Clinton’s crowdFriday was smallish, but in high spirits. Many were black people of a certainage, presumably looking to revisit those halcyon days when P-Funk shows wereevents of near-mythic proportions; the rest seemed to be stoned teenagers andwhite 30-somethings with questionable rhythm. There was genuine excitement whenthe musicians straggled onstage and, with little fanfare, began competentlylaying down some rather cookie-cutter funk grooves.
Clinton himself didn’t appear until about fivesongs in, nearly 40 minutes after the show had started. But as soon as heemerged the whole vibe transformed from something you might expect to see at astate fair into something altogether stranger and more alive. Even at 68, Clinton is aconsummate party starterfunny, joyfully obscene and utterly unpredictable. Anexample: I don’t think anyone in the room expected him to come onstage andlaunch, almost immediately, into a few choruses from Lil Jon & The EastsideBoyz’ “Get Low”: (“To the windows, to the walls/ ’til the sweat drops down myballs…”).
From there, Clintonwandered around stage, enjoying himself and occasionally growling into the mikeas the band dropped some of the classics[including “Cosmic Slop” and “Mothership Connection (Star Child)”], with manyof them turning into loose, rocky jams heavy on guitar solos. Then Clinton left again,handing the reins to the band for an interminable version of “Maggot Brain”and a lackluster “One Nation Under aGroove,”beforecoming back for “Flash Light”and afew other crowd favorites.
In the end, however, even Clinton’s supremely benevolent presencedidn’t justify a show that dragged on for nearly three hours (eventually thehouse lights came up and were summarily ignored). Part of the problem waspersonnel (without a Bernie Worrell or a BootsyCollins to inject some much-needed freakiness, the Mothership felt a bitgrounded), but a lot of it was presentation. The stage seemed to be screamingout for a smoke machine or a mirror ball, just something to lend a bit ofatmosphere to the proceedings. But even though it wasn’t the kind ofperformance that will draw audiences back year after year, it was rathersatisfying to experience it once. After all, the man’s a funkin’ legend.
