Jan 25 2003 @ 14 Below Santa Monica, CA

hola ya'll- well we all know that show reviews arent my strong point, but away we go...

so with a brain splitting hangover i awake at my homies pad at 8:30pm after sleeping on and off all day from wayy too much fun the nite before, suddenly realizing "holy shit, im gonna miss the fishbone show!!" so after about 10 minutes of failed attempts to find someone to go w/me. i get ready and head out solo. after an hour drive i arrive to blaring music, flashing lights, an even bigger side splitting headache, and i must say i had a fricken blast!!!!!! (and just so ya'll know for future reference, the whole "drink a beer to get rid of your headache" thing doesnt work for shit when blaring music and flashing lights come into play...)

they opened w/unyielding which instantly got me in the groove of things (one of my favs) and pretty much the whole set seemed to be ska influenced. heres what i recall in no particular order:

unyeilding conditioning cholly wish i had a date alcoholic pressure skankin to the beat just allow u.g.l.y. party at ground zero ma and pa (a new song that i cant recall the name) fishbone is red hot for the oncore (considering when they went off stage, everyone was just clapping and chanting "fishbone, fishbone," to which they came back and angelo had to school em repeatedly that "this next song is the fishbone anthem!"

and thats all i can recall for now...

it was all old shit, which i flippin loved!!!! there was only 3 songs from psychotic til current (which is a huge contrast from shows 1 to 2 years ago when it was ALL new stuff). and it was awesome cause the venue was soooo fricken small that even though i was in the back, it was still as if i was right up front. i guess it was a secrete show or something cause i heard from some people that the show was scheduled as a band that cannot be named, surprise guest, or something in the L.A. weekly. which made it ten times better cause it was way more intimate and though it was packed, you werent suffocating in there. and i dont know if it was just me, but angelo seemed to be in high spirits. like the old angelo i used to see on stage, grinning and joking, he just seemed to be having genuine fun. maybe it was cause i was sober (like at my "under-aged" fishbone shows), or maybe it was the intimate vibe... who knows. the songs were full of energy and they definitely got the crowd going, but unfortunatley they were off a few times on songs, but who's complaining. i missed the opening acts, but i did finally get to meet debbie from the list! and it was a trip meeting people there, from people who after years are finally seeing em for their first time and all their questions and reactions, to others asking me where was Fish and why wasnt he on stage. (i guess from my fbone tee and tattoo, people must have dubbed me an expert...). but needless to say i had a blast, so i then took my poor pounding head and drove an 1 hour and 1/2 and got back home 'round 3am. but in retrospect if givin the chance id do it all over again, solo, hangover and all. i just keep hoping that i have half as much fun at the fbone keyclub show next saturday w/friends and no headache and shit-faced, as i did last nite!!!!!!!

..lauren....

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