Prince had to be smiling from heaven after witnessing the love for him and his art in Chicago recently.
When Chicago is discussed, the tale of two cities speaks loudly. The haves have and the have nots are caught in the trappings of poverty. Every once in a while these two cities meet under one sky and celebrate the greatness of the city.
The city of Chicago presents a series called Millennium Park Summer Movies and at this Tuesday evening event, purple was the color of choice. Purple Rain was on the big screen and every seat was filled. Every blade of grass was covered with a lawn chair, table and wine glasses. The guitar solo from “Let’s Go Crazy” drove the crowd into a frenzy. Every song that played was a sing-a-long. Even Morris Day’s character got cheers. People were literally dancing in the aisles. You would think this was a live concert. Everyone from 8 to 80 years of age was representing every nationality and every race. Chicago came together to celebrate the Purple One and decided to watch a movie together. It felt good. It felt right.
We spoke with Chicago DJ Duane Powell about the experience and he said, “In the course of 32 years, us Prince and or movie fans have seen Purple Rain like a hundred times but seeing it tonight in a capacity crowd of 25K or more decked out in purple, with the opening line of “Let’s Go Crazy” as the pledge of allegiance, purple glow sticks waving in the air, reciting every major line and going crazy like it was a true concert, was epic. We gathered, hugged, shared food and drank, laughed, sang, danced and cried. A celebration like no other. It’s like I mourned him for the first time. I fought back tears twice. Tonight I truly saw how much Prince was loved and felt how much I truly miss him.”
No gunshots for just one night, at least not at Millennium Park.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJet_WmjAqJ/?taken-by=precise_chi
Take a look at a few pics below.
