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George Clinton w/ Parliament - Funkadelic – Harrah’s Tahoe – South Shore Room – Stateline, NV. October 20, 2007.

“Funk gets stronger” – says the Funkadelic tune. In this case, indeed it does. In a two-hour (at least) show where Clinton did not appear until 40 minutes into the festivities – the P Funk movement gave up the funk! The wildly energetic and deep grooving big band of 13 players opened the show with the Parliament standard, “Bop Gun”. With SIX guitars in the band – the wandering bass, and multi-layered textures of funk one expects to hear from the likes of Garry “Starchild” Shider and company were right on time. Shider came on stage wearing a hotel towel as a diaper. Looking more spaced out than anyone I’ve ever seen perform live – Shider roamed the stage with wild eyes.

It was my observation that most of the estimated 450 people in the room on a Saturday night had no idea that Clinton was not on stage from the start. Shider is the same age and wears dred locks – although not multi-colored as Clinton’s. Robert “P-Nut” Johnson was also mistaken for Clinton by some I was standing near. But when 67 year-old George did amble onto the set – he made his presence known with a series of silly x-rated nursery rhymes that would have made a 14 year old potty mouth boy blush. (To be honest – I don’t think George needs to do that. But whatever - who am I to tell the Godfather of Funk what is proper?)

The bottom-line to the review of this show is that I had a great time! I lost myself and my stresses for two hours in a maze of funk being belted out by at two living legends in Clinton and Shider. The band took their time – stretching out solos. It was authentic. Clinton controlled the tempo of the band – often motioning for the drummer to slow down and keep it in the pocket.

Other musicians on stage (whose name I caught) included Jerome Rogers (keyboards), Lige Curry, Blackbyrd McKnight (guitar), Mike Payne, Steve Boyd (vocals) and Belita Woods (vocals). Other tunes I recall being played were: Cosmic Slop, Funkentelechy, Tear the Roof off the Sucker, Do that Stuff, P Funk, Flash Light, Knee Deep, Get Up for the Down Stroke, Get Down like James Brown, and Atomic Dog.

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