Oct 31 1998 @ Alley Cat Scramble Toronto, ON

My only glimpse of Fishbone before Hallowe'en of this year had been at Lollapalooza III and much has changed in terms of the band's line-up since then. They played as part of the "Alley-Cat Scramble" (a competition for bike-couriers) at the Cinespace Warehouse near the Lake in Toronto.

I arrived shortly after 9 PM and the bike competition was still going on. Angelo was walking around just hanging out and talking to anyone who approached. Nice to see he's still for the fans!

They went on pretty much right at 11 PM. Angelo came out in his baggy suit and derby and blew a single BWOP from his sax and sang out "Holy shite" 3 or 4 times and then said "Thank you, good night" and walked off stage. Everyone thought that was pretty funny and he then came back with the rest of the boys. Norwood was in the Hallowe'en spirit wearing a big, purple bedsheet and pointy wizard hat.

The line-up was Angelo Moore (vocals/sax), Walter Kibby (vocals/trumpet), Norwood Fisher (bass/vocals), Spacey T. Singleton (guitar), a keyboardist/trombonist and a drummer. I forget the keyboardist's name (what's his name again? Help me out!) and the drummer was nobody I recognized (I don't think it was Fish, correct me if I'm wrong).

They started with a song called "The TV is a liar" or something. I was hoping they'd start out with "Swim" but not to be.... Their set list included the following (maybe I've forgotten a song or two, not necessarily in this order):

- The TV Is A Liar - Sunless Saturday - Beer Gut - When Problems Arise - Ma & Pa - Unyielding Conditioning - Bonin' In The Boneyard - Masquerade - Skankin' To The Beat - VTTLOTFDGF - Party At Ground Zero (YES!)

Now, my traditional 3 concert evaluating categories:

Stuff I Expected They'd Play But Didn't: Swim, Everyday Sunshine, Chim Chim's Badass Revenge.

Stuff I Hoped They'd Play But Didn't Expect: Housework, The Goose, Freddie's Dead, Cholly.

Stuff I'm Glad They Played But Wasn't Expecting: Bonin' In The Boneyard, Ma & Pa, Party At Ground Zero.

Angelo also did a few Dr. Maddvibe poem snippits here and there, too. The crowd was really into the show and there was no knuckle-head security or "men-on-a-mission" in the pit out to hurt people. Stage diving was rampant throughout the show but nobody got hurt. Girls also went up on stage whenever they wanted and danced with the band without reprisal. Overall there was a good atmosphere to the show and, like I said, nobody attending or working was out to prove anything.

Since it was Hallowe'en there were many people in costumes which led to some amusing moments. One guy had a really good "Colonel Sanders" oufit on and it looked hilarious when he was dancing on stage. Also, during "Beergut" Walter encouraged anyone with a big gut to come up on stage and this guy who came dressed as Fat Albert (with tons of padding to simulate the fat) came up and did a stage dive.

The show was about an hour and 20 minutes with no encore. That seemed a little short but Fishbone was probably told when they had to be on and off because there were still events to do with the bike competition going on after the concert. I give the show an 8.5 out of 10, and the marks lost are only due to the fact that it seemed cut short a little. Good show, 'Bone.... don't stay away too long!

-- Chris W. Engler, CWE Consulting

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I just got back from a weekend trip in Toronto. When money, time, and opportunity are available, I try to travel to cool places. For those of you who may have not traveled to T-O, I highly recommend it. I love the Toronto Maple Leafs, and of course Fishbone. On this weekend the Leafs were a major disappointment, while Fishbone was anything but. As is normally the case, Fishbone had to p...

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Halloween with Fishbone. Yes! First we did the Halloween rounds with Eric my eight-year old. He was dressed as Yoshi. We got a lot of "what a cute little dinosaur" comments. We dumped the loot and Eric ditched his costume and Linda (my wife), Eric and I booted it downtown to catch Ozomatli at The Guvernment. They were with Spring Heel Jack, The Pietasters and The Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Ozom...

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Yo, for those of you going to see the bone I got

a set list from the show in T.O. here it is:

1.black box 2.behavior control 3.zilla 4.sunless 5.give it up 6.ma & pa 7.skankin' 8.just allow 9.beer gut 10.bonin' 11.problems 12. maskeraid 13.unyeilding 14.party 15.alcoholic and the last 4 they didn't play 16.sub. fasc. 17.monkey dick 18.f...

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The Toronto show on the 31st/10 was the first time I have seen Angelo use the theremin.It was cool live , he freaks on this thing. By the way , wasn't the encore the coolest shit ever? Fishbone were joined by Ozomatli on stage and played "The Goose". There has to be a Fishbone / Ozomatli tour. They're the perfect compliment to one another. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

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