My husband and I bought tickets to a music festival hosted by Big Fish Pub. We rarely treat ourselves to an evening out (in today's economy money is just too tight), and I had been looking forward to this for weeks. But the Big Fish Pub was one disappointment after another. It isn't a pub - it is a bar, and too small to host a music festival.
To start, the tickets clearly stated the doors would open at 4:00pm on Sunday. However the door did not open until 6:00pm and when we pointed this out to the girl taking tickets, she simply said "I don't know anything about that." Really? And that was as good as the service got.
When we finally got inside we found a small room with 1/3 of it stage. Directly in front of the stage was a taped off section about 4 ft by 10 ft, supposedly for minors (though no seating was provided), which blocked our view of the performers. Apparently they read their tickets close enough to realize it said "all ages." With a total of 4 tables many of the bands (and their friends and family) waited their turn outside, in the valley heat.
The bartender appeared to be more interested in her phone than in her job. And when we tried to order drinks we were disappointed yet again... they do not serve blended drinks.
The first band, Chasing Venus, wasn't able to start until about 6:30pm as the sound guy didn't arrive until after 6:00. From there the evening got a bit better, as the music was very good despite the lighting. The lighting guy seemed to favor this sickly green light which made me glad I hadn't gotten that drink. And the use of a smoke machine made it obvious Big Fish was trying to be something it isn't, and doesn't know how to be. Admittedly we did not stay the entire night, although we had planned to. We got thirsty and decided to leave before giving the bar anymore of our hard earned money.
If you are a band looking for a venue, do not look here. The music was great, but the venue is a joke.
Spend your money elsewhere, we will.
Cyndi 9/12
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