Funkateers throughout the universe were saddened to hear George Clinton’s recent announcement that he plans to retire from touring in about a year, but at least we Santa Barbarians got a chance to see him one more/one last time on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend at the Santa Barbara Bowl.
Clinton’s set drew from the vast Funkadelic/Parliament/P-Funk catalog, kicking off with the hard rockin’ song “Super Stupid” from the landmark 1971 Maggot Brain album.
The show continued with two new songs — “I’m Gon Make U Sick O’Me” from Parliament’s new album, Medicaid Fraud Dogg, the band’s first in 38 years, and “Get Low” from Funkadelic’s 2014 album, First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate, the band’s first in 33 years. Although these songs weren’t familiar to most of the audience, they definitely kept the party going.
It was then back to the 1970s with the classic “Flash Light,” which got a bunch of people in the audience on their feet dancing along. Other P-Funk classics followed, including “(Not Just) Knee Deep” for which Sir Nose joined in with his trademark handstands, the quintessential P-Funk song “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker),” and “Atomic Dog,” during which a couple dozen women from the audience joined into the party onstage. DeWayne “Blackbyrd” McKnight also wowed with a face-melting guitar showcase for Maggot Brain‘s title track.
Clinton and his band of 10 to 20 others sure know how to funk it up! What a way to rise above it all!
Clinton effectively served as the warmup act for WAR, which gave the Bowl a healthy sampling of its hybrid of soul, funk, Latin and jazz grooves. Only one original bandmember remains —keyboard player/singer Lonnie Jordan. This is a source of controversy among the faithful, but the Bowl audience seemed happy to let the music speak for itself.
WAR got things moving with “The Cisco Kid,” one of the band’s biggest hits and among the funkiest songs in their catalog. There was a lot of belting along to this one from the audience, and, indeed, most of the songs to follow. WAR kept it groovin’ with “Slippin’ Into Darkness,” “Me and My Baby Brother” and the song that launched it all, “Spill the Wine,” their first hit, which originally had Eric Burdon on vocals. Also up was “Galaxy” with some cool instrumental interplay.
WAR then showed its softer side, dedicating “So” to “all the ladies in the house,” followed by “Don’t Let No One Get You Down” and “Summer.” The band’s main set closed out with “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” and arguably the ultimate WAR song, “Low Rider,” which was stretched out and featured a harmonica solo that included a moving rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.” For an encore, they played another hit, “Gypsy Man.”
It was a treat to hear Clinton’s and WAR’s stellar catalogs played live under the stars at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Jordan has said that, unlike Clinton, he has no plans to retire from touring anytime soon, so WAR will march inexorably onwards for the foreseeable future.
— Jeff Moehlis is a Noozhawk contributing writer and a professor of mechanical engineering at UC Santa Barbara. Upcoming show recommendations, advice from musicians, interviews and more are available on his web site, music-illuminati.com. The opinions expressed are his own.