Fishbone Serve Up Defiant Punk Spirit For Troubled Times at Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia (SHOW REVIEW)

Fishbone, founding fathers of the ska/punk/funk/metal genre, were built for times like these.

Across four decades, the LA-based band that launched an army of “Fuck Racism” T-shirt-clad kids has sung about everything from nuclear anxiety (“Party at Ground Zero”) and government overreach (“Subliminal Fascism”) to the poverty cycle (“So Many Millions”) and, more recently, the current occupant of the White House (“Racist Piece of Shit”). So as hundreds crammed into Brooklyn Bowl in Philadelphia on Friday, April 24th – after yet another long week of living under creeping fascism – a night with Fishbone was both a reprieve and a reminder that joy and rage can still share the same stage.

The band is currently touring in support of the newly released In Your Face: 40th Anniversary. As they took the stage to play their debut in its entirety, it was clear from the way singer/saxophonist Angelo Moore bounded to the mic that time has done little to drain the energy. Despite being 60, Moore showed no signs of slowing down. The maniacal laughter and horns that kicked off set opener “Post Cold War Politics” made it clear the band remains wildly relevant, despite a number of lineup changes over the decades. At this point, Moore and Christopher Dowd (keyboards, trombone, and vocals) are the only founding members still with the band, but the current lineup plays with a cohesiveness that belies the fact that they weren’t there from the beginning.

While the 11 tracks from In Your Face (including a few brief, brilliant seconds of Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff” and an inspired intro of Prince’s “Purple Rain” that segued into “A Movement in the Light”) still sound great, it was the set that followed – brimming with a slew of their classics and several new songs – that finally got the crowd, many just as old as the band, to drain their drinks and start skankin’ and moon stomping.

“The vacation is over, time to get back to the office,” Moore declared before the band tore into a rapturous one-two punch of “Party at Ground Zero” and “Skankin’ to the Beat.” Reflecting the mood of the crowd, the band then played several newer songs inspired by Trump and his admin, including “Racist Piece of Shit” and “Secret Police,” the latter preceded by Dowd saying what many were thinking: “I fucking hate Donald Trump.” Chants of “Fuck ICE” from the crowd felt as natural as saying “please” and “thank you.” The band closed the night on a high note with “Everyday Sunshine” and “Sunless Saturday.”

More than just a dip into nostalgia, the show underscored that Fishbone’s catalog doesn’t feel like history; lyrics written 30 and 40 years ago still ring just as true in 2026. But through community, a shared sense of moral conviction, and a commitment to keep fighting on – all soundtracked by punk guitars and a stellar horn section – we’ll somehow get through this.

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