Fishbone Wraps Up ‘In Your Face’ 40th Anniversary Tour in Triumphant Los Angeles Homestand

More Than Just a Concert

The Teragram Ballroom was packed with “Fishbone Soldiers” for an intense, chaotic, and joyous performance on Friday, May 8, 2026. As one of the most influential bands to emerge from the City of Angels, Fishbone spent last weekend wrapping up their In Your Face 40th Anniversary Tour with an exuberant and dedicated hometown crowd. 

The band’s founders first met in 1979 at Hale Jr. High in the San Fernando Valley, a product of the early California school integration and inner-city busing programs. Born of Los Angeles they came up in the same scene as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Janes Addiction. Their genre-bending blend of music styles and fierce talent fused with performances that ‘melted faces’ and made devoted fans by the millions. Decade after decade they reaffirm their status as one of the most dynamic and enduring alternative underground live acts in music history.

The Lineup

The current lineup features founding members Angelo Moore (vocals, saxophone) and Christopher Dowd (keyboards, trombone, vocals), alongside James Jones (bass), Hassan Hurd (drums), John “JS” Williams II (trumpet, vocals), and Tracey “Spacey T” Singleton (guitar). They were joined for this special night by guest Cheyenne Star Forever Moore on vocals.

Igniting the Hullabaloo

San Antonio’s Tex-Mex ska-punk act, Piñata Protest broke open the show with a rousing set of skacore infused conjunto and norteño music sung in ‘Spanglishas’. Led by singer, song writer, and accordionist Álvaro Del Norte, the band includes Regino Lopez on electric guitar and vocals, Richie Brown on electric bass and vocals, and Chris-Ruptive on drums, they were the perfect warm up act for Fishbone on a night that was a euphoric, raucous hullabaloo. 

A super fly explosion of classics

Throughout this 23-city tour, Fishbone has performed their 1986 debut album, In Your Face, in its entirety, showcasing the politically conscious tracks that first established them as legends. On Friday night, they opened with the horns and mad laughter of “Post Cold War Politics” before diving into the album’s track list of “A Selection,” “Cholly,” “I Wish I Had a Date,” and “A Movement in the Light.” The audience joined in a massive chant of “all together free” during “Give it Up,” followed by “In the Air,” and “The Other Way.” They “put the hammer to the wall” with “Knock It” and closed the first set with “Simon Says (The Kingpin).“

The second set featured a non-stop lineup of classics and fan favorites. Including the metal-heavy “Swim” (from the soundtrack of Last Action Hero), and the enlivening stage-diving anthem from the original Fishbone EP, “Skankin’ to the Beat.” The energy shifted to the present with “Last Call in America,” a funky highlight from their 2025 album Stockholm Syndrome, followed by “Secret Police” and the quintessential live classic “Ma & Pa”. No one stood still as the crowd “danced in the face of the never ending threat of annihilation” during “Party at Ground Zero.” They ended the set with “Everyday Sunshine,” but the Familyhood refused to leave and began chanting “Fishbone is Red Hot”, calling the band back for a powerful rendition of “Sunless Saturday“.

Fearless Art in a Time of Conflict

Seeing Fishbone at home, just a week after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais, felt like a body blow…profoundly gut-wrenching, and also empowering. The performance underscored the band’s long-standing mission to use music as a tool for confrontation, conversation, and change. As hearts and minds linked across racial and generational divides, the message was clear: art has no boundaries.

There was a palpable buzz and everyone in the room locked in to the band’s serious social commentary and ‘soul-based’ message. It served as a powerful reminder that if we can’t dance to the revolution, it isn’t ours.

Fishbone continues to create music that can be a “cure for social ailments” and what Moore calls “America’s ailment of spiritual racism”. Through joy, groove, and a barrage if stage dives, they lead a revolution of mutual love and solidarity that systems of oppression will never dampen. 

Fishbone’s hometown crowd reflects all that’s beautiful about Los Angeles, a multi-generational, multi-cultural community forever loyal to this band. One fan reminisced with us about seeing the band perform over one hundred times in venues all over the country, the first being with the Chili Peppers at the Ritz in NYC on Halloween, 1985. RabbleRouser’s first Fishbone gig was with Living Colour at the Ritz in the Summer of ’88.

The Importance of Direct Support

Fishbone is a self-sufficient entity, they’re real people making real music. In an era where streaming platforms pay artists an insulting amount of money the band depends on the internet and direct fan support to survive. Here is our call to action humans: Be like Fishbone, use your groove, humor, and humanity to disrupt oppressive systems. Don’t submit to robots and megalomaniacs that don’t care one bit about us. Love one another, help each other, and go out and dance to live music every chance you get. 

If you missed this leg of the tour, they’ll be back out in the fall after some time in the studio this summer. Meanwhile, you need a FISHBONE T-shirt. Buy their merch and buy their music at FISHBONE.net. 

See you in the streets and on the dance floor. Support live music, support real artists, and stay red hot.

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