STILL Funky as he pushes 74, George Clinton and his hordes descended on Leeds last weekend, for three hours of good time grooves.

While the backdrop of a Seventies' Clinton on board his mothership was stripped back, every other aspect of the show was big. At times there were 20 members of this loose Parliament Funkadelic ensembles on stage, including a number whose role it seemed to be to encourage audience participation. They were barely needed, as this good-time crowd were all about enjoying themselves.

Clinton’s grooves take in all points from his barbershop roots (evidenced here with I Wanna Testify), through to soul and rock, all laced together with a funky skeleton. The early part of the show suffered from sound problems and also some rather unremarkable later, rap heavy, material.

The format was customary long jams, with Clinton himself very good value, on stage for the vast majority of the evening, and not making use of the chair set up for his exclusive use. While the multi-coloured dreadlocks may be gone, replaced with shades, suit and panama hat, his energy level and ability to exhort even more from his band were still very much to the fore.

While everything was deliberately overdone, special note should go to the wonderful guitar players (including one of the original members, Dewayne “Blackbyrd” McKnight). who whipped up an electric storm every time they bestrode the stage. The ghost of former virtuoso Eddie Hazel would have approved. Highlights amounted to a Best Of collection; from an early Cosmic Slop and Standing On The Verge (Of Getting It On) through to the (inevitable) One Nation Under A Groove to close out an exhausting, rewarding evening.