From Fish's FB page, a report on his experiences at Dolina Charlotty with his own band and The Ian Anderson Band.
"Well that was a trial of a weekend! The show was brilliant but the effort to get there and the other elements have left me pretty fragged! Thankfully this is a Sunday as I couldn't deal with a Monday assault in my current state. I'd forgotten just how lethal Polish vodka was and Yatta's delivery to my room of a bottle of clear super dooper Zubrowka at close of play on Friday when he knew I had hand luggage and couldn't carry it was a booby trap from hell when I had to get up at 7am .
The journey out had been a test with over 5 hours in Luton airport after a £60 taxi ride from Heathrow. The flights had been cocked up by the promoter right from the start as it appeared his knowledge of UK geography was limited.Both Jethro Tull and my circus were booked on Whizz air and that flight had been moved to a later time meaning a late arrival in Poland with a 2 hour journey to the venue in Dolina Charlotty Resort. I'd got my guys into the VIP lounge at Luton and we'd made sure we got our £15 entrance fee worth of complimentary wines with Mr Beck planting a few Bloody Mary's for good measure!The flight was a partial blur and after a couple of expensive miniature bottles of warm white wine I zedded out in my window seat to be woken by a bump as we landed in Gdansk.
Everything went smoothly and we exited the airport together with Ian Anderson and his mob to our waiting transport and the next leg. The inevitable beer stop was called for and we bopped into a garage to pick up supplies including a couple of small bottles of honey vodka which were dully opened and passed around for sampling.I sampled rather a lot!
The road trip was uneventful apart from the burning car in the middle of the road! We'd seen the smoke billowing from the vehicle and the loose traffic queue forming as people stopped to take in the scene.The smoke belched from the car and almost completely obscured it from sight. It looked like it was going to burst into flames any second. Maybe it was the vodka bravery but we urged our driver to move round it and get passed the incident as no one wanted to be stuck for hours as the emergency teams moved in to quench the fire.We did slightly cower as we drove on the verge through the wall of smoke and there was some nervous laughter as we left it in our wake!
I don't remember much else of the journey as the honey vodka seeped into my tired head.I came to as we reached the hotel and I stumbled into reception to be given my room key. There was the offer of food in the restaurant but all I wanted to do was get into a bed. My mind was totally lucid but my legs weren't working. The corridor negotiation became like something out of a hallucinogenic trip and never seemed to end. My room was somewhere in the distance and the numbers weren't making sense. I was laughing as I bumped off the walls trying to stay upright and becoming slightly desperate.Luckily it was an electronic key that I waved at the lock as I don't think I could have managed fumbling for keyholes.At least I managed to undress and get into a bed that had become a huge magnet. This wasn't a good start!
I was surprisingly unhindered by a hangover in the morning but had overslept and was woken by Yatta banging on my door as I had a press conference at midday with Ian Anderson in the Rock Bar downstairs.I entered the room to the gathered throng exactly on the stroke of midday and just as Ian was about to apologise for my absence.I don't particularly like sharing press conferences, not for any egotistical reasons but rather for the awkwardness as I tend, as you know, to ramble a bit and become very self conscious of talking too much. I especially didn't want to butt in on Ian as he's someone I have total respect for and I was genuinely interested in what he had to say.We managed to pull it off despite the Polish translations following our utterances creating those breaks in the flow of conversation. Ian is a formidable character and his wealth of stories magnificent. It was all over too soon and Ian obviously didn't want to hang around exiting as soon as he'd signed off a couple of autographs and posed for some obligatory photos.They had a soundcheck coming at them while I had hours to kill.
I'd been told I had a one to one interview after the conference for which I was running a bit late as I was nattering away to some of the press guys on the sunny balcony. I was soon face to face with a rather pretty translator and a dour faced guy who didn't speak any English. He gave off a bad vibe and when the translator told me that the interview was for a book he was writing and nothing to do with press I wasn't particularly happy as it would have been refused if I'd been briefed in advance. I told him this through the translator and there was some toing and froing between them before he suddenly got up, pissed of and started to walk. I asked him to sit down and that I'd go for it and give it a try. He sat down, surly and not looking me in the eye. He told the translator to read the questions from a piece of paper she had.First question " how did you get the name Fish?". I sighed and asked for the next question which was the inevitable "how did you join Marillion?". I said to him that if these were the questions for which all the answers are on web sites then this was wasting both our time as it was nothing new. I said I was sorry as it was going nowhere and to be honest the guy just came across as rude and unpleasant and I didn't want to be in his company. The fact that this was for a book that he intended to sell when he obviously had little interest in me apart from filling pages I felt was disrespectful. I stood up to go, apologised to the translator and offered my hand to the guy and said sorry. He refused my handshake and turned away. I was now angry and told him "Fuck you" to which he responded "Fuck you". I had to take a breath and step back as I was close to losing it completely.
I was fuming and told James Anderson who'd set up the interview what had happened. He also hadn't been told it was for a book and then he told me that the guy was actually the booker of the festival who was obviously running his own side project. I was told by James later in the afternoon that he'd wanted to book me for another festival next year but he'd changed his mind after the incident. I wasn't particularly concerned mainly because I had met the owner of the hotel and resort, a really nice guy with whom I'd got on really well and I mentioned my encounter to which he replied for me not to worry and he wanted me back in 2016 for the anniversary festival.!
The rest of the afternoon was spent in better company as Bob Dylan's road crew had arrived for a day off before his show and it turned out there were a couple of fans in the entourage one of whom had been at the infamous Irving Plaza show in NYC in 2000. The merch guy , a New Zealander had worked for the Marillos back in 87 and we cast up some memories. A really nice bunch of people it was a pleasant way to waste the hours before my soundcheck.
Marek Cieslak from the Company Poland was also there and had come with Aki, the producer of the never ending story that is the reknowned Fishheads Club Polish video that has been on hold for years due to disagreements within the production team with one of the main guys serving a short stretch for tax evasion!The project has been resurrected and we're looking at a new edit to bring it under control and less than the 2 hours 20 minutes it stands at at present!It was great to see them both again and everyone has green lighted their contributions. We are looking at trying to get it together for October but I am not holding my breath on that!
Sven had turned up from Berlin and was desperate to find a place to watch the Germany France game.I had a soundcheck to wrap and headed down the hill to stage. It was quite a slog in the heat and after a couple of trips my legs were aching.The Polish sound crew were on the ball and "Bully" the monitor engineer had delivered a great sound on stage with Shaun coaxing a fine out front mix from the PA. The equipment on hand was top notch and the stage crew were all pros.It was a great setting although we were having problems as the sun was making it difficult for John Beck to read his led displays and all the backline was covered in space blankets to stop it frying in the intense sunlight.
We were done by 6 and I was back up the hill to get dinner and catch what I could of the German game as it was being shown in the Rock Bar. Food took precedence and I only managed to see a bit of the first half, grabbed my stage clothes at half time and then saw some of the second half before heading to stage.The gig was more important although I did catch some of it stage side as the sound crew had it streaming on a lap top. I missed the goal but was glad the result went our way and we were being announced on stage just as the final whistle went!
We did have a problem though as 2 of John's white keys weren't working and they were in the centre of his main keyboard! He would be dancing round them all night!
"Perfume River" opened and followed it with "Feast of Consequences" getting the crowd with us quickly. There were good energies around and the Polish audience didn't let us down. "Script" was a belter and soared in the marvelous arena. "What Colour is God" got the crowd moving before a special "Crucifix Corner" and "The Gathering" drew a great reception. The sun had thankfully dropped but it was still a warm night. "Big Wedge" and "All Loved up" had everyone on their feet and hands in the air before Robin and I were left on the stage for a lovely version of "Blind to the Beautiful". I'd been engaging the crowd from the area directly in front of the stage and it was working especially when I went down and orchestrated the sing along section at the end which had the entire audience clapping along.I was wary of the time as we had the medley to finish and that was clocking in at 25 minutes. I didn't want to overrun into Ian's time so we rattled through the sections shortening them as much as we could to fit. We over stepped by 5 minutes and took a great reaction from the crowd who although they wanted an encore had to be satisfied as we had already overstayed our time.It was great to be out at an open air in front of a big crowd again.
As always the come down was tough and a few glasses of wine while Ian warmed up his flute next door and his band assembled for their show took the edge off. I watched the first couple of numbers and they were on form as you would expect. We had done a grand job warming up the crowd but Tull are masters of these events and were going down well.I decided to retire to my room as I wanted to call my girlfriend and chill out a bit.I could hear Ian and the boys perfectly well from my bedroom window!
And that was when Yatta dropped of the bottle of clear Zubrowka!
The rest is a blur until he was back banging at my door and I was crawling into the back of the minibus at 7am. I have been in better shape! Furry teeth and no shower with a rushed pack and a small painful cut on the back of my head from a fall in my room as I attempted to get into bed. This was not my most glorious moment. I slept the entire journey to the airport and somehow managed to get through security and onto a plane on which I again slept through the entire flight waking as we landed in Luton.I was rough as a badger and now had to get a taxi back to Heathrow.
We were supposed to have been flying from Gdansk mid afternoon but the promoter had changed them and Yatta had missed it only discovering the mistake just as we came off stage. My flight from Heathrow was supposed to be at 9pm. I arrived at the airport at 2! Hoping to get an earlier flight I went to the Virgin Atlantic desk to find out I wasn't even booked on a flight and the reservation code I had was for a one way flight from Edinburgh!For the second time this year the nice ladies at the Virgin desk sorted me out and £90 lighter I was on my way home with a hangover that wasn't shifting but at least I was going home. I figured there was no point in suffering for the remainder of the evening so picked up some wine on the taxi ride to the studio and proceeded to douse the pain with the knowledge that today was a Sunday and I could heal on my own in an empty house and deal with Monday and a return to normality then!
Cue Beroccas this morning and lots of water and solids. I'm feeling more human now but took a gamble on a small joint of pork that had been left out the fridge all night and had just passed it's sell by date. I figure that the chances of any bacteria surviving in my system just now is pretty minimal.
Back in the gym tomorrow and no more alcohol till Barcelona next weekend. I'm getting too old for this racket! "
Fish and Mr Anderson