Prince's Late Addition To Coachella Didn't Stop His Iconic Performance

"Coachella, I am here!," Prince shouted amid pounding drums as he took the stage at the three-day musical festival in Indio, California. "Coachella, where are you?!" It was April 26, 2008, and the Purple One — who was actually wearing all white for the performance, the rhinestones that fringed his top sparkling in the stage lights — kicked out the jams for two hours. He wowed the crowd with scorching renditions of both his own hits and several covers, including a stellar version of Radiohead's "Creep," that would later stir up controversy. There were even a few surprise guests as well.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival set came just a year after Prince's historic Super Bowl halftime show in which he barely avoided being electrocuted in the pouring rain. The festival organizers had been trying for eight years, since Coachella's launch, to get Prince. It took a rumored $4.8 million to make it happen and it was a mere three weeks before the festival when Prince agreed to perform during its ninth year.

It was just after 11 p.m. when Prince took the stage to headline the second day of Coachella. He had told the festival organizers he was coming there "to party" (via the AP), and he didn't disappoint. He opened the set with a rollicking version of "The Bird," a song Prince co-wrote for The Time. That band's singer, and Prince protege, Morris Day, made a surprise appearance and sang both "The Bird" and the Time's 1984 hit — also co-written by Prince — "Jungle Love," while Prince strutted around and wailed on the guitar. From the get-go Prince's iconic performance that night was a reunion of sorts, in part harking back to the 1980s when Prince first rose to the top of the charts.

The set also reunited Prince with singer and percussionist Sheila E., another Prince protege — to perform her hit "The Glamorous Life" (also penned by Prince). The set included a long list of Prince's early hits, from "Little Red Corvette" to "Let's Go Crazy." And although it may not have topped Prince's barn-burning guitar performance at the 2004 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (possibly inspired by a Rolling Stone Magazine snub), it ranks as one of the greatest performances Coachella had ever witnessed.

Given Prince's massive catalog, it may seem surprising but his Coachella set included eight covers. Among these were three Santana songs. Way back in 1985, during a Rolling Stone interview, Prince said his guitar style was closer to Carlos Santana's playing than Jimi Hendrix, calling the former's style "prettier." Prince also covered a wide range of other musicians that night from the B-52's to Sarah McLachlan to the Beatles.

By far the most celebrated cover was Radiohead's "Creep." Prince's poignant rendition of the song was more than eight minutes long and included a blistering guitar solo. The next day when fans began posting videos of Prince's performance online, Prince's record label, NPG Records, had the videos taken down. Prince was known for zealously policing the internet for any unauthorized use of his music in order to protect his copyrights and control the presentation of his music. Thom Yorke, Radiohead's frontman, soon chimed in on this. "Well, tell him to unblock it," Yorke said when he heard the news (via Billboard). "It's our ... song." While Prince's performance may have been one of the festival's greatest performances, the ensuing rumpus has become remembered as one of Coachella's biggest controversies.