CHANHASSEN, MN – If this weekend is any indication, Prince’s legacy is assured. 2,000 Prince lovers came out to Minnesota to celebrate the man and to see where he lived, worked and sadly died at the age of 57, last April.

“Being here with all the different members of the New Power Generation and the Revolution and seeing all this love and purple energy and all of the Purple fam, it’s so much love,” says NPG member Shelby J. who just released her debut, 10 named after the years she was in Prince’s band.

“Prince was our common denominator and we were all connected through him so it helps us heal together.”

“Fams” as Prince referred to his fanbase, paid between $500 to $1,000 for four days of events at Paisley Park, with included daily performances, panels, and exclusive video footage. The weekend was a nod to the parties and performances Prince hosted there while he was alive, including a previous celebration weekend held at Paisley Park June 7-13th, 2000.

Panels included one on the history of Paisley Park, which opened on September 11, 1987, a Live panel with sound engineers who talked about working Prince’s live performances, a Engineers panel with Susan Rogers, one of Prince’s best known recording engineers and others, a Fashion panel with hairdresser Kim Berry and Prince’s longtime tailor and designer, and a Photography panel that included actress Yara Shahidi’s father, Afshin Shahidi, who photographed him for the 3121 cover.

Panelists talked about how demanding Prince was, but all of them said it was because he wanted them to be better and often saw things in them they didn’t see in themselves.

Red White, who ran Paisley Park for ten years, said that there were days when he wouldn’t get to go home for 3, 4 days, but if he had to do it all over again, he would.

Music wasn’t the only way Prince found members of his various bands. Kip Blackshire, who sang with the NPG, said that he joined the group after being invited out to Paisley by NPG member Morris Hayes to watch a rehearsal.

At that time, Paisley had a basketball hoop inside a rehearsal room and Blackshire was just messing around on it when he was interrupted by Prince. When he went to hand him the basketball, Prince ball checked him and the next day, after playing 2 on 2 basketball, Prince told him he’d heard him singing in the bathroom and wanted to hear more.

Funny, bittersweet and revealing stories abounded on the panels, but the performances and exclusive video footage showed Prince’s genius. George Clinton kicked off the performances on Thursday. The Time, featuring three of their original members including Morris Day, and some talented new members, performed their classic hits.

The Revolution performed with Stokley Williams of Mint Condition doing lead on songs like “D.M.S.R” while a reconfigured NPG Band that included Andre Cymone and Blackshire, Shelby J., and Livv Warfield on vocals, musicians Hayes, Levi Seacer, Tony M., and model/dancer Prince homie, Damaris Lewis, who also hosted the event, ripped through classics from Sign of the Times and the Symbol and Diamonds and Pearls albums as well as deep NPG cuts like “Call The Law.”

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