When the George Clinton and Parliament/Funk-adelic concert started Thursday at 8:45 p.m. — more than an hour late — keyboardist Joel Johnson warned the crowd of 1,300 in Patten Gym they were in for a long night.
“Hey, Northwestern, I hope you don’t have any classes tomorrow because we’re going to be partying all night,” he said.
Guitarist Garry Shider entered the stage dressed only in a cloth diaper and played a few jams with the band to warm up the crowd for Clinton.
“Take time to not think for awhile,” he said. “Just act and react to the music. Welcome to the world of funkadelic.”
Clinton walked onto the stage to a huge ovation while P-Funk was playing “Cosmic Slop.” Dressed in a sorcerer’s gown, he steered the band through hits such as “Flashlight,” “Booty” and “Something Stinks and I Want Some.”
Clinton engaged the crowd, tossing his right hand above his head and causing most of the audience’s hands to follow.
He barked at the crowd, asking them, “Who wants the funk?”
The crowd yelled back, “We want the funk!”
While most of the people were crowded close to the stage, about 50 people hung at the back of the gym where they had space to dance.
Chicago resident Mark Harper brought a four-foot-tall hat adorned with deer antlers, reflector lights, wooden masks and a disco ball. He placed the hat on the ground and danced around it while playing the flute.
“It’s my techno totem pole,” Harper said of the hat. “I only fire up my hat for George Clinton, the Tiger Woods of funk.”
But the crowd thinned out as Clinton and P-Funk neared the two-hour mark. Weinberg freshman Matvey Farber said that while he enjoyed the music, he didn’t think the crowd got into the show enough.
“It was awesome seeing him up close, but there wasn’t enough energy in the crowd,” Farber said.
Clinton picked up the slack near the end of the three-hour show. Lead guitarist Michael Hampton played a Jimi Hendrix-esque solo to start “Maggot Brain,” and then the band stirred the crowd into a frenzy with Clinton’s only No. 1 hit, “Atomic Dog.”
Kim Manning, one of Clinton’s backup singers, called Clinton “an absolute genius.”
“Everything I needed in my life, he had,” Manning told The Daily while P-Funk played “Maggot Brain.”
“He can’t walk down the street without being mobbed, but he’s still a true, loving, wonderful person.”
