Prince Announces Surprise Shows At The Paramount Theater In Oakland

Prince has announced that he will be playing two concerts on Sunday, Feb. 28 at the Paramount Theater in Oakland. This will be his kick off for his much-awaited “Piano & A Microphone Tour.”

The artist will play back-to-back shows at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. He will play his classics songs along with new tracks off his 39th studio album, HITnRUN Phase II.

“I won’t know what songs I’m going to do when I go on stage,” he said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I won’t have to because I won’t have a band. Tempo, keys, all those can dictate what song I’m going to play next, you know, as opposed to, ‘Oh, I’ve got to do my hit single now. I’ve got to play this album all the way through.'”

When Prince recently played a Melbourne concert, he dedicated the set to the late Denise “Vanity” Matthews who passed away on Feb. 15.

“I am new to this playing alone,” he said. “I thank you all for being so patient.”

The artist also tweeted the announcement via his Twitter saying, “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!OAKLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Tickets for the Oakland performances, ranging in price from $99 to $275, went on sale Wednesday, Feb. 24 but have already sold out.