Prince dedicates midnight show to Oscar winner Cruz

Prince ditched his post-Oscars bash at his Hollywood Hills home for a show at Hollywood's Avalon Ballroom.

Fans and famous friends paid $100 (€78)-a-head to join the Purple Rain hitmaker at his Sunday midnight party, which doubled as the launch for his new website LotusFlow3r.com.

Prince dedicated his two-hour set to Oscar winner Penelope Cruz and performed a string of hits and covers from upcoming releases, including The Cars 'Let's Go' and 'Crimson & Clover', a chart-topper for Tommy James and the Shondells.

Oscars attendees Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah and nominee Taraji P. Henson were among the audience.

Announcing: "I'm the DJ tonight," Prince also played covers of the Beatles’ 'Come Together' and the Rolling Stones’ 'Honky Tonk Woman' as well as chart classics 'Jungle Love' and 'Play That Funky Music'.

He ended the show with an encore of 'I Feel For You' at almost 3.30am.