PRINCE PREMIERE: Is Prince going back to...

PRINCE PREMIERE: Is Prince going back to the leaner sound that won him his first fame back in the early ‘80s?

That’s what it sounded like when the enigmatic pop star unveiled his new five-piece band, the Beautiful Experience, at a Felliniesque midnight party before a celebrity-filled crowd of about 1,000 invited guests at Paisley Park, his recording studio in suburban Minneapolis last weekend.

Taking the stage at 3:15 a.m. with his new, custom-made gold guitar fashioned in the shape of the symbol that is now his name, he opened the 90-minute set with three new songs--”Interactive,” “Days of Wild” and “Now”--revealing a new sound of guitar/keyboard-driven funk reminiscent of the “Dirty Mind” era.

The party was the hottest ticket in the Twin Cities during the National Basketball Assn.’s All-Star Game weekend. The eclectic guest list included Magic Johnson and his wife, Cookie; All-Stars Danny Manning, David Robinson and Dominique Wilkins; baseball star Kirby Puckett and Minnesota Vikings receiver Cris Carter; members of Soul Asylum and the Gin Blossoms; Tevin Campbell, Salt-N-Pepa, Kris Kross and rapper and TV star Will Smith. The most unexpected guest may have been Tony Robbins, the late-night TV power-of-positive-thinking guru, who showed up in a black tuxedo.