I'm in serious disbelief, and yet it makes perfect sense.
This performance signals a paradigm shift.

One of the most successful and anti-establishment artists of our time just threw his purple hat into the ring by giving what is likely to be remembered as his most incredible performance to date this past weekend. To describe it for you in more than abstract terms would be doing you a great disservice, so it's best just to say that this one was a clear shout out to those who are really shaking things up in the music business. As if on cue, the fans clearly took note, making this particular performance THE viral video so rapidly that, in the last 12 hours, the story has already gone from newly breaking to newly historical. This, in turn, speaks volumes to the power of the listeners, viewers, participants, and CONSUMERS of music and the performing arts today. Here we have what is, realistically, a poorly-filmed video from the audience. There's that tall guy down in front, there's the dude who sticks his arm up right in your view, and there's lame audience comments here and there, yet somehow, this little video still outshines anything with a budget. Why? Because a fan filmed it and shared it not to make some money, but actually IN SPITE of any monetary value distribution of such a film might have. This fan chose to share based solely on the value of the content, rather than some arbitrary [and rapidly depriciating] value that has no true weight in determining . . . well . . . anything. In other words, this is something that deserves to be shared with a wider audience, period. The fact that people who PAID to be there went out of their way to make it so that the rest of us could watch for FREE is the ultimate in music fans giving back, and is at the very heart of why we all like sharing much more than hoarding. Turns out, it's the music we all care about, not the money.
Somehow I think that wasn't really lost on the fans to begin with, but a bit of reinforcement is always nice, especially in times when a share and share alike mentality has come under such heavy scrutiny. So, to the fans who made it, thanks. To those who didn't, I give you, Prince.

[ www.youtube.com/watch ]

Edit: Link no longer works. The fans might be into sharing, but the powers that be are having none of it.

~e.