This
was an extraordinary night at the Electric Factory. For onehour, the sound crew
played samples of the New Power Soul and GCS2000 albums, by The Artist and Larry
Graham, respectively.....very good stuff, especially The Artist's
"Madsex", Graham CentralStation's "Free", and Chaka Khan's
"Journey 2 The Center of YourHeart" (written by The Nameless One).
"Journey" would be a greatballad hit, if released on the radio.
Everyone waited and waited until 10:05pm......that's when the NPGarrived on the stage along with The Artist. He started with thenasty blues of "The Ride". About 3 minutes into the song, hestopped and told the security staff, "Let the photographers stay! I didn't come dressed for nothing!!!" and stood in a poseposition! He was really feeling at home in this motherfucker! After the photo-ops, he finished the song!!! "The Ride" wasextra funky. The next song, "Bambi", was done in the funked-upstyle of the Undertaker video.....damn good!!! Afterwards, hementioned the upcoming release of his New Power Soul CD and said"If you like funk, if you like freaky-deaky, pass on the joint!"(Or something like that)....and he asked everyone "Are you hip toLarry Graham?" before jumping into an extra-funky version of"Days of Wild" with the profanity removed.....hmmmm!!! Beforethe entrance of Larry Graham, The Artist had everyone chant "GCS,the band is good from east to west!" Larry joined The Artist andthey both jammed together on "Days of Wild", which segued intothe Sly Stone hit "Thank You (For Letting Me Be Myself Again)"-- both were slamming on the bass! This was followed by "You CanMake It If You Try" and "Everyday People", where The Artist toldeveryone, "This song ain't about a Toyota!" On this tune, TheArtist was on the keyboards while Larry thumped the bass! TOODAMN FUNKY!! TOO DAMN FUNKY!!!
The Artist announced the upcoming release of GCS 2000 and said itwas "funkier than a mosquito's 'you-know-what'!" Next wasLarry's new tune "Free", featuring Larry on the spoken intro and 3 vocalists for the song: Larry, The Artist and Marva King. During the songbreaks, all three of them did a funky little dance! VERY COOL!!!
At the end of the song, Larry and everyone else left the stage. About 4 minutes later, The Artist came back out (with the NPG)and performed "Purple Rain", followed by the funk bomb, "FaceDown", which was void of profanity. When The Artist sang, "Forthose who know the number and don't call", he told everyone"DON'T SAY IT Y'ALL, DON'T...." and everyone said "FUCK ALLY'ALL!!!"....all he could do was yell "OHHH!!" indisappointment!! He performed a new song called "Freaks on ThisSide" and had the ladies chanting that title. And a man camewalking across the stage with a broom, "sweeping" the stagefloor. Next thing, The Artist had the guys chanting "Freaks forlove, freaks for love.....freaks for love, freaks for love!",before going into the best song of the night, "18 & Over"! During the song, Mike Scott did a wonderful guitar solo and twoguys from the audience were fortunate enough to get onstage anddance with Marva King.
The Artist decided to get ultra-funky with a James Brown classic"Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothin'". THE ARTIST...MAKE IT FUNKY---HEY!!! The crowd worked out on "Let's Work" and got crazy with "Delirious", which was followed by a funky jam that sounded likeJames Brown's "The Payback". UNNNHHH---HHEYYYY!!!! The Artistleft the stage for about 5 minutes and returned dressed in all-black (before, he dressed in all-white) and performed the BigCity Remix of "The Good Life". THE ARTIST IS THE MAN!!! He dida new song called "Come on Baby" and the chorus went somethinglike "Come on baby....come on and shake it on!"
Larry came out again and did a heavy rock jam......he
and TheArtist were ripping the shit out of their bass guitars! Thencame the
funky "I Wanna Take You Higher" with a good sprinklingof
"Alphabet St." "Release Yourself" was excellent and a
damngood oldie jam but the best jam was.....well....."The Jam"!!HOT!!!
The Artist introduced the organist, Mr. Morris Hayes,first and Mr. Hayes did a
funky replica of the originalrecording. Following Mr. Mayes, was Mike Scott on
guitar (VERYGOOD!), Marva King (FUNKY VOICE!), Rhonda Smith on thesix-string
bass (EXCELLENT!), Kirky Johnson on drums(SMOKIN'!!!), and
"Dynamite", The Artist himself on guitar.....heripped the shit out of
that guitar!). Then, Larry introducedhimself: "On the funky bass,
y'all....my name is Larry Graham,but they call me..........." Larry's bass
was thumpin' like amotherfucker!! The set ended at 12:15am.
For the encore, The Artist did an alternate version
of"Acknowledge Me", followed by "Bustin' Loose". The
next song was"Kiss" and he invited a beautiful black woman onstage to
sing anddance for him. Following "Kiss" was the funky-funky
"Gett Off". That was followed by a jam where Kirky Johnson and
Mike Scott didsome excellent solos!!
When The
Artist said "Love Life, Love God, Lovesexy. Peace and Bwild!", the
show was officially over at 12:35am.
To recap, the song set listing included:
ENCORE:
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