Unsurprisingly, this weekend has been overflowing with tributes to Prince – as the world of music and beyond mourns the loss of one of the greatest musicians of all time.
We already heard that numerous monuments around the globe have turned purple in his honour, whilst several acts at Coachella have covered a bunch of his classic tracks in tribute. Now we’ll wrap up the best of the rest, with tributes coming in not only from musicians but also comedians and even the National American Space Agency (NASA).
First we turn to Bruce Springsteen, who played the first of two shows at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn overnight. Springsteen – who normally begins his shows with the iconic Meet Me In The City, decided to forgo his usual routine and open with Purple Rain. The stage was heavily dipped in purple for good measure, and you can check out a video of the performance below.
Stevie Wonder has given an interview with CNN, speaking candidly about his memories of Prince and about how much of inspiration he was for himself and others. He spoke about Prince’s ability to unify people; “He was a great musician, he loved music, he loved playing his instrument and the times that we did jam together were amazing, with all the various people he would bring together.” Check out the interview below.
The Roots co-founder Questlove was another to pay his respects, a year after revealing he had once been fired by Prince and had his show replaced with a screening of the film ‘Finding Nemo‘. On Thursday evening he played a snippet from the animated movie during his DJ set in Brooklyn. Footage and an Instagram post from Questlove are available to check out, below.
@questlove has #findingnemo on rn in honor, in tribute, of the late the great. #PRINCE. if u don't get it, google it pic.twitter.com/xOIJeStBcE
— Sadie Miller (@SadieFBaby) April 22, 2016
American rockers Peal Jam played New Orleans Jazz Fest over the weekend, taking the opportunity to cover Purple Rain. They also played Even Flow, which Prince himself had covered back in 2013 – before frontman Eddie Vedder spoke of Prince’s influence and talent; “All of us up here were incredibly fortunate to see him a number of times over the years. Some of us got to meet him a bit. He was an intense cat,” Vedder said. “But I gotta tell you, and you just saw some great guitar playing. Prince was probably the greatest guitar player we’ve ever seen.” Watch the cover below.
The tributes weren’t limited to musicians, such was the impact Prince had on the world. Comedian Dave Chappelle reminisced about the Purple One at his show over the weekend at the Chapel in San Fransisco. “This is black 9/11,” he said. “I almost thought about not coming tonight, but my band was like, ‘Yo, Prince would definitely not condone that.” Chappelle’s backup band performed a range of Prince’s hits in what ended up being a fully-fledged tribute show, complete with the stage bathed in purple.
Dave Chappelle (@ The Chapel in San Francisco, CA) https://t.co/aRTWsbkKKu pic.twitter.com/GJYLuQkPHO
— Jamiegirl1 (@Jamiegirl1) April 22, 2016
Perhaps most unexpectedly, NASA have paid tribute in their own way, by releasing an image of the purple Crab Nebula – one of many which died out despite burning quickly and brightly before it did. A message was posted along with the image, “A purple nebula, in honour of prince, who passed away today”.
A purple nebula, in honor of Prince, who passed away today. https://t.co/7buFWWExMw pic.twitter.com/ONQDwSQwVa
— NASA (@NASA) April 21, 2016
