Sep 09 2001 @ Wetlands New York, NY

At 8:15pm, the Nutt-sanctifying funk of FISHBONE (from the planet of NUTTMEG) started their set with a little bit of Jimi Hendrix's "Power of Soul"........Spacey T's lethal guitarisms smoked the speakers in the Wetlands (which will be soon be "condo space", unfortunately). After the Hendrix tribute, it was on to "AIDS and Armaggedon". From there, it was off to stuff like "Cholly", "Ma and Pa" and ...

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Missed Mary Prankster, but got there in time to catch most of Maximum Penalty. Relatively boring generic hardcore. Funniest moment of the evening came when two shaven headed behemoths attempted to start a pit by themselves and succeeded in scaring the living shit out of anyone near them. Oh well, they had fun anyway...

Ari Up, formerly of UK punk band the Slits was next. ...

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Yes I was there and I loved it!! It reminded me of some of the first times I saw them. Small place, got real close to the band, lively crowd.

I was in heaven. Songs that stick out:

Cholly - one of my all-time favorites Sunless saturday ma and pa just allow bonin alcoholic

they ended with a rockin servitude

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I forgot the guset guitarist's name. He came on for Servitude, the last song, which they extended the end of with long guitar solos (think they've done that the past couple of shows I've seen of them).

New songs were really cool, but I don't think they're completely up to speed on them. There were a couple of times when it seemed they weren't quite in synch with each other...

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I rolled into Wetlands around 3pm and immediately met up with Alex Poppas who was one of the camera people at the Temple Bar shows 2 weeks ago. He flew out with the band and he, my friend Dan, and myself were filming the show for the documentary. Just to give you an idea of how cool Wetlands is and why it's such a favorite of musicians: Alex told me that the club actually paid to fly the band out and paid for their hotel accomodations while they were in town. How fucking cool is that?! If only more people would extend the band that kind of respect. Anyway, we shot a little bit of footage of the soundcheck and you could tell, even then, that it was gonna be a great show. They just seemed much relaxed than they were before the Temple Bar shows, when it seemed like they were all business.

I thought Mary Prankster were a lot of fun. Not quite sure about the cowpunk tag, but I'll go along with it. I thought it was cool when the lead singer mentioned seeing Fishbone and Primus in '91 and called it a life-changing event.

Next up was Maximum Penalty. As Ira mentioned, fairly generic hardcore/rap-metal. The reason they were afforded more playing time is because the lead singer works at Wetlands as a bouncer. I actually ended up taping their performance and giving them the tape so they'd give us a little more leeway when it came time to film the 'Bone.

I was kind of busy setting up while Ari Up was on stage, but what little I did see, I was very impressed. They had a great punky-reggae sound and I've always had kind of a soft spot for the Slits. I thought it was cool that Ari made it a family affair by having her son on stage with her, although I missed the undie flashing part.

And finally... what can I say? Fishbone were just plain ON IT. If this was a eulogy for the Wetlands, I can't think of a better band to help lay it to rest. I don't remember the setlist but I'd say the set was made up of about 1/3 new tunes, 2/3 older stuff. The new tunes just keep getting better and better, even though it's only been 2 weeks since the Temple Bar shows. And even though I was taping the show, I wasn't stuck in the back like in LA. I was right up on the sides of the stage getting, what I think is some really great stuff. I can't wait for you all to see it.

I'm not sure who the second guitarist was who played on Servitude but I do know he was working the sound board that was to the left of the stage during most of the show. I thought he was a great addition and really helped fill out the song well.

-Adam

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i believe the guest guitarist was Byron West. he also played on sunless saturday.

matt mckee

I caught up with an old friend last weekend. He lives in New York so I told him that he had to see Fishbone at Wetlands. I thought his take on it was pretty interesting:

you'll be happy to know that i followed your advice and saw fishbone. they played this past sunday. it was funny because i returned from MA, hopped on the net, and found out that they were playing that ni...

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this was a good show. the wetlands was a great club, nyc misses it. there was great energy and everyone was dancing, i broke a 7 year hiatus from stage diving and got a good ride. i have to say it was maby the best i have seen fishbone since all the changes. there were a bunch of people videotaping, they said for the band so maby we will all get to see this show sometime, or maby not, it was ...

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there's a great video of Cholly on this website: http://punkcast.com/93/index.html

I wish someone would post the entire show!