Prince tribute to channel legendary performer Saturday at Paramount in downtown Anderson
Oct. 3—ANDERSON — A lot goes into a tribute performance, but for Marshall Charloff it begins with channeling the energy of the artist.
He takes on a new persona upon donning the performer's costume.
"There's something about the high heels, just the outfits that I wear," said Charloff, a member of Marshall Charloff and the Purple Xperience, the Prince tribute band slated to perform Saturday at the Paramount Theatre beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Charloff described Prince's energy as "masterful bad-assery."
"There was no hesitation when he played an instrument or sang anything. When I go there, when I'm channeling him on stage, I'm the best musician on stage."
Such confidence is backed up by musical mastery, which for Charloff begins with active listening to decode Prince's musical decisions.
"I'm trying to figure out why did he write that melody, why did he come to that bridge, what was it about that chord structure," he explained.
Concertgoers can expect every note will be live — no backing tracks or auto-tune will be used.
The Purple Xperience consists of Tracey Blake (lead guitar), Ron Long (bass), Ron Caron (drums) and Cory Eischen (keys). Blake and Eischen performed with New Power Generation, a band formed by Prince in 1990.
Prince's former keyboardist and co-founder of the Purple Xperience, Matt Fink, also known as "Doctor Fink," will perform with the group Saturday.
It will be the first time Fink has performed with the group in seven years, according to Charloff.
"Take a plane, take a bus or whatever to come to the show," he said. "This is the closest you're gonna get."
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