Remembering Prince

April 21, 2026 marks ten years since Prince Rogers Nelson did not leave the building. If you've been thinking about Minneapolis as a travel destination, this is the year to stop thinking about it.

Why Minneapolis?

There's a version of Minneapolis in most people's imaginations that involves cold winters and nice people and not a whole lot else. That version is incomplete to the point of being almost wrong. Minneapolis is one of the most culturally rich mid-sized cities in America: a serious food and arts scene, a walkable, bikeable downtown, lakes you can actually swim in, and a music history that has quietly shaped American sound for 50 years.

It also produced Prince. And even a decade after his death, the city still carries that frequency.

Start at Paisley Park

Paisley Park sits in Chanhassen, about 20 miles southwest of downtown Minneapolis. From the outside, it looks almost surprisingly ordinary: a large white complex off a suburban road. And then you walk in, and it is not ordinary at all.

Prince built Paisley Park in 1987 as his personal creative universe: a recording studio, a concert venue, a rehearsal space, a home, and eventually the place where he kept his white doves. He recorded nearly his entire later catalog here. He hosted marathon late-night concerts that became the stuff of legend, the kind that started after midnight and ended whenever Prince decided they were over. He lived here. He died here.

It's now a museum run by his estate, and the tours are genuinely moving. You walk through Studio A, where so much of what you've heard was made. You see the costumes, the instruments, the NPG Music Club, the motorcycle from Purple Rain. The doves are still there. The whole place feels like a living archive of someone's interior world, not a corporate museum. All tours are guided.

Tours must be booked in advance at PaisleyPark.com. All tours are guided with three options. For me, there was only one option, VIP all the way!

First Avenue: Where the story was filmed

If Paisley Park is the sacred site, First Avenue is the temple where the congregation goes. The club has been a cornerstone of Minneapolis music since 1970, originally a Greyhound bus depot and now one of the most beloved live music venues in the country. You know it from Purple Rain. You know the exterior, the stars painted on the wall outside with the names of artists who have played there.

But First Avenue isn't a museum. It still books live music nearly every night of the year. If you time your trip right, you can stand on that floor while a band plays and feel exactly why this room matters. Check their calendar at First-Avenue.com before you book your flights.

The star wall outside is worth a long look. Prince's star is there, of course. So are The Replacements, Husker Du, Lizzo, and dozens of others. It's a timeline of a city's musical life, painted on brick.

Prince, artists' rights, and why it all matters

Part of what makes a Minneapolis trip feel different from just a normal music pilgrimage is that Prince's story is also a story about power, ownership, and what it means to fight for your own work.

In the early 1990s, Prince's dispute with Warner Bros. over control of his master recordings became one of the most public and polarizing confrontations in music industry history. He changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, appeared in public with "slave" written on his face, and released music through every channel he could find outside of his label deal. He was doing this at the height of his commercial power, which made it costly and which he did anyway.

He got his masters back. He spent the rest of his life telling other artists to do the same. He called Taylor Swift personally when she began her own fight. He wrote letters. He gave interviews. He never stopped making the argument that the person who creates something should own it.

Walking through Paisley Park knowing all of that changes what you're looking at. The studio isn't just a studio. It's evidence of what someone can build when they refuse to be owned.

The North Loop and beyond

Minneapolis has neighborhoods worth spending real time in. The North Loop is the one I'd point most visitors toward first: a former warehouse district now full of independent restaurants, design shops, coffee roasters, and bars. It's walkable, it feels genuinely local rather than tourist-facing, and it's beautiful in summer.

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is free and sits next to the Walker Art Center, one of the better contemporary art museums in the country. The Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture is one of those images you've seen a hundred times; seeing it in person is still worth it. The Uptown neighborhood, a few miles south, has a different energy: more indie, more music venues, more late-night energy.

For dining, the Twin Cities food scene is legitimately serious. James Beard nominees, an incredible Somali and Hmong food community, great Vietnamese, excellent cocktail bars. Do some research before you go and book ahead; the good spots fill up.

June 2026: The 10th Anniversary Celebration of Life

If there was ever a year to plan the Minneapolis trip, this is it. Paisley Park is hosting the Prince Celebration 2026 from June 3-7, spread across Paisley Park, downtown Minneapolis, and St. Paul. The programming includes concerts, screenings, panel discussions, boat cruises, and exclusive access to unreleased music and rare footage.

The lineup announced so far includes Chaka Khan, Morris Day, Miguel, Tevin Campbell, Sounds of Blackness, and for the first time ever, members of NPG and The Revolution performing together on the same stage. That last piece alone is a once-in-a-generation moment for fans.

Tickets and hotel packages are available at PaisleyPark.com. This will sell out. If it's on your radar at all, move quickly.

A personal note

I saw Prince once. April 18, 2013, at the Showbox at the Market in Seattle. I flew from Denver for one night. The ticket was $400, which at the time felt like a lot and in retrospect feels like the deal of a lifetime. He played with 3rdEyeGirl, his all-female trio, and it was raw and funky and loud and electric in a way I am still not able to fully describe.

I didn't know every song. I didn't care. I was 20 feet from Prince Rogers Nelson in a room that held a few hundred people, and I understood in my whole body what presence means. Some shows change you. That one changed me.

Three years later, April 21, 2016, he was gone.

Minneapolis is a city that still holds that loss and also holds his joy, which is exactly what he would have wanted. Go there. Walk through Paisley Park. Stand on the floor at First Avenue. Eat the food and feel the music and understand why this city mattered to him and why it should matter to you.

The soundtrack is already written. You just have to show up for it.

Ready to plan your Minneapolis trip? Whether you're going for the June Celebration or building your own music itinerary, I'm here to help you put it together. Let's find the right timing, the right hotels, and the right experiences for your budget.

Book studio time with me at SoundsLikeTravel.com. Let's build your travel soundtrack. 💜