At its press conference yesterday, the organizers of Prospecto Musical Showcase and Sonic Experience said they would announce the rest of the Grand Rapids festival's lineup on Sept. 1.
Maybe the addition of a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer to the lineup tested their patience: Today, Prospecto announced that the legendary funk innovator George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic will appear at the festival on Saturday, Oct. 1. The announcement came via a status update on Prospecto's Facebook page, and was confirmed by Prospecto Creative Director Benjamin Hunter.
The Clinton show was actually confirmed five minutes after the press conference, Hunter said in an email. "[I]t was on the table and I was trying to have it ready for that."
He did not say which of the festival's three venues -- Pyramid Scheme, Intersection or Founders -- Clinton will play at.
Clinton, a staff songwriter at Motown in the '60s, is often mentioned as one of the true innovators in funk music alongside James Brown and Sly Stone. He's the principal architect of the P-Funk sound that marries elements of rock, jazz, funk and often features heavy bass lines, spacy synthesizers, New Orleans horns and glee-club style backing vocals. In the '70s, Clinton masterminded both Parliament and Funkadelic as separate bands before going solo in the early '80s. He was elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 along with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. He's often cited by rappers and hip-hop artists as an influence, and his songs are among the most-sampled in history.
Clinton's live shows also have a well-earned reputation for being raucous and fun, as Clinton et al. roar through their catalog of P-Funk hits ranging from "Atomic Dog" and "Flashlight" to "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof of the Sucker)."
The addition of Clinton is something of a coup for the second-year music festival, adding a nationally recognized name and music innovator to an impressive lineup of indie and hip hop acts including The Walkmen, Pharcyde, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and 25 other acts. More bands will be announced on Sept. 1, Hunter says.
