My name is Scott. I'm new to the list, but have been into Fishbone for about ten years now. I've seen the Bone play every time they hit Phoenix, AZ since 91.(about 13 times). I've seen them play in Anaheim, Hollywood, and twice in Oregon where I now live. The show last night in Portland was one of the best I've seen in a while. I hope nobody gets pissed, but there were a couple of low points in the night. I'll get those out of the way now. Towards the beginning of the show, the volume on Angelo's mic went down during one song. He was drowned out by Walt and Norwood, but by the next song, the level was back up and sounded great. All through the show, Spacey's guitar solos were inaudible. It looked like he was just playing some whacked-out air guitar. Enough bitching. The show was fucking awesome. Back in 98 some shows they played in Phoenix seemed really negative. Angelo would verbally abuse some fans. And the band seemed all around unhappy to be there. Not last night. They seemed to play with a sense of enjoyment you would expect from a new band. Angelo sounded great, the horns were tight, Norwood played acoustic bass on two songs, and I was impressed by John Steward. I also took my 3 year old son for his first live Fishbone experience. He loved it but fell asleep half way through. I'll quit rambling now. I don't remember the order of the set-list, but here are the songs they played. If anyone on the list was there, feel free to correct me.

Subliminal Fascism
Beergut
Bonin' in the Boneyard
Lyin' Ass Bitch
Party At Ground Zero
When Problems Arise
AIDS and Armageddon
Cholly
Housework
Deep Inside
Karma Tsunami
Behavior Control Technician
I wish I Had a Date
Just Allow
It All Kept Startin' Over Again
Ma and Pa
The Suffering
Where'd You Get Those Pants
I'm A Weed Plant
Shakey Ground

Later,
Scott

I was talking with a friend of mine, and he said that he has
never seen a bad Fishbone show. Last night was NO exception!
My girlfriend and I made the two hour trek to Portland to see
Fishbone at the Crystal Ballroom. If we ever had a Familyhood
Reunion I think it should be at the Crystal. The Ballroom is
an old dancehall from the 20's that they reopened a few years
ago. One of the novelist ascpects of the Crystal is that it has
a "floating" floor. The floor has ball bearings, pulleys, etc.
underneath it that makes it move. When I jump up in the air and
come back down, the person standing next to me moves up a bit.
Imagine a whole crowd of people doing it! It's pretty crazy.

Anyway, back to the show...

We arrived a few minutes before the doors were opened. I had a chance
to chat with Spacey T and John Steward before the show. John said that
the shows just keep on getting better and better. Both of them remembered
me from the Nuttstalk show, which was super shweet (sic)! There is supposed to
be an article in Drum Magazine on John also. It's supposed to come out
in a week or two. If I did not say it in my last review, I'll say it in
this one: besides being excellent musicians, all the guys in Fishbone are
super cool guys. Every time I have talked to them they have always been
really nice and not arrogant or anything like that.

Upon entering the building (the ballroom is on the third floor), I was
surprised to see the walls covered in flats (like the ones they are
SUPPOSED :) to send to the record stores). They had three pictures: one
was the cover of the album, one had 4 pictures of the art from within the
album cover, and the other had a blue fishbone and circles around it with
black text advertising the album.

At the top of the stairs was the merchandise table. There were three
shirts: a black one with the Truth and Soul logo on the front and a smaller
blue logo (of the same picture) on the back; a white girl/baby-T shirt with
smoking Fishbone on it; and some other shirt I didn't pay much attention too.
The shirts were $15. They also had some buttons and magnets, Angelo's poetry
book and CD, and the new CD. They also had Fishbone stickers (in white on a
baby-blue background) that they were giving away for free.

The first band that played was called Homegrown, I believe. I really
didn't like them that much. They kind of reminded me of a Rage Against
The Machine/Limp Bizkit spin-off band, but worse. And you know, I have
to say it: guitarists wearing cowboy hats are SO cliche!

The second band that played was Slightly Stoopid. They were not that
bad at all. I thought they were trying to sound like Sublime just a little
too much, but they were still good. They kept on saying "this is for all
you skankers out there" and then they would play a song that was a thousand
times too slow to skank too. I liked this band, but I thought a lot of
their songs sounded the same.

And the next band that came out was the one we all went to see! Here's
the set list, and yes this is in order. I was a dork and wrote down the
songs as they played them!

Subliminal Fascism
Beergut
Bonin' In The Boneyard
Aids & Armageddon (McKnight played guitar on this also)
Cholly
It All Kept Startin' Over Again
Lyin' Ass Bitch
Ma and Pa
Just Allow
Give It Up
Deep Inside
Behavior Control Technician
When Problems Arise
The Suffering
I Wish I Had A Date
Where'd You Get Those Pants
Housework
Karma Tsunami
Party At Ground Zero
-Encore-
I'm A Weed Plant (acoustic)
Shakey Ground
Freddie's Dead
-Double Encore-
One Planet People
Alcoholic

I thought Fishbone did an EXCELLENT job last night, especially
Steward, McKnight, and Spacey T. They played a lot of the old songs
and the "new" guys kept up with Angelo, Walt and Norwood just fine.
Steward played SO much better last night than when I saw Fishbone on the
Nuttstalk tour in February. He seemed to be more relaxed and pounded out
the rhythms more.

I talked with McKnight after the show and he said "..they finally gave
us a good mix." I didn't have the heart to tell them that I didn't think
it was the greatest mix. Where I was standing, they had it so loud the sound
started to get distorted. Spacey's guitar could have been turned up a bit.
Norwood's bass could have been turned down a touch. The bass drum (the big
round one that band normally put their logo on?? sorry, I'm not into drums!)
could have been turned down as well. Don't get me wrong, they sounded great,
it's just some minor changes I would have done.

I'm not going to give a blow by blow account of every song; that would just
take way too long! I will make some comments about a few of the songs though.
I was going to write down all the times that McKnight played backup
guitar, but I only marked the one song, "Aids & Armageddon." McKnight's
backup was a sweet complement to Spacy's lead. Even though they played
Cholly, they didn't do the old extended song that went into the Fat Albert
theme song. The version of "I'm a Weed Plant" was pretty cool. Angelo played
his tiny sax and sang. Walt sang backup and Spacey played acoustic guitar.

The Oregonian actually had a full page ad for this show in the Friday A&E
section. For the last couple of years The Oregonian and the Register Guard
have not been advertising any Fishbone shows. I thought it would have been
an almost sold-out show. I would guess that there was around 300 people
in attendance; the Crystal sells out around 1200 or so. At least everyone
there was gettin' down with Fishbone and having a good time! I hate when you
go to a show and no one moves except for a few people.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Spectacular show. I don't
need to say it, but I will. If they're in your area, go see them, or else you
will be sorry!

I'm gonna go work on my scooter...

Chris Schatz