Feb 13 1992 @ The Palace Melbourne, AU

I was there - it was at The Palace, in St Kilda. Come back! I know we're at the arse end of the world, but we Aussies are ok, really. Come back!

    6. Fishbone @ The Palace, Melbourne (St. Kilda) (February 1992)

“Living Colour, Bad Brains, Fishbone. Sadly there’s only a handful of African American rock bands that ever made it to Oz but all of them delivered in full upon arrival.

There was a great vibe at The Palace before the show as everyone had heard great things about Fishbone.

The intro over the PA was the “Nah Nah Nah Gonna Have A Goodtime” song and the crowd started bouncing/dancing.

The lead singer (Angelo) came out in knee high boots with a huge grin on his face. Before the rest of the band could get ready, he dropped his mike and leapt deep into the crowd. The keyboard player (not a small dude by any means), had just sat down, saw this, got up, threw his keyboard off its stand and launched himself into the now writhing pit too!

The crowd energy exploded, the band started and it was on!

The show was funk, soul, blues, rock & punk all rolled into one with every person shaking their ass, mushing, dancing and rocking the fuck out.

There were bodies everywhere! Back in “the day” not only could you stage dive & crowd surf, but the awesome security at The Palace (a couple of friendly Islander guys) would assist you, make sure you were OK or gently help your feet find the floor if you got flipped upside down.

At one point in the show, Angelo yelled to the crowd to take him to the back and then leapt back into the pit with mic in hand. Somehow he managed to climb to the top level and hang onto the rail. Everyone looked at each other as if to say ‘No fucking way is he going to jump.’ Sure enough, he let go and surrendered to the crowd. Hundreds of hands went up as one and caught his fall. He was ferried to the front of the stage and the show went on.

Like any mind blowing gig, it wasn’t the theatrics that made it unforgettable, it was the band, the crowd, the music and the energy all coming together as one in a way they made everyone walk out smiling and staring at each other in disbelief.

Of all the gigs I’ve been to, it’s the one that if it comes up in conversation and the other person was there, then you both yell ‘OMG how good was it! I can’t believe you were there too!’ Then you spend the next hour gushing and reliving it.

http://voidau.com/…/six-gigs-that-made-my-jaw-drop-matthia…/ 

<<<