Jul 08 2001 @ Red Jacket Dallas, TX

There were 2 shows on Sunday July 8th that pretty much defined what type of music lover you are. N'Sync at Texas Stadium, or Fishbone at Red Jacket. Where were you?

If you answered "Fishbone", then I don't need to tell you how great it was to see one of the truly awesome American bands of the last 20 years. Whether it's ska, funk, rock, gospel, or whatever they're playing at the moment, Fishbone remains a powerhouse of a group and one of the most energetic live shows you could ever see.

Now I'm sure N'Sync was busy wowing crowds with their dance moves, but watching Angelo (lead singer, dancer, horn-blower, madman) of Fishbone dance, flip, shake, wiggle, and crowdsurf from start to finish was exhausting. Thank God for suspenders, since it was by that one "thread" that his pants stayed on at all once he shed the rest of his clothes. Bass player Norwood Fisher decided to cut out the middleman and came out in only a long towel.

Musically, Fishbone is so hard to categorize that I won't even bother to use comparisons. Here's the best formula I can come up with: Take the Specials, move them into George Clinton's house, get them all stoned to the point of incoherence, and then drop a 10-ton hit of speed on the bunch of them, and that would somehow get you in the ballpark of what a Fishbone show is like. To reuse the old "skafunkrastapunk" description, Fishbone is 15 things happening all at once, with crowdsurfing to boot!

The show at Red Jacket pulled from all different periods of the Fishbone discography, with a heavy leaning towards the Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx album. Ska they had. My favorites were pulled out of the middle years with "Ma and Pa", "Bonin' in the Boneyard", and "Pressure", but "Shakey Ground" and "Aids & Armageddon" were so good live I have to run out and get the "new" cd.

If you haven't ever seen Fishbone, make it a point to see them the next time they're in our area. There were a lot of people up from Austin who were apparently at the show the night before, so don't think Fishbone is a band that isn't worth travelling for. I'm sure the N'Sync show was equally impressive if you were a 13-year old girl, but given a stadium's worth of young cute girls or Red Jacket & 5 sweaty Fishbones...there really doesn't seem to be any choice.

Long Live Fishbone

Review originally appeared at : http://www.coolcitiesusa.com/dfw/dfw2/about/music/fishbone/fishbone.shtml

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