What a nite! London, UK - The Barbican music hall...12% Jazz 88% Funk as described by Maceo at the start of the nite, when asked how he would describe his music! all i can say is, we all had a funky good time!

Maceo was there with not only the legendary Greg Boyer on trombone but also Morris Hayes on the keyboards/organs! The Mr. Hayes! It was a mini NPG music nite...but it did belong to Mr. Maceo Parker!

Maceo started off the event by bigging up Prince and saying that, "We love all of U!" and that Prince sends his Love! (what about npgmusicclub though!?)...and then the jazz/funk fusion began! it reminded me of the ONA london gig in hammersmith, with maceo coming downt he aisle. All the lights had a similar theme, and Maceo did comment that both the lighting, the music and sound reflected the same theme/mood that ONA achieved and that was simply..."We Love All Of U!"

Maceo is one of the most accomplished Sax players on the planet, and the fact that Prince only asks the top people in there field to join him (Maceo, Candy, JohnnyB, Greg Boyer & Renato Neto), who can handle the funk 24/7, this nite reflected that sound!

London doesnt get enough jazzfunkfusion (JFF) so when maceo started off the nite, the audience of "rainbow children" (everyone of different nationalities) didnt know how to react. come the second verse of the first tune...the music started to get hold of everyone...and you could see people bopping their heads or shaking their legs!

After 1 hrs worth of sitting down and bopping...people in the crowd couldnt handle it and when the music went to another level of funk...the whole auditorium stood up and was jiving and shaking. In particular the song, "Shake Ur Body, shake shake ur body" had eveyone 2 their feet!!

A fan-tastic nite had by all. maceo allowed each member of his band (MPG - Maceo Power Generation, as it should be called), to all have their own little solo and the crowd loved it up.

What more can i say...We love u maceo!! Miss it, miss out!

PurpleFrank

Great Review... and what a night, I've never seen the Barbican full of dancing people, and people of all ages!!!
My friends and I walked out into the London night discussing how many concerts we'd seen that had ever been so good... (too long a discussion for here)
I've seen Maceo a few times, most recently at the Jazz Cafe, last night he showed that he can work a small club or a more "formal" concert hall and is so in tune with his audience it's amazing!!!
He really is the master of Funk...this was somehow a compliment to the London Apollo shows in Hammersmith on One Nite Alone...but it was almost like going to another level... I keep being amazed by Maceo just how real he is to the crowd...
Got the new album on my way out... it's fantastic, can't single out anything yet have to listen some more... but each track seems to have a flavour of it's own.
Great package too...go and buy it...
oh but purplefrank, I think the phrase is: 2% Jazz 98% Funky stuff!!!
What a parrrty!

a new date has been posted to Maceo's website for London in April, well it's Blackheath so not central
19th April Blackheath Concert Halls