Fishbone
Underworld, London
★★★★★

FORMED all the way back in 1979, LA’s Fishbone are still going strong under the auspices of founding member and lead singer/sax player Angelo Moore.

They’re in London at the end of a short European trip that is trailed as their “Escape from America” tour which sees them playing just the one UK show at Camden’s Underworld.

Fusing punk, funk, ska and soul with a good dose of thrash metal and a lot of brass, both in terms of instruments and attitude, it’s a shame they didn’t play more dates.

This is political punk and funk crossed with rock that takes the audience on a rollercoaster tour that fires both barrels at Trump, the rise of fascism and the end of the American Dream.

By the second song of the night it’s already clear where this is going as Moore signals a change, dropping “subliminal” from standout track Subliminal Fascism.

“It’s in our face,” he cries, “there’s nothing subliminal about things now.”

RxPxOxSx — aka Racist Piece Of Shit — is a good time, ska-driven, dancing delight attacking what they call the mad orange king, it’s not subtle, but it hits the nail on the head with the repeated refrain calling Trump to task.

Drunk Skitzo – despite some questionable lyrics – is another jump out song that gets the very sweaty room rocking and sees the first of many stage dives from Moore.

And it is not just about Moore, the band as a whole are tight and on point. Former guitarist Tracey Spacey T Singleton has rejoined and plays licks and tricks that bring to mind Maggot Brain era Funkadelic.

Longtime collaborator Christopher Dowd adds Faith No More keys and there’s a good dose of brass from John “JS” Williams II on his trumpet while they’re all kept tightly in check by James Jones on bass and Hassan Hurd on drums.

A couple more tracks from the band’s first new album in some 20 years — Stockholm Syndrome — shows Fishbone continue in the drive to challenge injustice and call out the charlatans all while having a good time.

All in all there’s a lot of energy onstage and a band living in the moment and enjoying it. This fast, furious and fun ska-driven gig shows music and politics do mix, especially when you have a target that deserves being called out.

Stockholm Syndrome is due for release on June 27.
Touring across the US from June. For more information see: fishbone.net