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Yeah ! 2 hours and a half of Fishbone... That is great !
But... I did not enjoy this show as I enjoyed the show at "l'Ouvre Bo?te", the saturday before. The sound wasn't good this time, certainly due to the room itself, and Torrel's guitar was too loud, almost covering the voices and totally erasing Rocky's guitar... (reminding me the "Furia Festival" in 2002... same chaotic sound)
I was a little bit afraid when Angelo came on the stage, because he looked like... "flying", in another world... not drunk, or not only drunk, but strange. He made no speech about Fishbone Soldiers and the band started directly with a song... Perhaps he noticed that there was probably not a lot of Soldiers in the place... The audience was strange too, no warm, no real enthousiasm... weird.
But two songs later, Angelo "landed" and began to be just like everytime, GREAT !
The 2 Dre were great too, simulating a fight in the crowd during "Alcoholic", Angelo went to bring them back on stage and then they made some wrestling... very funny !
The band made long long versions of several songs. Wet Daddy is a machine !!! He maintained the rythm of "Servitude" during... I don't know... five minutes... as Angelo was introducing every member of the band (making the song last at least 10-12 minutes...)
Arno said a lot about this show in his review, I'll just say that, for me, it was not as good as the saturday before, in Beauvais, because of the bad sound and this strange feeling about the audience...
A word on "Arseniq33", the band who played before Fishbone : They're amazing, these guys from Quebec, in their flaming suits , make a good "punchy speed ska"... but not enough to warm up the stone-cold audience of the File7...
Around 23:00 Fishbone started playing. First the setlist:
(written as on the setlist)
RU WIT IT
ALL KEPT STARTING
ALCOHOLIC
FACE PLANT
SUB FASC
FREDDY
GLASSES
FOREVER MOORE
GO NUTTZ
MA/PA
UGLY
BEER GUT
JACKASS
SUNLESS
SERVITUDE
----------
SUFFERING
LYIN ASS BITCH
----------
EVERY DAY
PARTY
Everything was played, apart from Every Day Sunshine, which was dropped on the suggestion of the tour manager, according to Norwood. Can't have it all, I suppose. The show ended around 01:30, giving a good 2,5 hours of Fishbone.
Right from the start spirits were high and we were seeing Cabaret Fishbone, with jokes, little onstage staged acts. (a bit hazy, but they did some WWF style wrestling and some drunkenness and Angelo did quite a bit of 30's revue style handwaving)
I'm not too sure what to make of it, some of it was a bit naff, afaic, but I did like other parts. Throughout the show, there was also some syncronized dancing from different people at different
times, all done with big grins, which added to the show, imo.
http://arno.meulenkamp.net/pics/fishbone_20050305/img_0183
Added to the show where a few Maddvibe type things, including a gospel version of Junkies Prayer, a roaring twenties (Jelly Roll
type piano playing) version of a rant against the music industry and some other Maddvibe things that I can't remember anymore. Also a song was played, soulful, with lyrics talking about "good times". It was very familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's from a commercial?
At the start of Alcoholic, Norwood mentioned: "I'd much rather smoke weed!" and after a slight pause, adding "today". It seemed to be a shared feeling, because I didn't get the impression that any of them were drunk, not Rocky George, not anyone. Nor were they completely baked, so I guess we got a focussed Fishbone. (no major fuckups, not even in Sunless Saturday)
The show was much groovier and funkier than the last show I
witnessed 2 years ago and I feel the new guys make this version of Fishbone a lot of fun. I never much cared for Spacy's playing (I
would agree that he did an amazing job with great skill, his playing just never touched me) and I like Tori's style a lot more. Rocky, I'm not too sure about, as he was on the other side of the stage from me and I couldn't really hear him. He seemed also a bit more reserved than the others, not really fitting in. At the same time, there was a lot of joking back and forth within the band with him, Angelo urging him to sing, which he didn't always do.
D'Andre on keys seems to be a very versatile player, jumping into
wherever Angelo's fancy led between songs. He does not seem to really let go though yet.
The Pastor filled most of Walts spot and I think he did a fine job. His vocals aren't as striking as Walts, nor does he have the call and response with Angelo down yet, nor does he have the almost intimidating presence that Walt had, but he does bring a different vibe, he brings fun to the place. I think it's a great way to move forward, he brings something new and doesn't try to imitate the old too much. He also is able to play multiple instruments. He considers himself a bass player first (Tobias basses: http://www.mtdbass.com/pages/players.html ) and he played some keys and acoustic guitar at different points in the show.
http://arno.meulenkamp.net/pics/fishbone_20050305/img_0190
It was also good to see John McKnight again, his vocals filled up
the harmonies from the bottom and trombone is just such a great
instrument. (he didn't get to play other instruments)
http://arno.meulenkamp.net/pics/fishbone_20050305/img_0241
The show still had all the hallmarks of a Fishbone show, ofcourse, with jumping, grinding, switching and high energy action. It was great to see the bass (or is it a baritone too?) saxophone back and hearing Hide Behind My Glasses again was great (although I wished they sped it up a bit, it ain't no goddam funeral dirge!)
http://arno.meulenkamp.net/pics/fishbone_20050305/img_0355
From talking to a few of them, the only thing I got was that they are in a much happier place now. Norwood said that "it's a lot more fun to be in Fishbone now than it has been in a while". The new guys are exited to be in Fishbone. Tori *is* in Fishbone, but like most of the others has other projects as well.
I can't wait to see them in New Orleans come April!