Blues Traveler and Gin Blossoms at the Fishers Event Center
Fishers, Indiana
On a cold February night in Fishers, Indiana, the Blues Traveler and Gin Blossoms didn’t just share a bill, they shared a time machine. Gin Blossoms opened the evening with the jangling ache of “Follow You Down.” The Arizona band ran through songs like “Until I Fall Away” and “Lost Horizons” before they hit on “Found Out About You.” “Followed by Allison Road” and “Hey Jealousy,” which turned the arena into a full-throated choir. They closed with “Til I Hear It From You.”
Then came Blues Traveler, and with them, velocity. The band wasted no time, kicking the doors open with “Run-Around,” John Popper’s harmonica lines still spiraling like a freight train. Popper remains a marvel — equal parts virtuoso and ringmaster with bending notes and time itself.
The covers told their own story. A loose, barroom swagger defined “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” tipping a respectful hat to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Then things got rowdy with “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” originally by The Charlie Daniels Band, with Popper’s harmonica stepping into the fiddle’s role with wicked delight. When “Hook” arrived, it felt like a thesis statement with its irony and self-awareness. The song that once poked fun at pop formula has outlasted plenty of it.
What made the night resonate wasn’t just the hits. It was the endurance. Both bands have weathered shifting trends, collapsing industries, and the fickle churn of streaming-era attention spans. Yet here they were, filling an arena in Indiana with songs written before some in the audience were born.
Call it nostalgia if you want. But on this night in Fishers, it felt more like proof that well-written songs, played loud and played honestly, don’t expire.
