THE NIGHT PRINCE CAME TO THE PUB

In celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday, the Citizen is rolling out one fact each day for 150 days until July 1, highlighting the odd, the fascinating and the important bits of Ottawa history you might not know about. In the early hours of June 17, 2002, music legend Prince played Oliver’s Pub, the campus bar at Carleton University. The Purple One and his band had just finished a sold-out show at the National Arts Centre, part of his One Nite Alone tour of Canada. It was Prince’s first appearance in Ottawa.

The enigmatic artist decided earlier that day he wanted to play in a bar after the show, something he had already done in other Canadian cities along the tour. Ottawa’s Kevin Duffy, who was working for the concert promoter and booked acts at Oliver’s, took the technical crew for a drive down Bank Street in search of a venue. No one was around to let them into Barrymore’s Music Hall so he brought them to Oliver’s.

The impromptu gig was kept secret until the end of the NAC show, when there was an announcement from the stage about an after-party. “They don’t say that Prince will be there,” Duffy recalled. “They don’t say it’s a live show. It’s really only the fans who know what a Prince afterparty is that showed up.”

About 250 fans made their way to Carleton, stood in line and paid the $30 cover charge, the money earmarked for Prince’s children’s charity. The band started around 1 a.m. and played about 90 minutes of jazz, funk and rock.

Although Duffy was too busy to watch much of the concert, he thought it was incredible. “It was obviously the greatest show that bar would have ever seen,” he said.