Prince: Purple Rain (Live)
It’s tough to lose Prince, who passed away today at the age of 57. The seemingly invincible artist’s personal back catalog is an infinite jukebox of hits and buried treasures—which helped launch others’ careers and inspired countless musicians from D’Angelo to Chaka Khan, Sinead O’Connor, Janelle Monae, Miguel and The-Dream. Through his singular talent for songwriting and performance, the freaky-and-proud-of-it artist united his listeners—collapsing lines drawn by gender, race, age, sexuality, genre and more—and we’re devastated to lose one of the greatest musicians of our time. Capture a sliver of his everlasting spirit through one of the few YouTube videos he hadn’t yet taken down: a performance of “Purple Rain” in 2007, during the only Super Bowl halftime show that ever lived up to its hype. Take note of the actual rain pouring down from the skies. Vale to the eternally funky Prince of Paisley Park.
