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George Clinton & the P-Funk Allstars
Review 10/21/99 From: jsconi
[Chicago, IL - The Vic Theater - $28] JT gave the short version - and a damn good one at that. I’ll go into a bit more detail. But like he said - the whole guitar army I think were the stars on this night. Ok - never been to the Vic before - and the mob on a THURSDAY night - in the midst of all of the one nighters they are doing right now - I was hoping they didn’t decide to rest in Chicago. AND OF COURSE THEY DIDN’T - BUSINESS AS USUAL. Crowd was majority vanilla with many seeing them for the first time. All of the chocolate there were true blue old school. Got me one of those funky a *s Woodstock shirts, too, that I waved all night. As usual, me and my mellows finangled our way up to the VIP section - the opera balcony on the side - I know there is a more intelligent name for it, so somebody help me out. Here is the concert I realized through my real eyes : ¤ Opened w/ Pfunk - laid back like JT said - Carlos Mc Murry out bright and early. They also let Garry play(nfield) widdit on the rhythm... man I love when he and Boogie and Billy hit those strokes. A Greg Thomas solo, Bennie Cowan was on some Flight of the Bumblebee shyt on his solo - sounded great. Scott Taylor on sax was the last - and awfully good. ¤ Clip went into the DooDoo Chasers chant - man if they ever hit the notes to that one in concert... ¤ Bop Gun - Steve Boyd on lead vocals ¤ Gamin on Ya - I love it when they play that (Funkenstein is a fooooooooool) - horns sounded great ¤ Undisco Kidd - This sounded better than I’ve ever heard it. They basically did all the hooks from the song (extra extra, move your sexy body, she screamed/she shout, and of course my personal fave when they do the aaaah every time she wiggle) ¤ Belita came in and worked her magic with the Nature Boy/I’m Gonna Make You Love me vibe ¤ Cosmic Slop - Mike Hampton on some Houston 76 hat shyt - but this time in a Clinton ’99 stylee. Billy came out w/ George - then I looked up and everybody was there - and was that Dawn Silva? ¤ Standing on the Verge ¤ Good To Your Earhole - one day they are going to play that "double bridge" in concert ¤ Pumpin It Up - sang both verses this time - Kash doublin up just like on the record - and a Mike solo - just like the record. ¤ All Sons of Bytches - Belita handlin thangs ( na na na na na na na NA na naaaa) ¤ If Anybody Gets Funked Up ¤ Back to Pumpin it Up - but they broke it down and George put the mic on Boogie and let him play the rhythm guitar part of the song - man that stuff sounded GOOD! I LOVED IT. Only the true blue felt that one. ¤ Tear the Roof Off ¤ Thumpasaurus - they did it nice and long, too - probably because they heard there was a possibility that Michael Burnette would be in attendance, LOL. ¤ Shonda out next - ok we pause for this important message. Is it me, or does she look better every time I see her in concert? THIS TIME she had on these painted on jeans - LAWD!. Rich, thick and chocolate. OK, back to our program. ¤ Shonda did Somn Stank and I Want Some ¤ Booty - with Tracy doing the rap. I think I like this better than Louie, because it sounds like some Treylewd type lyrics anyhow. ¤ Then George stood next to Blackbird counting off the beats , Lige, Trey (rhythm guitar) GC and somebody w/ dreads [Kevon] - not sure who (Mike laid out on that one) surrounded Blackbyrd, - well actually more like a half circle - and man he went the funk OFF! Tore it up. ¤ Another word from our sponsors - THE ONLY MAN ALIVE THAT CAN F*** WITH BLACKBYRD ON A GUITAR IS STANDING TO HIS RIGHT ON STAGE EVERY NIGHT. ¤ Trey-lewd getting his normal nasty on - the plainfield stroke, Billy Boy, Supergroovealistic bridge etc ¤ Maggot Brain - on this one, Lige sat on the speaker, back to audience, facing his other bass that was upright against the amp - kinda like the bass was giving the finger. No Marshalls tonight, by the way. The Maggot Brain was on that "take your time fellas - and go eeeeeeaaaassyyyyyy" kind of love. Billy with the 12 string acoustic - and Mike - well Mike was Mike. Tore it up. Then broke into some Heavy Metal Funkasson type shyt... ¤ By the way - and I damn sure hope Mike is reading this - they were selling Clip CDs, Dope Dog CDs and now a new Lige Curry CD that I picked up - that has Blackbyrd doing his thang on Booty in concert - BUT NO MIKE HAMPTON CDS. MIKE, WHAT’S THE DEALLA? Why you ain’t never got no CDs for sale while you are out on the road????? Missed sales opportunities... ¤ Man, Mike ripped up Maggot Brain. Ripped it UP! ¤ Alice in My Fantasies - a little taste of it - Mike ripped that shyt too! ¤ Dog Star - man, Byrd HAD to get in on that - couldn’t let Mike have ALL the love, LOL. And of course, Byrd was Byrd, too - tore it up. Byrd was back on his blue guitar, which matched the blue in his garb quite nicely - a little more navy and it coulda been mistaken as a tribute to my BELOVED CHICAGO BEARSSSSSSSS MY FRIENDS... oh sorry, got carried away. ¤ Oh yes - Ron Wright rocked the kit tonight - sounded as good as I’ve heard him, especially on Dog Star. ¤ One Nation - THE ANTHEM. I am SOOOOOOO glad they played this - they should ALWAYS play One Nation. GC came back out. ¤ Atomic Dog - they basically wanted to leave here - like JT said - but the crowd wasn’t going ANYWHERE ¤ Free Your Mind/Can’t Get Next To You (DAH duh DAH duh) ¤ Ain’t Nuthin But a Jam - GC saw me waving that shirt - been there done that... GOT THE T-SHIRT ¤ Music for My Mother ¤ Red Hot Mama ¤ Funky Dollar Bill - Billy singing the break (It’ll buy a war, etc - I loved it. I always like when Billy gets some love, because he’s the last original other than GC on the stage). ¤ You and Your Folks ¤ Flashlight - who is the new keyboardist? [Jerome] ¤ Knee Deep - and yes JT that tripped me out too - Garry in street clothes begging George to leave - Mike solo of course. ¤ I never remember the name of this song - help me somebody - FLYYYYY, WON’T YOU COME FLY - guess I gotta go look on my album. ¤ Ended with the Disco to Go horn riff A few other notes: ¤ Guitar army most definitely on their game tonight ¤ Ran into Paid-dro Bell after the show and the first thing I said to him after hello was, ‘WHERE THE HELL IS MY MAGAZINE???" He showed me what he said was the cover for the new Funkadelic album - concept as usual - Funkadelic by-laws, all o dat. He said Overton Lloyd was doing the Parliament album. ¤ There was a young drummer [Rico] - for the last few songs - I wondered if it was little Bennie Cowan but it wasn’t. I asked Kareem what his name was and he told me... but I can’t remember now - it was a long night. ¤ Ran into Scott Taylor after the show - he saw me with the Lige CD and pointed out that his solo was featured on one of the songs, which turned out to be a live version of Pfunk Wants to Get Funked Up. I didn’t listen to the CD all the way through (called Lige Curry’s 4 track Treasure Part II), just certain songs. I’m puttin’ it in right now, though. ¤ And the best news of the night - I got a flyer saying ORIGINAL P was in concert, featuring FORMER MEMBERS of Parliament Funkadelic. The mob touring as George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, and OP touring as OP... that’s what I’m talking about. Sorry for so much detail - I try to write what I would have like to read. Hope y’all feel me.