Fans say goodbye at Phish finale January 5, 2003 - Hampton Daily Press By Sam McDonald HAMPTON -- The Peninsula's Phish flood reached its high water mark Saturday night with the last of three concerts bursting with improvisational music, free-form dancing and 1960s-style brotherhood. Fans continued to pour into the area from across the nation, eager to hear Phish - the popular Vermont-based jam band - rock Hampton Coliseum once again. In the hours leading up to the finale, fireworks exploded sporadically in the air above the Coliseum's parking lot. Unlucky fans desperately tried to get their hands on tickets. Others sipped beer and traded stories of big Phish shows of the past. Also, weird scenes abounded. A bearded, scruffy-looking fan with long dreadlocks hopped out of a long, white limousine and sauntered toward the vendors gathered near the Coliseum. Another Phish fan approached the arena wearing an oversized Richard Nixon mask and carrying a boom box blasting the 1980s funk hit "Freaks Come Out at Night." Still, many of the 13,800 who turned out for Saturday's sold-out concert couldn't have appeared more normal. Mark Campbell, a 29-year-old science teacher from Cincinnati, arrived Saturday and was bubbling over with anticipation. What makes Phish so special? "It's therapy. And it's church - without the ideology," he explained. "It's more of a methodology instead of an ideology. Every show is different. And this is where they play their best shows - hands down." Campbell had just met Lee Bodner and Jamie Treworgy, two fellow Phish Heads from Washington, D.C. Already, they were talking like old friends. "There is a certain ritual about it," Bodner said of the Phish concert experience. "Not like a cult, but the more you know about it, the more you get out of it. And it's definitely a collective experience. The way the audience reacts is important. And that's what makes the Hampton shows so special." Treworgy said he saw Bruce Springsteen play on a recent tour. "It was fantastic. He's a great musician," Treworgy said. "But he's not going out and taking chances and putting everything on the line. That's what Phish does." While local drug and alcohol arrests spiked in conjunction with the band's visit to the Peninsula, the concerts were generally described as successes by music fans, city officials and local business operators. "Until all this happened we thought Phish was something that you find in the James River," said Keeler Abbitt, an owner of Best Western Hampton and the adjacent Crabbers Restaurant and Sports Lounge. "But these kids have been great." Phish devotees packed his Mercury Boulevard hotel - as well as others in the area - starting Thursday. Many ordered food from Crabbers and attended an after-concert party there. "The people have been very nice, polite and they've treated the servers well," said Ellen Pitsilides Abbitt, Keeler's wife. "They tip good. They're well behaved. If I could have them once a month, I'd be happy. I could pay off all my bills." Area grocery stores erected beer displays targeted to famously thirsty Phish Heads. Many restaurants saw a dramatic spike in traffic. "Yesterday and the day before, our lunch crowd was humongous," said Carlyle Bland, owner of Marker 20, a new restaurant in downtown Hampton. He estimated that he was getting 20 to 30 extra customers a day. Something similar has been true for other restaurants and bars on Queens Way, he observed. "It's been a great little shot in the arm for all of us." Phish fan Chris Bibro, a 26-year-old Baltimore resident, said he's enjoyed seeing the band in Hampton for years. He said the Coliseum and the cluster of hotels around it become a cohesive community when Phish plays here. "It's a nice, comfortable environment," Bibro said. "It surprises me in a way. When you think about hip places you normally think San Francisco, New Orleans or Chicago. But Hampton creates a welcoming mood. People like it here. "This guy obviously feels at home," Bibro said, pointing to a man relieving himself next to a tree. Isolated cases of misbehavior aside, Hampton's giant Phishing expedition worked well, organizers said. Coliseum director Joe Tsao said his greatest difficulty came in managing the 2,000-3,000 ticketless fans who wandered the parking lot during the show. "Considering the challenges we faced, I think the outcome couldn't have been better. This was the biggest Phish crowd we've ever had to manage," Tsao said. From the fans' perspective, the series of shows was pure bliss. A sign held high by a concert-goer Saturday summed up the feelings of many. "I Am Happy," it read on one side, "Thank You," on the other. Article Copyright © 2003 Daily Press