Hampton Came Alive, Once More

If there was any doubt to the draw that Phish might still have, it was quite evident pulling up to the Hampton Coliseum (pictured here) last night.  Ticketless folks lined the highway and street leading into the venue, with creative signs, costumes, and offers for anything resembling a piece of paper that would let them in the doors.  The most telling sign simply read "Asheville + Funk," indicating that summer tour tickets were already being used as currency (along with other stuff).  Fans were offering upwards of $500 for one ticket, but if those extras did exist, they were extremely rare finds. 

As much as you want to focus on what the band played, there were a few interesting notes about the crowd- Phish has always been known for their loyal following who dwell on the more hippie-ish side of things, and there's no doubt that they still exist, as evident by a host of patchworked pants and dresses.  But with the passing of nearly five years for the band, so has that time passed for their fans as well.  And they seemed tame, a bit more, dare we say: grown up?  It's not that there weren't instances of people taking too much of some substance and passing out, or the free hugs were absent.  But those were few and far between; the crowd was grateful, but clearly nostalgic throughout the night, both inside and outside of the arena. 

Very few homemade items existed in the parking lot for sale; even vendors of the infamous "goo balls" or veggie burritos weren't around, either.  Maybe its a case of just having a weekend where the die hard followers aren't needing to make a buck because there's no where to go come Monday; or maybe its that a lot of Phish's fans have invested in something else aside from a bag of bread for some grilled cheese?  Maybe so, or maybe not. -Michael D. Ayers