Prince To Play An 8-Minute Uninterrupted Set On SNL

We’re only a few episodes into the landmark 40th season of “Saturday Night Live” but one of the most anticipated so far is coming up this weekend and it’s sure to be special. The show announced on Tuesdaythat when Prince takes the stage as the musical guest during this Saturday’s episode hosted by Chris Rock, he’ll be performing in unprecedented fashion as we head into November sweeps.

Instead of the typical setup in which the musical guest performs twice during the 90-minute show, Prince will perform one eight-minute set in the middle of the episode with no interruption and no encore later. It hasn’t been revealed which song he’ll play (or whether it’ll be a medley of several since there’s plenty of time) but the set is said to be a “jam session.” Combining the sets this way is a first for the long-running show.

The artist will perform with his new all-female backing band 3RDEYEGIRL to support the albums “ART OFFICIAL AGE” and “PLECTRUMELECTRUM,” which were released simultaneously on Sept. 30. In aRolling Stone profile earlier this month, the ladies of 3RDEYEGIRL talked about how they always have to be prepared for the unexpected when performing with Prince. Guitarist Donna Grantis says he likes to change things up and sometimes deviates from the set list, so there’s no telling what he’ll come up with during this weekend’s jam session.

The Chris Rock/Prince combo was announced earlier this month and both will be returning to Studio 8H after quite some time away. The comedian, whose film, “Top Five,” releases in December, was a cast member from 1990-1993 and guest hosted way back in 1996 but hasn’t appeared on the show in the 18 years since.

Prince’s experience with “SNL” goes back even further than that, having first performed there in 1981 and most recently in 2006. As for this exact pairing, you can thank Rock for it; The Wrap notes that his only request for the gig was to have Prince on as the musical guest.