COVENTRY, Vt. -- Pouring rain, sinking cars and over 40 hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic failed to keep legions of loyal Phish fans from making their way to a dairy farm in Coventry, Vt. this weekend for the jam band pioneers' final show before breaking up for good.
Though at times it seemed that the remnants of hurricane Charlie would force the band to cancel its long-planned festival finale, the concert's promoters, Vermont State Police and upwards of 70,000 fans worked together to pull off a climactic, powerful and ultimately emotional farewell in the Northeast Kingdom of the 21-year-old band's home state.
A logistical nightmare that forced thousands of fans to turn their cars around and skip the concert altogether started late last week when torrential rain turned acres of farmland designated for parking and camping into a muddy bog. Festival organizers tried in vain to reinforce the affected areas and find alternative parking, according to a statement released by the band early Saturday, but they ultimately decided to ask all concertgoers who had not already made it inside the venue at that time to give up and go home.
Traffic started to back up on Interstate 91 at noon on Thursday when the concert grounds opened to the public, and by 9:30 a.m. Saturday -- when bass guitarist Mike Gordon announced over local radio stations leased by the band that the parking situation was unmanageable and without remedy -- thousands of cars were backed up in two lanes of traffic for at least 15 miles. Within an hour of the announcement, most of the cars were abandoned on the side of the highway as their occupants trekked upward of 15 miles to the venue, carrying tents, sleeping bags and the requisite veggie burritos in makeshift backpacks and coolers on skateboards.
The chaotic entrance situation failed to put a damper on a weekend meant to celebrate Phish's successful career at the forefront of the burgeoning jam band scene, and inevitable comparisons to the strikingly similar conditions of Woodstock adequately conveyed the energy and excitement of die-hard fans who would let neither hell nor high water -- nor lots of mud -- keep them from hearing Phish's final notes.
"Despite the long wait and poor planning, I knew it was well worth the long lines and deep mud as soon as the first note dropped," said Ryan Counter '06, one of the dozens of Dartmouth students who made the 90-mile trip to Coventry.
Justine Simon '06 was 20 miles from the concert grounds when the announcement came and decided to join the mass of dreadlocked, hemp-wearing fans walking north on the interstate and then 12 miles on Route 5 and surrounding dirt roads.
"The police realized that there were way too many people and that the only thing they could do was cooperate with us and make it go as smoothly as possible," she said. "It was spontaneous disobedience on a scale I have never seen before."
"After 12 miles of walking with full gear," Joseph Killefer '06 said, "a trip to the medic tent was necessary for some Gold Bond Medicated Anti-Itch Powder."
The rain subsided by early Saturday, leaving only clear skies and tons of mud for the remainder of the weekend. The campgrounds -- divided into Greek-themed sections like "Dionysus," "Greek Salad" and "George Stephanopoulos" -- sank in some places from the weight of the muck and nearly every concertgoer's bare feet or Birkenstocks were covered in the filth.
Natalie Allen '06 said, "I was barefoot the entire time because of the giant mud pools everywhere. My feet were caked with it for 48 hours. I slept with trash bags tied around my feet because I didn't want to get my sleeping bag dirty."
Phish took to the stage -- built at the base of a gigantic natural amphitheater -- on Saturday at 6 p.m. for the first of six sets over the course of two nights. From the opening notes of "Walls of the Cave" to the rare and somewhat unexpected final closer, "The Curtain With," Phish managed to showcase nearly every element of their unique style. At times tight and at times sloppy, the crowd seemed hardly to care if this was the band's finest moment, as they knew it would be their last. Nevertheless, pressure to put on a flawless show failed to keep Phish from delivering one of its most solid performances in years.
A tight rendition of the classic "You Enjoy Myself" and a blistering cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" highlighted the first set, while "David Bowie" and "Ya Mar" saved a rather floppy and unsure second set. When the band returned for the third time, the energy in the crowd was palpable and translated into throbbing versions of "Guyute" and The Who's "Drowned." Anastasio's seeming over-excitement and manic chattiness, however, left the audience to question whether he or they were the more experimental chemists at the show, and he notably flubbed the end of "Stash." During the middle of the encore, "Harry Hood," he and Gordon jumped off the stage to perform atop a rock formation just above the crowd but, finding themselves without microphones, the audience was left to sing the closing chorus.
The second night began with a "Mike's Song" that segued into "I Am Hydrogen" and then "Weekapaug Groove" -- one of Phish's three-pronged power plays that never leaves you feeling starved. After slowing it down for "Anything But Me," the remainder of the first set was packed with energy, from "Reba" to "Chalkdust Torture" to an unbeatable "Possum."
Finally coming to terms with its nearing end, Phish played the most emotional set of its career as the sun dropped over the green hills in the distance. Keyboardist Paige McConnell tried desperately to sing the first lines of "Wading in the Velvet Sea," but could not keep from breaking down in tears, leaving Anastasio to rescue the vocal section. But as soon as the guitarist launched into "Glide," it was apparent that he would not be able to keep his cool either, fumbling the guitar part and then breaking into tears himself and thanking his bandmates and the audience for everything.
The third set started out slowly with mellow yet stirring renditions of "Fast Enough for You" and "Seven Below," but built up into a mesmerizing "Piper" and closed with "Wilson" and "Slave to the Traffic Light." A dazzling fireworks display erupted over the walls on the right side of the muddy field and then the band returned for their encore of "The Curtain With." With the final chords lingering over the stunned crowd, Anastasio, Gordon, McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman set aside their instruments and hugged each other before leaving the stage together one last time.
"It still hasn't really hit me that I will never be able to see this band again," Counter said after the show, echoing the thoughts of thousands of crestfallen Phish fans.
Jason Hartwig '06 agreed. "I don't know of many bands whose fans would walk by the thousands several miles to come to a concert. It was a truly fitting farewell to one of the greatest bands of our era."
