When I heard that the French band Phoenix was coming to The Fillmore in Miami Beach, I got a ticket as soon as I could. I was expecting a good show. What I got was the best concert of the year — maybe the best I’ve ever been to.
I’ve seen a lot of bands: U2, The Police, The Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, MuteMath, Vampire Weekend, The Killers, Bob Dylan, John Mayer, Incubus, but believe it or not, Phoenix topped them. Phoenix’s live show is everything that you could want in a concert, and more.
As they stepped onto the stage, excited fans were greeted by the band. They proceeded to open the show with two of their most popular songs, “Lisztomania” and “Lasso.” From where I was seated ― though I was disappointed I couldn’t get closer ― I had a perfect view of everything on stage. Guitarists, Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz, stood at each end of the stage. Between them were bassist, Deck d’Arcy, and lead-singer Thomas Mars. Behind them, almost hovering on a platform above the rest, were drummer Thomas Hedlund and keyboardist, Jonathan Chavez.
The energy from those two opening songs was electric. It also helped that the lighting effects coordinated with the music were as impressive as I’ve ever seen. Every member of the band played each song with everything they had, bouncing up and down, rocking their heads, and Hedlund was a monster on the drums. Mars, who didn’t play any instruments on stage, interacted with the audience throughout the whole show and climbed on top of everything on the stage.
The set list was amazing, as the band controlled both the dynamics of the night and the tempo. Most of their songs are upbeat songs that you can dance to, but they slowed it down in several times, particularly in the encore when they did two acoustic songs, “Honeymoon” and a cover of a famous French song. About halfway through the show, a white curtain immediately fell and hung in front of the stage as the band did a cool little thing with lights and silhouettes while they played “North.”
But the highlight of the night was the encore. After the few acoustic songs, they went into one of their most popular songs, “If I Ever Feel Better,” and, from where I was sitting, the crowd in the pit, from where I was sitting looked like waves bouncing up and down. Everyone in the venue belted out every lyric along with Mars. Still, even after having been blown away by amazing songs like “Funky Squaredance” and “Rome.” I could feel the tingling excitement flow through my spine in anticipation of the highly popular, and arguably the band’s best song, “1901.” This was the song featured in iPod commercials, which helped them breakthrough in the U.S.
“1901” was the icing on the cake to the perfect night. Phoenix was perfect. Not only did Thomas Mars, after singing “1901,” walk out into the crowd and make his way to the back, as far as his microphone cord would let him reach, proclaiming thank you’s to the audience, shaking hands, and giving out hugs. On his way back, he asked everyone in the pit to join him on stage while the band played the last few bars of “1901.”
For their first time playing in Miami, Phoenix left quite a mark. They were worth every penny as they put on a fantastic show and left me with some incredible memories. Who knows when they’ll be back in this part of the world, but, trust me, you don’t want to miss it.
