Fishbone plays to small Hales crowd

Despite a sparse crowd at Hales Gymnasium Thursday night, Fishbone turned in an intense performance to the very receptive crowd. From their opening number through to the triumphant close of "Party at Ground Zero," they maintained the hard-edge sound that has held them as a fixture on the ska scene for more than a decade now.

The Los Angeles group, who emerged as a raucous subset of the Hollywood punk scene in the mid-80s while still in high school, fuses ska with funk and slips into heavy metal on many of their songs. The easiest way to describe the group is "high-energy," epitomized by frontman Angelo Moore's antics on stage. When not playing the saxophone, he is liable to be nearly anywhere on stage except standing still behind the mike. One of the moments of levity for the night occurred when Moore flew out of the gym following one number, and rushed back in right in time to tell the crowd that, "I pissed on your campus!" The comment, was, of course, received with loud applause.

The response for most of the set was similarly well received. After getting the crowd rocking with their first song, Moore launched into some of the frank social commentary for which the band is famous. These observations continued through the concert, and were by no means limited to the interludes between songs. "Ma and Pa," both one of their more insightful commentaries and appreciated songs, confronts the problems of divorce in America today. "Rock Star" also addressed issues of American media and culture, particularly racism within the record industry.

But Fishbone was not limited to songs of social commentary. Their song "Lyin' Ass Bitch" combined a hard metal edge with interludes of funk, and had the crowd bouncing off the stage and each other. "Sunless Sunday" also received a warm reception.

Joining Moore in Fishbone were bassist Norwood Fisher, guitarist Spacey T, Dirty Walt Kibby on vocals and the 3 valve brass and John McKnight on keyboard and trombone.

Fisher's bass rifts varied with Fishbone's music, ranging from ska to funk to metal. Spacey T's work on the guitar also followed the same pattern, including especially impressive work on the metal-style songs.

The multi-talented McKnight set the tone for many tunes with his keyboard work and collaborated impressively on the horn-based sections. Dirty Walt provided consistent backing vocals, and was also exuberant in his use of the unconventional 3 valve brass.

All in all, the Oberlin concert summed up a lot of what Fishbone is about. Angelo Moore bounced about both physically and verbally on-stage, and made it a point to walk out through the crowd to meet and greet afterwards. The set was high-intensity, and greatly appreciated by all those who attended. However, the turnout was disappointing, as Fishbone shows in the U.S. tend to be. Though a good band and an even better live show, Fishbone is relatively under appreciated and, save their mid-80s hit, "Party at Ground Zero," relatively unknown. To be sure, these are both unfortunate things.