COVENTRY, Vt. (AP) – Jumping, singing and dancing, over 60,000 fans basked in the music as Phish opened the first of three farewell sets Sunday night at a festival in northeastern Vermont, the jam band’s home state.

With no word of introduction, bassist Mike Gordon took the lead vocals and worked the crowd into a funk-driven frenzy with the Phish classic “Mike’s Song.”

The feverish melee paused only for the gentle pulsing of Page McConnell’s organ, signaling the band’s transition into the softer instrumental “I am Hydrogen.”

The mellow segue didn’t last long, though, and Phish quickly resumed intensity to round out the tune – the sun-drenched crowd thanking the band for the groove with screams, bouncing beach balls and thunderous applause.

The commotion stood in sharp relief to the venue Phish chose to build its concert stage: a quiet, mostly agricultural section of Vermont not far from the Canadian border. The rolling hills and open expanse of field formed a natural amphitheater for the band to stage its traditional improvisation-heavy live show, the last of which was scheduled to conclude early Monday morning.

Fans had another reason to be thankful – the weather. Sunday was the second sunny day in a row after a week in which torrential rains turned the concert site into a squishy, mucky swamp.

Phish announced in May that it would break up after this weekend’s festival, eliciting reactions among fans that ranged from anger to acceptance.

That diversity of emotion was obvious inside the site of the two-day event, the 600-acre Newport State Airport.

“I think that Trey is selfish,” said Sean Mullady of Rockville Center, N.Y., referring to Phish’s front man, Trey Anastasio. “Phish is ending it; there’s no band to take over the subculture.”

Others were more optimistic about what the future holds for “Phish-heads,” the band’s legion of devoted followers.

Chelsea Terrell, 31, of San Francisco said the band’s departure from the music scene meant that it was time to move on.

“For me, it’s time to start something new,” she said. “I’m thankful it ever happened.”

Despite Sunday’s clear skies, groups of fans were seen filing out of the festival during the day.

Twenty-five-year-old Derek Finholt of Salem, Oregon, said the bad weather earlier in the week prompted his decision to leave.

“I’m having a good time, but the water really dampened peoples’ spirits,” he said as he stood on the airport runway waiting for his car to be towed out of the ankle-deep mud. “The concert had so much potential.”

Bog-like conditions inside the airport forced organizers Saturday morning to turn away arriving fans by setting up roadblocks on nearby Interstate 91 and some local roads leading to the festival site.

Most were undeterred, and paid to park their cars at private homes near the festival or left their vehicles abandoned on the highway to walk to the concert. Vermont State Police estimated some 6,000 fans made the journey, contributing to a crowd that concert organizers said peaked at between 60,000 to 65,000 people Sunday night.