IN CONCERT

Prince and the New Power Generation

When: Saturday, 8 p.m. (doors at 7)

Where: Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre

Tickets: $79.50/$175 (plus service charges) in person at the Save-on-Foods Memorial box office (1925 Blanshard St.), by phone at 220-7777, or online at selectyourtickets.com

Followed closely by a trail of rave reviews, Prince brings his Welcome 2 Canada tour to Victoria on Saturday, the 11th and final stop of the performer's longest tour of Canada in nearly a decade.

Prince's current tour has been a resounding success, and appears to be evolving on a nightly basis.

In terms of acclaim, his live show is off the charts. His ability to turn stylistic corners on a dime has drawn mention as he continues to fuse rock, soul and rhythm and blues in seamless fashion.

"He sang in his raspy midrange and piping falsetto, danced with liquid ease, and played ornate moody guitar solos as though thinking aloud through the instrument," a Nov. 25 review in The Globe and Mail said of Prince's tour-opening Toronto concert.

The upside of being the last date on the tour? The ability to go into it fully prepared. In fact, those keeping score at home should have a firm idea of what to expect on Saturday night. Prince is going to play for three hours. He is going to deliver more than a handful of covers, ranging from Michael Jackson to Sly and the Family Stone. And he is going to wail on his guitar like he practically invented the instrument.

For those who haven't been following Prince's every move, here's a primer of his tour thus far. Expect to see all this and more on Saturday.

1. Purple Rain. It isn't a Prince concert until the Purple Yoda lets fly with his signature song. Not only is the tune (and album from which it came) deemed one of the best in rock 'n' roll history, the Grammy-winning ballad gives Prince an opportunity to stretch out on his guitar, something he has done on every Welcome 2 Canada date thus far. By all accounts, Purple Rain is the defining moment of his recent concerts.

2. Kiss. Another staple of Prince's set, Kiss puts the spotlight on Prince's funkier side. During his Winnipeg tour stop on Dec. 8, Prince took a moment during the song to shake his tailfeather, a move that was met with rapturous delight from the females in the audience. And that famous falsetto he adopts for Kiss? According to reviews, it's liable to make doves cry.

3. 1999. One of Prince's most identifiable songs is expected to appear midway through his three-hour set — at precisely the point when Prince and Co. are fully wired into a groove. Following its delivery, Prince concerts have gone from great to otherworldly. The vibe inside the room at a Prince concert is already electric; when he drops 1999, the party never stops.

4. Raspberry Beret. John Mayer is known to pepper his concerts with this gem (from Prince's oft-overlooked 1985 masterpiece Around the World in a Day), but the tune never sounds better than it does in the hands of its rightful owner. Prince doesn't always give Raspberry Beret a proper showcase — it appears during a medley that includes Take Me With U — but it always brings down the house.

5. When Doves Cry. Sadly, it appears fans won't be treated to a full version of When Doves Cry, another Purple Rain highlight.

Rather, the song occupies a spot in what has been termed his "sampler set," another medley-heavy stretch that includes everything from Nasty Girl to Hot Thing and a host of other fan favourites.

6. Delirious. For a song that is now past the three-decade mark in age, Delirious still sounds fresh. That explains why it remains a fixture of his live show, often nestled between similarly excellent mid-career songs like Let's Go Crazy and 1999. Delirious appears to have been greatly reduced in length (the Ottawa Citizen, in its review of Prince's Dec. 3 performance, said it "flew by"), though its upbeat nature definitely gets the show off on the right foot.

7. Sign O' the Times. Another certified classic that has been getting the medley treatment during his Canada run, Sign O' the Times remains one of his finest compositions, a song whose serious nature provides an antidote to the fun-first emphasis that makes up the majority of Prince's concerts.

8. Nothing Compares 2 U. The song made famous by Sinéad O'Connor was in fact written by Prince, who more than a decade ago reclaimed the tune as his own in concert. Backup singer Shelby Johnson duets with Prince on this ballad, a welcome addition to nearly every date thus far on his Canadian trek.

9. Cream. Prince's fascination with the female of the species dominated 1991's Diamonds and Pearls, an album whose central theme was carnal knowledge. Although he swore off profanity in recent years, the inclusion of the No. 1 hit from Diamonds and Pearls for his Canadian run proves that sexual innuendo is alive and well in Prince's world.

10. Cool/Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough. Although this medley is a relatively new addition to Prince concerts, the pairing of Cool (a song Prince wrote for Morris Day and the Time) with one of Michael Jackson's early solo hits has proven to be a highlight for fans. On most occasions, the song serves as a showcase for his band, which delivers some heavy Minneapolis funk.

mdevlin@timescolonist.com