Pop star Prince kicks off rare set of London shows

LONDON - American popstar Prince kicked off his 21-show London tour at the capital's O2 Arena Wednesday night with a medley of his best known songs -- and gave away copies of his latest album to his fans.

The diminutive musician from Minneapolis, who opened the concert with "Purple Rain", has claimed that the tour -- his only European visit of the year -- will be the final time he will play his greatest hits live.

In a two-and-a-half hour set that marked his first performance in London in more than a decade, he also sang "Kiss", "Girls and Boys", "Let's Go Crazy" and "Nothing Compared 2 U", accompanied by two scantily-clad female dancers.

The 49-year-old has said that, having prepared 150 songs for the 21 shows, audiences will hear a different selection every night he performs.

Audiences finally began heading for the exits after Prince's third encore Wednesday evening, only to rush to return when he appeared in the middle of the auditorium, and made his way back to the stage.

When he was back on stage, concert-goers were treated to a solo acoustic version of "Little Red Corvette". Prince also covered "Come Together" by the Beatles, and "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.

All the people who attended the concert received a copy of the artist's new album, "Planet Earth". The pop maverick gave away about three million copies of the album with British newspaper the Mail on Sunday last month, amid protests from music retailers.

Through his career, Prince has sold 80 million albums, and won six Grammys and an Oscar, which he received for the music to the 1984 film "Purple Rain".