May 11 2000 @ Club Laga Pittsburgh, PA

Have you ever felt like you've been taught a lesson? Ya know, when you know you are thinking something wrong and someone catches you and sets you straight? Well in early May Jaime T, marlee the webmistress, and I road tripped to Pittsburgh to catch Fishbone headlining, and to see for ourselves whether or not the discussion over the "resurgence" of Fishbone was hype or reality. I can admit that the cries of "sellout" from some of the hardcore fans had me slightly worried. They were coming closer to our home later in the summer as the first opening act of the RHCP tour, but I've seen Fishbone in arenas before and knew that I had to experience the new lineup in a club setting. Fishbone calmed my fears about the future of the band and taught me a lesson for ever doubting them!

Fishbone in many ways is a band on the bubble. They are still trying to find their niche after wearing out the "next big thing" label in the early 90's and the "pissed off indie skapunk" vibe they emanated the last few years. Going on their 20th year in the business and down to 3 original members, many predict that the band will develop into a P-Funk type of collective, with a great catalog of material, an occasional new record, and legendary live shows.

P-Funk they are not. This is no free-for-all, sing and play when you want, make up the setlist, let's bring out every family member to do a spotlight so the show is 4 hours long type of thing. Fishbone is a 5 piece rock band that plays 20 or so songs a night and gets out. But their material is so diverse and strong, their musicianship is top-notch, and their energy and vibe is so powerful that they make an impression on fans the same way P-Funk did (and to some extent still does). Fans get the whole package when being initiated into the 'Bone - it's an attitude, a lifestyle, a sound, etc. It's more than just a band and has been for a long time.

The joint in Pittsburgh (Club Laga) was a nice sized place with a weird bar arrangement - the bar was surrounded by a cage and you could only go in with ID, and couln't bring any brew out. I went in the cage to get a beer and Angelo was set up behind the bar swapping CD's into the PA and playing with his iBook. I asked him if he was DJ'ing off it and he said no, just doing some writing. He launched QuarkXPress and was working on some flyers and poetry. I was happy to see Angelo had the style to pick a nifty little iBook as his machine of choice!

The first band was an average local ska band, then there was this terrible "rap" duo that was actually 2 dorky white guys - one looked like Scott Evil from Austin Powers and the other was a fat guy with phatter pants. They had flashlight glasses on, prompting the guy next to me to call them the "Insane Residents Posse". I came up with the moniker "1 Skinny J". We had a good laugh then talked about how cool Spearhead is (prompted by my choice of T-shirts that night). The only thing I remember about their performance was the skinny guy yelling "I'd rather go down on my dad than fuck with Fishbone" before leaving the stage.

Finally Fishbone took the stage. Norwood was sporting a kimona Barry White would have been proud of, although his dread-spike was a little on the limp side. Dirty Walt must have taken all the viagra, I don't know. Angelo was in his usual gear of a temporary T-Shirt, suspenders, and pants hanging half off his ass. Walt looked very subdued in his cool shades. The new guys Spacey T, John and John all looked ready to go to work and they quickly burst into "Swim". The sound was decent and the pit erupted.

As the show continued with an excellent mix of tracks from the last 18 years it became apparant that the crowd contained the type of people that I'm gonna start calling "Fishbone Skazis", meaning they insist on imposing their opinion that Fishbone's 80's ska music is the only music worthy of their stupid skanking. These guys, sporting their various ska credentials on their carefully purchased T-shirts, would only dance to songs from Fishbone's first 4 records. When the band would play a new track (even ska tracks like "Just Allow" or "It All Kept Starting Over Again") these guys would look around at each other, trying to figure out if it was a new or old song, and then not dance if it was new. And of course these are the guys that were determined to stand directly in front of the stage, so there was a noticable difference in the crowd for the new songs and the old songs.

Highlights included "Bonin in the Boneyard", "AIDS and Armegeddon", "Lyin Ass Bitch", "Monkey Dick", "The Suffering", "Sunless Saturday", "Just Allow", "Behaviour Control Technician", "Karma Tsunami" and "When Problems Arise". Most songs were juiced up for all they were worth - harder, faster, more intense when needed, then slowed down to emphasize some funk that you might have missed. For example, they crawled through a funked up chorus of "Monkey Dick" and got the crowd chanting to the chorus of "When Problems Arise" before the song even started.

They also pulled up some set-list suprises like great versions of "I Wish I Had A Date", "Cholly", and the entire "If I Was a... I'd" throwdown. They played most of the tracks from the new album and every one went over well. "AIDS and Armegeddon" in particular benefitted from the live setting, with Spacey T and John McKnight tearing up that chunky guitar riff. As I've stated before, regardless of what you think of the new disc's straightforward songwriting and production, the material is great and several songs will surely become staples of Fishbone's live show.

After a short break they came back with "One Planet People", "Freddie's Dead", and the ultra-funky "Shakey Ground". Norwood hit another dimension with his bass on this appropriately-entitled song penned by Funkadelic's Billy Bass and Eddie Hazel. The greasy, woody -- downright NASTY - bass that Norwood plays is something to behold, even more impressive when he's plucking and popping lines from a fretless that would impress Larry Graham.

They finished off with "Party At Ground Zero" and even the Skazi's were groovin. By this point Jaime T had found his own space in the corner by the speakers and Marlee and I had cleared a few feet to do those moves you can't control. The Zone of Fishbone Funkativity is the best I can describe it. It has the funk-booty vibe that we are all familar with but it adds the need to hop, skank, mosh, and sing along. The result is a musical euphoria that is rarely reached and precious in it's pureness. Fishbone is one of the few bands that can take a whole crowd of young, old, blacks, whites, punks, funkateers, metalheads, and dorks there. This more than any label, record, or political agenda makes them a monumental and still relevant musical movement.

by DJ Raz (raz@wfnk.com)

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