Review: Sizable ensemble delivers on George Clinton’s vision in McKees Rocks show

One of the many distinctive aspects of George Clinton’s 1970s-era music was his ability to integrate complex arrangements featuring a multitude of voices with eminently danceable rhythms.

To take it to the stage, so to speak, the venerable leader of multiple bands brings a contingent of more than a dozen fellow performers, as witnessed by a packed house Tuesday at the Roxian Theatre in McKees Rocks.

Charging through a practically nonstop 100-minute set, the vocal and instrumental members of the George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic 2023 Just for the Funk of It! Final Tour?!? showcased numerous standards in the Clinton canon.

Central to the proceedings — often seated, but who’s to blame a guy who turned 82 last month? — was the man himself, who started his career in music as a teenage doo-wop singer around the time that Elvis Presley was just another Sun Records artist.

While Clinton contributed vocals and frequently exhorted the Roxian audience to boogie on down, his bandmates had considerable opportunity to put their talents on display, from rotating lead vocalists to virtuoso solo spots.

For longtime P-Funk fans, guitarist Michael “Kidd Funkadelic” Hampton showed that he still is in prime form with extended workouts on songs including “(Not Just) Knee Deep,” reprising his six-string work on the original 1979 hit.

Most of the other musicians were given their turns in the spotlight, with another of the guitarists, Kevin Oliver, channeling a couple of late legends, Jimi Hendrix and Parliament/Funkadelic’s own Eddie Hazel, with his pyrotechnic playing over a sparse rhythmic accompaniment.

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Bass player Rodney “Skeet” Curtis contributed a fleet-fingered solo of his own, as did keyboardist and music director Danny Bedrosian, who authored “The Authorized P-Funk Song Reference Official Canon of Parliament-Funkadelic, 1956-2023.”

Among the song highlights of the Roxian show was one of the Clinton aggregation’s two best-known tracks, the still-popular-on-the-dance-floor “Flash Light.”

The other is “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)” from Parliament’s 1975 album “Mothership Connection,” so highly regarded that it was added to the Library of Congress’ National Registry in 2011. Few folks in the Roxian audience could resist shouting along to the song’s chorus: “We want the funk! We gotta have the funk!”

More blasts from the past included “One Nation Under a Groove,” the title track of Funkadelic’s 1978 album; “Atomic Dog,” from Clinton’s 1982 solo effort “Computer Games”; and a cover of House of Pain’s 1992 single “Jump Around.”

Another cover, albeit a brief one, was an instrumental version of a portion of Frank Zappa’s “I’m the Slime.”

Regarding the night’s featured vocalists, the most lasting impression probably was made by Scottie Clinton, George’s stepdaughter, who complemented her singing talents with an ever-changing, always-appealing array of apparel.

The 2023 tour, in fact, is full of family connections, with Clinton’s grandchildren Tonysha Nelson and Trafael Lewis joining him onstage. Between generations is Tracey Lewis, son of George and father of Trafael.

Garrett Shider carries on the tradition of his late father, Gary, a P-Funk guitar mainstay. And Benzel Cowan is the son of the band’s trumpet player, Bennie Cowan.

But there’s nary a sign of nepotism, as everyone involved contributed substantially to a show that conveyed the intricacies of Clinton’s musical vision while constantly keeping audience members grooving to the tunes.

Just like in the ’70s.