So my Mother’s Day Present Brian got me was tickets to see Parliament! The show was this past Sunday, June 26th, at Riverfront Live in Cincinnati. I had been waiting patiently ever since I found out about it, which is funny because I’ve been waiting all my life to see George Clinton! I have been a fan since I was 4. FOUR. I’m 50 now, so this was basically a life-long dream. It is not an understatement to say that P-Funk changed the trajectory of my life, or that I would have been an entirely different person without early exposure to the funk! If you’ve ever wondered ‘Trula why are you like this’ well it’s because I got funkdafied back in 1976!
The doors opened at 5PM, and the opening acts started playing around 530ish. First up was Pimps of Joytime (funk, soul, and dance). The other bands were Dopapod (funk, rock, and blues), The Motet (funk, soul, and jazz), and Blu Eye Extinction (funk, rock, and rap). They were all pretty good, and while you might not of thought they’d fit in with Parliament at first, or each other for that matter, you definitely could hear the funk in all of their music! Each band brought the zest, so though everyone in the crowd was super-hyped to see Parliament, the opening acts were so good the time went by relatively fast.
That said, though the crowd had a good grip of young people, many of us were middle-aged or older, so after a while the wait for Parliament to hit the stage got a bit long for the older folks. Some people there were even Boomers, like Clinton himself (hold up – turns out he’s older than Boomers), and looked like they probably went to the famous Mothership Concert in Houston back in 1976 lol. So by 9PM, a few of us were whining (OK MAYBE JUST ME), getting tired, and a bit fed up with waiting. I’m 50 years old for god’s sake, I can’t party all night or stomp out a concert from afternoon to midnight like back in the day. Anyway Parliament came on about 930ish. I was so excited I thought I was going to faint! When Clinton came out, my heart literally skipped a beat. When I tell you that all my tired went away, please believe it! I was so charged up, so hyped, I felt like I could have run a marathon! Brian got tickets right up front!!
The show was everything I hoped it would be and more. I was so impressed that Clinton still has it, as he is elderly now. Age be d!mned, the man put on a GREAT show. The band was absolutely amazing, the guy singing lead was incredible (young man in his late 20s/early 30s), he sounded like he had been listening and practicing to Parliament Funkadelic his entire life from infancy on. The backup singers were amazing, the rappers were amazing, the hype men were amazing, I felt like everyone on stage was a consummate professional! Especially the musicians, my god the horn players blew me away, especially the saxophone and trumpet players. The guitar players were the most skilled I have EVER seen, one was an elderly man who (I think) was in the original P-funk and he deserves some kind of award for that level of playing!! Another was this young dude who played the nastiest electric guitar, that boy was cold! The setlist:
It was an invigorating, fantastic time. It was wonderful to see so many people of various ages, races, and styles come together for the funk! You could feel the joyful energy of the crowd. I’m so happy I got to go! Brian is the absolute best husband. This truly was such a sweet and thoughtful gift. I feel seen, treasured, and understood, because he knows just how much this meant to me.
