Blogpost: George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic @ Enmore

George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic

Enmore Theatre

Sydney, Australia

April 20, 2019

There are bands and the protagonists driving them that you want to experience in the third dimension at least once. George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic are one of them and disappointed I was not: What materialized on stage tonight was funk music in its very essence yet distorted, malleable and very, very raw – in the best way imaginable – a smorgasbord of styles peppered with equal measures of authentic jazz, hip hop, soul and rock and put through a psychedelic blender.

A collective of nearly twenty in nature, George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic is a group extraordinaire that comprises a melange of immensely talented individuals, who conjure something much bigger than the sum of their isolated contributions would have you expect.

Over two hours of premium entertainment ensued that left hardly anyone in the house unaffected and spread of feelgood atmosphere that is too dense and natural to resist.

Drawing on their immense back catalogue, all the hits were proffered, “Flashlight” made an appearance along with “One Nation Under a Groove”, “Bop Gun (Endangered Species)”, “Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)”, “(Not Just) Knee Deep” and – my personal favourite – the never not goose bump inducing “Maggot Brain”, courtesy of Blackbyrd McKnight in his usual impeccable form.

The brass section was as tight as the formidable foundation created by the drums and bass alliance, on which everything else was throning.

It was good to see that George Clinton was present and actively engaged in every moment as opposed to previous incarnations, where he sporadically made appearances when he was not attending to whatever he had going on offstage.

Either reigning supreme singing, gracing the band dancing conducting, cheering on, indulging in monologues and always vibing along sharing, feeding on and firing on the energy that made the show what felt like a timeless and significant funkadelic club-like block party with the broad audience enjoying every minute, no matter if they were in their late teens or twilight years.

A mind-blowing and otherworldly night that you would not want to miss participating in should George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic ever hold court in your neck of the woods.

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Photos by @k.a.vv