Phish's Final . . .

[JC]

This was posted on The Flower Kings mailinglist by my buddy Frankie, (who is also a member of Frogg Cafe), and I thought there would be some folks interested.

Enjoy :-)

>This is a 'private' message to me from my buddy Andy >Wight who went to the final Phish show this past >weekend in Vermont. He is a *hardcore* phan. This
>is his take on the farewell show.
>
>Frankie


> Yeah, I don't think they'll be back any time soon. Lot's of strange moments during the shows. Trey was >completely out to lunch on all of the older composed >technical sections, missed cadences (hit wrong >chords....) ugh. 1st night, I thought he was just >wasted, but 2nd night you could tell he was really >upset and thinking about other stuff.
>
> Night two, Page goes to sing "Wading in the Velvet >Sea" and can't even start it (he tried three times). >Crying. A song later Trey talks to the audience about >how grateful they are etc...and he starts crying.
>Like, couldn't even talk. That stuff was second set. >Third set, they sucked it up and played really, REALLY >well. Mostly jam oriented stuff, so Trey didn't have to >recall any technical stuff.
>
> One song encore (strange...) but they had planned it >this way. They played "The Curtain With", which Trey >explained was written by him about 5 miles
>from the concert site during a summer that he and >Marley (his now dead dog)
*(interruption from me: I didn't know Marley died! When did this happen? Anybody know? . . . ok back to the e-mail)*
> stayed in the area by themselves. He went back to >the other three guys with this new material (for their >new band) saying that he wanted to push the >envelope on how musical a jam band could be and still >make people dance. And that finishing with it -last >night- would make everything come full circle. Most of >you have probably heard "The Curtain", but the >original had two other sections- mellow middle, and >very progressive third. Trey forgot what key the B >section was in, the other guys tried to match
>him for a minute, but then Trey stops, apologizes, and >tells us that they want to start the section again in >the right key. They do, they finish, they leave, lights
>come on, crew starts picking up, fans (exhausted >fans) just sort of stand and stare for about 10 >minutes. Done.
>
> I got to the traffic line at 12:30am "Thursday" night. >With 10 miles left, it took us 13 hours
>of stop and start traffic through the night to get to the >campsite at 1pm the next afternoon. But
> that's still better than the thousands and thousands >who ditched their cars as far as 20 miles away
> to hike in on Saturday. YOW! It was mud city. It >was a mess. But I had spots in front of the board
> both nights, and I shook Danny DeVito's hand last >night as he walked by with his kids. Interesting
> weekend. 3 hours of sleep in the last 36. So I'm out.
>
> I'm sure there are pictures on phish.com/coventry
>
> Wight

R.I.P. from a Phish Phan

[Irv]

Had the rain not totally fucked the festival up, their would have been a much different feeling in the air about the whole situation. I myself was just purely exhausted from the walk in (more to come about that). Because so many fans had been turned away, or so thought they were being told they would not get in, pressure from everybody who walked in pretty much decided that they had to let us in, what were they going to do? Tow 20 miles worth of car? So many people including a few that I knew, left discouraged by the fact that they would miss the final concert and you could tell that it had an effect on the weekend. 50% of the people there walked in and were tired, half of us had one set of clothes, no food, a sleeping bag and some money to live on. I also believe that the setlist was indeed changed. There were way too many second night songs the first night. And to reply to your friends post, 9 out of 12 shows this tour (not including Coventry) had a one song encore night, so it wasn't a surprise to see a one song encore both nights. Yes they were having a tough time composing themselves on stage sunday, can you blame them? "The Curtain With" is as the post says, a song Trey wrote in a cabin with Marley as well as the track "David Bowie" which was noted the first night of the show that he wrote two songs up in the cabin, DB to be played that night, the other song to be named and played sunday night(The Curtain With). "The Curtain With" is the song "The Curtain" with as he explained 3 sections, the last being a slow section which is taken from the song Rift. In the song "Rift", this is played much faster than "The Curtain With". Just some info to vent the grief that its over

PLPF and I will make a post about our experience this weekend because it was a wild one.

Take care

[Irv]

btw. There were alot of misses by Trey, however, it did appear that he was on anything he could find(and there was plenty to be found at Coventry ). Plus the fact that he was really nervous, he admitted to it.

[JC]

Glad to see you two made it back safe :-)

I was hoping you guys would post your experiences, which was one of my reasons for the thread opening post. Just wanted to get more than one reaction, I'm sure everyone's is going to be different.

I think it's cool that they ended w/ 'The Curtain (With)', I'd always loved that tune (and 'David Bowie', too). Maybe that's why 'Rift' is one of my faves (along w/ my vote for fave studio album . . . but, we all ready covered that one a while back, didn't we?)

Me, I'm getting prepared for my concert week. Tonight it's Hank Williams Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd (the tickets are free . . . and just don't ask . . . I figure it will at least be interesting, if only to watch the people in the crowd!), Friday night I'm going to see Dimmu Borgir at Bogart's and Tuesday, I'm going to see Yes with Dream Theater up at Blossom.

BTW: Eroc, don't let me forget to bring you those Floyd DVD's, Zappa CDs and The Dead Bonnaroo sets for you!

Have a great weekend everyone :-)

NP - Ayreon - 'The Human Equation' (my newest addiction that I purchased last week . . . anyone else hip to this project?)

[Irv]

Man we are a couple of slackers sometimes. However getting back to school is the excuse im working on right now. PLPF is comin out here today, maybe we'll finally write it out.

[Ann]

Guess it's not so final!

music.msn.com/music/article.aspx/?news=333127>1=28102

4 years after disbanding, Phish to reunite
Oct. 1, 2008, 9:01 AM EST
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Phish is getting back together.

The Vermont-bred jam band, which disbanded in 2004, is planning three dates next March in Hampton, Virginia. A notice posted on the band's Web site says Phish will play March 6, March 7 and March 8, 2009, at the Hampton Coliseum. The Web site says more 2009 dates will be announced later.

A spokesman for the Coliseum, who wouldn't give his name, confirmed the booking.

Phish was among the nation's top touring acts when it called it quits in 2004. The band received a lifetime achievement award at the Jammy Awards last May.

[JC]

I was *just* talking about this w/ someone @ my Sunday acoustic gig, (I do a few Phish tunes solo), who, apparently knew wtf they were talking about!

Yay!

Now, if I can actually *see* them once!!!