"After seeing Prince back in October, I made it a personal mission to see Morris Day & The Time as soon as possible. I wanted to “complete the circle,” if you will. I had to drive 15 hours to see Prince — but for Morris Day & The Time (who were playing with another good group, Boyz II Men), the drive was significantly shorter, just around 4 hours.

Taking place at Thackerville, Oklahoma’s own Winstar Casino, the show was set to start at 8PM. I arrived early with my friend Tara (who also accompanied me to see Prince,) and we gambled a bit. We kept joking about what we’d do if we bumped into Morris Day & the group in the casino; Sure enough while walking around we ran into them. Before I could say hi or get their attention, a bouncer told me no and gave me a death glare, so I alerted my friend of their presence and then we both kind of stared at each other wondering if it had really just happened. Alas, it had, but there was little we could do about it. We went on gambling a bit more until the show started.

After finding our fifth row, slightly left of center seats, the house lights dimmed and The Time took to the stage. Today’s touring band: original members Monte Moir (keyboards), Jellybean Johnson (drums) and Morris Day (lead vocals), joined by Ricky “Freeze” Smith (bass), Jeff McNeely (keyboards), Tory Ruffin (guitars) and Sylvester Donald (Jerome Benton knockoff).

Morris Day & Co. quickly decimated the stage at the casino. One of the tightest, funkiest bands in history, The Time powered through a 12 song set in about an hour, hitting most of the fan favorites. The crowd response ranged from tepid to overly enthusiastic, and while hardly anyone joined in for the hand motions on “Cool,” by the time “The Bird” hit the speakers everyone seemed to be doing the (amazing) dance.

The band was incredibly precise for the entire show, nailing both the instrumental performance as well as a great stage show. Morris owned the stage, dancing in perfect step with his backing band, including Mr. Sylvester Donald. If you’ve ever seen Purple Rain, Graffiti Bridge or any live Time performances, normally the hilarious Jerome Benton is with the group, but for the time being Sylvester Donald has taken his place. Acting as a comic foil to Morris, he repeatedly brought Morris a mirror to check his hair, wipe sweat of his brow, etc. etc. It’s a funny touch to the show, and really brings back memories to anyone who remembers (and loves) Purple Rain.

The group played two ballads, the lovely “Girl,” and the somewhat tacky, although hilarious “Gigolos Get Lonely Too.” The band really displayed their talents during these two tracks, and while Morris has never been known as a spectacular vocalist, his smooth and seductive tone really helped move the show along.

It’s hard to express how good this band really is live, Monte, Ricky and Jellybean form one of the sexiest groove machines in the history of music. The keyboards and bass really play of of each other, and Jellybean is quite literally one of the best funk drummers alive. Tory is a great guitarist, but for the most part the guitar takes a back seat during the show. Luckily Tory did get several solo opportunities during the show and used them to prove his chops as a player. Truly a fantastic band.

Morris is a hilarious front man, from his monologue about still being “cool,” and how it is actually condensation on his brow instead of sweat, to his one-liners about walking a hole in his Stacy Adams. You can tell they enjoy doing their stage show, but it does make one wonder just how many times they have played this exact same show. Regardless, the band was truly impressive and if given the opportunity, I suggest that any fans of pop music, funk music or you know, that certain purple sound see the group live. You won’t be disappointed. Oh, and until you see Morris do the "chili sauce" dance in person, you haven't lived."

Thanks for the corrections! I tried to get everything correct! It's really hard to find accurate info on The Time though.