At 7:35pm,
Angelo Moore (Fishbone's frontman) did a long poem called "Fishbone
Soldier" while he was hiding backstage, speaking through a bullhorn. After
the poem and another 25 minutes of taking care of sound problems & enjoying
Angelo doing another one of his Dr. MaddVibe selections, it was on to the
show....at 8:00pm, Fishbone began their set with
"Unyielding Conditioning", featuring the thunderous bass riffs of
Norwood Fisher and the distinctive soulful vocals of Angelo Moore. The scratch
guitar riffing by Rocky George was very, very good! The next song
"Everyday Sunshine" was good because of the tightness of the horns
(Angelo on saxophone and John McKnight on trombone). "Karma Tsunami"
was amusing because of the way the band ended the song after the last lyrics
"KARMA TSUNAMI-MI-MI"....the music stopped for about 8 seconds before
Angelo signalled everyone to jump back in and finish the ending...the last 20
seconds or so was Angelo laughing maniacally into the mic! "Date
Rape" (I assume it's a tribute to punk-rock band Sublime) was some
high-powered punk-rock madness, followed by the Fishbone-penned punk-rock force
of "Subliminal Fascism"....the driving drum riffing by John Steward,
blazing guitarisms of Rocky and smolderin' bass licks of Norwood were enough to
smoke the entire building! "Sunless Saturday" and "Freddie's
Dead" were followed by the amazing "Hide Behind My Glasses",
featuring the diabolical keyboardisms of Dre Gipson! There was a reggae jam
that featured Dre on lead rap vocals and Angelo on the theremin...the reggae
eventually turned into the reggae-inflicted "The Suffering", featuring
Norwood's backing vocals where former trumpeteer/vocalist Dirty Walt would have
chimed in. Fishbone ended the song on an uptempo party note with
"Party at Ground Zero"....the horns were tightly blaring and the ska
groove made many fans danced about insanely in the mosh pit....even though the
Trocadero security staff attempted to discourage folks from moshing!
Unfortunately, since Fishbone was opening for Slighty Stoopid, the
Nuttmegamania had to end at 9:00pm.
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com