Just got home from Paisley. I'm hella tired, so I'm gonna make it quick. We entered through the doors to the love4oneanother room where he's been playing most of his shows this year. As we entered, he was right there talking to a body guard. He soon left and we walked into the love4oneanother room only to be ushered into the soundstage area shortly thereafter. I didn't hear any songs from Rave being played by the dj. As we walked into the soundstage area, the band was onstage playing. It was Larry, Kip, Morris, Kirk (who, if it WAS him, TORE UP a drum solo that lasted at least 5 minutes! It was better than Sheila's solo from the Sign tour, I'll say that!! AMAZING!), and affter a little jamming on an intrumental version of "Free", the Artist came out to play. They ripped into a LONG version of "Days Of Wild" with some fantastic solos throughout. He played an extended bass solo AND guitar solo. He also played the "scripted" solo twice on the bass. It was great to hear the full version of this song live again. He did "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child", again featuring some stunning guitar work. The Artist was on some DIFFERENT s*** tonite, yall. His solos were very unconventional, sometimes atonal, and borderline out of control. What made it even more impressive is that you KNOW he's in control the entire time. He was doing things on the guitar that sounded very "new". Like he was exploring. And you only get to see him do it at gigs like this because I'm sure it's difficult to get an arena crowd into hearing that kind of playing. That was the highlight for me. He then invited MAVIS STAPLES onstage! It was nice to see her again. They went into an improvised version of "The Undertaker". It was a shame that the mic she was using was NOT emoting much sound. You could barely hear her. Mavis invited her sister Yvonne onstage and they sang a gospel number. I dont know the title. Something about "we'll pay for the road weve gone" or "the work weve done". I dont know, but it was nice. Although, her mic was bad throughout her WHOLE performance. They did, "I'll Take You There"...or they started to do it...when the Artist ran to the mic and stopped everything. He said, "Wait, Mavis....let's go home." The audience didn't like that. "Well, you betta act like you KNOW when you in the presence of GREATNESS!" After loud cheering they completed the song. They did some additional jamming for awhile and then it was time for the guest of honor. The Artist went over to the keyboard and played a very familiar keyboard riff. It was Parliament's, "Flashlight". Enter GEORGE CLINTON and "sidekick" to THUNDEROUS applause! They did "Flashlight" and then launched into an unidentified track. Maybe "Paradigm"? What was too bad about the whole thing was that he was using the SAME MIC that Mavis was and we couldn't hear him either! It all sounded like mumbling to me. I'm sure he was trying to get the party started but no one was responding cuz we didnt understand what he was saying! He left after a little more jamming. It was definitely cool to see George, Larry, Mavis, and the Artist all on the same stage. That's a lot of legends for one room! They did a version of, "The Ride", somewhere in the middle. It also featured some "out of this world" guitar. Though after the bad sounding mics, it seemed that the rest of the sound started to go for awhile. The Artist would hit a solo and you wouldn't hear any of it until the last couple measures! Maybe the sound people just need to get used to mixing in the soundstage area again, I dont know. They did a couple GCS tunes..."Everyday People", and "The Jam". The latter really got things moving. He invited some people on stage to dance during this segment...which is always a nice gesture. For a second, I thought I say Mayte (with a new cut and color) making her way to the raised part of the stage but alas, it was "Mayte Doppelganger", instead...holding her own for the crowd. She sure has Mayte's act down! After these selections, the "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" loop started to play...and then assorted sampled bits from the song, shortly thereafter. The groove for the song kicked in but he never officially launched into it. He did he "Naked alone without cha. Clever." rap, but that was it. The song was dominated by the Brothers Blackshire (Kip and Johnny) who sang their "Come and dance with me" routine throughout the song. The party ended with, "Pretty Man". I think the general feeling about that tune is that it's off the hook. GREAT GREAT GREAT song! It ended with his "Don't hate me cuz I'm beautiful!" sample that sounds like he's trying to immitate Bill Clinton. Kinda funny. Anyway....it was a interesting show. The guitar playing, as I stated earlier, was CRAZY! However, it's too bad that his guests perfomances and even some of his own were marred by bad sound. Btw, the place was PACKED! And, oh yeah, the only new "New Funk" stuff I saw were new "Rave" t shirts. I think they were all white with blue letters. There were a couple little belly shirts for girls that said "Rave" on the front. That's it.



John