Just landed back home from a too-short vacation in Mexico City, where I toured the pyramids of Teotihuacan, drank too many bottles of Negro Modelo, and finally succeeded in finding authentic Mexican wrestling masks for purchase. And oh yeah, I caught the most amazing Fishbone performance I've seen in years, maybe ever. Not because of the length or quality of the set (only seven songs and 35 minutes), but because of the CROWD. I don't know Fishbone played an early set, around 5:00 p.m., but it seemed like most of the 50,000+ crowd was already there, and they EXPLODED with the first notes of "Party at Ground Zero" and didn't let up for the duration of the set. Lots of flying fish, deep skanks, insane pogos, group circle dances, whole lotta love. I don't know how well Mexico knows Fishbone, but they KNOW Fishbone, if you know what I mean. Thank God some of the stage crew pulled out fire hoses and poured water on the crowd or I might have passed out from the heat and intensity.

The band, and particularly Angelo and Norwood, were digging it completely. I would guess they've never played to a larger, more receptive crowd, EVER. Angelo never dared jump into the crowd, maybe because the he realized they would never let him leave, but he was running all over the stage and grinning madly throughout. When he sang the first half of "AIDS & Armageddon" from a walkway leading from the center of the stage to a tented sound booth in the center of the crowd, the people just swarmed to get a piece of him. I don't know if Fishbone has been promoted in Mexico in the past (judging from the availability of albums other than Nuttwerx in record stores, Sony/Columbia never bothered), but just a little push and a few more appearnaces would make them major stars south of the border. If the USA doesn't want them, Mexico will gladly take them.

The setlist as I remember it:

Party at Ground Zero
Housework
Karma Tsunami (This little gem needs to be re-recorded, or maybe I need a better stereo, because it never seems to get me going on record but it absolutely COOKS live)
AIDS & Armageddon
The Suffering
Alcoholic
Everyday Sunshine

After the last notes of "Everyday Sunshine," McKnight said a few words of thanks in Spanish so fast and fluent I couldn't understand him, and as the band left the stage the crowd enthusiastically chanted for more: "Otra! Otra! Otra!" Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

About seven hours later, during Los Fabulosos Cadillacs' second encore, Vincentico (the lead singer and part-time guitarist) re-introduced his good friends Angelo and Norwood from Fishbone and brought them up on stage for a cover version of an old ska tune which I seem to recognize but cannot identify. (Sadly, they didn't play "One Planet People" or "What's New Pussycat?") Angelo sang lead, Norwood danced all over the stage, and all the old rudies that might be a little puzzled by the Cadillacs' newer albums lapped it up. A nice little cherry on top of an already incredible day.

--Albert