First off, the most important part of any fishbone show, the fashions...

In the vein of "where'd ya get those pants", Norwood was particularily
resplendent in a lovely tie dyed-like toga, saucily avoiding any use of
underwear or pants for that matter, but, always looking like the menacing
tower of bass power that he is...the girlfriend's comment was "nice ass"
but, alas, the ever mighty Warwick bass protected the audience and
Norwood's privates from any unplanned exposure. For the gear heads out
there, he's using the hughes vettner amps and also sported a natty Ovation
acoustic bass on a few songs, most noticeably "Aids & Armageddon". Ah yes,
Norwood also started the show off with perhaps one of the nicest viking
horn hats ever see. He sure looks charmin' in little blonde braids,
tastefully accenting his massive dread horn. In the intervening 10 years
since I saw them last , his plank spanking style remains intact, the man is
the undisputed freak of the bass world, always solid!

Angelo started in a great suit and the usual porkpie-like hat, and, as
usual, strips down to just pants within a few songs, though gaffer's tape
became an excellent belt when the pants started to come down...His theremin
playing is just amazing to watch, easily the best use of a theremin by a
band that I have ever seen, he's got it DOWN.

Ah, and onto the dirty dog himself, Walter. Sporting a simple outfit for
spring 2000, merely some great 3/4 shorts, a black High Times t-shirt and,
accented by some very stylish shades. I've heard people carp that Walt
isn't that necessary, I say utter crap, the man is essential to fishbone
and he was just dynamite last night.

ah, the new guys...

No noticeable fashion news here, (past spacey's great eddie hazel shirt)
but, hey ya know, the new boys do great work. Spacy-T truly outdoes himself
all night long, nimbly working thru all of Kendall's previous work and
often breathing new life or, at least a different perspective on some
songs, I have zero complaints about him. Some other family member commented
that he had a very "rock god" type quality in his stage precense, but, I
didn't get that vibe at all, he works well with everyone in the band, and,
to be frank, Special K was more "rockish" than T was, at least last night.
Very solid player, a great addition to the band! He exploits a neat feature
of the Parker Fly guitars he is using, that being the ability to sound like
a very convincing acoustic guitar, used to great effect in Sunless Saturday
and Weed Plant.

Onto John Steward.....He's not Fish, but, ya know, it doesn't prove to be a
problem really, he's a great great drummer regardless. I'm not sure quite
what it is thats "different", the only thing that comes to mind is he
doesn't seem quite as explosive as Fish for lack of a better idea, but, the
boy can sure play them drums. Jah Dave says it well, he's calm but plays
with great power. You can rest assured that Norwood has chosen well, their
combined as a rhythm section is as hot as ever. John chose a simple, but
tasteful ensemble consisting of a NY Yankees shirt and shorts, though, with
mismatching numbers....coincidence? I think not...

And last but certainly not the least, John McKnight, taking the award for
MVP, successfully juggling guitar, Keyboards and trombone, effortlessly.
The Fishbone horn section is sounding mighty hot these days, this guy can
belt it out on the trombone and does fine work, either duplicating the Dowd
work, or, doin' it different...

So, the show itself... We got there at a great time, jst before nine o
clock, so we managed to snag a great vantage point in the Fenix, basically
right above the band, directly over top McKnight, with the whole stage laid
out below us, like, 10 feet below. It was truly a neat "angle" to see the
band from. ANd, as I have insinuated over this whole note, they are truly
in fine form, I'd venture to say that they are -better- than the last time
I saw them on the Reality tour. I'm not entirely sure why, but, they sure
seem like a happy, tight band at the moment. I didn't keep track of songs,
but, it was basically the same as has been seen in other cities. It was a 2
hour + show, and worth every penny. I took three people who had very little
exposure to Fishbone and they were floored by what they witnessed, as was
the rest of the club. 3 more new fans! yay! Great crowd surfing was had by
all, and, I wandered down to the very front to witness Aids and Freddie's
Dead in the front row, directly in front of Spacey T, which was when I
decided, yeah, he's just a FINE new addition. Thanks to the list members I
met there, Michael and Brian as well, it was a great night, despite 5 hours
of driving to pull it off.

8)

Just saw Fishbone last night in Seattle, and they wallopped ass. They
were five stars, hands down, played every minute they could, Angelo
crowd surfed like a maniac, Dirty Walter grinned the whole time wearing
a High Times shirt, Norwood thumped a lot and looked a little pissed
off at not getting more props for this obviously smoking band, not that
the crowd wasn't going crazy and having a blast the entire time. They
rocked the house start to finish, and I found their music to be very
interesting,
beyond their ska reggae axis. They hit all bases, and never faltered. They
outlasted a crowd that looked like they would never settle down. These
guys gotta release a live cd. How hard can it be in this day of homemade
cds? Screw Sony if they won't release it. They can get another label on it

Mark Onat

I missed this show but have the live recording...
The set is heavy on PFN material. The recording of the show is REALLY good quality. The downside of this show is McKnight. Good keyboardist/trombonist, awful guitarist. Why did he play synth on "beergut" instead of guitar? And on "Shakey Ground" why did he play guitar instead of organ??? I don't know what he was thinking, and his shoddy guitar is louder than Spacey T at some points on the recording...

Spacey T busts Jimi's "who knows" during the end of "Swim" which is cool.

This is one of my favorite Fishbone live recordings, despite McKnight's faults...