FREEKBASS
At The College of New Jersey - Ewing, NJ (11/6/07)
Funk bass phenom, FREEKBASS, baby baba!!!!
At
8:15pm, Cincinnati funk king (no, not BOOTSY) FREEKBASS began the first set
playing with his trio (YES, the FREEKBASS band is now a trio with new
players....no Sean McGary, Swift, Joodi or Aaron) The personnel for this
show was Freekbass on bass, Sly on guitar and Chip Wilson on drums. On the
first song "Invincible", Freekbass was SP-SP-SPANKIN' dat bass... if
that bass was a woman, her backside would be really sore!!
"Invincible" segued into the funky "Check It", followed by
"Mission" featuring a hearty funk bass workout like Slave's
"Slide" but better!! "She's Already There" started with a
guitar solo by Sly, accompanied by some light cymbal tapping by Chip
Wilson...the rest of the song featured vocoder vocals by Freekbass, an arousing
drum solo by Chip, and (after the drum solo) some heavy slap-bass riffing!!
"Knock the Walls Down" started with a DEEP AND DIRTY FONKAY POPPIN'
BASS SOLO! (oh yeah, the FUNK got stronger, baba....a killi-millimeter
longer!!) And the lead guitar riffing was nasty too, baba... on this song and
"Do We Even Belong Together".
The following is what
I call the SUPER-SUPER-HEAVYWEIGHT FUNK SUITE: This suite started with "Barn
Burner", an extravaganza of P-P-P-P-P-POPPIN' BASS LINES (so poppin' you
think it's Jiffy Popcorn......uh, but it's not, baby baba!!) People in nearby
dorm buildings were probably feelin' some earthquakic vibrations that emulated
from the Student Center where this event was held...and were forced to
evacuate! "Sin City" was another exercise of heavy bass funk romping
and blazin' lead guitar riffs galore! "Minute to Forever" felt like
an eternity of never-ending noxious, smoldering, smokin' & asphyxiating
funk bass riffs....this lesson in REAL BASS PLAYING segued into "Come
Together".... I've never heard a Beatles song done SO FUNKY....not even
the Nappyhead Funk Army could compare to this version!
This funky, fantastic voyage called the first set of FREEKBASS was over at
9:25pm.
At
9:50pm, the second set started with some jamming by the fellas. Some blazin'
lead guitar riffs & smokin' bassisms (with some good drumming added to the
mix) incorporated a Sly Stone line "The same thing that makes you laugh,
will make you cry" and segued into David Bowie's "Fame". Some
more funky jamming ensued and incorporated some of Bootsy Collins's "Body
Slam!", the Freekbass bass jam "Play" and "Freekbass
2YK"! Red-hot guitar lines were blazin' as the band was playing
Funkadelic's "Red Hot Momma".
As they were playing "Red Hot Momma", I left the building at 10:25pm
and headed home to Philly.
Click here for pictures of
FREEKBASS
Go back to my home page
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com