take care of your shoes
August 15th, 2004
i spent 16 hours in the movie theater this weekend.
i danced my ASS off to that Antelope.
i’ve never sat through and enjoyed Velvet Sea before.
and that Piper may damn well be the best song i’ve ever heard.
these shows also definitely confirmed that Mike is indeed my favorite.
i enjoyed every moment, and was reminded that music is the only thing that really takes my mind away and enables me meditate and to enjoy each moment, uninterrupted by thoughts. all of the songs were over too soon, and all of them were perfect in every way, even with the missed lyrics and barely comprehensible rambling. what would a phish show be without that?
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so good to see you guys there!
I gave up my ticket, and have a few regrets. My friend who went was telling me about how Paige was crying through most of the second set. Aww…
yeah, i think that part was really hard on those of us in the theatre, because we could actually see their faces, and their trembling lips, and the tears in their eyes … *sniff*
i have no regrets whatsoever. i had a blast this weekend at the simulcast. i’m not a trooper like my other friends – i would never have made it inside, probably. even if all had gone relatively smoothly, i can’t deal with 60,000+ people in any setting. plus, i LOVE the simulcast and getting to see everything happening on stage and that bands faces, the sound is FANTASTIC, and during the set breaks we all went to the food court.
I’m with you, leblanc. I SO much enjoyed the simulcast. Yeah, maybe it would have been cool to actually be in Vermont, but I know I would have been all the way in the back, muddy as hell, probably pissed off from the mud, etc.
This way, I was able to hear everything and see everything, including Page and Trey getting all teary-eyed. Hope there’s a DVD planned for this!
Oh, and did you see us waving?
We waved at the screen and said hi to everyone we knew who was either at the actual show or watching the simulcast.
The guys sitting in front of us thought we were extremely strange.
I posted my traveling debaucle to my comments section, but yeah Coventry was an absolute nightmare logistically.
I would never have missed the last Phish shows ever, and I ended up having the time of my life, but I had friends who parked 10 miles away and walked to the shows with just a few necessities and spent the whole weekend beyond exhausted because of this.
Hell, we were ALL exhausted- what am I saying?
Six Phish shows in 7 nights in 4 states, zig zagging across the Northeast region of the US sure makes for a tiring week.
i wouldn’t have changed anything about coventry… not the 24 hours of traffic i sat in.. not the mud.. nothing!! it made it an adventure.. and the people that really wanted to be there made it in there.. we were 22 miles back when they made the anouncement.. i burst into tears.. then i realized… that they were still playing..
i said if i have to hike 22 miles.. then so be it.. ended up paying a local 3 miles from the venue to park on the lawn and hiked it in.. sure we had to leave so much stuff in the car.. but it was like survivor style.. and we all did it with smiles on our faces.. standing there 1st set.. and seeing how many people actually walked in.. brought tears to my eyes.. it was truely amazing….. no these were the best phish shows ever.. the shows before hand.. especially 2ng night of GW’s way better.. but it wasn’t about that.. it was about.. them being out there exposed… sharing it with their fans… trey had said.. that he had never been so nervous as he was now the first night.
thanks phish for memories.. and the wonderful friends that i made over the years!!
i think you are definitely in the minority with the “i wouldn’t have changed anything about coventry” statement. there are a LOT of really angry people out there right now, unfortunately, people who “played by the rules” that were given out over the radio and therefore never got in. the stories on the PB bulletin board are really sad.
i think it *really* pissed people off that although the band acknowledged more than once those people who got out and hiked, not ONCE did they acknowledge those people who abided by the instructions and turned around and went home. they never even said anything about that at all. if i were one of those who turned around and left when they told me to, and then later heard the shows and heard them thanking everyone who walked in, i can’t even tell you how mad i would be.
the thing is though.. the people that turned around and gave up were in the minority.. although have the biggest voice on the internet. it was pretty clear what was happening.. and that the cops weren’t going to tow the cars left on the side of the road. it also said that you were “discouraged” from walking in… not that you couldn’t.. basically.. they were saying that they were closing the gates to cars not people.. there was no way that they could get in any more cars.. that was clear once i got there. i don’t know.. they said that you had to turn around.. but not that you couldn’t come to the show.. as soon as i knew that the show wasn’t canceled.. there was no way i wasn’t going.. i belive that the total number was 65,000 attended.. that means 5000 turned around..
i feel that they could have gone if they wanted… all the towns were doing everything they could to get the fans there.. i think if you guys were there… you wouldn’t have turned around and went home… would you have?
Yeah, this is a really tough situation. I know various alternatives were being tossed around all night long as to how to get people in (bussing, etc) but in the end the mud was too hardcore and the venue just could *not* sustain the crowd that came, especially with the rain.
The problem is, Phish’s mgmt & GNP knew about these logistical nightmares weeks & months before this, and chose to continue the event as planned, when they should have either moved it immediately after the breakup announcement was made, or cancel the event completely.
After reading so many horror stories from people who waited 40 hours in traffic, only to turn around, I cant help but think this event should have been cancelled long ago. The place could barely hold 50,000 on a perfect, dry summer day- much less 65,000 in the rain!
You can’t pick on the people who followed the instructions for leaving, they were just doing what they were told all along. I commend them for that, although it truly baffles me that so many people *wouldn’t* look for alternative roads using a VT map or atlas!! Most of my friends had no problems getting through on Rte 14 within a few hours on Thursday or Friday afternoon, but this was the same access path they shut down late Friday night when we arrived (grrrrrrrrrr).
Then, the worst part??? ONE EXIT ON MONDAY!!! It took us 7 hours to get out of the place, and we had to get towed out of mud once for $100. Why the hell didn’t they have multiple exits? Plus, all GNP staff were long gone by then, leaving only 2 pathetic local bumpkins to man thousands of vehicles leaving.
Anyways, I have to say I’m having a hard time deciding whether I’m more disgusted with the shady operations of Coventry, or the fact that Trey decided to get so hammered for the last 2 shows, that he couldn’t play *ONE* composition right. Thats just lame IMO, and its disrespectful to the fans, and especially to the other bandmembers who are now out of a job because Trey said so.
The more I think about it, the more I think Trey wins my disgust more