Prince plays greatest hits during surprise two-hour show at London’s Koko

Prince gave a surprise performance at London’s Koko last night, playing a lengthy set that included some of his biggest hits.

The private show, which was in support of the charity Autism Rocks, attracted big names in the audience including Noel Gallagher and Zane Lowe, Dr Funkenberry reports.

Prince took to the stage at 10pm with his backing band 3RDEYEGIRL and launched into ‘Purple Rain’, before playing all of his greatest hits for more than two hours. “We’re gonna play 14 hits in a row,” he told the crowd. “Then if you’re still standing we’ll play some more.”

Joined on stage by Joshua Welton (keyboards) and Liv Warfield (vocals), the singer perfomed classic tracks ‘Controversy’, ‘U Got The Look’, ‘1999’, ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ and ‘Kiss’, as well as a cover of Paloma Faith’s ‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’. “How many of you remember the ’80s?” he asked before playing ‘Let’s Go Crazy’.

Prince then played tracks from Prince and 3RDEYEGIRL’s new albums, including ‘The Breakdown’ and ‘Plectrumelectrum’.

The show was Prince’s first of 2015, following last year’s series of spontaneous ‘Hit and Run’ shows, which were announced last minute via Twitter. Venues for the shows included Ronnie Scotts, Electric Ballroom and O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

Earlier this month, Prince and 3RDEYEGIRL unveiled a new retro video for track ‘Marz’. The short track was taken from the album ‘Plectrumelectrum’ and the video was a seventies throwback piece, featuring blurry colours, psychedelic imagery and simulated static.

Prince played:

‘Purple Rain’
‘Let’s Go Crazy’
‘Take Me With U’
‘U Got The Look’
‘Funknroll’
‘Controversy’
‘1999’
‘Little Red Corvette’
‘Nothing Compares 2 U’
‘U Got The Look’
‘Kiss’
‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’
‘When Doves Cry’
‘Sign O’ The Times’
‘Hot Thing’
‘A Love Bizarre’
‘Intro Darling Nikki’
‘Pop Life’
‘I Would Die 4 U’
‘Forever In My Life’
‘Housequake’
‘U KNOW’
‘The Gold Standard’
‘If I Was Your Girlfriend’
‘Guitar’
‘Plectrumelectrum’
‘The Breakdown’
‘What’s My Name’
‘Stratus’
‘Sometimes It Snows In April’
‘Dreamer’
‘Let’s Work’
‘Cool’ / ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’