GRiZ Celebrates a Merry 'GRiZMas' with a Funky Special Guest in Detroit
12/15/2018 by Gary Graff
GRiZ gave his hometown fans in Detroit a present on Friday night (Dec. 14): a brand new song, and a surprise guest to go with it.
Playing the first of two 12 Days of GRiZmas concerts at the city's Masonic Temple, GRiZ welcomed funk legend Bootsy Collins for the first encore of his hour-and-50-minute show, collaborating on a brand new song called "Bustin'." Collins was warmly welcomed by the sold-out crowd and traded spoken-word verses with GRiZ on the brassy track, as GRiZ declared "say it loud and say it proud: funk music for life!"
The song eventually morphed into the snippet of the Parliament classic "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)."
Friday's show was one of a handful this year to feature the 15-piece GRiZ Live Band, which features three additional brass players and five vocalists, as well as rapper ProbCause on two songs. Saturday's show (Dec. 15) at the same venue, which is also sold-out, will be a more straightforward EDM set during which he'll premiere some more of the new material he's been working on during 2018 and plans to release next year, GRiZ tells Billboard.
The fifth annual GRiZmas celebration has included yoga sessions, bowling and roller skating parties, an educational seminar, late-night parties and other events, raising money for music education for Detroit public school students.
The four previous GRiZmas events have raised more than $80,000, and this year has introduced a new beneficiary: Seven Mile Music, an after-school program that provides music lessons and opportunities for more than 200 students per week.