Sep 04 1999 @ The Usual San Jose, CA

I'll keep this short and sweet! Pardon my language, but they fucking tore shit up last night! The venue was packed and it was sticky sweaty there, but thats alright! I agree with the fact that there were too many bands, but I'm still reeling from this show. I personally haven't seen them this good and jammin in a long while! Maynards band..A Perfect Circle...was alright and Triple 7...

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I'll back up Michael on this one...they were pretty damn good last Saturday night. The show was officially sold out, in a club that holds maybe 400-500, although that estimate could be totally wrong, because I'm really bad at stuff like that. Maybe one-fourth of the crowd left after A Perfect Circle, which was all right with me because the place was way too hot. But still a very, very good turnout.

The set list: 1. Swim 2. Sunless Saturday 3. Give It Up 4. Ma and Pa 5. Ugly 6. Just Allow 7. Beergut 8. Bonin' in the Boneyard (which sounded better than I've ever heard it) 9. Behavior Control Technician (Pit at its craziest right here...everyone was warmed up but no one was tired yet...I had to get out.) 10. When Problems Arise 11. Cholly 12. All Keep Startin (I don't know...I haven't heard the MP3 yet because of my increasingly obsolete 486 laptop, but this didn't sound like the single that'll break them...nice intro, nice outro, but the chorus sounds weak, musically) 13. Alcoholic 14. Party at Ground Zero (still an AMAZING song) ENCORE 15. Monkey Dick 16. Freddy's Dead (Which opened with a nice, though clearly improvised, rendition of Junkie's Prayer, with McKnight playing some carnival tune on the keys)

There was going to be a second encore (made up of two of my personal favorites, "Question of Life" and "Housework"), but Fishbone decided to can it...not the venue's fault, the house lights didn't come on for several minutes, and a couple of bouncers were leading the cheers for the second encore, but it was late (1:30) and the crowd had thinned considerably. John Stewart sounded alright, only needed a couple of signals here and there, but you know how it is: he ain't Fish.

The crowd had too many mindless pit monsters...big motherfuckers who didn't change theit routine the entire show, just blind runs at anyone and everyone around them. It didn't matter whether it was the slow(er), funky shit like "When Problems Arise" or other danceable tunes...they just wanted to Swim, and now my ankles and my brusied face hurt like hell. I blame Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock and all those other mindless metal acts.

Enjoy the shows, Europe! They may not be at their peak, but they're still the best live band around...

--Albert

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