Phish Clearly has 20/20 Vision

By: Kevin Johnson
Posted In: Entertainment

With rumors becoming abundant, and expectations having grown day-by-day, Phish finally took the Fleet Center stage in Boston on Tuesday night and went on to perform what will surely go down as a high point in the band’s history.

Since the concert’s announcement in early September, the December 3rd show (which was being billed as the band’s twentieth anniversary show) has been one of the most sought after tickets by even the smallest Phish fans. Dedicated fans have been scurrying to find tickets however possible. Some were willing to dish out up to $200 for tickets on Ebay. Scalpers had an even easier time making money off the concert by selling tickets for higher prices than seen on-line.

Those lucky enough to get their hands on a ticket before show time at 8:00 p.m. were treated to a concert experience that easily lived up to fan expectation–something Phish has been doing since first gracing the stages of Burlington, Vt., in 1983. Kayla Marquis, who has been a Phish fan since the early 90’s, has had the chance to watch the band grow into the nation-wide phenomenon they have become could only say, “I’ve never experienced anything like tonight. It almost seemed unreal” about Tuesday night’s performance.

In the twenty years since its conception, Phish has performed more than 1,000 shows and stocked its repertoire with over 150 songs, both of band origin and cover songs from bands such as the Velvet Underground and Led Zeppelin.

The Fleet Center show utilized all of Phish’s prior performances as the set list and featured songs the band had written and performed since the 80’s. Including the opening song of the night, “Harry Hood,” accompanied in the first set with many other fan favorites such as “Down with Disease” and “Birds of a Feather.” Both of which have been increasingly popular since their debut in the early 90’s.

At the end of a marathon first set, which lasted more than an hour and a half, the band did something out of the ordinary that distinguished this concert from a normal Phish performance. They showed a 30-minute video compilation of the band’s history as part of the anniversary celebration. All those in attendance were excited to see rare footage of the band from its earliest days, and some of the more interesting outtakes of their career.

It seemed as though everyone at concert had at least one favorite memory of an event in the montage. Brian Strube, a college student from Worcester, Mass., recalls a scene from the video that took place on Feb. 26, 2003, in his hometown. There was also a great deal of crown adulation for a New Year’s Eve antic performed in the old Boston Garden in which the band was flown around the arena in a fake hot dog throwing confetti at the crowd while performing “Auld Lang Syne.”

The last frame of the video was a notice that the band would take the stage for the second set in 15 minutes, a promise they could not quite keep up to, but no one seemed to mind the extended wait.

Once Phish took the stage for the second set, the focus was again on the music. Opening the set was one of the many covers they would perform that night, “Rock and Roll” -originally performed by the Velvet Underground. Later in the set they also covered Edgar Winter’s instrumental, “Frankenstein,” and Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie on Reggae Woman.” All of which were well received by the intense crowd.

Even with so much of the night dedicated to what had got Phish to Tuesday night; they were also intent on proving to the crowd that they were not planning on going anywhere for years to come.

Since their two-year hiatus ended almost a year ago, the band has been revived with a new energy and a new element to their improvisational jams, which the band is revered for and considered one of the premier bands in the genre. These alterations have not diminished the band’s steady growth in popularity in every corner of the nation. Just walking the streets around the Fleet Center, cars could be spotted from many states, Colorado and California just to name a few.

Bearing the frigid 20 degree night, fans were more than willing to show up over two hours early just to wander the streets buying home-made goods from other Phish fans; one vendor had a sticker on his display case that read “spend your money in the lots.” By doing so fans are supporting fellow fans, some of whom can earn decent money selling food, crystals, or any other merchandise being offered that night, money that goes into touring with the band, seeing as many concerts as possible.

By the end of the night, everyone knew they had just witnessed a major concert in the ongoing history of Phish, and the talkative crowd who took to the streets once the show was over did not utter many regrets. Even though none of the rumors came true (the main being Carlos Santana supposedly joining the band for a portion of the show), Phish’s performance exceeded any expectation one could have had on the way in, and will presumably continue to do the same until the end of their careers.