Mar 20 2004 @ Independent San Francisco, CA

Last night's show was at the old Justice League in San Francisco which just recently opened up as The Independendt. The last time I saw the Bone here they were shooting a video for The Suffering (I wonder whatever happened to that). I remember there was a camera on a big crane and it looked pretty professional.

Angelo took to the stage at about 11:30 pm, with a Maddvibe intro. It was pretty cool. he had a new poem, something about being behind plexiglass. The new line-up consisted of Rocky George on guitar (huge thumbs up), Dre on keyboards (he kind of looked like Terrel Owens with his hat and sunglasses) and this lady on trombone, I didn't catch her name but it sounded like Angelo was calling her trombolina. She looked like Natalie from The Facts of Life dressed as Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction, complete with the a kimono, an all black outfit and bare feet. It was pretty weird seeing her onstage at first, especially with no Walt - but she pulled it off.

They started the show with Unyielding Conditioning, Angelo was on fire. He has such a unique way of dancing, it looks like he's going to fall backwards at any moment but some how he defies gravity. Trombolina had her first big test with Beergut, and she played really well. It feels good to her some trombone back in the mix. They seemed to play the end of Beergut slower, until right at the very end they went all out.

The new song, Jackass Brigade came off really well. They mentioned that they butchered it the night before in Santa Cruz, but it came off solid tonight and I thought it sounded cool.

Trombolina (which may not even be the name Angelo used but that's what I heard) did the lead vocals to Lyin Ass Bitch. It was great hearing that tune with the female part back in it. She did excellent on that.

So far they sounded good, but they didn't really hit there stride until Are You Wit It. They played this way better than the Temple Bar CD, and way better than any other time I've seen it live. It had this great groove, more like the demo tape and they really locked it down.

Next up they played The Suffering. Dre came from behind the keyboards and grab the mic for a little 'toasting' intro while the band played some dub rhythms behind him. Dre really shined here and got a great approval from the crowd. I was never that big a fan of the Suffering but they played an amazing version of it last night. Norwood did Walt's part on vocals and it sounded great.

Alcoholic might have been my favorite song from the set (not my fav bone song, but the best played song of the night. Angelo was pretty pumped up by now. He did 2 backflips into the audience. On the first one he tripped over the monitor stand on the way back to the stage and it looked painful. The second one was so scary because the crowd wasn't quite ready for him and his head came inches from the concrete floor.

The absence of Walt was definately felt, it was just weird not seeing him up there. After I got over it though, I realized that these guys still sound great. In fact they look like they were having a lot of fun up there. Rocky George adds such positive energy to the stage. He's obviously loves the tunes as he's constently smiling, and he would keep getting in Angelo's face with a 'how you like me now' type of attitude. From a guitar pespective, he fits PERFECTLY. His distorted sound has a way better tone than the 80s glam rock of T and he has a solid clean tone as well. From where I was standing, it seemed like the bass was loudest in the mix, then the drums and the guitar, keyboards and backing vocals were all a bit too low.

John turned in another good performance on drums. But for all the red bull he was drinking, he was hitting the drums a lot softer and with less energy than I've ever seen him play. This was especially noticable on Sunless Saturday.

The crowd was pretty good, and they did a solid Fishbone is red hot chant until the band came back onstage. Dre came out first and started bumping a dancehall tune (i can't remember the name but it's a newer one that they always play at hip-hop clubs) instrumentally. It set an awesome mood for the encore. They only did two more though, I believe they started with Ugly. Then they did a very funky version of Everyday Sunshine.

Angelo kept introducing the band as the Fishbone Familyhood. At the end he said this is the line up FOR NOW. I really like this new line-up and I'm sure they'll only get tighter as they get more familiar with each other.

Jon Cook

Here's the set list

Unyielding Party Beer Gut Freddy Another Generation Ma & Pa Jackass Brigade Lyin Ass Are U Wit It Suffering Alcoholic Subliminal Fascism Sunless -------------------------- Abandon Hopes - NOT PLAYED All Kept Starting - NOT PLAYED Everyday Sunshine Ugly

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