George Clinton Hints at Exciting 2026 Tour with a New P-Funk Mothership Ready to Take Flight
George Clinton Plans Return of the Mothership in 2026
George Clinton is set to revitalize the iconic Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership for a new tour in 2026. This announcement comes as the original prop remains housed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Clinton, along with longtime collaborator Vivian Chew of Chew Entertainment, revealed to Billboard that a new and enhanced version of the distinguished stage prop is currently in production at the Rock Lititz campus in southeastern Pennsylvania. “We know it’s going to be crazy,” Chew stated. “It’s something people are going to be in awe of. Dr. Funkenstein will be coming out of the Mothership again in a very new way. George is going to take this thing around the world.”
While specific tour dates have yet to be announced, Chew hinted that audiences could expect their first glimpse of the revived Mothership next summer.
The Mothership originally emerged from Parliament’s groundbreaking 1976 album Mothership Connection, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this month. The album’s title track highlights themes of cosmic adventure, with lines proclaiming, "We have returned to claim the pyramids/Partying on the mothership…Gettin’ down in 3D/Light year groovin’."
Reflecting on the concept behind the Mothership, Clinton shared in a past interview, “I was a big fan of Star Trek and all that. We were all about putting Black people in places nobody ever thought they’d be…like outer space, so that’s what we did.” The album, which features the hit “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker),” peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and was eventually inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.
The Mothership gained notoriety during the 1976 P-Funk Earth Tour, where it made a grand entrance from above, with Clinton emerging as Dr. Funkenstein. David Libert, who managed Clintons’ tours during the 1970s, reminisced, “The logistics around it were crazy, but any audience that saw it was just blown away.”
Although the original Mothership was sold in the early 1980s, it was recovered and restored for a 1996 P-Funk All Stars concert in Central Park and made subsequent appearances, including at Woodstock ’99, before its final resting place at the Smithsonian. Clinton expressed his excitement about the revival, stating, “It’s a good thing; the first Mothership is in the Smithsonian, and here we are backing it up with a new version.”
In addition to the Mothership, Clinton hinted at new music accompanying its return, stating, “I’ve definitely got some fresh funk coming in and out of that, very soon… It’s going to be interesting.” He was recently inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this year. Currently, Clinton is also involved in a lawsuit against former business associate Armen Boladian to reclaim ownership of his music and copyrights.
Before revealing the new Mothership, Chew plans to present “Symphonic PFunk: Celebrating the Music of Parliament Funkadelic” on January 31 at the Detroit Opera House. Arrangements by music director Ray Chew will accompany guest performers Nona Hendryx, Vernon Reid, and Rahsaan Patterson. Clinton mentioned the possibility of joining the celebration: “I might get up there and jam when I feel it.”
“This was always my dream,” Clinton remarked. “to carry on to that point of respectability and to always try to prove that we were worthy of that. It is all worthy of that. I go back to Motown itself… All that music needs to be classical, orchestrated and cataloged, curated for the next 100 years. I think we did our part in creating something that lives up to that. And we kept it going.”
