If you've run into the guys somewhere, or been to one of their concerts, now is the time to email me and let everyone know about it!
If you've run into the guys somewhere, or been to one of their concerts, now is the time to email me and let everyone know about it!
Taina
We lined up against the wall with about 20 or so other people. Most
we recognized from either the radio station or MuchMusic, and we met a lot of
other people. It was great. Obviously most were big Pearl Jam fans, so everyone
was exchanging stories, and one guy had this huge stickman tattoo on his calf!
Rockin'! It was so cool... Anyway, doors opened around 7 and we were let in.
I had assumed that we were going to be lead in to the main room, but we, instead,
were lead up 4 flights of stairs by this bouncer. I was wondering what was going
on. The stairs were ancient but beautiful at the same time. Soon, we all found
ourselves at the top of the Masonic Temple in a small, cozy room that could
and would not hold more than 200 people. Wow, this is intimate. We are in for
a huge treat. The stage was on the ground, practically. There were no barricades.
No crazy huge bouncers either. The stage was covered with some sort of Asian
rug, there were many exotic instruments on racks (djembe, etc...)... And there
were candles all over - one particular that was incredible, a small glass fish...
We all sat. This was not going to be your mosh-type concert. The
place slowly filled, and by the time showtime came around, there were 150 diehard
fans there. Perfect. A solo guitarist opened the show, he was cool, but Gus
was not who we were there for. Finally the Three Fish were onstage and began.
I could not believe my luck. I was right on the side of the stage where Jeff
was. So for the next hour or so I was mesmerized by his playing and by the enchanting
music of Three Fish. It's one thing to listen to their CD, but it's another
to see them live, with candles flickering, smoke filling the room creating the
most amazing atmosphere. No one really knew what to expect from Three Fish live,
but everyone left the show with smiles on their faces and a new outlook on live
shows. Not only was this one intimate and amazing, there was something also
spiritual about it
In cases like this, I was really happy that the show was under-sold
by a couple 100 tickets :) A show like this definitely did not make the promoters
any money, but it sure did make a bunch of lucky fans hungry for some more Fish
;)
THE SHOW...Being a PJ fan I had come to watch Jeff do his thing,
I expected a good band but I didn't know much about Three Fish at all. The show
started (after a mediocre opening show) and I sat their mezmorized by the beaty.
I had not expected the amazing multi-layered and melodic colage of music that
was flooding the small, 30 person, theatre. Jeff was AMAZING, but to my surprize
so were Robbi and Richard. The synergetic sonic art that they created was truly
spiritual in magnitude. After the show I was lucky enough to say hello to Jeff
again. After that night I got the single and loved it. Disipointed that it only
contained one song I went out and got the album which is GREAT!
We made it to Philly in 2 hours, a drive that normally took us
an additional 45 minutes, and scouted around for a ticket window. The TLA was
bare. There were no posters announcing the night's attraction. There were no
ticket cashiers seated at the booth. Nothing...
We asked at the Tower records a few doors down if anyone knew
any information regarding the Three Fish show. No one had even HEARD of the
band. We walked around town, heartbroken, looking in esoteric shops and clubs
for signs of the band. We decided to leave three hours after our arrival when
we discovered that the evening's festivities in Philly included a fraternity/sorority
rush
Disconcerted, we headed back to our small hometown and found out that we had
been able to secure Lollapalooza tickets. Not wanting to miss the opportunity
to see Soundgarden live, we drove the whole way to West Virginia and thought
we'd forgotten our Three Fish heartbreak. As we walked through the stands and
displays from local craftsmen and women, we happened to notice a flyer on the
ground. It was a concert schedule for D.C.'s "the 9:30 club", and the previous
night's act was, you guessed it, THREE FISH! We'd missed them again.
By this time, we were distraught, and we thought that we were
just fated never to see this band live. It was bad enough that I had missed
Pearl Jam five times (and tickets to all five shows-- long story) and she had
missed them a few times. Now, once again, we were going to miss the chance to
see even ONE of the members, and we by this time had grown very attached to
the Three Fish CD
As the summer wore down, we were faced with the preparations that every college
student faces at the close of every break. We were in the midst of moving to
"our college town", and we had quite alot to do. We were moving cross-country
from PA to Seattle, WA. We packed a few things in order to fly out for one week
and try to find an apartment.
We arrived sometime in the last week of July. Lori and I both scoured newspapers,
one right after another, in attempts to find a home. Listing after listing turned
us down, and we were running out of choices. On a whim, I picked up a copy of
a free weekly magazine called "The Rocket", and started to look for apartment
listings.
My best friend looked up at me as I started to hyperventilate.
"Oh, my God, Lori," I yelled, "You're never gonna believe this." She tried to
grab the paper out of my frozen hands, but I couldn't move. I could only read
the listing that I was fixated upon: The Showbox theatre, 8/1 Three Fish w/
Kristen Barry, 9:30 pm. It was July 31st!
We paid no attention to anything the next morning. The only things that we concerned
ourselves with were the location of the Showbox theatre and the bus schedule
that we needed to take along in order to get back to our hotel.
We arrived at the Showbox early and mulled around for a long
time. There were a few people there in Pearl Jam t-shirts, but nothing else
was that noticeable. We grabbed a table in the corner while we waited for Kristen
Barry. Lori and I slowly made our way to the front of the crowd while she played,
and then managed to snag a place directly in front of a stagemonitor.
The technicians started to move gear onto the stage, and the instrument that
they plugged into that monitor was an organ. It soon occurred to me that Jeff
was going to sit right in front of me and play.
The Showbox theatre was buzzing with curiosity. A few technical problems caused
a delay. A fixture was swaying above the stage and seemed to be ready to snap
and fall upon it. The show was delayed even further.
We feared that the band would never get to play when suddenly, as I looked to
the left of the stage, I saw Jeff heading to the organ in front of me, followed
by Robbi, Richard, and Cary Ecklund. I couldn't believe my eyes; I was finally
afforded the chance to see him play in person!
The show started at 11:30. Many people hounded the band, yelling
for Cary and for Richard (this was Seattle, after all, and probably 90% of the
crowd knew either or both of them). People were pretty rude to Robbi as he talked;
they wouldn't shut up. And Jeff couldn't get a word in edgewise amidst all of
the screaming. "Here in the Darkness" was the first song that they played. To
tell you the truth, the gist of the show is a blur to me, as I was so ecstatic
over seeing them that I have forgotten all of the extras. But I remember hearing
a 10 minute long version of "Build", which was EXCELLENT, and mourning the fact
that none of them ever read any poetry. The great irony of the show was that
some drunk imbecile behind me kept yelling, "They read poetry at the Philly
show; I was there, MAN!"
The last song that the band performed as a quartet was "Solitude". I would've
closed my eyes to listen to the exquisite beauty of the song had it not been
for the fact that my hand was about 6" away from Jeff 's foot as he played the
djembe!
After the final encore, our crowd got an extra special treat
when the band was joined onstage by none other than Pearl Jam's Mike McCready!
He played two songs with the band, the names of which escape me, and consequently
ended the show. When the show finally ended, and Robbi had said good night to
us, Lori and I needed to wait for a bus. Since it was raining outside, we decided
to hang around the club for a while. We had a forty minute wait to go. As the
crew stripped down the gear, we noticed that Jeff had left his sandals onstage.
He had taken them off during the first few minutes of the show and forgotten
to take them when he left. Lori and I walked to the side of the stage to see
if we could see them take the shoes to Jeff, and we noticed that Mike was standing
to the side of the stage talking to a few people.
All of a sudden, Jeff and Robbi scurried out the side door to the stage. Jeff
turned his baseball cap from back to front and walked to the other end of the
room. I asked Lori if she thought that we should approach him, but we couldn't
decide if it was appropriate or not. We figured that, if Jeff returned and walked
past us, we would stop him and thank him for a beautiful show.
Fate decided for us.
Just as we were about to turn and go, Jeff passed right in front
of me.As he walked toward me, I said, "Jeff?" He stopped and looked right at
me. I managed to stammer out, "Do you have time to sign something for me?" He
said, as nice as he could, "If you do it quickly..." followed by,"You know what?
You get it ready and I'll be back".
I fumbled for ANYTHING, and finally managed to grab the book in which I was
copying down apartment information. Jeff returned, asked for my book, and signed
his name. Then he asked for my name. I told him it was "Kristen" and he asked
if it was spelt with a "K". I said yes, and he signed "To Kristen" on my book.
As others began to notice that someone had snagged him for autographs, I told
him that we had had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the show. He was pleased
to see that so many people had appreciated it. He was so busy signing things
for people that he hadn't noticed that he had kept my pen and was using it the
whole time. He apparently was running very late for something or other, as he
appeared to be in a bit of a rush. Just as he turned to leave, he saw me and
realised that he had my pen. He walked over, handed it back to me, and then
disappeared.
It was a concert that I will definitely never forget.
| More Stories |
Carolyn
It was late afternoon in downtown Toronto, the city was somewhat dead, especially
since it was a hot, humid Sunday. My friend Eva and I had just stepped off the
subway and were walking north on Yonge Street, the longest street on this planet!
Anyway, we were heading to the venue, called the Concert Hall, however we honestly
had no clue where it was. Frankly, we were very carefree at that time, we were
just coming back from seeing Robbi, Richard and Jeff at MuchMusic, and prior
to that meeting and greeting with them at 102.1 The Edge. We walked and walked,
until we came upon the Masonic Temple (the old name from the Concert Hall).
It's a very old building, decades old. It was honestly the ideal place for Three
Fish to play a gig. Leigh
...a few minutes later
Jack and Jeff both came down to the footpath and called us over ! Jack was really
quiet actually and he signed my t-shirt but I forgot to get him to sign ISHMAEL.
Jeff was just so nice.I don’t know why but I never expected him to be so nice.
Once he saw ISHMAEL his face lit up...He seemed really impressed that I had
it and we spoke briefly about it. Just about how mind opening and interesting
it was.I told him that if it wasn’t for PJ I probably would never have been
exposed to the book. He said that was cool and asked if I`d read "Master and
Margarita" which he had read just prior to writing Lowlight and PILATE. I told
him I hadn’t and when he signed my book he wrote "Check out Master and Margarita
- Mikhail Bulgakov" so I wouldn’t forget , then he signed it!! He also signed
my t-shirt. It was so cool !! I never expected Jeff to be so friendly so it
was a double bonus that he was ! :-).I think he also really appreciated the
way we had conducted ourselves.As we were walking back across the road he said
to me laughing "Now you can go get some sleep :-)" ... But of course we couldn’t
do that !!
lamina@iaccess.com.au
Leathan
Graves-Highsmith
The show was GREAT!!! Like any other devoted PJ fan, when I heard that Jeff's
"side band" was playing a local show, I knew I had to see it. I arived 2 hours
early thinking it would be crowded, but to my surprise no one was there. I sat
around for a little while, and a small crowd began to trickle in. I eventually
said hi to this guy who was standing near me. He turned out to be a DJ for a
local clasic-rock station, and was a really nice guy. We chated and then Jeff
walked by, the guy said something and Jeff stopped and said Hi. As it turned
out the DJ had known Jeff back in the MLB days and the two had been friends.
Jeff saw my shirt, I stupidly had not taken off my PJ shirt I had worn that
day, and said Hi. I replied as best I could but I'm sure it just came out giberish.
Jeff stayed around a while and chated with the DJ, eventually I broke into the
conversation and enjoyed myself.
leaf@teleport.com
Steph
i was at the montreal show at the cabaret and
was really excited. i loved the record and the venue is fabulous. because of
the song for a dead girl and knowing the band was on a bus tour i thought it
might be fun to make a dead tape for the guys to listen to on the road. so i
taped up a seattle dead show i was at (seattle to keep jeff interested, with
my deeply hidden agenda to have pearl jam cover some dead tunes...i don't like
my chances, but i'll die trying). anyway, before the show robbi was walking
around near the soundboard so i went over and had a little chat with him and
gave him the tape. he was much appreciative and i was overjoyed. during the
show i wandered my way near the stage and danced while my friends sat back at
our table drinking. right before song for a dead girl robbi said something about
'the girl who made us the tape'...i can't remember if he dedicated the song
to me or if he just mentioned it because he was happy or whatever, but my friend
yelled 'stephanie!!!' so loud, and i just, well i was happy/embarrassed. it
was a great moment. after the show i waited out back for the band to come out
to see if i could handle talking to jeff if given the chance. i'm not a screamy
teen aged woo girl, let it be known. but i love pearl jam with my heart and
soul and feel very connected with them, like they are friends. anyway i did
have a few words with jeff, reminded him to give the tape a listen and that
was it. he was remarkable handsome in person, i remember thinking.
Kristen
In the summer of 1996, just after the Three Fish CD was released, I managed
to find out that the band was going to be doing a short tour of the US, and
that there was a good chance that I would be able to see them. I was ecstatic.
Jeff Ament is my favourite member of Pearl Jam, and I was elated to find out
that he might grace the Philadelphia, PA area with his presence!
I told my best friend that we would have to go, and we tried to make the July
date that they were scheduled to play the Theatre of Living Arts on South St.
We both took off sick from work, got in her car, and drove as fast as we could
to Philly to try to get tickets. We had no idea how much that would cost us,
and we had no idea when the show was to start. All we knew was that the local
radio station that we listened to told us on the air that Three Fish was to
play that night.
kspangle@u.washington.edu
Frank
Kane
I have alway been a Jeff Ament fan. He turned me on to
playing from within . And i had a chance to meet him when THREE FISH came
to the T.L.A in Philadelphila. I spoke with Jeff before the show he brought
up this strange conversation about Peter Cushing because my friend had on
a shirt with Peters picture. (In case you do not know Peter Cushing was the
head General in the first Star Wars). Any way They went on to have a show
with about 30 people in the audience it was very intimate and it was completely
what THREE FISH is all about. I will go down in history as my best concert
experience.
TRi3x@aol.com