Prince Covers Bowie & Welcomes Trombone Shorty In Nola

Iconic pop-rocker Prince made the most of his time in New Orleans on Friday, where he was on hand to headline the 20th Essence Festival at The Superdome. Not only did The Purple One deliver a 24-song set of his own, he also sat in with fellow Essence performers Janelle Monae and Nile Rodgers.

[via Nile Rodgers Facebook]

Rodgers welcomed Prince to add blazing guitar to a version of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” a 1983 chart-topper Nile co-produced. Nile took to Twitter to proclaim, “How Proud Am I at This Moment? Playing ‘Let’s Dance’ w Prince is so symbolic. That album w Bowie changed my life…” A short clip of “Let’s Dance” has emerged thus far:

Prince setlists have been all over the place of late, but in New Orleans he clearly focused on the hits for the capacity crowd at The Superdome. At one point, the Minnesota native reeled off a string of “Controversy,” “1999,” “Little Red Corvette,” “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “Kiss,” showing the strength of his back catalog. Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, the pride of New Orleans, sat in for the final portion of Prince’s main set, which included takes on “Sometimes It Snows In April,” “The Bird,” “Jungle Love” and “Glamorous Life.”

Here’s a look at the Prince setlist from Friday night: