It's Sunday Night....
Another Memorial Day Weekend, 2017 in the beautiful D.C Area and the great legendary soul, funk, r&b and hip hop group ConFunkShun is due to take the stage in a 10 pm show. The atmosphere is mixed; a bit tense, as people wait in a long line an hour before the show starts to a sell out crowd; while people are cool and relaxed at the same time. The people are both anxious to get into the Blues and Jazz Supper Club in Bethesda Maryland and laid back in a sort of comfortable way. Many of the attendees know this group and their comfort shows what they feel about the upcoming show...it's gonna IMPRESS!
As a first time ConFunkShun concert attendee, I'm very nervous. Not one use to attending crowded shows, naturally my introverted ways stood out like a sore thumb; ducking and hiding and trying to get out of the clear view of others was my normal habits when I first arrived at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club ( a place known for its fine Legendary Concert Shows). I dressed to impress as I always do (my own habit & love for style), but I came to see a show, not just to see a show and be entertained, no, I came to evaluate a stage performance. I wanted to see for myself if the gentlemen of ConFunkShun were really as fantastic in their live shows as they seemed to be on film....
THEY WERE!
When I finally got into the club, along with the rest of the anxious crowd, I immediately begin to hear people discuss their anticipation to see ConFunkShun perform, as well as what songs they wanted to hear, with the songs, "Love Train" and "Straight From The Heart" blaring from the mouths of many fans in the club. This was a large group of FANS that knew ConFunkShun well and knew what they wanted from the iconic group that night. Fans of all ages attended the 10pm show, from early aged Millennials in their early 20's to GI gene rationals in their 80s!
I quietly sat down at my back table, table 84 (far away from the stage) where I was assigned to sit according to the ticket I purchased. I couldn't get any closer to the stage because the ConFunkShun shows (both 7 pm & 10 pm) were SOLD OUT when I purchased the last ticket for the 10 pm show.
I encountered the great company of 2 classic gentlemen in their mid 50's or early 60's, who were also assigned table 84 as their seats. When they came to the table, they were both hyped, ready to party, sing, dance, drink and have a great time with ConFunkShun as their musical theme singers for the night of fun! Both gentlemen told me that they have been long time fans and concert goers of ConFunkShun, since the group had their first hit album in 1976 (before I was born). One of the gentlemen (who thought I was in my early 20's) asked me in a hilarious way, "What Do You Know about ConFunkShun?" then he began to proclaim that I was too young to even know or remember ConFunkShun's music and I was too young to have ever partied to ConFunkShun !
(at his request, I danced with the guy from time to time that night, when I was not recording the concert).
(at his request, I danced with the guy from time to time that night, when I was not recording the concert).
To the contrary, the high spirited gentleman was actually very WRONG in his assumption about my history with ConFunkShun. I have actually been listening to the group since 1978 when I was only one years old and I was in attendance at many grown folk parties that my party animal dad threw in the late 70's and early 80's, where he blasted ConFunkShun all night as I ran around as a baby, listening to the music and trying to operate the vinyl record player! The first time I ever heard a ConFunkShun song was in 1978 when I heard their song, "Magical Lady" from their album "LoveShine"....I've been a fan every since!
Well, the lights in the place got dim and a gentleman came out on the stage and announced the entrance of ConFunkShun . We were all hyped and pretty ready to start jammin, then they made their entrances, one by one; each member came on the stage ready to HANDLE BUSINESS , with the group's veteran leader, guitarist and vocal extraordinaire Michael Cooper, coming on stage with some Black Shades on... #Dope! When I seen how COOL Mike Cooper looked when he hit the stage, I knew it was ON BABY... this show was gonna be #DOPE!
ConFunkShun came on the stage laying down POWER! They came out with ENERGY! Total HIGH POWER ENERGY! Right from the start of the show, it was time to get yo azz up and DANCE! By the second song, my good high spirited friend and I was dancin!
The show was filled with fun, energy, power and excitement! ConFunkShun's bass player, EQ lead a slamming jam session, with each group member featured doing solo instrumental performances ! My favorite instrumental performance was Michael Cooper's guitar solo, which is presently trending on Music Groovez Instagram Page here .
The show got toned down by a romantic ballad, delivered with full vocal sophistication, by the legendary music producer and lead vocalist, Felton Pilate. Pilate elated the room with sweet memories, laughter and crowd sing a longs, when he broke out singing the classic ConFunkShun ballad, "Straight From The Heart", while giving an audience member a birthday gift! The vocal delivery was as reflective of the original recording of the song....WOW!
What the audience did not anticipate during the 10pm show, was ConFunkShun breaking into the melodies of some of their rare classics and playing and extended set! While many audience members from the 7 pm show expressed anger and disappointment that their show was not "LONG ENOUGH", the 10pm crowd expressed that they were very happy that ConFunkShun gifted them with a 2 hour musical set, full of ConFunkShun melodies that moved us, funked us and grooved us! We heard songs like, "Baby I'm Hooked", "Chase Me"(one of my favorites) and we even got a chance to hear Michael Cooper's Classic Solo hit , "Shoop, Shoop"( which I LOVE)!.
But...as the night of sensational ConFunkShun performances continued; when Michael Cooper, with all his amazing energy and vibrant, shining personality, yelled out to the crowd, "What Ya'll Want To Hear Next? Ya'll got all the ConFunkShun Songs Ya'll Want to Hear? Did We Miss Anything (looking at Felton Pilate and laughing) as he asked the crowd (he knew what song he missed!)." audience members were yelling all in my ear, throughout the whole place, "Sing LOVE TRAIN!" "Michael, when you gonna drop that LOVE TRAIN on Us Dude!" "
Sing LOVE TRAIN!!!!"
Well, I must admit, I've loved the song, "Love Train" like all ConFunkShun fanatics, since the song came out in the early 1980s. I've watched Cooper perform the song in many video clips from YouTube, with his performance of the song on the Tom Joyner Soul Music Jam, being my most favorite live performance by Cooper of the song, but HONESTLY...the night of Sunday, May 28th, Michael Cooper delivered THE BEST LIVE PERFORMANCE of the song "LOVE TRAIN" I had ever seen and this time, I was honored to be able to watch this performance of the song
LIVE AND IN PERSON!!! ( Yeah)!!!
This performance was even BETTER to me than the 2001 performance of "Love Train" from the Tom Joyner Soul Music Jam! I'm SO GLAD I got a chance to see it live and I'm glad I got it on film to share with all of you!
Now, to me, what made Sunday Night's performance of the song, "Love Train" the best performance of the song by Cooper EVER was his intensity! He sung the song with such intense emotions! He started the song with an altered run on the intro vocals that I had NEVER HEARD... made me almost jump on the stage...I swear! And when he put all that emphasis on the lyrics, "I'm Down On The Street....3 Times! (YES I COUNTED)... I almost lost my mind....I was in MUSIC HEAVEN as that man, Michael Cooper, sung the LIVING HELL out of that song of his, "Love Train"! Michael Cooper's vocals on the song was strong, emotional, intense and simply FANTASTIC that night! He sung the song very strong but also very pretty at the same time; I never heard it sung that way before! The song carried an influx of pretty melodies at the beginning of the song, with more intense and deeper melodies added to the song once the song begun. By the end of the song, Michael Cooper received a Standing Ovation for the song....it was that INCREDIBLE!
The show ended with ConFunkShun performing their hit crowd pleaser, "Fun, Fun, Fun" as they had audience members join them on stage and dance to the funk beat! The place was TOTALLY A BLAZE by that time and everyone was having FUN!!! By the end of the show, that whole stage was crowded with both men and women that jumped up on the stage to dance with the Funk Masters, Confunkshun, while Felton Pilate lead the large group of audience dancers into helping him close the show with ConFunkShun's signature "JUMP IN THE AIR" stunt!
This damn concert show was simply "INCREDIBLE"! The concert was so great to me that I didn't even want to leave! You know when a show is such a show stopper that you can just stay there and jam straight to music heaven forever...yeah...that's what you gonna get when you decide to spend some money to see ConFunkShun; you gonna get the most INCREDIBLE LIVE BAND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, giving you full fledge doses of musical crack to rock you straight to THE MUSICAL HIGH OF YOUR LIFE...FOREVER!
AND YA'LL KNOW I'M GOING TO THEIR NEXT CONCERT...
AND THE NEXT ONE....
AND THE NEXT ONE AFTER THAT...
AND THE NEXT ONE AFTER THAT...YEAH...
ALL OF THEM...I'LL BE THERE....
STAY TUNE...
Purchase ConFunkShun's Latest Smash Album at ITunes
"More Than Love"
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