LOOK WHAT THE FLOOD WASHED UP ON THE SHORE
The greedy crowd was leering at Jeff, Jeff was leering down at us. He either winked at me or blinked in my direction, I melted, the music was good, the end. . .

REWIND: The aroma of bass lingered in the Mercury Lounge/bar/dump in New York's East Village that night. And not just because a baby hurricane had hit the city that day and us patrons smelled like deep-dark-green-sea animals. The place just smelled... like fish. It was perfect! MERCURY'S MANDATE: 18 years and over; no cameras. Neither was respected, of course. The club didn't need to post the ever so popular sign "Eddie is not here!" Not for us, all we needed was Jeffrey. I have to admit, I came there not knowing a THREE FISH song from a THREE DOG NIGHT, I considered that ok though. I mean the CD had only come out like that day, well maybe not that day, but they are fresh fish. And chances are I wouldn't have come out to the east of East Village on a dark stormy night endangering my well-being to see them if Jeff wasn't a part, should I apologize for that? Hell no. But did I really enjoy and appreciate the music itself? Hell yes!

THE BIG MISTAKE: Here's how it started. Three Fish were to go on stage at 10 o'clock, the opening band Kristen Barry and The Steeves were to start at nine. My friend (who might remain nameless) and I roamed the area and arrived at the door at 7:30 pm. With nothing to do for a while, we decided to go across the street to a bar called NICE GUY EDDIE'S -- with a name like that, how could we not?! I've never in my life been in a bar before and subsequently didn't know that a huge glass of Long Island Iced Tea hasn't a damn thing to do with iced tea! (And I'm 25, folks.) The next thing I remember is skipping some girls on line back at the Mercury, then claiming a good spot near the front of the stage, left side of course. Kristen Barry has an album coming out in August for some reason (seriously, she was pretty good). Although her band used electric guitars they had an acoustic sound. After their set I do remember yelling "HURRY UP BALDY!!!" (Polina, I meant the stagehand guy, honest.) He ran away and then came the wait for the Three Fish.

THE DIVINE TOUCH: I looked over at Polina with excitement and noticed a beedy little look in her eye, I followed her devilish gaze and great God in Heaven, her left hand was molesting Jeff's bass! " Get off!" , "Quit it!", some fans in the center jokingly yelled at her. They were only jealous and wanted to share in the touch. I scrounged for Polina's other hand and then connected onto a vibe like no other. I was touching the girl who was touching Jeff's INSTRUMENT! It was the most sensuous feeling I've ever felt. I was just hoping that the standing bass was really Jeff's. The lead singer Robbi Robb emerged from the crowd and climbed up onto the stage. The drummer Richard Sturverud rushed from the side of the stage and took his seat behind the kit. And the Renaissance man Jeff Ament seemed to have been dropped down on loan from God. They dove right into the songs... I don't know if being an hour late had anything to do with it, but it was fast, loud, and -- this is really corny -- sassy. The stage was very small so there wasn't much room for Jeff's wailing maneuvers. He tried though , he twisted his tiny feet in crazy circles , his body jerked back and forth in true free-will style, his eyes closed and he bobbed his head up and down. In fact , the stage was so small, Jeff felt trapped when Robbi called some skimpy girl up on stage to dance for him. You should have seen the look on Jeff's face when she came up behind him, pure horror. A deer in the headlights looks like what Susan Lucci would look like if she ever got an Emmy, compared to Jeff's expression. Robbi took over the bass and Jeff fingered the guitar for a while, and for the song "Solitude" Jeff took to the bongo. Robbi was towering right above him and Jeff kept closing his eyes in ecstasy and opening them only to look up at Robbi as if he was God. We didn't like that -- that was Eddie's place. By this time I'd noticed the complete absence of security which led to my impulse to goose a certain person's gluteus maximus. But I had more class than that, plus Polina was holding me down. An MTV crew were taping in the back, which is really weird considering that Jeff is the one who really hates them the most. The last song was the encore! Or at least Jeff told us it was. "Usually we leave the stage and then come back," he said, "but this time we're just gonna stay." Well, duh, this place didn't look like it had any backstage anyway. On this last song he played keyboards, proving once and for all that he is truly THE RENAISSANCE MAN. They left, and so did we, stealing some posters on the way out. The next day was sunny and bright, but we were already missing the hurricane.

Issie
First off, let me tell you all that the montreal three fish show was absolutely incredible. I was completely blown away.........

Since the first time that I listened to the new album, the song "Hummingbird" has been the most gripping for me. The emotion in that song is beyond anything else I've heard before (except for possibly when Eddie starts wailing at the end of Black). Upon checking previous setlists, I was shocked to see that this song had never been played live before. And so it became my mission......

The show was called for 9, and I arrived at about 6:30, hoping that the band would be soundchecking. Unfortunately, they were not and we were quickly booted out of the venue. We returned to the venue at about eight o'clock and stood in line. About 8:30 the doors opened and we got a great table on the second floor right across from the stage, we had the perfect view. At this point, aside from being totally anxious about the show, I really wanted to meet Robbi and ask (politely of course) if they could possibly play the song. Finally, at about 8:50, I saw him walking towards a pay phone.

When he finished his call ( I waited outside not to be the ultimate rudest person on the planet ), I approached him and we began to talk. I told him exactly how powerful I felt the song was and how I'd really really love to hear it live. He told me the rather interesting story of how it was recorded:

He was alone in the studio and was just basically playing all these songs that he had written just for fun and to see what would work. The song was caught on tape and the produce loved it. Then, without Robbi knowing, the rest of the Fish went in and finished the track. They then played it back for him...

Ok, so he tells me that little story and that he would "try" to work it into the setlist but told me he hadn't played it since the actual recording.

David Garza was pretty cool (good voice), and then came the fish.

They opened with Shiva and the Astronaut with Jeff taking center stage on the upright bass. There was a fourth fish, Steven, who played everything from percussion to keyboards to slide guitar. From this point on, I don't know the exact order up until the first encore. The band played almost all the songs on the albums. I won't attempt to make a setlsit because I won't even come close to the real thing.

After leaving the stage, the band is taking an usually long time. Finally, Robbi comes out alone with a guitar.
He sits down and says, (in more or less the same words) "I met someone before the show who has asked me to play the next song. I've only actually played the song twice before so I may mess up a bit. It was kinda recorded without me knowing..." and then goes into a beautiful version of Hummingbird!!! I was completely stoked. When the song ended and there was a moment of silence after the applause, i shouted my "thank you."

The band played two more songs, ending with David Garza joining them for Zagreb.

After the show, Richard came to sign autographs, we were then kicked outside to the tour buses. Jeff came out eating an apple and spoke briefly to the fans outside. I told him that I had requested Hummingbird and he told me that he had to beg Robbi to have it put on the album. He agreed that it was a beautiful song.

I then saw Robbi just getting off the bus, went over and thanked him. We got the three signatures on our tickets and the night completely ruled. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the tour and the new album. Sorry for rambling, hope they keep on playing Hummingbird. On another note, Song for a Dead Girl was mind-blowing.

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