Grand Funk Railroad – Miami Jai-Alai Casino, Miami, Florida - 21st January 2025

Review by Robert Corich

There are some bands whose name immediately transports you back to another time. Grand Funk Railroad is one of them.

Except that, standing inside Miami Jai-Alai Casino on January 21st 2025, I wasn’t transported anywhere.

Grand Funk were still here. And they were still very much Grand Funk.

One curiosity about this particular evening is that concert trackers and setlistFM don’t appear to have an entry (yet) for the Miami show on Jan 21st. There is also some conflicting information online about dates around this run.

Well, I was there — and there was only one Miami date as far as I’m concerned: January 21st 2025 at Miami Jai-Alai Casino. My photographs, taken on the night, confirm the date beyond any doubt.

So perhaps it’s the internet — or some dodgy fingers back at Funk Base One — that’s caused this misunderstanding.

Either way, I’m sticking with what I actually saw and heard.

I was standing in the room.

And this was the set Grand Funk played that night:

Rock ’n Roll Soul
Footstompin’ Music
Shinin’ On
Heartbreaker
The Loco-Motion
Walk Like a Man
Sky High
Second Chance
Percussion Circle / Devil’s Daughter
The Star-Spangled Banner
Inside Looking Out
Some Kind of Wonderful
I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home)
We’re an American Band

And what an opening.

Rock ’n Roll Soul into Footstompin’ Music is hardly a declaration of intent delivered in whispers. This is Grand Funk doing what Grand Funk has always done best — hitting you squarely between the ears with a great big slab of bluesy, soulful, hard-driving American rock.

And behind it all is Don Brewer.

At 75, the man is still an extraordinary drummer. More importantly, he’s one of those drummers whose personality is inseparable from the band. You don’t merely hear Brewer keeping time; you hear Grand Funk.

It was also genuinely great to see Mel Schacher up there, still plugging away with that enormous bass sound of his.

Schacher, another Flint, Michigan original, was barely 16 when he joined ? and the Mysterians, touring behind 96 Tears, before joining Brewer and Mark Farner to form the power trio that became Grand Funk Railroad. His bass was never merely there to provide the bottom end — it was a huge, melodic, sometimes almost lead-like presence at the heart of the Grand Funk sound.

This was one of the blokes who helped invent the bloody sound in the first place.

Then there’s Max Carl.

What an inspired choice he has proved to be. Rather than attempting to be Mark Farner Mk II, Carl brings his own considerable personality to the material. His career has encompassed blues, soul and rock, including Jack Mack & the Heart Attack and, of course, 38 Special, where he co-wrote and sang Second Chance.

So its inclusion here isn’t some random cover.

This is Max Carl’s song.

Then there is Mark Chatfield.

There were a few double takes when he first appeared. From a distance, Chatfield could very easily be mistaken for Mick Box — similar hair, similar face, similar general rock-star silhouette. For a fleeting moment you could almost imagine Uriah Heep had taken a wrong turn on the way to the stage.

I was standing in the room, so I can report with some authority:

It wasn’t Mick.

The more interesting connection, however, is musical. Chatfield was a founder of The Godz, whose debut album was produced by none other than Don Brewer and recorded at Grand Funk’s own studio, The Swamp. The Godz went on to share stages with Judas Priest, Cheap Trick, Blue Öyster Cult, The Ramones and Triumph before Chatfield’s career eventually took him into the Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band camp.

So when Bruce Kulick moved on from Grand Funk, Brewer didn’t exactly have to start looking through the classifieds.

He already knew the bloke.

There’s something rather satisfying about that full circle: the Grand Funk drummer who helped produce The Godz all those years ago is now standing on stage with the Godz guitarist.

And once Chatfield picked up that guitar he proved he could deliver the goods.

The man can bloody well play.

Then there’s Tim Cashion — “Dr Tim” — another musician with a résumé that goes considerably deeper than simply being Grand Funk’s keyboard player. Born into a musical family in Charlotte, North Carolina, he eventually earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Studio Music and Jazz from the University of Miami and has worked with Robert Palmer, Jon Secada and Bob Seger, among others.

I half expected a cover of “Bad Case of Loving You" or “Addicted to Love”.

Now there’s an idea…

Put all that together and you begin to appreciate what Don Brewer has actually achieved with this lineup.

Because there is, of course, one rather large elephant in the room:

Mark Farner isn’t here.

And that matters.

Farner wasn’t merely the original guitarist and vocalist; he wrote or co-wrote so much of the music we’re hearing. Rock ‘n Roll Soul, Footstompin’ Music, Heartbreaker and I’m Your Captain all bear his songwriting stamp, while Shinin’ On and Walk Like a Man came from the Farner/Brewer partnership.

So yes, Farner is missed — and, frankly, always will be.

But here’s the remarkable thing about the Grand Funk Railroad I saw in Miami.

Don Brewer has assembled one hell of a group of musicians to compensate for that absence.

This isn’t a bunch of blokes standing around trying to impersonate the original band. Carl, Chatfield, Cashion and Schacher bring their own considerable histories and personalities to the music, while Brewer remains the beating heart of it all.

And that is why this incarnation works.

Sonically, pulling off Grand Funk without Farner is a bloody difficult proposition. His guitar, voice and songwriting were woven into the band’s DNA. Yet Brewer has found musicians capable of recreating the weight, harmony and sheer musicality of that sound without turning the whole thing into a tribute act.

It isn’t the Grand Funk Railroad of the 1970’s, It can’t be.

But it is a remarkably convincing continuation of the story.

And I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home) is the perfect example.

Bloody hell, does this one sound good live.

There is something wonderfully cool and expansive about hearing it with the full band in full swing. The bass, drums, keyboards and guitar build underneath that unmistakable melody until the whole thing takes on a weight and grandeur that a studio recording simply can’t quite capture.

With Brewer and Schacher driving the thing along, the song positively breathes.

Farner’s absence is inevitably felt — this is, after all, one of his great compositions — but hearing Brewer and Schacher still bringing it roaring to life after all these years is something rather special.

And then, inevitably, there’s We’re an American Band.

Of course.

The song Don Brewer wrote and sang. The song that turned Grand Funk into The American Band. And the whole place erupts.

There was, however, one slight blemish on an otherwise excellent evening.

At one point Don Brewer launched into what sounded like a little political rant which, certainly to my ears, sounded distinctly sympathetic to Donald Trump. Perhaps I misread it, perhaps I didn’t, but frankly… really, Don?

Nobody had come to a Grand Funk show for a political broadcast. Trump had already had quite enough airtime without being invited onto this stage.

And given Brewer’s long association with Bob Seger, perhaps the appropriate response was obvious:

Turn the Page, Don.

We came for the music — and thankfully, that’s exactly what we got for the rest of the evening.

And there is one other thought I came away with from Miami.

This is a very tight, cohesive band. It sounds like a group rather than a collection of musicians keeping an old catalogue alive.

Which begs the question:

Where’s the new album, Don?

With Mel back onboard, Mark Chatfield on guitar, Max Carl’s voice and songwriting pedigree, and Tim Cashion’s musical depth, surely this lineup could come up with something seriously strong.

America really could use a new dose of the real rock ‘n’ roll that Grand Funk were always able to unleash upon the American music-loving public.

Give them a blank sheet, turn the amps up and let Grand Funk make some new noise.

Because judging by this gig, there’s plenty of life — and plenty of bite — left in the old dog yet.

And having now heard this version of Grand Funk live, I rather fancy seeing Mark Farner’s band too — partly to make the inevitable comparisons, but mainly because it would be a bloody good excuse to hear some of these great songs all over again.

Consider the comparison test officially booked…

Can I have a ticket, Mark? 😎

But let’s not forget the bigger picture: Grand Funk Railroad is still out there, still delivering the goods — and this old dog clearly isn’t ready for the kennel just yet.