By PAUL MORALES

Just because a thing is strange doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen often. So it was an odd but not unusual sight to pass Center Park in Warsaw tonight and see half of the park already filled with plastic folding chairs and camp chairs – in 85 degree heat – six hours before the main act was due to take the stage.

Grand Funk Railroad, a great American rock band of the 1970s, performed tonight in an incredible concert at the Center Lake Pavilion. Officer Brandon Zartman of the Warsaw Police Department estimated that six to seven thousand people were in attendance at the concert tonight, one of the highest turnouts ever for the Friday Evening Performing Arts Series organized by the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department.

Several of Grand Funk’s greatest hits were played, including “Shinin’ On,” “Rock & Roll Soul,” “Some Kind of Wonderful,” and “The Loco-Motion.” The group wound up the concert with it’s well-loved single “I’m Your Captain,” followed by an audience-urged encore of “We’re an American Band,” Grand Funk Railroad’s first number one single. The concert lasted for about 90 minutes.

Grand Funk Railroad are Bruce Kulick on guitar, Tim Cashion on keys and percussion, founding member Mel Schacher on bass, founding member Don Brewer on drums, and Max Carl on guitar and vocals.

Also playing at the concert tonight were local northern Indiana band Funk Park Rangers, who opened for Grand Funk. They played a decent length set at about an hour, featuring both classic rock songs from such greats as Chuck Berry, as well as some of their own original material.

The Funk Park Rangers are Brad Parker on drums, Eric Brown on bass, Patrick Price on guitar, and Spencer Fisk on guitar and vocals.

Grand Funk Railroad can next be seen tomorrow night in Lancaster, Ohio, before moving on with their tour to California.

The Funk Park Rangers will be back in Warsaw in a few months, on August 17, at Spike’s Beach Grill.