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PRINCE: Jesus, Sex and No Cell Phones, Dammit

Screen Shot 2013-07-05 at 9.30.06 AMNearly 40 years into his career, Prince is still churning out mind-blowing music. Currently playing two shows a night while on tour with his new band, 3RDEYEGIRL, the icon takes a moment (at 2AM) to sermonize on sex, religion, and rock and roll.

It’s no sweat for Prince to play two sets a night, as he does this evening at the 1,700-seat City National Grove of Anaheim California. He tells me that if anything he’s more energized after the second show, not less. Both shows stretch to a delicious two hours, as the crowd, in blowouts and Vegas-style cocktail dresses (it’s worth dressing up for Prince, even in California), screams and sings along with glee. The only tense moment comes when we file into the theater and a security guard says, “No cameras, no cellphones—don’t even take them out of your pocket. Tonight, we’re not asking, we’re just escorting.” I ask her what that means. “If we see you with your phone out, we’re not going to ask what you’re doing—you’re just gone.”

This demand might seem extreme coming from the Purple One—a very young-looking 55, with a tight Afro instead of his usual loose curls, clad in a black bodysuit with white lines that makes him look like a spider—but in fact it’s not out of character.

Read more: vmagazine.com