(photo by Andrzej Pilarczyk)

Review by Fred Rudofsky
Photographs by Andrzej Pilarczyk, Stanley Johnson, Timothy Reidy and Richard Brody

“We want the funk! Got to have that funk!”

When Albany’s funkateers come out of the woodwork – in the thousands on a perfect mid-June evening – and begin chanting those nine words, all is well in Nippertown.

Bootsy Collins, showman extraordinaire equipped with his star-shaped, rhinestone-encrusted bass, led an energetic 10-piece band for nearly an hour and a half of righteous grooves that largely drew upon his long tenure with Parliament-Funkadelic. Judging by the crowd’s fervor – especially mid-set when he made his way like a preacher through the amphitheatre of Riverfront Park in Albany’s Corning Preserve – the ebullient Collins is welcome anytime he decides to visit.

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