Photos: Fishbone @ Brooklyn Bowl (Early and Late shows)

Fishbone @ Brooklyn Bowl – November 13, 2011
Photos: Carrie Jordan

On Sunday, the infamous ska/rock/funk/punk legends Fishbone took over Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Bowl to play two full sets—one acoustic (a rarity for the group) and one full on Fishbone-style. As evidenced by the photos, it appeared to be all the wackiness and insanity you’d expect from Angelo Moore (a.k.a. Dr. Madd Vibe) and company, who have been going strong in one formation or another since 1979. H.R., frontman for a little band named Bad Brains (who coincidentally also played an opening set for Big Audio Dynamite at Brooklyn Bowl last August), made a very special appearance with the band.

Fishbone released the EP Crazy Glue last month and are reportedly working on a new full length album, their first since 2006. Our photographer Carrie Jordan caught both shows for us, and you can take a look at her photos below…

Photos: Big Audio Dynamite / H.R. (Human Rights) @ Brooklyn Bowl

H.R.

Big Audio Dynamite

Big Audio Dynamite @ Brooklyn Bowl - August 3, 2011

The last time I caught the recently reunited Big Audio Dynamite, it was at the much larger Roseland Ballroom in front of 3,000 or so fans back in April. This time around, B.A.D. chose to play the much more intimate Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg in front of a sold out crowd of 600 or so people. And what a crowd of people it was. Behind me, two separate scuffles broke out (both over people not being able to handle their liquor) and next to me, a guy who thought I really wanted to hear his life story of going to concerts and (not joking) getting a blowjob in the crowd of a Clash show in 1979.

Now that I've seriously disturbed you, let's get back to the music. As expected, B.A.D. sounded great, playing mostly material off of This Is Big Audio Dynamite, with Mick Jones looking as lively as ever and Don Letts stealing the show with his excellent toasting skills. Also need to mention that bassist Leo Williams has the longest dreadlocks I've ever seen (they go past his knees). When all is said and done, B.A.D. are definitely one of the better bands to reunite and still sound as good as they should, without it seeming like a cash-in or sell out.

Opening the show was H.R. (Human Rights), the solo project of the Bad Brains' frontman of the same name. While I sort of expected that most of his set would be heavy on the reggae (and it was), he and his band did launch into the great Bad Brains song "Re-ignition" which I wasn't expecting at all. H.R. has definitely mellowed over the years, as he is no longer the maniacal performer he once was. But his onstage charisma and stage banter definitely made me smile his entire set, so it was totally worth it to see him in the end.

Below, check out a full set of photos of both bands, as well as video of Big Audio Dynamite's performance on Jimmy Fallon (which was also last night) via the Audio Perv...

Big Audio Dynamite playing Brooklyn Bowl 8/3

The reunion tour of Big Audio Dynamite’s original lineup continues. After playing a series of festivals including Lollapalooza, Mick Jones and his band will headline Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg on Wednesday, August 3rd. The show will be much smaller than the last New York City area performance at Roseland Ballroom last month. I was at that show and I can say with confidence that they are worth checking out. Tickets for the show will go on sale this Thursday, May 19th at 12pm.

Big Audio Dynamite played Roseland Ballroom

It's definitely a thrill to see a living member of the Clash play guitar

Mick Jones's Big Audio Dynamite played the very large Roseland Ballroom last night. I'm not sure if all 3,000 of those $74 tickets sold out, but the crowd was definitely packed. The band played a little over ninety minutes including two encores, chronologically shuffling through the B.A.D. catalog, ending with "E=MC2" and finishing with "Rush." They sounded great. There were quite a few moments where it hit me that I was actually watching Mick Jones of the fucking CLASH(!!!) perform and he sounded just as good as ever.

But the weirdest thing that happened throughout the night was when a minor cat fight broke out mere inches away from me about three songs into B.A.D.'s set. I don't know exactly what prompted it, but some people around me seemed to be very uptight about their surrounding neighbors dancing. One girl was ushered away from the fight by her boyfriend and that was the end of that. Funny stuff.

Anyway, I got to shoot the show for BrooklynVegan, and even though there was some sort of mix up and I didn't get my photopass, I still managed to get some shots from the crowd. Bill Pearis from BV and Sound Bites (who I finally got to meet) was there and wrote a more in depth review. You can check out the full gallery and Bill's review over at here!