08-14-04 Coventry Festival

Phish Live Shows
#1

08/14/04 Coventry Festival, Coventry, VT

1: Walls of the Cave -> Runaway Jim -> Gotta Jibboo, You Enjoy Myself* -> Sample in a Jar, Axilla, Poor Heart, Run Like An Antelope**, Fire

2: AC/DC Bag -> 46 Days -> Halley’s Comet -> Ya Mar***, [Trey speech], David Bowie, Character Zero

3: Twist, The Wedge, Stash, Free, Guyute, Drowned^, Friday

E: Harry Hood

Notes: *Trey gives away the trampolines to the crowd; **Guest appearance by Tom Marshall. ***Bass solo with interactive clapping. ****Trey and Mike move closer to the audience and play on the rocks in front of the stage. ^ with a 21:54 jam labelled separately on downloads as Coventry Jam.
#2

don’t do drugs

#3

I’d heard horrible things about this show, but aside from Trey blowing it in Bowie and Guyute, the recording I’m listening to only sounds like an off night for the band, not the total disaster I was told to expect. Now I’m dreading the second day’s tapes wondering if that’s where it all goes wrong.

#4

it took you 5 years to listen to Coventry? please stop listening to my music Golgus.

#5

first night is definitely worse than the 2nd night.

the “total disaster” thing comes from the fact that it was an off night where an epic glorious ending to a glorious career was supposed to be. And it was a really really off night. Trey had clearly jumped the shark by this point.

but i loved every second of it. It was truly an epic experience.

Like i’ve said a million times, nothing about Coventry comes through on disc.

#6

Too much hype, a lot of pressure on the band. I’ve heard the # of people “backstage” (or with access to backstage) numbered in the thousands.

Some good moments, but they are few and far between.

#7

IMO it’s more about the catharsis than hitting the notes perfectly… or remembering the words… or how to play your instrument… hahaha :slight_smile:

But for raw emotion, it was good. It helped. I actually really enjoyed my Coventry experience, but admittely not for the music itself.

#8

I only just discovered Phish last year. There’s so much to hear. Being an important (for better or worse) moment for the band, I figured I had to hear it.

I’m so glad they’re back, and that Trey’s more on than he was here.

#9

This Harry Hood is not at all the disaster I expected it to be. In the banter before, Trey sounds like he’s enjoying talking to the audience, but when he says something about interacting with the crowd being a part of Phish’s playing experience…his voice kind of trails off, as if he’s reflecting on that shared energy he won’t be experiencing again :cry: .

This Hood is weirdly inconsistent. They build up, break down, then build back up. I actually very much enjoyed listening to this song, and Trey’s chops weren’t what horrible like I expected after watching videos of Glide and The Curtain (with).

#10

You know what, I am going to step into this thread and fluff this show up a little bit. I know that Coventry was overall a complete disaster, not only logistically, but musically it was pretty weak playing at a very sensitive time for the band, but SET 3 from this show really delivers.

There are some tasty treats in this set, and I think the band may have really sucked it up during this set and put out what was IMO, the strongest set of music at Coventry bar-none.

If you guys haven’t heard Coventry and want to actually hear some strong playing, this would be the set to get it. Twist, Stash, and Drowned all really step outide of the box. Twist has a really cool little groove, Stash completely takes a left turn and starts up its own jam that really goes places for about 4-5 minutes. And Drowned might be the best overall jam from the entire festival. Now ending the best set of the weekend with Friday was not a very wise choice, but they actually had something going here.

And like posted above, this Harry Hood was actually very sentimental and played pretty well. Set 2, Set 3, and the encore from this show are really worth hearing. IMO, this whole festival is worth hearing just for its historical signifigance for the band.

Check out set 3!

#11

I actually headed back to my car and listened to set three on The Bunny… I’d been up for about 36 hours traveling at that point. I remember the Twist being really good. As I was drifting off to sleep, the last thing I remember is Trey singing Free like a beat and a half behind.

#12

Gotta Jibboo
AC/DC Bag
Twist
Drowned
Harry Hood

Those are the redeemable songs, in my opinion.

There are too many moments to count of the band being completely out of sync. I felt like Trey was playing the wrong song or a beat behind numerous times. The heavily orchestrated parts are botched, and even a straight forward rock song like Character Zero has entire sections of guitar missing. It sounds like someone playing one of the Guitar Hero songs horribly. The vocals are abysmal, especially during Stash. It sounds like a zombie playing.

And the rambling… ohhh the rambling.