Purple problems: What was right and what was wrong with Prince Celebration 2024

"VIP ticket holders got a 25-minute rushed tour of Paisley Park that was far less than the lowest tier tour available to the general public during normal business hours," tweeted Donny English, who has attended every Celebration (including the three Prince staged in the early '00s) and posted daily critiques this year.

For Celebration 2024, the activities at Paisley were quite limited compared to previous years. A gospel brunch landed in a tent on the Paisley grounds this year. Liv Warfield — a former Prince associate who oozes passion (even in the current TV commercial for "America's Got Talent") — once again gave two stirring performances on the soundstage on Monday, the same day there were several boat cruises on Lake Minnetonka.

Can we communicate?

Splitting time between Chanhassen and Minneapolis challenged Celebration-goers — who came from England, New Zealand and all over the States — when it came to logistics.

Where do we stay? Do we rent a car? Ride share? Why aren't the shuttle buses as efficient as previous years?

Schedules indicating the two locations were not distributed until the day before Celebration began. Prince could get away with last-minute announcements because he always delivered something special but this lack of advance information was inexcusable.

"From not really working the city of Minneapolis into this year's theme — this wasn't expressively done in any of the promotion — to not sending email updates to guests who'd already purchased tickets, this was a missed opportunity," said Nicole, who called this her least favorite of the four Celebrations she's attended.

One other disappointment: Beyond the "Purple Rain" musical that is targeted for Broadway, McMillan didn't announce any new projects — no music releases, no concert footage and no update on the authorized Netflix series on Prince that has been more than four years in the making.

In addition to official Celebration events, there were plenty of other ancillary Princely activities around town, whether organized or not, such as driving by houses in which Prince lived; record shopping at the Electric Fetus; attending a talk by Prince fashion designer Vaughn Terry at a northeast Minneapolis art gallery; partying at the fundraiser Crystal Ball in look-at-me outfits at the Woman's Club, and listening to academic papers and discussions at the "Prince on Film" symposium at the University of Minnesota.

Rating Celebration

We asked a few Celebration-goers to rate their experience, on a scale of 1 to 10.

Scott Morin of Calgary, Albera, first Celebration: "I felt like I had found my family when I was at Celebration 2024." Rating: 8.5.

Marilynn McNair of Atlanta, sixth Celebration: "They have work to do. We put our money where Londell's mouth is." Rating: 7.

Rhonda Nicole of Los Angeles, fourth Celebration and she presented a paper at the "Prince on Film" symposium: "Hosting events in downtown Minneapolis was a nice change of pace. It allowed for more downtime between the day and evening activities and offered better dining options than what we've typically had at Paisley Park." Rating: 6.

Donny English of Baltimore, ninth Celebration including three when Prince was alive: "I believe that the fans have a responsibility to maintain the legacy and ensure accountability." Rating 4.

Despite their grumblings, all of them said they plan to attend Celebration 2025.