What was your first PB show like?

[Wolfman]

Where was your first show?  When?  
What happened?  Were you hooked?

I have a great story for this.  The show was 11/19/99 at Butterfield Dorm at UMass.  All week I had seen signs around campus for Psychedelic Breakfast in Butterfield.  Thing is, I had no idea it was a band.  I thought they were going to decorate Butterfield with psychedelia and serve breakfast at 10PM and the whole idea was that you would show up tripping and eat breakfast in the middle of the night and be totally confused.  I really thought this.  I also thought it was the dumbest idea I ever heard, and had no intention of going...

So that night I\'m walking past Butterfield and I heard music inside, and I thought I\'d go in to check it out.  That decision altered the course of my life in drastic ways.  What happened that night was the most incredible live music experience I have ever been a part of.  The band was SO GOOD and the whole dorm was down there but nobody had any idea who the band was or what exactly they were getting into.  Next thing you know, kids are screaming their heads off after every song, stomping on the floor, running into walls, pig-piling on each other, all because this band is playing the most incredible set of music anyone has ever seen.  The fact that it was so out of the blue also contributed greatly.  Everyone just stood there with there jaw literally hanging out during the jams, then went apeshit after each song.  (I love seeing people now who are obviously seeing PB for the first time, standing there with their mouth slackjawed, unable to move or speak.  It happens all the time.)  Finally, at about 2:30am, they finished up, and came out for an encore.  It was so obscenely loud in there before the encore that the chancellor of UMass, who lives half a mile from Butterfield, heard the racket and called the police.  The police came after the first encore and had no hope of restoring order, so PB came out and did another encore in an attempt to satiate the savage beasts they had just created.  After the show, the band partied all night long in the dorm, and were deemed by everyone there to be the 4 coolest guys who had ever walked the earth.  Thus began the Butterfield legend.

I came to a couple of immediate realizations after this show:  
1.  I kept saying to myself and to everyone I spoke to: "I have seen the light, and it\'s name is Psychedleic Breakfast".  (Didn\'t know "See the Light" was a song at the time)  I just knew, just immediately and completely knew that this was everything I had ever looked for in a band.  
2.  As a big Phish fan who has only been able to see the band since they have played huge shows, I had always wondered what it would have been like to see them at Nectar\'s or a UVM basement.  I think most Phish fans go through this.  As soon as that PB show was over, I knew that I never again had to wonder what it was like to see Phish in a UVM basement.  I now knew exactly what it looked like.
3.  I kidded myself by saying that if PB ever asked me to be in the band, I would drop out of school immediately and join them.  At the time I was thinking of this in terms of as a saxophone player, not tour manager, but regardless, the crazy part is that 2 years later, it happened.  

11/19/99 was my first PB show, and to date the craziest concert I have ever been at.  It was the first PB show for just about everyone there.  The people who saw it became the UMass crew that would attend thousands of combined shows over the next few years and create the Butterfield legend.  Who knows what my life would be right now if I had not stumbled in there that night.  I would give $1000 for a tape or $5000 for a video, but I\'ll have the memories forever.  (Not to mention the fantastically altered life.)

So what happened with you and your first show?

Wolf

[freddiewaht]

ok you asked for it...the date was january 2 1999.i was driving home,in staven and drove past the brickhouse.the brickhouse was the local crack bar but i read the sign that said psychedelic breakfast tonite so i asked myself what the fuck that could possibly mean and came to the realization that whatever it is i wanna check it out..so i came back to the bar later that night and saw a buncha cats,no body i knew yet except for jordan.he told me about a project that was happening,pb.i knew him from shakedown and staven.so,needless to say,my mind was blown from the first note.ill never forget,i was in the pisser and i heard music coming from the speakers in the bathroom.it sounded like a live version on lizzy reed i hadent heard yet.turns out it was pb and i was hooked.300+shows later im just too caught up to quit it now..

[Overexjoesure]

October 20th, 2000 Toad\'s Place New Haven, CT
I: Funk > Sundance, LDZ > Frankly Po Zest, Phaddy Boom Baddy, Gladys Pimp > May Fly Disarray


Well I first heard of PB back in 1999 when I wandered into CD Revolution in Orange and browsed through their local bans bin.  I picked up PB\'s debut that day based solely on the album cover and song titles in the back.   I spent days after drooling in a mindless stupor.  I spent the next year in a half trying to find rides to any PB show, I needed to see them.  Finally its a year later and I\'m a senior in high school and taking a TV production class.  I decided for my first semester project I would document a band, and well as it went I thought PB was the perfect choice.  So I called up Josh and sure enough he hooked me up for the show.  I ended up taking my camera and spent a good two hours taping soundcheck and interviewing the boys backstage.  My camera lasted up until mid-Sundance, by that point I told me friend Kurt to stop filming and enjoy every fucking note!!!  What a wonderful night that was, what makes it even more wonderful is the fact I have it all on tape!!!  Anyways bottom line killer opening  Funk jam which segued flawlessly into Sundance!! LDZ>Frankly (WOW COULD YOU FEEL THE HEAT THAT NIGHT)!!!  Take away Phaddy Boom Baddy and replace it with song x and you had one perfect PB cherry popper!!!

[Marcial]

Unfortunately, I don\'t remeber the exact date of my first show... only that it was at Toad\'s place sometime in early 1999.  PB was playing with Moki Jam and they were both opening for Max Creek.  I had just recently moved to CT and the people in my office told me that, since I like the Dead, I should check out Max Creek.  Anyway, I went to the show solo and of course was blown away.  The 2 songs I remember are Super Fly and Phaddy Boom.  When Creek finally took the stage, I was thinking, damn THESE GUYS should have been opening!  I distinctly remember seeing several people there that night, including freddiewaht, who I had never met, but would later go on to become great friends of mine.   I signed up on the mailing list that night & saw no telling how many subsequent shows over the ensuing 2 1/2 years (mostly with my touring partner the wah), until I moved away in late September 2001.  

Since I moved down to South Fl, I have still managed to see around 5 shows a year.  At the end of this month, I will be moving to AL, which is a much more centralized location... hopefully I wil be able to get that number considerably higher.

[kindm's]

Well Haven\'t been on board as long as you guys but my first PB show was in July 2001. They were playing a show following SONO if Iremeber correctly w/ The Grapes of Vaudevillian Fantasy. Kim and I hadn\'t been doing a lot of live music since Jerry had passed and this was our first step back out in to the scene so to speak. I had never heard of PB but had heard of the Grapes. Jon (the guy promoting the show) was a Terrapin "Boardie" when the message board was small and several of us had decided to meet there for the first time on a face to face basis. Well I will never forget standing in the back checking out this guy who was taping the sets on a Tower PC and Then these guys take the stage. PB launches in to their typical high energy in your face set. I remember the grin apperaing from ear to ear and I couldn\'t stop asking Kim who are these guys. Needless to say that was all that was needed and I got on the bus. So 2 years later and Many, many PB shows later I still can\'t get enough. Their music has pushed my hobby for taping and all of the people I have met in the PB family have been great people. My Favorite Band period!!

[realisthis]

January, 26th, 2001 - Toad\'s Place -New Haven, CT
I: Rufus > Mooboo\'s Voodoo (Episode 2), LDZ > Echidna\'s Arf (Of You) > Garcian Fishbowl* > Gypsy Girl** > The Grand Scheme Of Things* > Drums > Son Of Simpleton
* unfinished
** new version, first time played (old version last played 01/07/00)  

Need I say more?

[sunshine]

This is my first show
 


October 20th, 2000 Toad\'s Place New Haven, CT
I: Funk > Sundance, LDZ > Frankly Po Zest, Phaddy Boom Baddy, Gladys Pimp > May Fly Disarray



All I remember was Jocelyn telling me and Travis that we had to check out this band Max Creek, and we said that it was cool and we\'d check em out with her. We got down there and parked the truck somewhere and headed to Toad\'s. We didn\'t know what to expect and this band came on and totally blew us away. The whole place was just shaking from everyone going crazy! I don\'t think that I could ever forget that show. I danced so hard that I actually passed out on the bench on the side of the room. And I ended up being woken up by Pat The Head Dancing Hippie running around the room screaming his head off. It was the funniest awakening I\'ve ever experienced. So after the show ended we left the building to go home. Keep in mind there was 5 of us and 4 out of 5 of us were tripping their asses off. So we wandered around and around New Haven looking for the truck. A couple of them yelling out "Jimmy! Jimmy the Truck! Where are you!" This is at 3 in the morning looking for a damn truck in New Haven, CT. There are cops all over the place so everyone starts getting all worried about dealing with cops cuz we\'re a bunch of hippies walking around thier town at 3 in the morning. Finally we found the truck. ( I can\'t believe it took that long because the thing is freakin huge! It was a ford diesel. It didn\'t make sense) It was actually parked right next to the cemetry, the last place we expected because one of the girls didn\'t want to park near it, and we finally felt nice and safe in the truck. Best concert experience I think. Well if not best definitly cutting it damn close! Thought I\'d share!

[mattgilhuly]

Kindm\'s - It was the Grapes and Uncle Sammy as well at SONO. I believe the order was US, PB, GVF.

OK.  First PB show was an open mike night, wednesday in November 98.  Some vastly less talented friend of an ex girlfriend was there jamming with most of PB.  I was really impressed with the level of talent these kids who except for jordan still couldn\'t order a beer in a bar displayed.  There were about 7 people present for this one - Cari O very well may have been one of them.  I didn\'t really see them again until 99.  Well the girlfriend dumped me, so I was lone wolfing alot of shows, one of which was a leftover show in 99 where I met Marcial.  Not too long after that was a string of Thursday nights w/ Marcial, Freddie and crew at Rudy\'s, Blues Cafe, Donovan\'s Reef etc.  that is still to this day the golden age of my live music listening career.  I completely relate to a lot of Wolfman\'s perceptions, particularly what must be a universal slack jawed look that comes over the first timers which sort of migrates from a look of confusion as to whether they are actually witnessing this and is it really as good as they think is to a grin when they realize it is.

[Blackieshamps]

October 8th, 2000 The Harvest Festival 2000 Afton, NY
I: Jam > Cut Me Some Slack, Phaddy Boom Baddy, LDZ > Flower Punk > Rufus > Earache My Eye > What the Funk, Head Dancin’ Hippy Jam > Drum Solo, Buquebus > Jazz/Polka Jam, Rock Bottom Special*
* with Rock Bottom rapping and PB layin’ the funk

I was 15.  It was in the woods.  Anyone who was there knows what it was like, and anyone whos been to Echo Lake knows how it can get out there.  I was Twisted and I didnt even believe that what i was seeing was real (most of it probably wasn\'t).  

I didnt see PB again until Freddie\'s Jack and Jill, but from then on its been like a crack  addiction.

[Todd]

After much thought and research I have determined this to be my first:
March 12th, 1999 Toad’s Place New Haven, CT
I: Superfly Phaddy Fat, The Vermont Song, The Grand Scheme of Things* > Peaches en Regalia
* First Time Played

I first met Jordan when he was playing with Shakedown. Then got to know him better when he was with Smoke The Prophet. I learned he had joined the members of a jazz group I had always wanted to check out (Magic?) and had formed a new band which was purportedly off the hook. I missed the first bunch of shows in the winter of \'98-\'99 due to my obsessive desire to ski as many days as possible. When I finally checked them out, I was hooked!!! Here it is 3 1/2 years and 152+ shows later and they never cease to amaze me. They make me do crazy things, like sell very good seats to a sold out Dead show, to go see them at one of the nastiest venues in the northeast (read: Living Room). WELL WORTH IT!!!!!

Peace,
Todd

[tiedyetoga]

Mine was somewhere back in 2001. Not sure of the date, I do remember that it was a Callahan’s show. I went with my good friend Pete (realisthis) and was blown away. Tim did some crazy guitar playing and I was hooked. Well here I am now. I have only been to about 25 + shows. Its picking up steam tough..

[leith]

7/1/03 Winston\'s Ocean Beach Ca.
I went to this show because i had bought Bonafide the week before. I found the band online about 3 months prior, downloaded a few songs. I was intrigued by this band and when I saw they were playing Winston\'s I was there.
Now Winston\'s is a small beach bar with the usual crappy lighting and O.K. sound that is known more for happy hour than music. EXCEPT for those in the know.

 I knew that a tues. nite would bring no crowd but i was going since if there was no crowd i would be able to see this band and have room to dance. I was blown away from the first note played ! It only got better I was entranced by all in the band Jordan ripping it up, Ron laying it down and Adrian keeping it all locked down, but Tim just made my jaw drop on every song. That has not happened to me in a while even Trey is not that "on it" anymore !! Anyway smoking out the bands I see @ Winston\'s is pretty much a ritual so I finangeled my way into the PB crew as they walked outside. As we were walking around the back alley, Tim turns and asks if I was from around there and if it was safe to smoke where we were. In response I smiled and my ritual stayed intact So the rest of the nite was basically perfect . I could not believe these guys and then to hear how stoked they were to be playing late nite @  Baja Bash North a few weeks later just got me going as I knew they would blow the minds of all who heard these Behemoths of Rock!!!

[Drew_Kingsley]

My first show was 04/19/2002.  I don\'t feel like going to get the setlist, but it was the last Callahan\'s show.  I don\'t remember much about how well the band played (but it was definitely the best concert I had ever been to up until that point), but I remember being pumped that I got in since it was an 18+ show and I was only 17.  Now, 14 shows later (including 3 Diesel Experiments), I\'m completely hooked, and I\'m still getting into shows that I should be too young to get into (i.e. La Cocina on Thursday).

By the way, if you ever want to get into a 21+ show if you\'re under 21, show up a good hour before the band goes on and carry some of Chris F\'s taping equipment.

[Wolfman]

Good call!  We (the Umass crew) used to do a lot of gear carrying for the band to get into 21+ shows.

[celtics]

I have yet to see them live. But the etree archives have been getting a lot of love recently. When I move back up to the Boston area I hope to catch as many shows as possible though. No rush, they should be around for a long time.