George Clinton and Parliament Funk at the St James

George Clinton

The anticipation in the lobby was palpable. Word was that Clinton, now 64, was playing a three-hour set with his huge P-Funk band, so this was a night to prepare, then pace yourself.

And people did, hanging on for a night that was alternately booty-shaking, hand-waving and hilarious.

From the "we want the funk" chant, through rude couplets about sweat that can't be repeated here, to shout-outs for skunk (forthcoming), this was more a party than a concert, and one nation under a groove. As the man says, "Free your mind and your ass will follow".

Clinton didn't appear until 45 minutes into the show, but that barely mattered. The P-Funk groove - which didn't let up for two hours of almost seamless shifts from one section to another - was embellished by uproariously loose entertainment: roller girl; belly-heavy guitarist Starchild in a nappy; Sir Nose in white fun-fur pants and matching full length coat, who danced like Limbs-meets-Man Power, then got on the speaker stacks and contorted like the Chinese kids in Cirque du Soleil. Fantastic fun.

The oddity of the evening was legendary keyboardist Bernie Worrell, who often ambled around, occasionally had trouble finding the end of his cigarette to light, disappeared for a while and returned towards the end with a red wine. He seemed mostly missing in action.

But no matter, because this was a night that mixed old-school funk, classic soul, snatches of hip-hop, and nodded to Louis Jordan, James Brown and Sly Stone.

And for the 20-minute Flashlight, when the horn section stepped forward, a period that sounded like bebop.

After two non-stop dancing hours the funksters left the stage to some guitar power-rock from Michael Hampton and Blackbyrd McKnight, Hampton playing an extended jam like Frank Zappa, then McKnight in the mid-ground between Hendrix and Joe Satriani.

It was, of course, technically brilliant but ultimately tedious, especially as it stretched towards the half-hour mark. (Or mind-blowing if you were the unsteady guy next to me.)

When it was over the funk made a welcome return, Clinton and Sir Nose pulled a dozen lovely lady dancers on stage from the crowd (including Aja Rock who is apparently recording with Worrell), and the night went out with a medley of 50s and 60s rock'n'roll from At The Hop to Twist and Shout.

It was a party-party finale to an unforgettable night of low comedy and bad fashion wrapped in a ball of furiously appealing, smoke-fuelled funk.

Now that's entertainment.