Date: Sunday, May 24th 2015 (7:00 – 7:45pm at The Original Stage)
Line Up: Fisbhone
Venue: California Roots Music and Arts Festival. Monterey County Fairgrounds. Monterey, CA
Live: Fishbone @ Cali-Roots (5-24-15)
Fishbone performed near the end of the last day of day 3 at California Roots Music and Arts Festival. Fans of all ages and back grounds gathered in front of the Original Stage, the most intimate of the three stages at the festival, to witness the legendary Los Angeles natives Fishbone perform. People filled in the stage area with the rowdier towards the front, and the more mellow towards the back.
On the stage to the left, renowned mouth-painter Kirk O’Hara began working on his outline of a side profile of a mohawked punk rocker yelling. O’Hara was born with arthrogryposis that limits the movement in his arms and legs, but his determination prevailed and was able to develop techniques using only his mouth to paint his beautiful and moving pieces of art. Combine that with his love and inspiration for music, and one can see why he eared the right to share the stage with Fishbone. O’Hara’s presence on stage only adds to the creative energy that made that Sunday evening unique to the rest of the weekend.
At last, front-man Angelo C. Moore, AKA, Dr. Madd Vibe, began the set by doing a spoken word poem over the intro to “Party at Ground Zero” with the poem detailing an apocalyptic scenario which led nicely into the subject of the song.
Showing more of Fishbone’s classic sense of humor, a short but informative demonstration on how crowd surfing works, Moore asked the audience for their “full support” as horn-player Jay Armant, AKA Flyin’ Jay showed the crowd how to physically support someone who decides to crowd surf and how to be a crowed surfer yourself; all of which took place over the song “Ma and Pa”.
Fishbone when into full funk mode and covered a few verses of Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers classic “Bustin’ Lose” that lead into the song “Cholly”, leading the audience to continue their strange, but beautiful dancing frenzy. Fishbone slowed it down with soulful performances of “The Suffering” and “Unstuck”. After which, Moore noted the lack of sunshine that day and insured the audience that there was still sun out by kicking things into overdrive with “Everyday Sunshine,” just as the folks in the in circle-pit were starting to catch their breaths.
Ending things on a high note, Fishbone ended their set by playing the crowd pleasing classic “Alcoholic” during which guitarist Rocky George did a solo playing a riff from his former band’s Suicidal Tendencies song “Institutionalized” showing a bit of punk rock history for those in the know.
After what seemed like only a blink of an eye, Fishbone’s set was over. O’Hara’s painting now seemed near completion and had far more depth than earlier, displaying more emotions and colors. In the end Fishbone did what they do best, playing a mixture of Funk, Ska, Reggae and punk that had created fans, inspired other musicians and artists for over the last 30 years.
Fisbhone Set-List
Party at Ground Zero (w/Angelo Moore Spoken Word Intro)
Ma and Pa
Cholly (w Sample of I Feel Like Bustin Loose by Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers)
The Suffering
Unstuck
Everyday Sunshine Fishbone
Alcoholic
Related Links:
The Pier: Set-Lists at Cali-Roots 2015
Fishbone MP3 Massive (FREE MP3)
Fishbone Website
Fishbone Facebook
Article By: Mason Lillie
Photos By: David Norris
Watch: The Pier at Cali-Roots 2015