Apr 10 2005 @ House of Blues Anaheim, CA

Let's just begin by saying that I will still be "Bonin in the Graveyard" in the afterlife. Wow it felt great to see Fishbone perform again! It has been years since I've seen them ( Early 90's all 5 sold out shows @ the ?Roxy) and since I'm experiencing my mid life crisis now...I thought what better time to go Skanking than now. You see I was curious and wondered what ever happened to Fishbone? I d...

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Slightly Stoopid kicked off their set with their two drummers. The drummers came out and played for probably three to five minutes before they were joined onstage by Miles and Kyle, the dual bassist/guitarists. The crowd gave a louder cheer when the drummers first appeared onstage than at any point during Fishbone's set. While that seemed unthinkable at first, it's understandable because a lot of the people that attended the show aren't old enough to know who Fishbone is.

Slightly Stoopid features a strong rhythm section, which is a good thing considering that the rhythm section comprises three-fourths of the band. However, the guitar is virtually the same in every song, regardless of who's playing. In fact, after about six songs, I felt like I had heard Slightly Stoopid's entire catalog. That's saying something because aside from hearing a few of their songs, this was my introduction to the band.

I have to give credit to Slightly Stoopid on several counts. They did engage the crowd and get people moving. They are the first band I've ever seen whose vocalists switch back and forth between the bass and guitar. And finally, these guys kept the banter to a minimum and played a fairly tireless set, taking hardly any time between songs. In the end though, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. I'm not disappointed with the way they played, but with how they advertise themselves. On their website, Slightly Stoopid claim to fuse acoustic rock and blues with reggae, hip-hop and punk. I heard a lot of alterna-reggae and punk but I didn't hear anything remotely bluesy. In fact, if you put Slightly Stoopid in a lineup with 311 and Sublime, it would be hard to distinguish one from the other.

Fishbone opened with a lively set that upstaged Slightly Stoopid. Of course, Fishbone isn't your average opening act. These guys have been around and they can upstage lots of bands. One thing is for sure, Angelo Moore does not like to stand still. He's got some crazy legs when he dances. And the dude is fit. He never stops moving but he's never out of breath. It's especially impressive since he plays the saxophone.

Another thing about Angelo Moore is that he can belt out a song. His voice filled the House of Blues seemingly without any effort. The highlight of Fishbone's set for me was when Angelo broke out in some pretty convincing 'Back in Black' lyrics during 'Alcoholic.'

You'd never know how good Fishbone's set was by watching the audience though. Despite Fishbone's lively sound and presentation, I think I could count on one hand the people that looked interested and moved around a little. I give Fishbone a big thumbs-up. Slightly Stoopid (The Ese Locos) on the other hand gets a fairly convincing m?s o menos.

Oh yeah, and as Columbo says, 'There is just one more thing.' Fishbone was preceded by a DJ. Can someone help me out here? What's so interesting about a guy spinning records and twiddling knobs? My buddy told me he likes DJs if they're good. Personally, I don't think I would know a good DJ if it bit my nose. Maybe someone can explain it to me.

http://www.rocknworld.com/features/05/stoopid.shtml

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