A Thankful Night with George Clinton & The P-Funk Allstars
at the Electric Factory, Philadelphia - 11/25/98

 

 

The opening acts for the Philly P-Funk gig were Fathead (a bullshit alternative rock/rap group) and Philly-native rapper Schooly D. The Schooly D. set was very good with some old-school shit from 1985. He performed from 10:10pm to 10:30pm.

 

Just before P-Funk started at 11:00pm, I spotted drummer Ron Wright, keyboardist Joel "Razorsharp" Johnson, guitarist Dewayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight, Billy Bass, Rodney "Skeet" Curtis, Garry Shider, Mike "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton, and the funky hornz (Greg Thomas, Bennie Cowan & Scott Taylor) onstage! The P-Funk Allstars started with an instrumental version of "One Nation Under a Groove" with the funky hornz all over it......it wasn't as funky as the next song, "Funkentelechy"!! "Funkentelechy" was so great with Garry Shider's vocals all over that shit! DAMN!! Garry engaged the crowd into a few rounds of "How's your Funk-en-te-le-chy, how's your funk-entelechy?" and "Funk-entelechy.....funk-en-te-le-chy!!" That was followed by a funky-ass hardcore funk-rock sounds of "Cosmic Slop", and George Clinton entered the stage at 11:23pm.

 

The highlights of the show include:

1.     FLASHLIGHT - it sounded extra funky with the sensational saxophone stylings of Greg Thomas & Scott Taylor.

2.     KNEE DEEP - a damn good tune made even better with the stanky, big bass sounds of Skeet Curtis!! The crowd was jamming and singing! More vocals from Garry Shider and Greg Thomas. Greg sounded extra funky with some "rapid gunfire"-type scatting!! YO-HO!!! Included a long segue (with the crowd singing with the melody) before the Belita Woods tune "Sentimental Journey".......Belita looked so fine that night!!

3.     HARD TO LET GO - followed the song "Sentimental Journey", this is a WONDERFUL R&B ballad sung by the lovely Belita Woods. It sounded so sweet with the more-than-talented flute stylings of Mr. Scott Taylor! GO 'HEAD, SCOTTY!! Even better?? Garry and Clip Payne were singing background vocals.....WHEW!!

4.     MAGGOT BRAIN - Lige Curry finally joined the band with his bass guitar! I was thinking to myself, "What if just Billy Bass and Mike Hampton were playing 'Maggot Brain'?" Just like the album version, with Ron Wright playing drums very lightly.....wouldn't that be something?!!! Anyway, their performance of this psychedelic tune was more excellent, thanks to Mike Hampton! The outro for this song was an uptempo, hardcore rock jam, courtesy of Blackbyrd, Garry Shider, Billy Bass and Skeet!! SHIT!!!

5.     UP FOR THE DOWN STROKE - this performance featured some crazy-ass keyboard strokin', courtesy of Razorsharp himself!

6.     DOG STAR - thanks to Blackbyrd's rock-hard, phenomenal guitar lickin', I will never, never forget this night!! Blackbyrd was completely going off, into another funky space dimension!! YEAH!!

7.     FUCK THAT SHIT - damn-good hardcore rock jam with George screaming "Fuck That Shit!!" The walls were melting from the fiery of the P-Funk Guitar Army!!

8.     HALL OF FAME Riff - The riff included guitar licks from the 1970 Funkadelic track "I Wanna Know If It's Good To You" (FUNKY!), "Super Stupid" (great guitar jam from Kidd Funkadelic, Billy Bass, Lige, Garry, and Blackbyrd), and "Music For My Mother" (funky-ass guitar pluckin' from the funky diaperman, Garry)!

 

The song set listing:

·         One Nation Under a Groove (instrumental)

·         Funkentelechy

·         Cosmic Slop

·         Tear The Roof Off The Sucka

·         Psychoticbumpschool music

·         "Wind Me Up" chant from BOOTZILLA

·         Up For The Down Stroke

·         Hollywood Squares (w/ "Pinocchio Theory")

·         Flashlight (w/ "Electric Spanking of War Babies" and "All Around The World" chant from THEME FROM THE BLACK HOLE)

·         (Not Just) Knee Deep

·         Sentimental Journey (w/ "Disco To Go" horn riff)

·         Hard To Let Go

·         Maggot Brain

·         Dog Star

·         Fuck That Shit (w/ "Just Say Ding (Data Boy)")

·         Get Off Your Ass and Jam

·         Atomic Dog

·         Hall of Fame riff (w/ "Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow", "I Call My Baby Pussycat" music, "I Wanna Know If It's Good To You" music, and "Super Stupid")




The show ended at 1:45am.


The P-Funk personnel included:

·         Belita Woods

·         Bennie Cowan

·         Billy Bass

·         Blackbyrd

·         Clip Payne

·         Garry Shider

·         George Clinton

·         Greg Thomas

·         Kidd Funkadelic

·         Lige Curry

·         P-Nut

·         Paul Hill

·         Razorsharp

·         Ron Wright

·         Scott Taylor

·         Skeet

 



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