Bernie Worrell & The WOO Warriors
At Tobacco Road, NYC (11/08/02)
The personnel for the Bernie Worrell & the WOO
Warriors:
1. Bernie "The Wizard of WOO" Worrell - WOO
ringleader, Hammond B-3 organ, synthesizer, vocals
2. Gregg "Daffy Duck" Fitz - keyboards, vocals
3. Cissy Fitz - vocals
4. Donna "Lady Bass" McPherson - bass
5. The Flash - WOOstock lead guitar, vocals
6. Gary Sullivan - drums
7. John Hickey - guitar
8. Eric - (guest musician) saxophone
At
12:20am, Bernie Worrell & the WOO Warriors started their set with a funky
intro.....every musician sounded so tight (bass, guitar, drums & keys)!
Bernie Worrell gave up the WOO-funk with some super-funky synthesized riffs on
"Gamin' on Ya"! "Super Stupid" featured some of The Flash's
high-powered guitar slaying and the axe-slayer's lead vocals!!! Bernie did some
type of WOOboard-driven ballad before going to "Red Hot Momma",
featuring the funky lead vocals of Cissy Fitz, Gregg's sister!! "You and
Your Folks" featured the vocal combo of Cissy and Gregg.....unfortunately
the vocals were too low in the mix. On the plus side, Gregg represented for
the funk on some good keyboards! Donna's bass was the driving force behind
"Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication"!! Bernie shocked the fans with
some of Sly & the Family Stone's "Sex Machine", before
"Comin' Round the Mountain". Gregg went into a serious message
concerning the darkness of current events with some "Biological
Speculation".....he did the lead vocals and John Hickey did a serious lead
guitar solo!
"Good to Your Earhole" was followed by
some rare stuff by Bernie......he did a medley of "March to the Witch's
Castle" (!), "Stuff & Thangs" and "A Joyful
Process".......some fans were seriously vibing on some Funkadelic rarities.......and
wanted more of it!!
"Up For the Down Stroke" was followed
by a funky instrumental where Bassl (Bernie's son) was dancing onstage......a
first for Bassl! The audience participation was strong on
"Standing on the Verge of Gettin' It On"
and "Nappy Dugout"......"Nappy Dugout" was another rarity
that blew people away!! Guest saxophonist Eric did some tight sax riffs on the
song while the rhythm section (drums & bass) and guitars were really on da
one!!
Drummer Gary Sullivan ripped away on
"Cosmic Slop"....oh, the guitar army (The Flash & John Hickey)
were blazin' as well!!! "Burnin' Down the House" featured the funky
bass keyboards of The Wizard of WOO and the Wizard on lead vocals!! The WOO
experience was over at 2:25am.
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com