ok I just dont understand how no-one came away or will share their movie theater shot shows. someone had to come away with a copy somewhere. right? At least for the 6/17/04 show b/c the theater employees did not know what to expect. I wonder when/if phish will ever release these in their entirity. Its kind of a waste if its not complete. The Coney island shows raged! thx for your thoughts...
I think there's a Miami DVD in the works, and I'm pretty sure we'll never see Coventry released. I'm hoping for 6/17 though, it was my birthday and a great time....
sorry to bring up and old post, but id really like to know where that Miami dvd thing came from, if you dont mind.
also, id like to post a personal comment regarding Coventry videos. I wasnt there, but in the time that ive been listening to Phish, ive developed a sort of mystical, universasl understanding of the band and the relationship it had with the fans, and simply the powerful cosmic energy that so surrounded this band, even on tape alone. i donno if its crazy talk, but just the way that i think of Phish, i just dont think that it should be released. It just doesnt feel right?
i donno...
any thoughts?
At the time I posted that there was a heavily spread rumor that a Miami DVD was being released. Turns out to be a hoax.
As far as a magical relationship between the band and it's fans, that's obviously true - but that does'nt mean you can't release DVDs, it does'nt dispell the magic.
Coventry was like a funeral, I just don't think the band wants people watching that again.
Funeral is right... whenever im feeling sentimental, i throw on the 3rd set... you really CAN feel the emotions present and the reality of what was really going on at that very moment in time.
It was Phish saying goodbye.
I donno dude i just think that with the attitudes that encompassed Phish, i could be off base, but i just feel that for what they represent... it just wouldnt be right to let people who werent there see it. but yeah... people didnt get in... yah yah yah
im just rambling... definitely not fighting! haha
peace :P
That did'nt stop them from releasing IT on DVD ~ I think if it were good enough they would want people to see it.
Seven Below is about the only thing from Coventry that I listen to...
Oh i totally understand your point. If i may add though, if you notice in the dvd, trey talks about how IT felt like a rebirth of the band... i think that definitely had something to do with it, dont you think?
just phriendly discussion man... ha
come on mattstick, give me a break... 7below is the only thing from coventry you'll listen to?
there were plenty of moments @ coventry worth listening to. your selling yourself & the music very very short.
dont take this the wrong way, because i completely respect your opinions, but it makes me kind of upset (sad, disappointed, mad) to think you can only listen to one song from the entire weekend.
i could go on to list the great jams from the weekend but i'll refrain since we all know the setlist.
anyhoo, love the passion of the discussion.
I had a bunch of Coventry on my iPod but I took it off 'cause I was'nt listening to it - a lot of the jams are great, but damn the composed sections of almost everything are tough to listen to...
I'm not saying it's bad, or I did'nt enjoy it - it's great for a long car ride to crank it up and re-live some of those moments, but for everyday use, Seven Below is about it...
I can say that the footage for a DVD was shot. Whether they will release it is another story. My bosses best friend runs the company that shot the footage so it does exist. They did IT, the 2 90's Woodstocks and a bunch of other shows.
For me, I had a young baby in the house so Coventry was out of the question. I would love to see the footage though.
Quote from: mattstick{{.ca}}Coventry was like a funeral
Yeah, one where your aunt gets smashed and vomits on your grandfather's casket.
Heartbreaking, cathartic, and cringe-worthy all at the same time.
Quote from: rowjimmyQuote from: mattstick{{.ca}}Coventry was like a funeral
Yeah, one where your aunt gets smashed and vomits on your grandfather's casket.
Heartbreaking, cathartic, and cringe-worthy all at the same time.
:lol: lol :lol:
well put!
dont agree with the above statements. while coventry was rather sad, and they couldnt get things together, it does represent a major milestone in my life. while it is/was the end of it all, i came away from it with many many positives.
anyhoo
It was a milestone in my life as i listened to the web stream at home in the dark and sad.
But that doesn't change my position.
That aformentioned funeral is still a moment when you are saddened and forever changed by a loss...
For better or worse.
The fact that your aunt vomits doesn't invalidate milestone. it simply adds the cringe-factor.
I should add that I have video somewhere from Coventry.
Captured from a theater, its just DWD > Split Open (where it cuts) and it's some poorly shot (handheld cam of the screen, you know?), heavy shit. I cannot imagine the band every choosing to release their footage. Mike gets a gold star for the entire weekend but honestly, guys, Coventry is something that you'd buy, put on a shelf and never watch.
Quote from: rowjimmyQuote from: mattstick{{.ca}}Coventry was like a funeral
Yeah, one where your aunt gets smashed and vomits on your grandfather's casket.
Heartbreaking, cathartic, and cringe-worthy all at the same time.
just to be clear , i don't have any personal opinions about coventry one way or another---
... just thought this was a funny metaphor/ good visual. 8)
There are definatly Telesyncs of Coventry, i've seen them and they are pretty nice. Although pure dvds would be great. I dont really get why they dont just release them. I mean like it would really take a lot to just take the theatre feeds and press them to disk. Even if it was horrible they'd still make money to keep trey's habbits going. I'd watch the ACDC Bag =]
yeah but must we watch Trey baggin it too?
--------------
i'm sorry. that was rude and mean spitirted.
It made me laugh tho.
i dont think drugs had as much to do with it as the emotion of the whole thing. and the fact that they stayed up all night trying to figure out a way to get everyone into the venue, etc.
or maybe i'm just living in a dream
I suspect you are probably parts right AND wrong on both counts.
But what the hell do i know. Just like you I work off of what i hear, hope and, imagine.
id really like to see the 3rd set second night personally...
i mean, even when i listen to it... the whole metaphysical thing of whats going on when Trey talks to the audience about the band, and the speech before Curtain, it gets me; i choke up. ill admit it
im sure ill bug out and actually cry with it, but for some weird reason... i want that to happen
crazy?
not crazy.
i have an mpeg file of the 2nd set of 2nd night that i watch on occasion just to cry @ the velvet sea part where page can't sing. that gets me every time. that really sums it up for me... that moment, i stood there holding my wife and we just cried.... :(
id really like to see that..
Quote from: jedifunk... @ the velvet sea part where page can't sing. that gets me every time. that really sums it up for me... that moment, i stood there holding my wife and we just cried.... :(
damn, i get chills , just reading this, and i totally get what it must've felt like...i wasn't there , but if i was i'm sure my honey & i would have been doing the same thing.
my question to jedi is this though:
you always seem like a positive person-- this being such a bittersweet moment, how did you feel about it when it was all said and done?
(complete?,sad?,confused?,alive?,etc.) ???
to be completely honest, i felt very very complete, like i had come full circle. i remember when i started seeing shows and then doing tour, i wanted it to last forever. then sometime between fall98 & summer99, i really started to feel like my life needed a new direction. but i didnt want to give up the magic that was phish tour. i felt a little trapped by the experience to be honest, like i couldnt escape tour. sure tours would end and there was a break, but the minute an announcement of tour dates came out, it was 'ok, time to quit the ole job and get on the road.'
then during most of fall99 & definitely all of the year 2000, everytime i heard DWD and they sang 'waiting for the time when i can finally say, this has all been wonderful, but now i'm on my way' i would get chills... like the band was talking to me and only me, and telling me to get on with my life. but again, i couldnt, i felt trapped by it all with no end in sight. i wanted to move on, but could bring myself to do it, for fear of missing that next great show.
so when hiatus came i was really disappointed because i really really wanted to quit on my own terms, but the band had beaten me to it. so i was pissed also. but of course that wore off, and time went by and i started my life anew. i started a graphic design company, my wife got pregnant, the company failed, and life went on.
then of course they came back, and all those feelings came rushing back. of course I HAD to be at that 1st show, and i was (my wife was 5 months pregnant at the time).
then we saw shoreline 1st night 2003 (only because my brother lives in napa and was getting married), and that show was amazing for me. start to finish, not a single complaint (which had become kind of hard for me). but i think alot of it was because i knew i could never tour again, and had to cherish each and every moment i got to see phish.
then came coventry... i feel kind of lucky in the respect that the band could have totally announce it as their last show, at the show, and i wouldnt have been there. but they announced before, so we made arrangements to go. we were gonna go out with a bang, pimpin it out, and on top. we rented an RV, filled it with good food, drink, and friends, and were off. and we all know what happens next. TRAFFIC for miles. so we sat and sat and sat. then i took a nap, and was woken with news that mike had just told everyone to go home. i was in disbelief. then i was like, lets get out of here, and get to the nearest movie theater as quickly as possible so we can at least see it. but my friends said lets at least drive up as close as we can and see what the situation is. so we did, then stopped for gas at the nearest station, where we got a flyer for a campground, so we tried that, but were denied by the cops. but by that point we were like, nothings stopping us!
so we parked it and started walking... and then the shows... while not the best i've ever seen, they had their moments. but it wasnt about that for me.
for me it was about saying goodbye, not only to the band, but to the person i once was, and to a period in my life that i will love and cherish forever as some of the greatest ever! and so the weekend was perfect. i laughed, i cried, i enjoyed phish one last time. and i realized that i had other amazing things to live for. i longed to get home to my son, to watch him grow up, so i could show him the magic of phish.
so yeah, i was sad, i cried, i was confused, but in the end, i was able to finally close the book on an amazing chapter in my life.
whew, sorry that was a lot, but i feel that when someone asks this question i have to give them the full and complete answer. much love and respect to the greatest band that ever was!
yea your right about coventry, 6/17/04 on the other hand is something that all of us would watch. The footage was amazing, venue is even sicker, and the show was one of the best from the phinal tour. Come on phish, release the 6/17/04 brooklyn show (in its entirety)
hopefully it will be released soon
After reading this whole thread I feel like weighing in here. I thought Coventry were some of the worst shows ever done by Phish. I realize the emotional context but the facts remain they were a shell of the band that played those great shows in August 93 or fall 97. I don't like to feel like having to justify the poor quality of the playing by saying they were "emotional" or "Trey was really high". Some of the jams were good but on the whole it just sounds forced to me. I apologised to my kids after the second night of Coventry(we went to theater to see it) because that was not the same band I fell in love with. I am reminded of "The Dead" and how they are now relegated to being a cover band of themselves. I know that this is my own personal opinion and I am a crackpot but just cue up the Glide from Coventry and then listen to one from 93 or 94 and objectively tell me which one shows a band that is hungry and trying to do their best. Jedi I know how you feel because I felt it was the end of an era when I was so disappointed by the GD in 92. I was just disgusted by the shows I saw and closed the curtain on that part of my life and just concentrated on my kids. I guess the short way of saying it is, IMHO Coventry sucked bigtime
i think your choice of Glide as an example is a poor choice. listen to almost any Glide from 98-04, they all suck, trey couldnt put together 2 notes in a row in that song to save his life.
but i'm always reminded of trey's comments in bittersweet motel, when he's talking about the feeling at a show, and how he could care less if someone is pissed cuz he missed a change or a note, because to him it was all about feeling and the vibe. and i agree with that.
i'm not saying coventry was great, but it hardly sucked. i would go to a million coventrys if thats all i had to go to. and i would much rather go to a coventry that see any other weak ass band thats around now.
i'm not justifying anything, everyone has the right to their opinion, mine just happens to be that coventry didnt suck.
i guess coventry meant something different to me than just another phish show. it meant saying goodbye to a great many things. not just the band or the music, or the scene... but to my former self (it was also a hello to myself as a father and husband, and other things).
i knew it was the last, and kept it in that light. perhaps i'm more forgiving. i used to be way more jaded about performance, setlists, jamming, etc.
Quote from: jedifunk
but i'm always reminded of trey's comments in bittersweet motel, when he's talking about the feeling at a show, and how he could care less if someone is pissed cuz he missed a change or a note, because to him it was all about feeling and the vibe. and i agree with that.
i'm not saying coventry was great, but it hardly sucked. i would go to a million coventrys if thats all i had to go to. and i would much rather go to a coventry that see any other weak ass band thats around now.
AMEN.totally agree, --and i love that interview in the movie."----who said that, -brad?" :roll:
...and thanx a ton for your indepth response to my original question... i have generally similar sentiments , though the details are different , concerning my own phish experience as a whole.
i also feel a coming full circle thing , but it came for me w/ destiny in 03 , so i guess i'll save my story for another thread someday.
...AND HOKKER: the whole thing started to remind me of the dead too, BUT i think that they really got out before it got anywhere near to that point ...the last couple of years of phish were different and the energy was somewhat dysfunctional at times , but they didn't go through 10 odd years w/ trey in and out of comas, or having more than one major deaths in the band and still plowing on.
i think they saw a point of resolution that was best for the band and especially the fans , and prudently took it , saving everyone involved any sort of major cynicism, pain, or dispair.
In place of Glide, insert The Curtain With.
After that wonderful speech, Trey blew it. high pressure, yes. But THAT is a song they should've gotten right and have always been able to pull off (the Curtain Part, at least.)
As if I weren't sad enough. I was already sad because going to an occasional Phish show allowed me to escape from my 'growed up' life back to 1995 when I was young and didn't answer to anyone except my gasoline tank and stomach. Back then all I wanted to do was see shows and thats what I did. After my first daughter was born and I got an office gig and then went on to get married and have another child, Phish was a possible getaway. Hiatus motivated me to see other bands but none of them offered the experience that Phish did. I never spent all day selling homebrewed beer in a lot outside an SKB show meeting new people and watching the sun creep away. these were things that seeing Phish allowed me as The grateful dead weren't out there anymore. And before you say, "dude, I was there for the music, not the lot." So was I man. But good music COULD be found at other shows. you know it's more than that. Although it wasn't as great as it was in the 90s, Phish's community was an amazing thing to be a part of. (read this: http://tinyurl.com/5z6zx)
That doorway to my youth was closing. I could accept that but part of acceptance was the time of grief.
Then:
He fucked up my favorite Phish song.
I'm not angry or bitter. I'm disappointed and see clearly that Coventry was a perfect example of why Phish had to (was bound to/had long since come to an) end.
Oh, and why didn't I go there, myself? Honestly, when I saw where it was going to be i said to myself, "thats going to be a mess." No, I'm not claiming to be psychic and I certainly didn't expect it to go the way it went but i had that feeling. I had that feeling about The Grateful Dead @ Deer Creek in 95. Something told me not to go. That feeling is usually right. That feeling also told me to go to Providence for 12/29/94. You'd listen to it to. But anyway, I just said, 'no, thanks'. and went to the beach with my family the week prior and came home intime to listen to it online...
If the show had been in Limestone, ME. I would have been first in line.
Good thread. I agree with most of the people in that I really enjoyed coventry. I think the location was perfect actually, vermont is SO Beautiful and I did not have a clue about it until I got there, and secondly you cant plan for that kind of weather and it was just shitty luck. As for the music sucking, sure it did, but honestly I didnt go there just for the music. Sure everyone wants to get 0wned by the phish we love, but I went there because I wanted to see my favorite band off as well as have one more time out with my friends/tour friends and have a good time, and in the end the bands poor playing and the shity weather didnt stop us from having a great time. As my friend Phillybrah said since the start of the tour, its the "no hate tour, just enjoy it".
interesing view jimmyrow - me too.............i sat in my old apartment, shortly before
moving to my g/f's and my new house, and listened to the last night, sadly, in total
shock..........having caught total magic at both alpine shows, coventry was mind-blowing
in how fragile it eneded up being.........i agree w/ funk - there were some great, last time
jams, but overall, very hard to listen to..............i remember, as a kid, listening to the "last"
who show in december of '82, and those m-fuckers banged it out!!!! to this day, i will never quite
get why the composed section were so rough...........i mean, i understand the emotion and the pain
from phans and bandmates alike.......but the curtain is an EASY song to play..........but hey, i'm sorry,
i'm not going to diss the boys' last performance........it was just disappointing.........they so rose to
so many occasions.............
heres a comment id like to interject, now that the topic is quasi phish-playing-poorly ha
but dude.. if you really bear down and examine this shit... Gordon, Fish, and Page would *always* rage while Trey, imo, is the only place in post-hiatus stuff where... it can be said that they played poorly.
but then again you still must figure into that the bittersweet motel thing.
gahh craziness
Saw Coventry from a movie theatre in MD. Although it wasn't actually being at the show, the people there those two nights made up for it. Glowstick wars, people dancin' in the aisles, and an actual parking lot scene. The employees of the theatre were very cool, which helped the party atmosphere. Lots of fun! And I wanted my experience to end that way. Had friends that mucked it up to VT, but did not have the same experience I had b/c they were bitter about the "end" and all the mud. Bunch of sissies if you ask me. :wink:
Was a little dissapointed about the Curtain With, but the band and especially Trey were very caught up in the moment. Yes, it was very sad.
And I loved Jedifunk's post. You really hit the nail on the head about the Velvet Sea, it too gets me every time... :cry:
I'd still like to have a DVD of this. I mean we all have the tapes, why not the video also. If the band ever wants to put this one out, some will buy it. Just b/c it's what we do.
And I loved the idea of seeing a show from the movie theatre. More bands should look into this. Although you gotta have some clout in the music biz to pull that one off.
Again with the emotion of the moment argument. Big Cypress was when they were seriously thinking of calling it quits and they pulled off two brilliant shows! Refer to the shoreline shows before the hiatus and again they pulled off some great send off shows. The emotion of the moment is evident but those times it made for great shows that transend the emotion and shine because the players want to do their very best and would practice enough to be able to pull it off. I was blown away by the greatness shown on the 03 tours. The show I saw (2-18-03 Denver) was a face melter. and there are some really great stuff played in 99 and 2000(I guess I am saying that I am not a "post hiatus snob"). I have the disks of Coventry archived but most likely won't listen to them again because of my aversion to watching (or in this case listening to) a train wreck. I made mix disks of other performances of those songs for both shows and that is what I listen to instead. I know this goes against every other opinion on this thread oh well opinions are like assholes... everyone has one and everyone else's stinks.
I listen to the jam out of Bag, Reba Chill and the sick Funk jam out of SOAM where Trey had visible tears even in this their last true great funk excursion. I expect to see Cypress DVD complete released in the near future.
f- the mud we had to walk 17.5 miles to see this puppy. even though the show wasnt your best, it was worth it. and I would do it all again
phish, now that was a great band
somebody blow up phish headquarters, they still havent released the brooklyn dvd's wtf?