Mar 28 2004 @ Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, BC

Here's my review of the Vancouver show which I just got home from.

They played Another Generation first and it was kind of surprising because I don't think I've ever heard this song live, at least since I went to my first show in '96 (this was my 13th!). I wasn't too impressed with the new songs, particularly Cheyenne Starr. I prefer the stuff that they did at the Temple Bar, some of that stuff they should release! The set was very ska/funk and I thought it would have been nice to throw in a few more heavier songs.

[New Members]

I LOVE all the new members. Tombolita played trombone and she sang Lyin'Ass Bitch. I can't remember the keyboardist's name but he was awesome. I liked him better then McNutt and Dowd, maybe even better then Brewster. And I really liked how Rocky fit into the mix on guitar. He's not over the top like Spacey was but more of a John Bigham style of player, which I find compliments the band much more. I'm not a wank fan and Spacey did waaaayyyy too much wanking. Does anyone know if all of these members are permanent or are they just filling in for this tour??? Angelo kept referring to the band as the Fishbone Familyhood and not Fishbone.

[Overall]

I don't think that newspaper review posted was fair because the writer is comparing Fishbone to what they were in the early 90's. Obviously, they're going to be different, especially with all the shit they've been through. Personally, I really liked the show and I would say in ranks in the top half of shows I've seen. You can tell they haven't been together too long but one thing that is great to see is ALL band members were smiling and joking around with one another. They all looked relatively happy and that was reflected in the music. Angelo crowd surfed several times and the crowd was rowdy and really into it.

HOWEVER, the band seriously needs to get its shit organized. They had 2 different t-shirts and some Maddvibe stuff but why on earth don't they have any CDs to sell??? Every time I see Fishbone, the opening bands have way more merchandise and are far more organized. There were probably around 500 people at the show tonight and a lot of people were blown away. I saw the big buzz around the merch table but they sold out of shirts right away... I hate to see lots of people wanting to buy stuff, not being able to because the band didn't bring enough merch, then listening to the band complain about having no money. I know it's hard and involves lots of factors, organization.. blah, blah, blah... But it's simple business practices and they screw it up every time. WTF!!!

I'm glad to see a couple of new songs make it into the set list but I didn't really like the new songs. Hopefully, Rocky will be able to add to the creative process because that guy's got some mad skills and it would be ashame if Fishbone lost him because of not allowing his creative input.

I have to say, one of the weirdest things that I've seen at a show was the opening band, Los Furious. Great ska band and if anyone finds there website, can you post the link??? Anyways, they kept referring to their trombone player named Pedro.. But their trombone player was a girl and didn't really look like a Pedro. So, they dedicated their second to last song to Pedro who they said was arrested at the Canada-US border earlier in the day and deported to El Salvador. I busted a serious gut laughing so hard.. I know it 's not funny... but it was funny.

cheers,

Mike.

PS To all the tapers, I didn't tape the show this time either.

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