When I first found out that this tour would include a Lancaster show, I was pretty surprised. Didn't really seem like the best spot, since Lancaster is pretty small (don't know offhand, but I would call it a big town, not a city) and it doesn't really have adjacent suburbs to draw from, just Amish country. Fishbone doesn't draw that well in Philadelphia, and Lancaster is about 2 hours west (in Central Pennsylvania, home to dozens). I've been to the Chameleon Club and knew it was a cool spot, though, so I hoped for the best and made the trip.

I arrived, with a friend, at about 9. The show was scheduled to start at 8, but the club and stage were both empty. I did spot Angelo playing some CD's at the mixing console. By the time Mary Prankster started, about 20 minutes later, there were maybe 20 people standing on the main floor. I couldn't see the bar very well from the floor (it overhangs) but judging from the response, I would guess there were another 20 people up there at the time. A lot of the people on the floor seemed to have come from the backstage area as well. Mary Prankster was alright. The girl singer/guitar player kept making suggestive glances at me and a few of the guys in the front. I find this sort of thing mildly annoying given the fact that it often succeeds in getting guys to respond better to the show, and doesn't "express" anything except that the singer is hot. The guys up at the bar responded well to mentions of "tits" and especially "mercyfuck."

When Blowfly hit the stage there were maybe 30 people on the floor, and another 10-20 sitting at tables. I was only slightly amused by Blowfly himself, but the backing music was awesome. Something about Walt standing with a hood and sunglasses back in the shadows of the amplifiers in a mostly empty dark club was a really cool visual. It was a pretty unique atmosphere. "Rap Dirty" is quite a heavy funk jam, as were most of Blowfly's songs. I enjoyed the musicianship. Jokes about dicks aren't that funny.

The Colombus Sanitations picked up right away as Blowfly left the stage. They were equally rockin. Walt's songs aren't extremely catchy, I don't think, but they are extremely funky. They only played 4 or 5. After a short break, Dr. Maddvibe took the stage. He was excellent of course. Forgot the words on one poem and had to refer back to his notes, but it didn't matter. The crowd actually seemed to appreciate his poetry, something I was afraid would not be the case. Dr. Maddvibe segwayed right into the main event. By this time there were 50-100 people on the main floor. I don't know about the bar, but I think a lot of the guys that hung out up there most of the time came down for Fishbone.

They opened with Party at Ground Zero. The crowd, to their credit, certainly tried to go nuts. They jumped around a lot, occasionally "moshed" (quite pathetically, I have to say), and just generally appreciated the music. I have no idea where the crowd mostly came from. I didn't see any of the people I recognize from Philly shows. Agewise, it was the usual Fishbone cross section, ranging from teenagers to guys in their late thirties. The only person I saw that wasn't white came from the backstage area, and so he must have been affiliated with the show somehow. This fact leads me to guess that most people came from just the surrounding area, as Philly shows are as racially diverse as any Fishbone show.

Anyway, I'm guessing a lot of those people don't see Fishbone nearly as often as some of us do, because they didn't seem to know that the crowd was way too small to go crazy. For this, I am glad, because Fishbone in turn seemed to really appreciate the response of the tiny crowd, and they turned in an excellent performance. Technical problems fucked up Behavior Control Technician, but everything else went off well. Probably about 1/3 of the stuff was new.

Angelo went all out, of course, even diving into the crowd at one point, quite a life-risking maneuver given that his weight came down on about 4 sets of hands until the rest of the floor rushed in to help out. This was a somewhat comical scene, as most of the dance floor converged to hold Angelo up, and except for people standing around the edges of the club or sitting down, everyone fit more or less under him. He didn't seem put off at all by the lack of attendence, something I found truely inspiring, given that I know they've been playing for well over 20 years now and have been touring for the last few months, playing almost every day. Norwood looked bored, but played well. Walt was quieter than usual, but not any less effective. Spacey T was awesome. I got a chance to stand right and front of him and watch him play without jumping around, and holy shit is that guy good. He seems to always avoid eye contact with the crowd. Steward looked angry, especially every time he went into a fill. I think he was tired, having played several sets worth of material. He was right on, though, and didn't skimp on bad-ass fills.

The show went on for maybe an hour and a half (total guess). They played at least one song off each album, including my personal highlight, Alcoholic. At the end, when they do the train-like part and Angelo yells "all aboard...etc," its always very climactic and exciting. But this time was far more train-like than anything I've ever heard. I didn't pinpoint why it was such a train-like sound, but by the end I was actually wondering if it was a sample or something. If you see them on future dates, see if you don't think this part is extremely accurate in its train imitation. By the end there were literally under 20 people on the main floor, nontheless they looked like 20 of the happiest people around. Angelo thanked the crowd very sincerely for coming out. I could tell he appreciated their support, and I personally appreciated the fact that Fishbone came out and rocked when they easily could have taken a night off and dicked around for half an hour.

This was far from my favorite Fishbone show, but it fits into a unique spot in the wide variety of Fishbone shows I've seen, from full capacity mayhem to empty-club-on-a-long-tour. The fact that they still put their hearts into the performance makes me glad I drove 2 hours to see it.

Jonas