Rock Candy

Stewart Deere reports from Sunday's final day of Riverfest:

For one moment it seemed as if Morris Day might have been the baaaaaaadest man on the planet.

Here's the scene. Having just pulled his comb out of his suit and run it through his hair he mimed a throw to the audience. Hands reached up to grasp just as Morris smiled and put it back in his coat.

The show that Morris Day and the Time put on could make a believer of the staunchest enemy of the funk. Wearing their full suits (which must have been almost unbearable even with the cloud cover and river breeze) the group played jam after jam, including the closer "Jungle Love."

They did slow it down for a bit with "Gigilos Get Lonely Too" but overall the show focused on moving the crowd. An amusing change on the "all the ladies sing (filll in the blank)" or "all the men sing (fill in the blank)" was made when it was asked at one point for "all the security" so sing the "Oh-wee-oh-wee-oh" in the song "Jungle Love."

The Time is a band that thrives on crowd interaction, much like Pat Green's Texas country on the Little Rock side. Green's devoted fans are always on full hollering display at all his shows and Little Rock was no exception as evidenced by: 1. the aforementioned hollering 2. Pat Green T-shirts 3. Pat Green beer koozies.

Songs such as "Wrapped" and "California" kept the crowd's hands in the air, as did a cover of Springsteen's "Glory Days."

Pat dedicated one song to a soon to be married couple he had spoken with backstage who wereu using it in their wedding. He also introduced the song "Who's to Say", a statment against the sort of judgement many in the Bible belt would pass on ole' Pat and his crowd, by telling the audience that the definition of tough is playing onstage when your preacher is in the
audience. Whether he was referrring to his having done that previously or whether his preacher was actually in the audience, we couldn't tell from where we were standing.

For sheer enthusiasm and crowd pleasing, Sunday night's musical performances brought the festival to a close on a high note.