute set from Judith Hill and band (including her mother on organ and father on bass), “It’s so good to be back- I have literally not been on this stage in three years, so it’s an emotional night” Hill said, starting things with the funky groove of ‘Gypsy Lover’ from recent self-released album, Golden Child which came out last November.

The upbeat funk continued with ‘Don’t Blame Me’, which featured a classic rhythm guitar riff and outro’d with the Michael Jackson/Sly Stone mash of ‘Don’t Stop (’til You Get Enough)/ ‘I Want to Take You Higher’ before things momentarily slowed down as Hill took to piano for ballads ‘Chasing Rainbows’ and ‘Footsteps’.

“A revolution is upon us” the taped intro to ‘As Trains Go By’ declared, and perhaps thinking of the Purple One, she said “Before it gets better, you gotta cry, cry, cry a little bit longer before the sunshine comes out” before the bluesy ‘Cry, Cry, Cry’ from her Prince-produced 2015 album. “All the purple love in this building, it’s infectious!” she added towards the end of her abbreviated set.

3^rd Eye Girl guitarist Donna Grantis has new music forthcoming with solo album Diamonds and Dyanamite (on eOne Records) due out April 5 and entertained the crowd with forty minutes of instrumental jazz/rock/funk/fusion. It was an ideal case of “let the music do the talking” as Grantis and band shifted styles effortlessly as the songs demanded, unleashing thunder on new tracks like ‘Trashformer’ with her drummer being the band’s not-so-secret weapon, showing considerable chops.

Liv Warfield and band were next, supercharging things right out of the gate, celebrating her 2014 album The Unexpected (on 1860 Property) finally being available on all major digital platforms with a blistering version of the title track, which sprang from Prince’s own version called ‘Wow’.

Making the most of her forty-five minutes, her raucous version of Buddy Miles’ 1970 song ‘Them Changes’ revved up the Paisley crowd along with her own ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Why Do You Lie?’ Longtime guitarist Ryan Waters (also a touring member of Sade’s band Sweetback) continued to be the yang to her musical yin, and the rest of the band was impressively solid as well.

Shelby J didn’t have a set of her own, but when DJ Michael Holtz played Prince’s ‘Chelsea Rodgers’ that originally featured her on the track, she couldn’t help but ask out loud, “Is that my song?” proceeding to sing along at full volume. And it has to be said that the soundstage at Paisley remains one of the best sounding spaces in the metro, a continuing testament to Prince’s musical determination for excellence.

Sheila E’s hour-long closing set began in the most patriotic way, with her ’Funky National Anthem: Message 2 America’ starting things as band members marched out one by one, followed by a taste of some George Clinton P-funk.

Prince’s ‘Get on the Boat’ was played early and she asked if anyone remembered Krush Groove before going into ‘Holly Rock’ from the 1986 movie. She cheekily re-titled her own ‘Mona Lisa’ as ‘Mona Lisa for SAP at Paisley Today Cha-Cha-Cha’ surely to the corporate sponsor’s delight, then brought ten fans on stage to dance along to her recent single, ‘Bailar’.

Strapping on a guitar, Sheila walked through the smiling crowd for a bubbly ‘Rockstar’ ending it with an instrumental portion of ‘Purple Rain’ then gave an emotional speech about choosing love and valuing what you might lose. From there, things turned more upbeat with signature song, ‘A Love Bizarre’ and a Sly Stone cover that showcased backup singers Lynn Mabry and Rebecca Jade.

“We have a curfew at Paisley?! That’ ain’t right… Tyka! Sing fast?! All right…” she said, seeing that time was running crucially short, running breakneck into versions of Prince’s ‘America’ and ‘Baby, I’m a Star’ as the other ladies joined on stage, with Sheila shouting, “I’m not done! Somebody scream!” ending the set and the evening, with ‘The Glamorous Life’.

Prince sang “I’ll have your love in the end, soul of my soul, and God created woman” and on this special night at the iconic Paisley Park (which felt like a mini-Celebration concert), not only was the purple spirit alive, but also that of the #WomenWhoRock.

(all photos provided by SAP – click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)