The Loser’s Lounge Tribute to Prince opened at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater last night with Blaise Dahl of the Brooklyn indie rock band Dahl Haus bringing down the house with a soulful rendition of 'Purple Rain.'
Dahl, who had been invited to sing with the Loser’s Lounge before, said she had been hoping that, following the legendary artist's passing, the renowned NYC music group would bring together the community to share their love and celebrate Prince's music. "I've never been this forward about a show before," she admitted, "but when I heard The Loser's Lounge was covering Prince, I reached out to Joe McGinty and told him how much Prince meant to me. There's something very healing about performing an artist's work for a live audience grieving their idol. I was thrilled when he said yes and offered me three songs to choose from, but I knew it had to be 'Purple Rain.' I was so honored and humbled that Joe had even considered it for me. It's so iconic."
The Loser’s Lounge is a collective of New York City’s finest performers who have been selling out live shows every other month for twenty years. Founded in 1993 by former Psychedelic Furs keyboardist Joe McGinty, the band continues to canonize the great songwriting catalogues of the '60s, 70's and ‘80’s in its own unique way. Along with a parade of up and coming singers, some past celebrity guest performers have included Richard Dreyfuss, Moby, Parker Posey, Debbie Harry, Lee Hazlewood, Paul Williams, Cyndi Lauper, John Cameron Mitchell, Fred Schneider, Joey Ramone, John Flansburg of They Might Be Giants, Ronnie Spector, Anne Magnuson, Michael Cerveris, Joan Jett, Ian Hunter, Fred Armisen, Antony, Santi Gold and many more, proving that you never know who you might see at The Loser’s Lounge.
The Loser’s Lounge’s performances have been featured on NBC’s Last Call With Carson Daly, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and Night Of Too Many Stars TV Special, ABC’s My Kind Of Town, radio stations NPR, WFUV, WBAI, WFMU, and in press including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Post, The Village Voice, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone online, Spin Magazine online, and Time Out New York who have dubbed The Losers Lounge “Essential New York.”
The Loser’s Lounge Tribute to Prince is running for six shows this weekend, all of which are sold out.