ICYMI: New Orleans Honored Prince With Powerful Second Line Tribute, ‘Purple Rain’ Hymn

By Sameer Rao Apr 27, 2016

Any one who has been to New Orleans knows that it does two things better than pretty much any other American city: parades and music. Crescent City residents cleared up any doubts about that when they paid tribute to Prince with an epic parade on Monday (April 25).

According to The Times-Picayune, thousands gathered in the famed Treme neighborhood for a "Purple Rain Day" second line parade (a brass band parade, traditional and native to the city’s Black community) and funeral march. Many wore purple garb, and purple balloons bounced throughout the crowd.

"Black funerary rights; that’s what this started out as," one participant said about the second line tradition. "[Prince] was very appreciative of musical culture from different areas and different small communities. Of course he would have enjoyed this. He’d have been out here too."

During the parade and procession, participants joined in an impromptou rendition of "Purple Rain." Check out the second line and singing in the two videos below: