The New Power Generation started their “Celebrating Prince” tour
Don’t miss an epic musical celebration feauting the music of Prince from his former backing band, The New Power Generation, that will perform at Musicology Barcaffe Sessions concert series as a part of their world „Celebrating Prince“ tour.
The reunion of former members of the New Power Generation (NPG) happened at the official tribute concert organized to celebrate Prince in 2016. The band’s keyboard player, musical director and Prince’s right hand, Morris Hayes was the one who brought together the original band members, while including other great artists as well, which resulted in an outstanding musical celebration, that the fans characterized as an energetic, but yet a healing performance. The usual response was that the concert was „just what we needed, now that Prince is not around anymore“. Considering the crazy feedback from the audience, Morris, Sonny T, Tommy Barcarella, Tony M, Damon D, and Levi Seacer met one of Prince’s ex-managers to consider making a tour that will honor Prince’s life’s work. That’s how the „Celebrating Prince“ tour was born. Since then, the band collaborated with many great musicians – Prince’s colleagujes, followers and students, all in purpose of providing a special kind of a tribute performance that will celebrate one legend that will never be forgotten.
“The trick is you cannot replace Prince. It’s impossible. He’s an anomaly. Michael Jackson is an anomaly. Those people, you can’t replace them. They’re just gone, and we have their legacy, their music. What we want to just be able to do is be careful with the legacy and be careful with the music, that we respect it, and be able to perform it in a way if Prince were to see it, he’d be like “Yeah, I’d go hop on the stage and do my thing!”
After changing a couple of vocalists during the first year of touring, NPG found what they were looking for in the charismatic singer by the name of MacKenzie who’s originally from Virginia, but lives in LA at the moment. MacKenzie managed to wow the audience with his fantastic vocal abilities and powerful and energetic performance. Not trying to mimic the legend himself, but by giving an authentic performance to the crowd, he’s paying respect and honoring the legend, which gained him a lot of sympathy from the audience. As it is the case with the rest of the band, MacKenzie carries pure funk within himself. When asked, why they chose MacKenzie, they say:
“Not necessarily somebody that’s trying to imitate Prince, but bring the kind of energy to the song that he would bring to it.”
What makes NPG stand out, it’s their philosophical approach and their work ethic that they shared with Prince. He was a performer that took every little piece of attention of the audience, and the NPG continues to play as if Prince was still on stage. Their performances are a neverending musical caleidoscope of the greatest Prince’s hits from every part of his career.
When Prince formed the band, back in 1990, he wrote a letter to the media, explaining that his new band is “the best band ever”, and the NPG soon became known as “the funkiest band in the land”.
NPG didn’t just stand as the name of the band but instead, it presented the whole philosophy they wanted to share with the world: „The creation of NPG almost signalled a movement more than just being a band.” as the band members state.
“Lay down your funky weapon, come join us on the floor. Making love and music’s the only things worth fighting 4. We r the new power generation, we want 2 change the world. The only thing that’s in our way is u. Your old fashioned music, your old ideas, We’re sick and tired of u telling us what 2 do. We r the New Power Generation…..” (Prince)
“Prince wanted us to go out and do our music, and keep progressing on our own, and I think a big part of what made me really appreciative of Prince was his ability to do so much good for humanity. For me, at this point in my career, I’ve made my music history with a legend. Now, we want to celebrate that legend” (Morris Hayes)
These concerts will close the autumn part of the Musicology Barcaffe Sessions season, that hosted artists such as Hindi Zahra, The Brand New Heavies, and Cory Wong of Vulfpeck, with sold-out shows.
Tickets can be purchased via www.tickets.rs & www.ddtickets.rs