A week ago, Prince was healthy
enough to give what would be his final
public performance. He played two
sets in one night at the Fox Theater in
Atlanta, making up for shows canceled
earlier this month. Addressing the
crowd that evening, Prince said he
had been “a little under the weather”
on April 7, when the shows were
originally scheduled, but added,
“We’re here now.”
Nicholas Wolaver, a fan who attended
the early performance, said: “You
would not believe that he was singing
ill. He sounded true to his talents and
it was an amazing performance.” And
although he was performing with only
a piano, Prince “got up and danced,”
Mr. Wolaver said, adding that even
after three encores, “he left people
wanting a little more.”
But by the following day, TMZ
reported that Prince’s plane had made
an emergency landing in Moline, Ill.,
en route to Minnesota. After what was
reportedly a brief hospital visit,
Prince tweeted , “I am #transformed.”
On Saturday, there seemed no cause
for concern as Prince announced the
party at Paisley Park, which also
served as a community gathering
place. “2 GIVE THANX 4 THE GOOD
WEATHER AND 4 ALL THE LOVE AND
SUPPORT,” Prince tweeted, attaching a
flyer for the night’s festivities. The
cover charge was $10.
Scott Gregoria was among the few
hundred fans to show up. Prince
looked “a little more weak, a little
more pale than when I had seen him
before,” Mr. Gregoria said outside
Paisley Park on Thursday. But he
noted that Prince was also in a
gregarious mood, joking around with
the crowd and showing off a new
guitar in his trademark shade of
purple. In lieu of a performance, he
played a recording of the Atlanta show
over the speaker system.

Prince had been out and about earlier

on Saturday as well. Kaitlyn Powell,

17, saw him riding bikes with a

companion around a strip mall as she

waited for her 3 p.m. shift to start at

the local Office Max.

“I saw this person biking pretty

quickly around the parking lot, but it

wasn’t until he got close to my car and

I made eye contact with him that I

realized it was actually Prince,” she

said. “I kind of second-guessed myself

because he wasn’t wearing purple.”

But when she left her car, there he

was, just sitting on the sidewalk. “I got

my phone out to take a picture and he

asked me not to,” Ms. Powell said. “I

said, O.K., I respect that, put my phone

away and went to work.”

That morning, Prince had also noted

that it was Record Store Day. “PLEASE

SUPPORT UR LOCAL RECORD STORE

2DAY: (THROAT CLEARS 2 ATTRACT

ATTENTION): ELECTRIC FETUS,” he

tweeted, referring to the south

Minneapolis shop he was known to

frequent. Sure enough, he stopped in

that evening to make a purchase,

according to The Star Tribune.

On Tuesday night, he was spotted

again, this time at the Dakota Jazz

Club in downtown Minneapolis, still

walking the line, even in his final

days, between unknowable cipher and

local fixture.

“For the residents of Minneapolis, the

loss of Prince is too large to describe,”

wrote the city’s mayor, Betsy Hodges,

in a statement. “Prince never left us

and we never left him.”

Christina Capecchi and Sheila Eldred

contributed reporting.