The FUNK hit the Spot last night in Roanoke - A Review!

Last night Roanoke live music enthusiasts got funked up at The Spot On Kirk, as Tony Camm & The FUNK Allstars took the stage with their "One Rhythm, One Nation" tour, which included some of the funkiest music heard in the Star City.

A scaled down six-member line-up, that featured Chris Schmitt on keys/vocals, Jimmy Young on guitar, Alex Gross on bass, John Bailey, Sr. on drums, and the Camms (Tony & Jacqui) on lead vocals, waisted no time getting into the audience's behind with a hard-hitting mashup of "Shining Star" and "Franklin's Tower".

Bandleader Camm, then channeling his inner George Clinton, led the band into a rousing version of "Red Hot Mama", that included snippets of "Let's Take It To The Stage" and "Tales Of Kidd Funkadelic", and had the crowd loudly chanting along with "the roof is on fire" and "from the window to the wall", before depositing the dancing patrons into a wild rendition of "Play That Funky Music", a reggae-influenced "Fire On The Mountain" and a real groovy "West L.A. Fadeaway".

Then the energy turned up with a P-Funk medley of "Flash Light" and "Give Up The Funk", and transitioned into a crowd-pleasing thirty minutes of the originals "Allstars Of Funk", Set Me Free" and "Funk Salvation" from the band's upcoming debut EP.

Now over an hour into the show, the band showed no signs of slowing down, as Camm enlisted the audience's "help in building a funk song" on an engaging "Jungle Boogie", that featured the bandleader leaving the stage and dancing wildly in the crowd.

Chris Schmitt and Jacqui Camm then displayed their vocal power on the classic "Use Me", followed by the band thrilling the crowd with dance hits "24K Magic" and "Blurred Lines".

Then it was time for a staple of the band's show, a very entertaining twenty minute groove that included "Gold Digger", "No Diggity" (complete with the Queen Pen rap) and a Cardi B sing-a-long.

Now approaching the two hour mark, and showing no signs of fatigue, a familiar drum roll filled the room and the band launched into one of the greatest party tunes of all time, "Brick House", and had the whole room "shaking it down".

The night ended with "Da Butt" and morphed into the band's mantra groove "One Rhythm, One Nation", and delivered the group's message that "we can all groove to one rhythm if we try" and "everybody's got a thang".

People were looking for a good time last night...and the Funk hit the spot.

 

To follow the band's tour click HERE .

 

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