Mar 31 2000 @ The Firehouse St Louis, MO

I made the 4 hour drive to see them at the Firehouse in St. Louis, MO. The place has a cool website so I thought it would be cool there. Thats only what I thought... It looks cool, it's an old firehouse converted into one big bar/restaurant room (with good food and friendly waitstaff), and one big performance room with a bar and a game room in the back. The event was KSLU (http://kslu.slu.edu), a college,cable radio station, 50th anniversary or something and those kids ran it. SO it was great that the tickets were only 5 bucks but not cool that the tickets said show starts at 8pm and at 9pm ~150 people were still standing outside not let in yet. The first band was a heavy band from Michigan.I didnt see them, I think it was there fault everbody had to wait an extra hour and a half. THe second band was Slightly Stoopid. They were 3 guys who played reggae/punk/rock/ska and they were all good players but after waiting an hour and half for the first band to start, tom me, everybody's faces seemed to say "..but we want to see Fishbone NOW" My time zones were all mixed up but FB went on after 12 I think. (I talked to Walt before for a second and he said he still had to do some paperwork and then his cd would be out!) Angelo brought out his Tangerine iBook and did the poem "The End of the WOrld as We Know It"(to the dismay of some females/lesbians in attendance) and then they started with "party at ground zero" and they were off. The place was totally filled by then so i think at least 500 people or so were there. from left to right it was Jon McKnight on the keyboards/trombone/guitar and usually sitting,John Steward an the drums with an O'Neal racing shirt,and Spacey T on the right hand side. the semi-circle inside of them were Angelo on the leftwith the theremin/altosax/tenorsax/basssax/EbBabysax,Dirty walt an the pocket trumpet right in front of the drums,and then noorwood on the electric and 5 string acoustic basses. They sounded like FISHBONE at their tightest and the crowd was so excited to see them. THe crowd was a mix of everyone but lots of college kids. Sometimes Spacey T was lost to my ears but other than that the mix sounded pretty good. I knew the songs with more than 3 horns on the new album would sound different live. THey did the words from "Weed Plant" and not where'd you get those pants. After the last song the crowd startes chanting "fishbone is RED HOT.." over and over and FB acted a pleasantly surprised we were so enthusiastic. Although Norwood led at least 2 or 3 chants during the show that everyone made sound loud.THe set list was similar to Houston with maybe a few differences. They did 2 encores. The last one Norwood had to act as a calming mediator type figure because of this: -------------------------------------------------- (warning: security guard rant to follow....if you work security at a club and are on this list, i'm sure you are a cool one...) I will probably never go to the Firehouse in St. Louis to see a concert ever again. I hate places where the security as*wipes are fuc*heads. At the beginning i saw this dude with a mag lite but he didnt appear to be security. but oh, I must have just missed the sign on his forehead that said "tonight i will use this mag light to draw blood from a concert goers ear". it started after a light,very light mosh pit had been going off and on for a few songs. this crowd was not unfriendly or out of control at all. I saw the idiot door guy go charging in and put someone in a headlock and take him out. I thought that maybe he took out someone who was out of control outside. There is a sign outside that says no crowd surfing or you will be ejected,but no one had yet. pretty soon it happened again and again to some people. Then I was able spot the bastards with either tan hats or maglites and I watched how they were looking at people. Then Angelo jumps out into the crowd toward second half of the set the crowd holds him up and gets him back onstage. the aswipe security look like they are confused. then, of course, someone starts to swim and everybody's passing them and 5 security fuks charge in(hurting whoever is standing between them and the surfer)and take down the surfer so hard it would have been better if the surfer would have fallen to the floor, and they charge through to the door(again hurting whoever is standing in their satanic path) That was only the first one.Most happened when "Swim" was played. THe stupid idiot fukkers were actually trying to bob their head to the song they had know idea what it was about.after the second or third one someone actually grabbed the door man's(he was the worst) baseball hat and threw it in the air.and it wasnt only surfer's that continued to get thrown out but random other people at the end it seemed like if you made a face at them you were goin out in a headlock, full abuse and all.My fiends Dustin(from Boogie Shoes) got thrown out during Swim and he's a small guy, he was taken down by the neck! the crowd started to rebel at the very end where at least 4 or 5 fans physically pushed them back after getting shoved out of the way by security(and of course were taken out and abused in a headlock). I've seen fishbone from coast to coast and never have i seen total aswipes like these security schitts.if you were there,email the firehouse,i am. (rant over...) ------------------------------------------- after the last song norwood said hey loved the crowd at st. louis and so did John Steward. and you could tell they meant it.backstage the whole band looked so excited and was congratulating themselves, that you would have thought this was a first year band out playing their first successful shows. Hopefully this wave will keep up and the people will continue to pack the houses on every night of their tour so they can more dates to the tour!!

** flattFUNk **

<<<

The show knocked my socks off, and, I think, is the best show I've seen since Chris left (and, I think we're currently about 50/50 with about 8 with chris, and 8 without...)

The shit is finally all coming together.

The webcast was a wash...no one seemed to have a mic that Angelo could use for this.

I hooked up with a DAT taper, s...

>>>

I was there and I have the bruises to prove it. Brian summed it up pretty well. I stood in the very front the entire time and when they started in on Bonin' some crack head motherfucker wanted me and my bro's spot up front. I had driven 4 hours and stood though two opening bands. He didn't get it, then he tried to get a spot from this girl next to me, she grabbed him around the throat! He ...

>>>