Sep 11 1998 @ Centennial Stadium Victoria, BC

Sorry for the delay on posting a review of the show in Victoria but I decided to stay a little longer and I didn't have Internet access: Here's a list of the set in 'album order':

Lyin' Ass Bitch

When Problems Arise Give It Up

Freddie's Dead Ma and Pa Deep Inside Bonin' In The Boneyard

Behavior Control Technician Junkies Prayer If I Were AI'd Sunless Saturday

Unyielding Conditioning

Beergut Monkey Dick

Skankin' To The Beat Just Call Me Scrooge

They didn't play any new material.

The setting was at the University's stadium on a small stage with all the fans on the grass field. The cool thing about Angelo is that he hangs out with people while the band before them is playing. He just lay on the grass reading a book listening to Kinnie Star perform and occasionally would talk to a fan that came up to him. I was a little concerned because the crowd sat on the grass field while watching Kinnie Star, but when Fishbone started playing, people went nuts. The stage was arranged in the same fashion as it was on the Magic Hour when they played Shattered, with Angelo's theremin back by the drum set. They opened with Deep Inside and continued with a bunch of classics before ending with Monkey Dick and Behavior Control Technician. I was disappointed at the crowd response at the end of their set, causing Fishbone not to return to the stage to do an encore. It's the first show that I've seen where Angelo has stayed on stage the entire time because no one was crowd surfing. Walt was super happy when somebody threw a joint up on stage for him. The band was very tight and energetic as usual and Angelo used his Theremin in some cool places to add another dimension to the music. De La Soul was the other band performing that afternoon and they to put on a very good show.

The new members included McKnight on keyboards and trombone and some drummer who's name eludes me. This drummer is no Fish. His time and rhythm is right on, but he doesn't do a lot to increase the energy or the feel to the music. Live, Fish used to do a cool rhythmic feel to Behavior Control Technician, but these guy plays it vary straight. Also, the verse "freedom come" in Sunless Saturday, the beat on the ride cymbal was about half time compared to what Fish would play. I tried to pick out a couple of examples that I could translate into words. I'm no drumming expert but I think that it seemed to lower the energy level in the band without having that solid rhythmic beat. He royally fucked up Bonin' In The Boneyard, causing the band to completely miss the "dog barking" part and he came in too early on Lyin' Ass Bitch. Before "bitch" was said at the end, he hit the cymbals, to which Angelo replied "ah ah ah" in a jokingly fashion. Norwood looked like he was super pissed off in Bonin' when it got all screwed around. It sounds like I'm painting a bad picture of this new drummer, so don't get me wrong. He is a very good drummer, it's just he doesn't compare to Fish (very few compare to Fish) and of coarse he doesn't have the years of experience together which made Fish and Norwood such an important part of the rhythm section of Fishbone. At times he looked like he was struggling a little bit, especially in Beergut. His timing was dead on for the whole show though.

It's funny that there has been some discussion over using the word bitch in a derogatory way towards females. When Walt and Angelo were introducing Lyin' Ass Bitch, they said that it doesn't matter who you are, anyone can be a bitch. Angelo said that "you don't need a dick or a pussy to be a bitch." I think I've heard them use the word bitch before in an insulting fashion therefore it was kind of strange to hear them say this. I've also heard them make a bunch of comments before playing Cholly.

I finally got a hold of the Nuttsactor tape that they've been selling at shows. It cost me a fortune ($13), but it's pretty good and one of the few things I don't have. The quality is somewhat poor, but Straight Up Masquerade and Are You Wid' It are pretty strong songs. Black Box is good to it's just I need a bit more time to digest it. I was still disappointed that they didn't have any other videos other than the Dr. Madvibe stuff.

I'm very interested in knowing how the Seattle show went since they probably had a lot more time to play. For all you Bone fans that are thinking about going to check them out, I strongly encourage you to do so. Although they have to go through this phase of rebuilding, they are still a very energetic bunch with loads of potential in making it big. In fact, they are still the best live band around, it's just I'm comparing them to their other shows in the past. Definitely, check them out.

Mike.

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