Phish
December 28, 2009
American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL
Written by Christina Mendenhall
Last Monday night, fans slowly poured into the American Airlines Arena for the first of a four night stand with uber hippie jam band Phish. There was no opening act and even though the show was supposed to start at 7:30, the foursome did not take the stage until well after 8:00.
As I was waiting for this experience to begin, I noticed the very eclectic group of fans included everyone from young hipsters to older hippies dressed in Grateful Dead style tie dyed t-shirts.
After speaking with one Phish fan, I learned that even though this was not his first time seeing the band, he was just as excited as he was the first time. That feeling of excitement resonated around me and around the rest of the arena. Another fan said he had tickets to see all four nights of performances and that every night would be a totally different show. Many of the concert goers were also out of towners and most could not contain their love for the jam band.
When the four band members finally walked on stage, the place went wild in a way that was similar to that of a crowd at a Dave Matthews show. Phish opened their first set of the night with “Sample In A Jar” and then went right into crowd favorite “NICU”. Other highlights from the set included “My Soul” and closer “Possum”.
All the peace and music loving spirits definitely came out to rock out to the slow jams of the first set. It seemed as though they had lost none of their cult following after taking a break from their music for four years. I must say I’m not a jam band kind of girl but if that’s your cup of tea, Phish will certainly not disappoint.
photos by Christina Mendenhall
Leave a Reply