Prince headed North this weekend and rather than 'hit & run' he did six encores

Prince at the Brits last week Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Pop superstar Prince announced at The Brits last Wednesday that he would be 'heading north' and wrapping up his 'Hit & Run Tour' in Manchester.

The rumour mill was then working overtime about just how many gigs he would perform in the city. The official line was that he would play two shows one on Friday evening and one on Saturday. The rumours were rife however that he would play a double gig on Friday evening and an additional gig on Sunday in the Northern Quarter!!

Our Entertainment Correspondent Caroline Whitmore was at Princes' first gig in Manchester on Friday night and fills in the blanks!

Prince sings about 'Chaos and Disorder' and on Friday evening that was certainly the case!! The Academy staff had been booked until 4am and a second show had always been the plan and was due to start at 12.30am. However this show got cancelled just twenty minutes before it was due to start despite a queue of fans waiting in the rain which was definitely not purple!

Martin Laws, Commercial operations director from Manchester Academy told us that "Prince had had a 'change of heart' and decided to play for longer instead of playing a second show when only 150 people turned up. Martin explained to us that those 150 people in the queue were invited to go along to his show on Saturday evening.

Those who did attend the show on Friday were treated to almost three hours of Prince performing at his best - without the addition of his usual splits however! Sporting a black and silver outfit (including a headband) he started the show with "Let's go crazy" and then treated fans to a mixture of new songs from his forthcoming album 'Plectrum Electrum' which is out later this year with his band 3rdeyegirl.

He also made time for the classic tracks too including 'When Doves Cry', 'Most Beautiful Girl in the World' and of course 'Purple Rain'- so fans were definitely not disappointed.

It seems that maybe Prince himself was confused on Friday evening too as he did six encores in total!!