WAR
(with Bernie Worrell & The WOO Warriors)
At the Keswick Theatre - Glenside, PA (11/24/01)
At
8:15pm, the WOO Warriors
began their funky set with a super-funky intro, featuring the super-wicked bass
riffing of Lige Curry (standing in for Donna McPherson) and the funky
synthesized riffs of Gregg "Daffy Duck" Fitz!!! Bernie Worrell came
out and added a lot of pepper (on his magical synthesizers) to the funky stew!!
Bernie started with "Gamin' on Ya", then
ventured into some obscure stuff (just to tease the audience).....then returned
to start off "Gamin' on Ya". The lead guitar solo was H-O-T, as
performed by the crazy guitarman, F-L-A-S-H!! Lige held the bottom down with
some mo' funky bass as Gary Sullivan did some tight drumming!!
"Red Hot Momma" was Sonic Voce's
(formerly Jen Durkin) shining moment!! Flash's pyrotechnic guitarisms were
great!! I figured that shit would get people off their asses and give Flash
some love, but no! "You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks" featured
a blistering guitar solo and a high-energy drum solo at the end!!! The Wizard
of WOO, Bernie, enticed the audience with some freakish keyboards during
"Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication"!!! Sonic Voce played cowbells
on this song! Bernie played the classical song "Blue Danube" in his
own funked up way!! Guest guitarist John
provided some nasty lead guitarwork on "Standing on the Verge of Gettin'
It On", while Sonic Voce and Gregg did co-lead vocals!!
After "Up For the Down Stroke", the
band went into "Cosmic Slop".....believe it or not, the LOW POINT of
the show!! The band rushed through the song!! Sonic Voce was about to
sing the background chant, "Aah...aah ahh ahhhh...hear my mother
call" when she was cut off by Gregg starting the first verse. At the time
of the chorus, all that was heard was "Would you like..." before the
band broke it down and the guitar solo was next!! Gregg told me that their
performance time was almost up.....but personally, these guys could have done a
shorter song, like "Super Stupid" or the LP version of "Can You
Get to That?"!!! The show was over at 9:10pm.
War
began their set at 9:30pm with "Cisco Kid".....at first, the audience
was doing the singing....but since that fucked up, Lonnie Jordan (the original
keyboardist/lead vocalist) had to correct us! The best part was the latin
percussion and the tight drumming! "Me and Baby Brother" benefited
from the funky organ stylings of Mr. Lonnie Jordan! "The World is a
Ghetto" was a long jam, with an amazing saxophone and harmonica
solo.....Lonnie had the audience singing "The World is a Ghetto" and
parts of Edwin Starr's song "War"!
"Cinco De Mayo" (May 5th) was da
shit with some great scratch guitar, good bass and very good percussion. The
drummer was doing the lead vocals on this one!
"Gypsy Man" started with a good
acoustic guitar intro. The saxophonist handled the lead vocals on "Where
Was You At?".....he sounded excellent!! Lonnie went off on some truly
funked-out synthesizedrhythms on this jazz solo. "All Day Music" had
a latin breakdown with a hot percussion, drum and lead guitar solo!!
"Spill the Wine" had a nasty little breakdown right after the first
verse. "Galaxy" had a funky, meaty
bass solo......Lonnie actually took over on drums for a hot minute!!! "Deliver the Word" featured a wonderful sax
solo! "Summertime" was followed by "Slippin' into
Darkness", which got some fans off their feet and dancing in the aisles!!
The next song, "Why Can't We Be Friends" got half of the audience
dancing in the aisles, singing along with War, and just feeling damn good!! The
encore performance of "Low Rider" was better, with a hot sax solo!!
The show was over at 11:20pm.
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com