Kevin Bronson on July 10th, 2015

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“The Bird” landed at the Santa Monica Pier on Thursday night, as Minneapolis funk torchbearers Morris Day and the Time kicked off 2015’s Twilight Concert Series. Next week brings indie bands Real Estate and Hippo Campus to the beach, but opening night was all about funk, as Day ripped through some of his familiar ’80s jams to a crowd that reached capacity by night’s end. The series debuted a new, high-tech stage — a cross between a pretzel and an alien vessel from “Star Trek,” perhaps? — from which Day pranced and danced and and screamed and preened (“Bring me my mirror, Jerome!”). One of L.A.’s favorite modern-day purveyors of the form, Dam-Funk, opened with a winning set of originals and covers.

Photos by Carl Pocket, courtesy of Spaceland Presents