Apr 19 2011 @ Metro Theatre Sydney, AU

Fishbone last played in Sydney at The Metro exactly four years ago, treating us to a marathon three hour show on the back of the release of Still Stuck In Your Throat.  This time around it was a more muted affair: slightly smaller band (no Dre - sorely missed), opening for Trombone Shorty and they only had an hour long set.  Nevertheless their setlist still encompassed most of their albums (somewhat surprisingly In Your Face featured heavily) and they made the most of it.  Would've been nice to have heard a new song off the upcoming album but it wasn't to be this time around.

Probably due to their limited time on stage, Angelo kept his between-song talking to the crowd to a minimum and banter between band members was pretty much non-existent.  It was great to see Dirty Walt back in the fold.  Along with Jay the horn parts had that raw edge like earlier Fishbone rather than the more refined sound they had with Curtis and McKnight (this is not a criticism).  Rocky was in fine form but from where I was standing (in front of Norwood) I could barely hear him - Let Dem Hos Fight really suffered as a result of this.  Since he's the only guitarist now this is something the sound guys really need to address for those heavier songs that are dependent on guitars.

The show's pace was relentless and was over too quickly - it seemed to fly by faster than an hour.  Once Party At Ground Zero ended the show was over just like that.  No drawn out break backstage, no fake encore or anything like that, despite the chanting crowd.  No one really wanted to believe it was all over but Norwood putting his bass in its case and saluting the crowd as he carried it off stage followed by a roadie packing up stuff killed off any hope for an encore. You could almost feel the collective disappointment in the crowd at this.  To me it was a bit like another thing I particularly enjoy doing (ahem) that can sometimes end a little prematurely because you're too exited about it beforehand!  Now that our appetites have been whetted boys, can't wait for the new album and the next show on our shores.

<<<