I’ve seen George Clinton & P-Funk about a half-dozen times now, and even though the shows have all been alike in many ways (often too many ways), they still always manage to freak me out just a little bit. Last night’s gig at First Ave was one of the weirdest.

The always-late entrance by George seemed unusually late (he came out almost an hour after the band started, wearing a skeleton-emblazoned hoodie). The five guitarists seemed oddly excessive, especially since Ricardo Rouse pretty much ruled the roost and was probably the best thing about the whole set. The lack of the Mothership and any other kind of props (aside from a “F— George” sign) sort of made the costumes and stage schtick seem a little low-rent. And was anybody else stuck wondering/worrying if Gary Shider had anything on under his looser-than-usual diaper?

All told, though, it got to be a pretty rocking set. “Cosmic Slop” (when George finally came to the stage) was a dizzy highlight. George was especially prevalent in “Up for the Down Stroke,” as was sax man Greg Thomas. The band all together really hit a stride with “I Bet You” and “Give Up the Funk” back-to-back. About the only modern update came late in the show, when George started to chant, “Think! It ain’t illegal yet” and “There’s gonna be a change ya’ll! Obama!”

I’m sure there are plenty more seasoned P-Funk fans who saw the show, and maybe some first-timers. Leave your comments below.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Concerts, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.