Cleanup continues for Coventry, Phishs seventh multi-day festival and final performance. Thirty-six hours after music ceased, cars can till be seen stretching down I-91, where scattered debris remains.
Evoking memories of the original Woodstock Festival, a line of cars stretched for miles down the two-lane I-91 for days, forcing fans to weather upwards of thirty-hours of traffic. After flooding rendered several campground areas unusable, festival promoters faced the difficult decision to close Coventrys gates early Saturday morning. Though Coventrys radio station, The Bunny, played a recorded message from Mike Gordon urging fans to turn away, approximately 2,500 cars pulled off the road. As a result thousands of fans walked upwards of 14 miles to reach Coventrys gates.
For those who made it in, Phish responded by offering six-sets of classic material, opening with the reflective Walls of the Cave. Though not entirely cohesive, each set featured heartfelt remarks from Trey Anastasio, who also clued fans into the origins of Wolfmans Brothers, Carini, and David Bowie. During You Enjoy Myself, which will with retire the record for most played Phish song, Anastasio offered his trampolines as a parting gift to 68,000 muddy fans. In a moment of true rock heroism, Anastasio and Gordon mounted a pair of rocks to play the closing section of Harry Hood.
Opening with an on-point reading of Mikes Groove, Phish used Sunday to showcase their canons core compositions, delivering definitive versions of Reba, Split Open and Melt, and Down with Disease, which included a powerful glow-stick war. Emotion overtook Page McConnell during the tender Wading in the Velvet Sea, opening a forum for a tearful series of goodbyes. Breaking the tension, Phish unveiled a pair of spoof songs, which served as thank-you notes to crew members Richard Glasgow and Bruno.
As their swan song, Phish offered The Curtain With, a rare-favorite played only five times since the 1980s. Anastasio composed The Curtain With, and other choice numbers like David Bowie and Fee, just miles from the Coventry site. Still, Phish likely chose the number for its refrain: Me Have No Regrets.