Sitting in the midst of the vast sprawl of an outdoor amphitheater during an encore when thousands of like minded fans held Zippos or Bics in the air was an indelible image that became ingrained in many concert goers minds in days gone by. Later, glowstick wars became one of those incredible visual memories seeing all the wild fluorescents fly through the air in orchestrated syncopation.

Now, developer and Phish fan, M@ - aka Matt Sheppard, thinks it is the time for smartphones to take over with an iPhone & Android app called Crowd Lights.

Inspired by both the Harry Hood glowstick war at The Great Went and seeing a plethora of phone screens visible at the Manchester show last fall, M@ got hard at work creating an “audience based light show”. All the phones running the app become part of a synchronized display based upon your location within the venue. Yet despite the complexity of the code, for the end user the instructions are quite simple:

A brief YouTube video shows a demonstration of the app in action. M@ is optimistic to get the word out about the app and have the first large scale test during Phishs’ Mansfield, MA show. Although Matt hoped to ring in the New year by trialing the app during the New Year run at MSG, Apple’s approval process proved too lengthy. He will be in Mansfield passing out cards pre-show encouraging downloads. Although the app already has a couple thousand downloads: the more, the merrier. Rest assured: The app is free, there are no advertisements, no data is collected during use, and no one will be injured in a massive Crowd Lights war. So check it out and encourage your friends to do the same: iPhone/iPod Link, Android Market Link

Let’s make Tuesday something to remember. Download Crowd Lights. Use on Tuesday night in Mansfield. How will you know when to use Crowd Lights? You’ll know. Just like a glow stick war. See you at the show!

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