I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: April 23, 2026] Fishbone

A little over two years ago I saw Fishbone open for Parliament.  I had been a big fan of their earlier stuff but hadn’t paid much attention since the mid 90s.  They have gone through an astonishing amount of line up changes.

Back in 2023, the lineup was pretty close to the original with

• Angelo Moore – vocals, saxophones, theremin, percussion (1979–present)
• John Norwood Fisher – bass, vocals (1979–present)
• “Dirty” Walter A. Kibby II – trumpet, vocals (1979–2003, 2010–present)
• Christopher Dowd – keyboards, trombone, vocals (1979–1994, 2018–present)

The other two guys on stage were

• John Steward – drums (1999–2016, 2021–present)
• Mark Phillips – guitar (2019–present)

But evidently last year nearly the entire lineup left for one reason or another and so the only two original guys are Angelo and Christopher:

• Angelo Moore – vocals, saxophones, theremin, percussion (1979-present)
• Christopher Dowd – keyboards, trombone, vocals (1979–1994, 2018–present)
• Tracey “Spacey T” Singleton – guitar (1997–2003, 2024–present)
• Hassan Hurd – drums (2024–present)
• JS Williams – trumpet, vocals (2024–present)
• James Jones – bass (2025–present)

I hadn’t realized this upheaval before this show, but I am glad that I got to see the previous lineup at least once.  Now in fairness, Angelo Moore pretty much IS Fishbone, so he’s the guy that you really want to focus on.  But having said that, the rest of the band was great.  First, it was funny that Hassan’s drumset faced the wall (as if he were in a timeout).  I’m pretty sure this was because of the size of the stage.  But he was a beast on double bass drums (and I could see that he was barefoot).  I loved James Jones’ five strig bass sound.  Fishbone has always had great bass and his was perfect.

Spacey T was on the far side of the stage so I couldn’t really see him all that well, but he played killer riffs and solos. JS Williams was a fine replacement for Walter Kibby–his trumpet was great and he was a perfect hype man.

I was right in front of Christopher on keys.  He was a lot of fun and spoke his mind openly about **ump and the people who voted f0r him.  And if anyone had voted for the man, they shouldn’t be at the show.  But as I said, the focus is on Angelo.  He is a dynamo–full of energy and his voice sounds great.  He engaged the audience and was just the most fun.  And perhpas the most interesting thing of all was that he played the theremin–A LOT!–with incredible control.

The first set was the In Your Face album.  It was a lot of fun to hear the album in full.  I know the first half of the album really well and I feel like I got to really appreciate the rest of the song more in this setting.  Movement in the Light was great live.  In the middle of Knock It, they jumped into a bit of Rollercoaster of Love, which was a lot of fun and Simon Says the Kingpin featured some call and response before the song took off.

After the album, (I could see the setlist on the drumset), they wasted no time playing Party at Ground Zero which was super fun.  The crowd was fully behind that one.  And the fact that they followed it with Ma & Pa was just fantastic.

I saw that at a few other shows they were playing Swim, which would have been really fun to hear, but overall I liked out set better.  So  didn’t realize they had a new album out, an album that featured the current lineup.  On the setlist it said Racist Pizza and I wasn’t sure what song that was. Well, it’s a straight up anti ***mp and his ilk song called Racist Piece of Shit and boy was that cathartic to sing/scream along to.

It was a huge surprise that they played Drunk Skitzo from the album that Swim is on.  I always enjoyed the wild mood swings of that song even if the lyrics are really dark.  I’d probably have preferred Swim, but I feel like we got a great deep cut instead.  After a chant of Fuck Ice, they played another new song Secret Police which is an anthem for anyone who hates what’s going on.

Last time I Saw them I had seen that they’d played Everyday Sunshine at a recent show and I wished they’d played it for us.  So it was awesome to hear it tonight.  It sounded so good.  And then they quickly left the stage.

I know that they had the encore on the setlist, but the venue started playing music when they left the stage.  Their  tech guy started waving his arms hyping us up to cheer louder and they did come out.  It felt like an unplanned encore (even though I’m sure it wasn’t).  And it was great to hear it.  A catchy singalong with great instrumental parts.  I loved that they ended the song like the album with just the trumpet and guitars playing us out.

After the show (since Crossroads is so small), I got to chat with 3/5 of the band and even said hi to Angelo, who tried to get me to buy his book of poetry.

What a fun night and a great complement to the previous Fishbone show.  The only songs I would have liked to hear (bit didn’t at either show)
Subliminal Fascism
Lyin’ Ass Bitch [rude song, yes, but so so good]
Servitude
and Freddy’s Dead.

≠Stockholm Syndrome (2025)
∇ Fishbone EP (2023)
© Chim Chim’s Badass Revenge (1996)
♣ Give a Monkey a Brain… And He’ll Swear He’s the Center of the Universe (1993)
∞ The Reality of My Surroundings (1991)
⇑ Set the Booty Up Right (1990)
§ Truth and Soul (1987)
⊗ In Your Face (1986)
£ Fishbone EP (1985)