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The '''P-Funk Earth Tour''' was a series of lavish [[P-Funk]] [[concert]]s performed by [[Parliament-Funkadelic]] in the mid-[[1970s]], featuring absurd costumes, lavish staging and special effects, and music from both the [[Parliament (band)|Parliament]] and [[Funkadelic]] repertoires. |
The '''P-Funk Earth Tour''' was a series of lavish [[P-Funk]] [[concert]]s performed by [[Parliament-Funkadelic]] in the mid-[[1970s]], featuring absurd costumes, lavish staging and special effects, and music from both the [[Parliament (band)|Parliament]] and [[Funkadelic]] repertoires. |
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The P-Funk Earth Tour was ambitious from the start. [[Casablanca Records]] executive [[Neil Bogart]] gave [[George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton]] a $275,000 budget for production, the largest amount ever allocated for a black music act to tour.<ref name=vincent>{{cite book | last=Vincent | first=Rickey | title=Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One | publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] | year=1996 | isbn=0312134991}} p. 245.</ref> Clinton hired Jules Fischer as [[set design]]er, who had previously worked on tours for [[The Rolling Stones]], [[Kiss (band)|KISS]], and other rock bands.<ref name=vincent/><ref name=thompson>{{cite book | last=Thompson | first=Dave | title=Funk | publisher=[[Backbeat Books]] | year=2001 | isbn=0879306297}} p. 90.</ref> Both the show's music and production elements were extensively rehearsed at an [[aircraft hangar]] in [[Newburgh, New York]].<ref name=vincent/><ref name=thompson/> The show required seven trucks to transport its equipment and scenery.<ref name=thompson/> With a broad range of themes embodied in the show's production, culminating in the [[Afrofuturism|Afrofuturist]] landing of the [[P-Funk Mothership]], author Rickey Vincent states that the P-Funk Earth Tour "drew from the ribald, uncensored entirety of the black tradition in mind-blowing ways no one had yet even attempted."<ref name=vincent/> ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' viewed the tour as embracing Clinton's "semiserious funk mythology" with "[a] mixture of tribal funk, elaborate stage props and the relentless assault on personal inhibition [that] resembled nothing so much as a Space Age Mardi Gras."<ref>{{cite book | last=McEwen | first=Joe | chapter=Funk | title=The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll | publisher=[[Random House]]/[[Rolling Stone Press]] | location=New York | year=1980 | isbn=394-73938-8}} p. 375.</ref> |
The P-Funk Earth Tour was ambitious from the start. [[Casablanca Records]] executive [[Neil Bogart]] gave [[George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton]] a $275,000 budget for production, the largest amount ever allocated for a black music act to tour.<ref name=vincent>{{cite book | last=Vincent | first=Rickey | title=Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One | publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] | year=1996 | isbn=0312134991}} p. 245.</ref> Clinton hired Jules Fischer as [[set design]]er, who had previously worked on tours for [[The Rolling Stones]], [[Kiss (band)|KISS]], and other rock bands.<ref name=vincent/><ref name=thompson>{{cite book | last=Thompson | first=Dave | title=Funk | publisher=[[Backbeat Books]] | year=2001 | isbn=0879306297}} p. 90.</ref> Both the show's music and production elements were extensively rehearsed at an [[aircraft hangar]] in [[Newburgh, New York]].<ref name=vincent/><ref name=thompson/> The show required seven trucks to transport its equipment and scenery.<ref name=thompson/> With a broad range of themes embodied in the show's production, culminating in the [[Afrofuturism|Afrofuturist]] landing of the [[P-Funk Mothership]], author Rickey Vincent states that the P-Funk Earth Tour "drew from the ribald, uncensored entirety of the black tradition in mind-blowing ways no one had yet even attempted."<ref name=vincent/> ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' viewed the tour as embracing Clinton's "semiserious funk mythology" with "[a] mixture of tribal funk, elaborate stage props and the relentless assault on personal inhibition [that] resembled nothing so much as a Space Age Mardi Gras."<ref>{{cite book | last=McEwen | first=Joe | chapter=Funk | title=The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll | publisher=[[Random House]]/[[Rolling Stone Press]] | location=New York | year=1980 | isbn=394-73938-8}} p. 375.</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the tour as featuring "superbly silly, lavish costumes" and an "opulent Baroque ... stage show".<ref>{{cite news | url=http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F40812F6355D167493C3A9178CD85F438785F9 | title=The Pop Life: A Secular Niche For Gospel and 'Jesus Rock' | author=[[John Rockwell]] | publisher=[[The New York Times]] | date=[[1977-07-01]] | accessdate=2007-12-16}}</ref> |
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The tour began in October 1976 in [[New Orleans]].<ref name=vincent/> |
The tour began in October 1976 in [[New Orleans]].<ref name=vincent/> |
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Revision as of 15:58, 16 December 2007
The P-Funk Earth Tour was a series of lavish P-Funk concerts performed by Parliament-Funkadelic in the mid-1970s, featuring absurd costumes, lavish staging and special effects, and music from both the Parliament and Funkadelic repertoires.
The P-Funk Earth Tour was ambitious from the start. Casablanca Records executive Neil Bogart gave George Clinton a $275,000 budget for production, the largest amount ever allocated for a black music act to tour.[1] Clinton hired Jules Fischer as set designer, who had previously worked on tours for The Rolling Stones, KISS, and other rock bands.[1][2] Both the show's music and production elements were extensively rehearsed at an aircraft hangar in Newburgh, New York.[1][2] The show required seven trucks to transport its equipment and scenery.[2] With a broad range of themes embodied in the show's production, culminating in the Afrofuturist landing of the P-Funk Mothership, author Rickey Vincent states that the P-Funk Earth Tour "drew from the ribald, uncensored entirety of the black tradition in mind-blowing ways no one had yet even attempted."[1] Rolling Stone viewed the tour as embracing Clinton's "semiserious funk mythology" with "[a] mixture of tribal funk, elaborate stage props and the relentless assault on personal inhibition [that] resembled nothing so much as a Space Age Mardi Gras."[3] The New York Times described the tour as featuring "superbly silly, lavish costumes" and an "opulent Baroque ... stage show".[4]
The tour began in October 1976 in New Orleans.[1] The 1977 live album Live: P-Funk Earth Tour was recorded at two early 1977 concerts, January 19 at the Los Angeles Forum and January 21 at the Oakland Coliseum.[1] The tour drew to a close in mid-1977; its expenses were as high as its innovation level and it was losing money steadily;[5] indeed one tour assistant's job was "to tell the musicians why they weren't getting paid."[5] Nevertheless, the tour served as valuable publicity and marketing for "the P-Funk brand",[5] making reference to the greater Parliament-Funkadelic-Clinton enterprise of acts, records, side projects, spin-offs, and so forth.
The P-Funk Earth Tour was followed by a series of stripped-down "Anti-Tours," arranged by band referee George Clinton to balance the ego-swelling effects of the Earth Tour on the band.
References
- ^ a b c d e f Vincent, Rickey (1996). Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312134991. p. 245.
- ^ a b c Thompson, Dave (2001). Funk. Backbeat Books. ISBN 0879306297. p. 90.
- ^ McEwen, Joe (1980). "Funk". The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll. New York: Random House/Rolling Stone Press. ISBN 394-73938-8.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: length (help) p. 375. - ^ John Rockwell (1977-07-01). "The Pop Life: A Secular Niche For Gospel and 'Jesus Rock'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c Kempton, Arthur (2005). Boogaloo: The Quintessence of American Popular Music. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472030876. pp. 380–381.
