An earlier Prince cover

Perpetual Groove’s Halloween theme has changed a bit over the years, moving from a film focus early on to more socially conscious social messages to last year’s Diamonds Are Forever joke (the band played with its James Bond theme by including many diamond themed songs like The Beatles’ “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and Paul Simon’s “Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes”).

This year Perpetual Groove turned their attention to Prince for a performance at Birmingham, AL’s WorkPlay Theater. Billed as PERPle Rain Halloween—a nod to the band’s fans the Perps—the group’s set was dotted with Prince covers. Partway through the band’s first set, Georgia saxophonist Gary Paulo emerged to help the band through Prince’s “Kiss.” He returned at the start of the band’s second set for Prince’s “Darling Nikki” and later for the Purple One’s “Musicology.” As a fitting end to the night, Paulo switched to guitar for Perpetual Groove’s “Purple Rain” encore.

Perpetual Groove guitarist Brock Butler opened the show with a brief solo set that featured numerous songs about life. The group is set to perform at Boone, NC’s Legends tonight.