Catching Fish in Warsaw

Back at the end of August, I had this weird idea. I’d been scrolling through Facebook and came across a post by Fish, former lead singer of Marillion (who, if you know anything about me, you know were instrumental in my formative years). In it, he was announcing added dates for his upcoming “Road to the Isles” tour, which, he also announced, would be his last tour. After 15 studio albums (four with Marillion) and numerous live and collected records, he was hanging up the scarf and microphone. 

Now, I’d seen him twice before, once in LA (at the Roxy in August of 1997) and once, 11 years ago, in Vilnius. And now, it seemed, that would be it. He was retiring. No more new music (I dutifully bought each new album as they were released) and no more opportunities to see him live. 

Just for fun, I checked out the tour dates, to see if maybe he was coming back to Lithuania. Nope, no such luck. To be fair, though, I don’t think he had a good time the last go around. After the show he’d gone on social media and commented about the lackluster Vilnius crowd.

That said… there were shows in Poland and there were still tickets available. After consulting a calendar, it actually looked like I could feasibly make the Sunday, October 20, show in Warsaw, which is an easy bus ride away. 

I double checked with Rasa that it was okay, invited a friend to come with me (who turned me down because he had never heard Fish’s music) and bought myself a ticket for the gig. Then I started looking at bus schedules. Turns out I could take a morning bus there, and an overnight bus back, getting home in time to take Monki to school. 

When I mentioned this to Rasa, her response was I should get a hotel for the night. “You’re not 20 anymore. You don’t need to sleep on the bus!”

“Challenge accepted!”

I booked the under 24-hour round trip and then got on with the business of enjoying life until the time came. 

This past weekend was the time. 

I contacted a friend in Warsaw to see if they wanted to get together for a coffee between the time of the bus arriving and the concert (they couldn’t, prior plans), but they suggested a mall near the venue to hang out since it was a few kilometers from city center. Okay, that was sorted. 

Rasa packed me a huge lunch and I took way too many different types of reading materials to keep me occupied on the ride and waiting time. She and Monki dropped me at the bus station at just before 9am (my scheduled departure time) and I was off on my adventure!

Now, here’s the part where I show my gratitude to my brilliant wife. Because I was only going for under 24 hours and would have everything stored in my backpack, which I’d have to leave in the coat check at the venue, I  casually mentioned I would leave my passport at home. I had my Lithuanian government issued ID card, that should be good enough, right?

Wrong!

Rasa explained that my card, really, was only for showing my ability to stay in the country for a period of time. It was not a travel document. Better I should have my passport with me. There might even be border checks, she said. “But aren’t we all EU?” Yes, but with illegal immigration on the rise, they were doing random checks. So I brought my passport. Sure enough, I was asked for it when I boarded the bus. I settled into my seat and texted her to let her know she was right. 

And then, about 90 minutes into our journey, when we crossed into Poland, we stopped for a border passport check. I texted Rasa again. She just laughed at me. 

The ride out was fine. I was sat next to a fairly large Belorussian who wasn’t pleased when it turned out he had a seatmate. It meant he couldn’t take up both chairs himself, something he had been doing. But he was nice enough. Halfway through the journey, he even gave me the single USB charging port (there were two ports, but the second was USB-C, which I didn’t have).  The roads have been redone in recent years, making the journey smooth and not interrupted by passing through every little village on the map, so we made good time, getting to the Central Station (which I didn’t even know we’d be stopping at) just after 2pm and to Zachodnia (my stop) pretty much right on time at 2:55pm. 

In the station I double checked that I could get data roaming (Rasa had had a problem with this on her recent trip to Toulouse so I had gone to our provider to get it sorted) and that I could get a cab for my ride back, then decided to walk the 3km to the venue. 

The walk was fairly easy, but I kept checking my map the entire way. I got there and took a daytime picture of the place and saw the mall my friend had told me about right next door. Great! All was going according to plan. 

Except the mall was closed. Not that it was locked up tight and abandoned or anything like that, no, but all of the stores save a couple of restaurants, a roller rink, and a KFC were all shut for the day. I assume this was because it was Sunday, but who knows?

All I knew for sure was that I needed to find someplace to hang out for the few hours until the show, which started at 7pm. So I punched the word “coffee” into my map app to see what was nearby. I found one place just down the road. Okay, cool. That would do. So I headed off. 

Turns out, whatever was supposed to be there, wasn’t what I was looking for. From the outside it looked like a kitchen area for a small business, definitely not a coffee shop. The problem, I guessed, was that I had specifically used the word “coffee.” I tried again, this time going much more specific. I had seen a Caffe Nero from the bus so thought I’d start there. Luck was on my side and there was one shown not far from where I was. I crossed my fingers and headed over. 

Success! It was indeed there and, after trying to order by using my phone’s translation app, it turned out the Barista spoke English so I was able to get my decaf oatmilk latte just fine. Finding a spot to sit, I thought about doing some work, but just wasn’t into it, so instead, I sipped my coffee and read*. Since the gig was at 7, I figured I’d leave the Caffe at 6 to get there and get sorted. Except when I looked at the ticket again, I realized I had misread things or gotten confused with time zones or whatever and the show was actually at 8. The doors opened at 7. But hey, I was already planning on heading over at 6 so if they wouldn’t let me in, I could at least stay out of the cold in the weirdly deserted mall. 

In fact, it was a good thing I went early. Yup, doors opened at 7 and the show was actually scheduled to start at 8:30, but there was already a number of people starting to queue. So I dutifully got in line and waited. Since I was by myself, and everyone else in line was in groups and not speaking English, I just read. To be fair, I did get offered a beer by the guys in line in front of me, but it was already cold so a beer just wasn’t what I needed. If they had had whiskey, I might have taken them up on it. 

Once inside, I checked my bag and coat (passport and all) and headed over to the merch stand to pick up a couple of tour shirts. I thought about some of the music in editions I didn’t have, but also realized I could get anything I needed from the website at the same price, so I let that go. The main hall was just an empty warehouse space with the stage set up at the far end. I made my way close to the front and then waited for another hour and some, reading on my phone, until the strains of La Gazza Ladra started (something Fish often uses to start his concerts) and the house lights dimmed. By that point, the place was packed and when the big man came out, we all went nuts. 

At this point, I should also give a quick shout out to the amazing band: Mickey Simmonds (keyboards), Robin Boult (guitars), Gavin Griffiths (Drums), and Steve Vantsis (bass). And then there was Elisabeth Troy (backing vocals),who came out wearing a Misplaced Childhood jacket!

The one thing I was concerned about, though was time. When I thought the show started at 7, I was grand. My bus was scheduled to leave at 11:45 so that would be plenty of time. Starting at 8:30 changed things a bit, especially since I had stuff in the coat check and I’d have to get a cab back to the bus station. There were a lot of people there and with lines and everything else, I knew I should probably leave about an hour before my bus left, to make sure I was okay. 

As it turned out, the encore ended at 10:40 so I figured that would be a good time to bolt. I made my way through the crowd and got my bag and jacket and as I was heading outside, I heard the music start up again. Turns out there was another encore or two, and I could have turned and seen it from the back of the house, but you know what? I was good. I’d enjoyed 2+ hours of live music and stories, heard some of my favorite songs and I really didn’t want to miss my bus. I left with a huge smile on my face and got back to the station in time to pick up a little souvenir for Monki, get myself something to drink for the ride, and get on my bus to head home. 

Thankfully, I had a row to myself on the ride back an d there were no border checks heading into Lithuania so I was able to sleep a bit. Around 6:20am, approximately 22 hours after I left, I was walking back into the house. Just in time to take Monki to school**. 

Now it’s back to the real world. But I did it. I was able to see Fish one last time. Totally worth it! 

* I was quickly working my way through the Button Box Trilogy by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar. 

** I didn’t have to since Rasa arranged to go in late, but I could have, and that was the plan! 

*** Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors, Credo, Big Wedge, Pipeline, Shadowplay, Weltschmerz, Feast of Consequences, Just Good Friends, Incubus, Plague of Ghosts, Gentleman’s Excuse Me, Kayleigh, Lavender, Heart of Lothian, Internal Exile, Company.

Here’s a full concert from a few week’s earlier than the one I went to – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgU1tzhJ4TE