George Clinton @ The Ritz, Manchester, 17 April

George Clinton has spent the best part of the last 40 years orchestrating the freakiest gang of funkateers known to mankind. How freaky you ask? The answer lies on stage tonight at the Ritz, in the gleam of the world wrestling championship belt draped across the shoulder of a gyrating on-stage hype man. The rest of the cast is decked out in full panto gear: chequered blazers, hi-vis hoodies and white sombreros. That kind of freaky.

Clinton himself sports a pork pie hat and – while years of getting on God-knows-what have clearly taken their toll – he’s still able to hold the spotlight, whipping the band into action for Mommy, What’s a Funkadelic? and One Nation Under a Groove. The crowd swells around the time Flashlight comes on and gets rowdy enough to incite a dedication from Clinton’s partner-in-crime, Mr. Nose, to Manchester’s northern soul legacy. The song, (I Wanna) Testify, was originally recorded by The Parliament in 1967, and the impromptu rendition is a testament to Clinton’s previous incarnation as an R&B ringleader.

“Now it’s time for… another P-funk classic,” bellows Mr. Nose, realigning the crowd to within the spacey realms of Maggot Brain and Atomic Dog. As all this is going on, the musicians play out individual scenes, swapping places, clothes and instruments. It’s like peering into a surreal alternate universe, watching the aliens go about their daily galactic business. But that's when the last cymbal hits, the band leave the stage and reality is resumed. Off stage, Clinton’s mothership shoots off to continue its unrelenting orbit around the planet, and it is more than welcome to descend over these greasy streets any time.