Feb 16 2005 @ Le Nouveau Casino Paris, FR

The facts: As always, the parisian crowds are great fishbone crowds. The Nouveau Casino is a rather small venue (capacity around 500 i'd say), but the show had been 100% sold out for 2 weeks and the venue was packed. Just when i got there, Laurent the booking agent told me he almost cancelled the gig because Wood had missed the plane (yes!) and Rocky had spent most of the 12h flight on beer. Anyway, Norwood gets into paris at 18:30, they somehow arrange a warwick bass since his is lost somewhere along with his luggage... Tori did not make the trip (some paying gigs with Morris Day and the Time) but might join them later, probably Geneva. McNutt was there.

The setlist: Fishbone soldier Unyielding Conditioning Party ma & pa jackass brigade junkies prayer / freddie they all have abandonned their hopes skankin go nuttz ugly beergut rock n roll mc donalds are you wid it Cheyenne Star Forever Moore lying ass bitch sunless saturday -- everyday sunshine

they had to drop a few songs due to an 11:00 curfew, but played for a good 1:45minutes. Among the dropped songs (from what wood told me) Faceplant and Another Generation (and probably Change).

This was probably one the fastest tempo fishbone show i've seen (but it might just eb an impression). Steward, sporting a new attire (or maybe as old as he is), was on fire. Beergut was so fast i thought he'd collapse at the end. All the songs were tight, the full horns and backing vocals section add depth to the sound. Keys you can actually hear ! a lot of fun on stage a some astonished looks from virgin members of the crowd response. Angelo still Angelo at 39+. Recited Junkies prayer from the crowd and from the counter of the side bar, then jumping right into the crowd for the first verse of Freddie.

my feelings: this is a strong lineup doing 100% of the job expected from your average soldier (maybe even 110%). But je suis rest? sur ma faim as we say in French. They did not fully fulfill my expectations. Even though i'd only heard 1.5 show from the post Spacey/Walt lineup (and one of them being the viper room all stars show) before last night, there was not a moment of surprise. If Fishbone markIV want to mark their territory and show that they are not the same fishbone as in the 90s, 95s and 00s, they have to take it to the next level. People will keep on comparing this lineup to the Reality lineup and thats fair enough considering the setlist (and if given the choice, i take one '91 show for 10 '03-05 shows)... but can you really compare apples and oranges? They need to bring in strong new material (the couple new songs i heard were good) and not just play it safe. They need to rearrange old songs and add jams (which was not really possible with spacey's surgical approach, the moreso after Mcknight's no show). I tried to tell that to wood, but i guess it'll need some more work (and we weren't both under our best light)... But then, having heard 100+ shows either live or recorded, i know all their tricks and am not easily surprised, i guess i'm not your average soldier (no value judgement implied) and a good business bet might be to cater for the average soldier, the market is wider...

Denis

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Very great Show in Paris! The Band played for 2 hours and a half ... Norwood after the "encore" said to the crowd they could keep on playin' for longer time but they had to stop because of the curfew. Anyway, the audience got enought time to apreciate a Set which I'll describe as one of their Freshiests, Funkiests, Tightests, Psychedeliests and Funniests I ever got to assist to OVER THE LAST TEN...

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THIS REVIEW IS IN FRENCH (If you feel like translating it, you're welcome !) - Copied and Pasted from my personal webpage.

FishBone is (Still ?) Red Hot ! Toujours Chaud Bouillant... Voilà. Je suis Fan de FishBone et, après le concert d'hier soir, ça ne va pas s'arranger. Hier soir. Nouveau Casino. J'arrive vers 20h00. Le teMps de faire un tour au Merchandising et de (Enfi...

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haha what a strange day, this day... I was so sick, with mega fever... And I couldn't accept to stay at home, I could not missed FISHBONE ! The last time was so far... I took 2 magic pills : CLARADOL 500mg (paracetamol + cafeine) one time to go there. And this evening was so GREAT ! So happy to see the band on stage, The Live was without surprised, when you know fishbone in live, but anyway...

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