Jun 03 2005 @ House of Blues Chicago, IL

So i hope on the 6:26 train from Elmhurst to Chicago. It was a non stop actually. Got there in about 20 minutes. I walked from Madison 2 blocks, over the civic opera brigde, and took a left onto Wacker. Okay enough about how I walked to the HOB.

All in all, the HOB is a very great atmospheric venue. Great things can happen there with the right set up, which exactly happened tonight.

So I bring to the show this little hand held recorder. What I am doing with the recorder is getting people in bands or people i know to say "Hey this is SO AND SO from WHATEVER BAND and your listening to Manic Sewing Circle" Which is going to go on the bonus tracks of MSC's new CD which has been like delayed a year in releasing. I wasnt there to tape fishbone honestly. I was trying to get Angelo the lead singer to say "hey this is Angelo Moore from Fishbone and your listening to Manic Sewing Circle", but that didnt happen. I put the recorder in my back pocket, not realizing that its really a dumb idea to bring a recorder to a show, and they nail me! I should have put it in the head pocket of my Big D (maud loves this one, ahhaha) hoodie.

So i ditch the recorder out side in a gutter, and return later and get it.

The Beautiful Girls Your typical 311 jam band.

Fishbone WOW. If you think MSC puts on a good show, we are like the apitemy of what Fisbone accomplised. So Angelo Moore (Dr. Madd Vibe) walked on stage and has this 5 minute opening spoken word intro with this bee bop organ and drum beat going on behind him. Nothing like Def Jam poetry but something like "We live the life of the famous not rich, still living in a shack in Cali, AINT THAT A BITCH!" It really got the crowd moving, but it seemed that people were swaying back and forth for the bone during the show, and no one seemed to know what the SKANK was. Which was alright, since the band made up for any crowd lacking movements.

MIKEY TAGS SUCKS ASS!

So they open with "Party at Ground Zero", im standing in the back and I immediatly rush to the stage because i cant stand that beat, and i wasnt going to let my first fishbone expirence be singing from the back of the bar with chicago ska's own DARRYLL who was there with me. Angelo has already stage dived into the crowd TWICE by the time I get up there to right-center stage. Whering his little abraham lincoln-ish type sailor hat, he flicks it around on stage shacking his ass like he is in a '20s ragtime band singing "Pennsylvania 6500". I read alot of reviews of the band at a fishbone based site www.fishbonelive.org and the setlist never mentioned that Party at Ground Zero was played and thats there known song? Thats like Manic Sewing Circle not playing Tuxedo Bandito! It just doesnt make any scence.

Angelo blew a few nice solos on his contra bass saxophone which isnt even considered a real saxophone and so few are made, his was a little smaller, but this is what the sax looks like, and seriously this is a real sax.

http://www.contrabass.com/pages/Triebert%20bass%20sax.JPG

Check out the biggest contra bass sax here, seriously its real. http://drumbent.com/photos/music/other/contra.jpg

So the set continues, and they play so many real ska songs and barely non of that weird gonza hardcore metal crap like the song Swim. Which the music video can be seen here at with about 20 other fishbone videos at: www.fishbone.net CLICK ON VIDEOS

The set continued and the bass player talked about his obsession for snowboarding. He said that every time he falls he lands face forward and the board smacks him in the back of the head, and he called it a "Scorpion Back Pinch" which was a great transition into the song "Face Plant (Scorpion Back Pinch).

Angelo - WHATS THE NAME OF THIS BAND! Crowd - FISHBONE Angelo - WHATS THE NAME OF THIS BAND! Crowd - FISHBONE!

So the setlist looked something like this: 1. Party At Ground Zero 2. Ma & Pa 3. Face Plant (Scorpion Back Pinch) 4. Premadawnutt 5. Freddie's Dead / They played Glasses after this but it's not listed.. 6. The Suffering 7. Lyin' Ass Bitch 8. Date Rape 9. Sunless Saturday 10. Servitude

So you notice the song Date Rape up there. Yes they did a GREAT cover of this classic Sublime song. And Southside Eric, they are not Sublime jr, even thou they played the song.

They only have a 45 minute set, but really every moment was great, and i am normally never this hyped after seeing a band play.

Angelo jumped the crowed about 4 times, and the crowd actually caught him. And he sang perfectly while in the crowd, and no mikeytags, the chord of the mic did not wrap around anyone and kill them.

So im so bummed that fishbone is finishing there last song Servitude, and right after the last note, someone spits on Angelo.

"WHO WAS THE MOTHER FUCKING BITCH THAT JUST SPIT ON ME! (points to a guy in the crowd) YOU FUCKER, I WILL BEAT YOUR ASS! (saying this all in the mic) COME HERE YOU BITCH, YOU WANNA GO (the rest of the band comes over) GET OVER HERE ASSHOLE (crowd chants "BEAT HIS ASS" "BEAT HIS ASS")

just as angelo is about to go into the crowd and unwillingly beat some guys ass, a bouncer holds angelo back, and the always intriging HOB curtians close on him!

The best way to end the show really. I give the band an A+ in perforance for the first time seeing them, and from what i have heard from promoters is that they will not be partaking in SID 3. And that makes me angry, cause i dont want to see mustard plug and the toasters AGAIN! I am very glad I went to this show, and I recommend you all go to the next show. Even thou they ripped me off of a 21 dollar ticket, and it said 15 on the HOB site. It really was worth seeing fishbone.

Slightly Stoopid Who came first, 311 or Slightly Stupid? There cheesy name sums up this review.

carlo

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So this is the second time I drove from my home in St. Louis to Chicago to see Fishbone in the last two years. I was all set for a great night. I had my hotel reservation at the House of Blues, i had my ticket in hand, I was ready.

Unfortunately, it seemed Fishbone hadn't been advertised at all, and it was a building full of high school stoners. or at least near the stage it ...

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