LAKESIDE & THE BAR-KAYS
At the Carter Barron Amphitheatre - Washington, DC
(7/12/08)
After checking out the last five minutes of The
Clones of Funk show at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre, I was finally able to
witness a live performance by old-school funk band THE BAR-KAYS at 8:30pm. The
only problem is that the performance wasn't really up to my
expectations....aside from a few moments of standout synthesizer riffing and a
moment or two of great lead guitar riffing, there was nothing spectacular about
their show. The Bar-Kays started with my favorite "Boogie Body
Land", followed by "Shake Ya Rump to the Funk", "She Talks
to Me With Her Body", and three ballads (including Lenny Williams's
"Cause I Love You"). The Bar-Kays sped things up with a slightly
funky uptempo song featuring some standout freakish synthesizer riffs....more
of those riffs were evident in "Sex-O-Matic"! "Move Your Boogie
Body" was okay, and "Let's Have Some Fun" and "Holy Ghost"
got a lot of the fans on their feets dancing! Lead vocalist Larry Dodson
introduced the fans to his longtime partner of 30+ years on the guitar, James
Alexander. Larry began singing a couple of minutes of the gospel tune
"Never Could Have Made It", dedicating it to the fans. "Lean on
You/Lean of Me" was followed by "Freakshow on the Dance Floor",
featuring a moment of good lead guitar riffing....the band included a little
bit of E.U.'s "Da Butt" (as a shout-out to D.C., Chocolate City)! The
Bar-Kays set ended at 9:30pm.
At 10:10pm. Lakeside started their set with local
vocals by Mark Wood and some funky guitar & bass licks on "Raid",
which featured an interesting 1-minute fast-tempo/ rockish breakdown towards
the end. Fans were on fire when Lakeside performed their first bonafide hit,
"It's All The Way Live". Because many fans were asking for the song
"Say Yes", they performed the ballad. After another ballad, it was on
to a good & funky uptempo cut called "Something About That
Woman", featuring some great slap bass riffing!! Afterwards, the fans were
treated to the funkiest Lakeside treat ever that night.....the classic
"Fantastic Voyage"....everyone in the outdoor venue was jammin' to
this potent dose of DA FUNK!! Unforunately, the Lakeside journey ended at
11:00pm.
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com