Text and photos by Ariel Soto
I remember the first time I heard the music of the amazing French band Phoenix (http://www.wearephoenix.com/). I was in college and some kid in my Spanish class gave me a copy of their first album, “United,” and I sat in my tiny closet-sized, pink wallpapered room and played it over and over again. When I find music I like, I play it ad nauseam, driving everyone around me crazy. That album also became the background to many a make-out session with my now fiance in that teeny pink room. Today when I listen to Phoenix’s music, it’s like downing a huge glass of sweet nostalgia.
Last night they performed at the Fillmore. The show was packed with lip-syncing Phoenix devotees, who bounced up and down to each intoxicating piece with syncopated perfection, which was actually kind of frightening when the floor began to bounce with them (eeek!). The band, which just released a new album last year titled Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, was contagiously energized and fantastic throughout the whole set, as they disappeared and reappeared from inside clouds of smoke and a wildly colorful light show. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one reminiscing during the concert because Phoenix’s music is the perfect medium for making fond memories.
