GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC: LIVE AT THE BARRYMORE THEATER MAY 16, 2015-A SYNESTHESIA EXCLUSIVE

GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC
BARRYMORE THEATER
MADISON, WI
MAY 16, 2015

PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC (featuring but not limited to the following):
George Clinton: Vocals
with
Danny Bedrossian: Keyboards and Synthesizers
Benjamin "Benzel" Cowan: Drums
Bennie Cowan: Trumpet, Vocals
Lige Curry: Bass Guitar
Robert "P'Nut" Johnson: Vocals
Kimberly Manning: Vocals
Richie "Shakin'" Nagin: Percussion
Tonysha Nelson: Vocals
Jerome Rogers: Keyboards and Synthesizers
Ricardo "Ricky" Rouse: Guitars
Garrett Shider: Guitars
Greg Thomas: Saxophone, Vocals

At about 6:30 p.m.on a languid, slightly humid yet otherwise pleasant Saturday evening, I was strolling through the back lot of the Barrymore Theater after parking my car, making my way towards the small line that had gathered outside the front of the theater for that evening's performance by none other than George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic. With the strains of the sound-check filling the air outdoors, I smiled to myself, taking in the bounce of the funk and suddenly my reverie was interrupted by the following excited request:

"Excuse me??? Can I have your autograph???? Can I have your autograph????"

Huh?

I looked around and then, I was soon accosted by an older gentleman, armed with various Parliament and Funkadelic vinyl albums (quite possibly the originals based on how well worn they appeared) and a silver Sharpie pen outstretched in my direction. "Can I have your autograph?" he asked again hurriedly.
"Wait...I, uh.."
"No, you see," he continued rapidly. "I try to get everyone's autograph. Would you mind please just..."
"Well...wait...I'm not in the band," I explained.
"No...could I just please have...," he continued, clearly remaining upon his star struck mission so intensely that he was just not hearing my words.
"No really," I said again. "I'm NOT in the band. I'm here to see the show. I'm not in the show."
"Oh..." said the gentleman, realizing his mistake. "I'm sorry about that..."
"No worries," I said as I began to walk away.
"But wait a minute," said the gentleman. "You sure you're not Benny???"
"I'm NOT Benny!" I said, because please, I certainly know who I am.
"Oh well, " he said after failing with what was essentially his second attempt. "I just thought that you may have been Benny. He's a trumpet player. You kinda look like a trumpet player."

No. I just think that I may have been the first Black person he saw that day.

With that, I continued walking to the front of the theater, laughing to myself because right away I just knew it was going to be that kind of a night. And oh what a night it was!

Dear readers and listeners, I am thrilled to report to you that I am still caught in the lustrous afterglow of the outstanding, roof raising performance by George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic nearly one week after having stood right at the stage (left side), allowing the propulsive waves of the funk to coarse through me. It was an unbelievably sensational evening. 2 hours and 40 minutes of relentless and nearly continuous music performed by Clinton and his band of about 20 world class players and singers who deftly flowed through R&B, hip-hop, soul, rock, heavy metal, and psychedelia with the mighty foundation of funk as the bedrock.

While there were moments that felt as if I was bearing full witness to a cacophonous circus that threatened to burst loose at any second, the show was a supreme lesson in musical artistry, dexterity, discipline, inventiveness, celebration and creative abandon that reached orgiastic fury over and again, leaving the entire SOLD OUT audience of the Barrymore elated and drenched in sweat from all of the dancing and movement.

It would be impossible to take in a show by this band and remain passive or even as dismissive as the sinister iconic character of Sir Nose D'Voiddofunk who always refuses to dance (but a little more about him later). At the center of the cyclone was the man himself, Mr. George Clinton, an unquestionable living legend, who presided over the proceedings as M.C., Ringmaster and Maestro all in one. The 73-year-old Clinton conducted and orchestrated every moment on stage and within the audience with a joyfully mischievous Cheshire Cat smile spread across his face and his obvious enthusiasm was infectious to all within his presence. Without question, this performance was one of the very best that I have seen within my life.

Sometime back in the early 1990's while having a conversation with my childhood friend and classmate, Richard Payne, he informed me that he had once seen Parliament/Funkadelic live in concert and on Halloween no less. When I asked him which songs they played that night, he replied succinctly, "ALL of them!"

Now I understand precisely what he meant.

After settling myself completely at the foot of the stage, Saturday night's concert began right at 8 p.m. on the dot with none other than the incendiary 1973 classic "Cosmic Slop." Locked in a skin tight groove and featuring the flame-throwing guitar heroics of Ricardo "Ricky" Rouse (who wielded a guitar adorned with a Jimi Hendrix "Electric Ladyland" sticker), George Clinton appeared on stage, yet without his trademark rainbow colored dread-locked wigs but in a blazer, sunglasses, hat, mismatched patterned shirt and tie and a most welcoming ear-to-ear grin. Immediately, he began to conduct the entire evening, utilizing his arms and hand signals to both the band and the audience, elevating the excitement and performance simultaneously.

A stellar "Mothership Connection (Star Child)" arrived next (to my jubilation) and soon the band took us through a lengthy sequence of songs from "First Ya Gotta Shake The Gate" (released November 25, 2014), the first new material credited to Funkadelic in 33 years, and in the form of a triple album stacked to the gills with 33 songs!

The brilliantly entitled "Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard On You?," plus the low down nasty funk of "Pole Power" and "Meow Meow," the club bounce of "Get Low" and the dark psychedelic anthem, a profanely titled variation of the term "Funked Up," (you can figure it out), all showcased this incarnation of Funkadelic as superior singers and musicians able to extend, shift, alter and transform all of this new material, which indeed fits snuggly with all of the classic material, as if on a dime. The sheer athleticism of the group's younger members was astounding, almost as if they had something to prove to the band's veterans and longtime fans. Not even an hour into the show, the audience was entirely exhilarated and I was stunned that no one in the band seemed to be exhausted in the least.

Then, it was time for Parliament/Funkadelic to really take it to the stage!

Just like Richard Payne had informed me, George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic then proceeded to play...well..ALL of their songs, for that's what the remainder of the evening sounded like: one nearly continuous funk odyssey through the years plus musical styles and genres, where every song was as powerful as a body slam and dared everyone in the Barrymore to stop moving.

 

They were all there. "Up For The Down Stroke." "Dr. Funkenstein." "(Not Just) Knee Deep" featuring yet another face melting guitar solo performed by Rouse at the lip of the stage just inches from me (my ears are still ringing). "One Nation Under A Groove." "Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)." And most certainly, the immortal "Flash Light," during which Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk (with whom I shook hands...TWICE) made his appearance, at first expressing complete disdain and then exploding into dance and stunning acrobatics (at one point, he was spotted shimmying up the stage's curtains towards the rafters).

Women from the audience were twice brought on stage to dance with Sir Nose and Clinton as the songs elongated themselves into nearly trance inducing repetitiveness yet incorporated snippets and snatches of other classic songs including "Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On," and even Frank Zappa's "I'm The Slime," for instance. The songs shape-shifted often, from heavy metal thunder to slow burning jams to Duke Ellington styled jazz excellence and exquisiteness.

Much praise must be heaped upon 30 year plus P-Funk veteran Saxophonist/Vocalist Greg Thomas (with whom I fist bumped at the show's conclusion) and Trumpeter Bennie Cowan whose deeply complex horn lines sounded as lush as a full brass section. Additionally, Drummer Benjamin "Benzel" Cowan and Bassist Lige Curry locked down the relentlessly liquid rhythms like champions. In fact, the entire evening was a night of musical virtuosity as most of the band members took on extended solos at Clinton's direction, which he then often amplified by adding his microphone into the mix.

For some reason, I just had it in my mind that perhaps Clinton would come and go throughout the performance, essentially having the band and singers on display. To my surprise and delight, George Clinton ruled over the entire evening as C.E.O., remaining on stage for the complete duration (occasionally taking short breaks while seated in a small chair by the drum set), and clearly having a good time, leading us in the classic call and response chants and feeling the waves of adulation flowing his way from the audience (plus the joint he happily accepted from an audience member).

While Clinton never addressed the audience with any stage banter, he was all smiles as he instructed us to "make some noise" as well as with his arm motions and hand signals. He gleefully placed the spotlight on various musicians and singers throughout the evening and visibly showed his immense pride with their abilities.

Out of a concert that felt like an entire highlight reel, the highlight of the highlights for me was the show's 15 minute plus finale which began with George Clinton taking the mic and belting out "(I Wanna) Testify," the 1967 calling card from Clinton's first venture, The Parliaments. This man gave the song EVERYTHING he had. With sweat pouring from his face and veins bursting in his neck, Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic transformed the night into a simultaneous juke joint and church revival that soon had everyone, including Clinton himself, leaping up and down repeatedly.

And before anyone realized, the eternal grunts of "Bow-Wow-Wow-Yippie-Yo-Yippie-Yay" erupted and "Atomic Dog" was unleashed to rapturous effect, returning Sir Nose and female audience members to the stage as well as Rouse's explosive guitar skyrockets.

Unlike the classic visually dynamic and theatrical concert performances from their 1970's heyday, George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic kept the visual spectacle to a minimum. There were no special effects, no diaper wearing band members and virtually no crazy costumes at all, save for the aforementioned Sir Nose and the startling sight of Vocalist Kimberly Manning wearing a full, sparkly silver body suit and dancing for the entire show on roller skates, who took center stage for the deep cut "Mr. Wiggles."

The spectacle of the night was rightfully...THE MUSIC!!!! For me, the full magic of the night was completely contained in the music of Parliament/Funkadelic, where under the leadership of mastermind George Clinton, this collective has amassed an almost 50 year legacy that truly exists within its own universe as it holds its own philosophy, socio-political outlook, iconography, characters, caricatures, language and of course, its own signature sound.

Throughout this night, that very legacy was richly upon display from beginning to end and even afterwards. I truly wish that you could all have seen the faces of everyone in the audience as we slowly spilled out into the night air, collectively sailing away on the funkiest "cloud 9" ever imagined.

Just really take a moment to think about it. We now live during an age where "performers" routinely lip-synch, "Auto Tune" and studio trickery has wrestled any sense of the natural voice away from "singers." Synthetic tracks are abound regardless of the musical genre, therefore making everything sound homogeneous, hermetically sealed and heartless. And on this night, we were all witness to the euphoric sight of seeing and hearing real musicians and singers playing real instruments and singing powerfully for periods that seemed to be happily endless. Like the shows that I have seen performed by Lindsey Buckingham, Cheap Trick, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals and especially, Zappa Plays Zappa, the night's concert by George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic was nothing less than a MASTER CLASS to which everyone should attend if the means and time are available.

While waiting in line before the show, another patron who I was standing next to openly begged that the classic "Mothership" would make an appearance and descend upon the Barrymore stage that evening. Well...as far as I am concerned, we didn't need to see the Mothership. With the voices and instruments combined with the audience's hand claps, all in unison and always on THE ONE, George Clinton & Parliament /Funkadelic beautifully transformed the Barrymore Theater into The Mothership!!!!

And man, did we achieve lift off!!!

 All photos taken by Scott Collins