I got to the Bluebird Theatre a little after the 1st opening band was
supposed to go on (Bargain Music). Talked to Angelo briefly, he seemed
in fine spirits and was getting ready to set up some merch. I asked him
what the horn lineup was, but we got interrupted so all I caught was
that the trombone player is the girlfriend of Dre (the keyboard player).
I didn't catch the name of the trumpet player. Yes, a puppet show would
have been more entertaining than the two opening acts (OPM was the other
one) - actually, OPM was fairly amusing, but they were no 2 Skinny J's.
I actually think that they should have a local act open if they are
gonna do two openers ( I saw a friend of a friend's band at the same
theatre last week and it was packed full of people who knew the band).
Now, in Colorado this was dubbed the Yellow Snow Tour because of some
ski/snowboard sponsoring. After OPM finished their set, the movie screen
in the club was lowered and we got to watch a 40 minute movie on skiing
and snowboarding. A pretty interesting little flick, but definitely a
mood killer. I wonder if the people in Aspen the night before had to sit
through this movie as well (the night Fishbone played in Aspen was the
final night of the Winter X Games)? So, fishbone goes on at midnight to
a less than half packed theatre (I estimated the audience at 150-200).
Angelo started with a poem about snowboarding - then into the set below
(but they only played one encore, and that was only Sunless). The sound
system is pretty shitty at the Bluebird, but during Angelo's poem I went
down to right in front of the stage, where the sound was perfect (mostly
getting monitor feed). The arrangements for the three horn parts on most
of the songs were really good - and breathed some fresh life into some
of the tunes. I was impressed with both Rocky and Torri - impressed
enough that I didn't miss spacey one bit (of course, I guess it wasn't a
secret that I'm far from Spacey's biggest fan). They each had a couple
of tasty solos. With two guitars I hoped for some of the harder stuff,
but ah well... (though Sunless in the encore completely smoked). The
show was much better than the show I saw in May (not as tight as that
lineup, but more energy and fresh arrangements). I was particularly
pleased with the Suffering into solos for most of the band into They All
Have Abandoned Their Hopes (or Abandon Ho's as it appeared on the set
list... ha haha...). I hadn't heard Another Generation played live in a
long time. I was definitely pleased overall and more impressed with John
than ever. I'm not gonna lie and say that I didn't miss Walt. I
absolutely did, but it was still a really good show - and enough of a
departure from the "best of tours" of the last couple years (because of
the different arrangements). I imagine that the crowd and sound will be
better tonight in Boulder, but I can't go...

Blake Nicholoff

The set list (as it appeared, in front of Rocky):

Unyielding
Another Generation
Are U Wit it
Alcoholic
Ma and Pa
Lyin Ass Bitch
Suffering / Abandon Ho's
Everyday Sunshine
Ugly
All Kept Startin' Party
_____
Freddy
Sunless
_____
X-Cuze Me
Dr. Madd Vibe
House Call Pull-Eaze
Red Hot