I think it was the 1978 homecoming and the featured show in Moore Gym was Parliament-Funkadelic and the Brides of Funkenstein. OMG!
My dorm room was on the second floor of Scott Hall facing the gym parking lot. I had homeboys who had driven up from Lumberton, North Carolina, for the concert, so my room was packed. We were partying and getting ready for the show and looked out the window and the parking lot was packed. We should have known because Parliament was the hottest group in America.
We made it inside the “matchbox” (Moore Gymnasium) and it was over 100 degrees inside, but we didn’t care because when you’re young some things doesn’t matter. It was the “Uncle Jam Wants You” tour and Parliament were dressed in Army fatigues. They jammed for about three hours. They “tore the roof off the sucker!”
Still today, everybody still talks about the greatest show ever put on at A&T. I recently saw George Clinton – the band leader and our Omega Psi Phi fraternity brother – backstage at the Essence festival last month along with my cousin, attorney Ben Crump. They also landed a new Mothership at the Essence Festival and let the Ques step onstage while they played “Atomic Dog.”
I mentioned George’s homecoming concert to him and he remembered the exact date. Remarkable at his age! I also told him about the 100th anniversary of the Greatest Homecoming on Earth in October.