As usual, Fishbone tore the roof off the place. Angelo was going crazy and they all looked like they were having a blast.

The show started out with a Maddvibe poem and then was followed by Dirty Walt taking control of the funk. All the new songs were great, especially Skank n Go Nutz. Thats the only time Ive heard that song and its stuck in my head as Ive been singing it all morning. Primadawnutt was very similar to the recording thats been circulated but the horn parts were a little different. The other two songs were really heavy with lots of different time changes.

Thats the first time Ive heard Skankin To The Beat in about 5 years and it really set the tone of the show. I took a friend of mine who had never seen Fishbone besides their performance on the Magic Show and he was amazed at Angelos insanity during Pressure. He was all over the place, surfing out in the crowd, back up to play the theremin, then back out into the crowd again, all without missing any vocals. Thats the fourth time Ive seen Stewart play and he definitely plays up to the task in Fishbone. Also, the 5-piece band is the way to go. With the combination of Spaceys guitar effects and the theremin, a keyboard isnt required and all of the horn parts still seemed phat even without the trombone.

AKP is the biggest Korn wannabe band Ive ever seen and what sucked was they kept coming out and jamming with Fishbone. It helped their music when Angelo played bari sax and theremin for one of their tunes but unfortunately they came out for Shakey Ground and Behavior Control Technician to do their lame ass rapping. Walt introduced AKP and cracked a few jokes and Norwood was off to the side of the stage groovin when they were playing. I just couldnt get into their one-chord songs though.

The turnout was nowhere near the 1000 people they packed into the place back in February but Id say there were a few hundred which is a pretty decent showing for a Wednesday night in Vancouver. I spoke to John Stewart before the show and he mentioned the possibility of a full Canadian tour around October. Hopefully they will have a new album soon as Im looking forward to hearing the new material recorded.

cheers,
Mike.

I'll second Michael's glowing review of the Vancouver show, They were ON FIRE right from the start, it was possibly the best show I have ever seen them do. They sure aren't suffering without a keyboard player at all, in fact, they seem determined to rock that much harder. The new songs are wild, I'm looking forward to a new album.

Also, I read the two articles as well, and, yeah, they are a bit harsh in places, but, I take the overall tone to be good and much of "well, they deserve to huge!" but, their relatively low profile also makes for fine chances to see them and they genuinely love what they do.

David