When I arrived at Pipeline Friday night, the first thing I did was buy tickets for the next evening's show. After a couple of opening bands, Angelo got up on stage a little after 9 and did some of his Madd Vibing. Soon after, the rest of Fishbone followed and opened with Party at Ground Zero. Angelo screamed, "This is a party, y'all!"

Then they belted out Alcoholic, a new song and Freddie's Dead. The next song, Subliminal Fascism got off to a rocky start due to the sloppy playing of one of the guitarists (Torrel Ruffin, the one with dreds). You could see John (the drummer) giving him dirty looks out of the corner of his eye. I think John wanted to start the song over again, but they ended up connecting and getting into it. The other guitarist (Rocky George, the one with the big afro) was good, shredding the whole night. Norwood did a lot more singing than I?ve seen before. The next song was Servitude, followed by the last song of the evening, Sunless Saturday.

Yep, that's right...seven songs and no encore. The entire show seemed like less than an hour, which was confirmed by an angry audience member screaming, "Forty-six fuckin' minutes!" After the house lights when on, the cheers for "encore!" turned into a chant of "bullshit!" I even saw a guy trying to steal merchandise, reasoning that everyone deserved free shit to make up for such a horrible show.

I decided to get the hell out of there and go home. Strangely, about a 1/2 mile up from the club, I was waiting for the left turn signal to turn green. Who did I see turning the corner around Jack In The Box? Angelo! He was walking down the sidewalk by himself with both arms stretched out. Hanging over his arms were the clothes he was just wearing on stage, except his pants and shoes were still on.

Fishbone definitely ain't what they used to be... but then again, who is? Even so, they rock harder than anyone around. And bless them for even coming to Hawaii. And even if it sucked in terms of Fishbone shows, I was still planning on hitting up the Saturday night show... but it was cancelled. No one seems to know why. They just blame it on the promoters. Damn. Now I got to go looking for a refund.

Feb. 04, 2005. Pipeline café, Oahu. Anticipation. Excitement. From Maui to Oahu to see Fishbone for the (?) time. I wanted to see what this new lineup could contribute to the mighty Fishbone legacy. And by night's end I had to write this one off as an off night. A way off night.

Granted, from my understanding, once again the band got fucked by incompetent management and asshole club owners/promoters. The sound at the club was horrible and the mix incoherent.

Perhaps these things alone were the cause of what was, until the next night, the saddest spectacle a Fishbone fanatic might endure. We've all been tamed by this world.

The Pipeline café shuts down at around 10 pm to become a shitty dance club for the mindless masses. By the time Fishbone took the stage it was almost 9:30. The band then proceeded to play thru a poorly mixed, distorted and UNINSPIRED set to a mostly empty club. After a total of seven songs (that's right, 7) the band left the stage, and left me bewildered.

Now I have been a soldier since I was introduced to the righteous sounds of Truth & Soul and have experienced the bands every incarnation. And no other music has meant as much to me as that of Fishbone?s. In my humble opinion, I believe the collective known as Fishbone are misunderestimated pure fucking genius. From the e.p. thru Temple. Lyrically and musically. Taking it to the stage or throwing down in the studio.

And I have so much respect for Norwood, Angelo and John Steward for continuing to fight for the nuttmeg. And that is why it is with such great pain, trepidation and humility that I have had to write these words.

So just what did I witness on this night? The beginning of the end? The fall of the once mighty fishbone? Or was this just an off night. What will go down at tomorrow night?s show?

TO BE CONTIUED?

I probably travelled the furthest to this gig, all the way from Australia! I was damn excited to see that Fishbone was playing twice during my vacation! I hadn't seen the 'bone since my band opened for them on their Australian tour in 1996, so i was pumped! Yes the set was short, but the new line up was rockin ! Seems the boys got screwed around by an incompetant promotor, we turned up the second night to find it was cancelled, but got the word they were playing another show poolside at the Hyatt hotel in Waikiki, they were going to play at 11pm, but at 1.15am, no amps and no chance of them playing soon, we had to bail out of there. Hope they got to play to the folks waiting. It was great to catch up with the guys and now we gotta try to get them back Downunder.
The Fri nite set was short, but my girlfriend, and Fishbone virgin, was mighty impressed !