phish in Coventry VT

[Chaz Longue]

I'm somewhat fascinated by the rock band phish. Now before y'all get all sniffy on me let me explain ;-)

I've never heard them, except for a few minutes here and there, but I do run into the members occasionally one way or another, and I have seen the guitarists own band play. Once. They were fun.





Phish and 70,000 of thier closest friends have gathered in Coventry VT, (which has about 1000 residents) for a farewell concert this weekend. That makes tiny Coventry roughly twice the size of the next largest city in VT, and about half the size of the county Burlington is part of.

The local Gannett daily paper has been running coverage for a week of the sort that they'd typically reserve for a major event like...well it's hard to imagine what they'd spend this kind of space on...

The band evidently puts on quite a show and sets up a little villiage with all sorts of entertainment and collateral activity.

Two different nationwide cellular phone carriers have brought in mobile towers to increase service at the site. "The Bunny", a special radio station the band runs whenever it hosts a big outdoor show - is broadcasting traffic reports and assorted music 24 hours a day. And the mandatory biblical rains are falling. The site is flooded which seems to dampen the enthusiasm for the gathering not a jot. The daily rag mentioned above mentioned in passing today that somebody was offering a late model truck with 200k miles on it for a pair of tickets, and the classified ads offering tickets are running in the 500 dollar range. The band's website gives a sense of just how far the band's penetrated into various media one way or another: A Charlie Rose interview? A Simpson's episode? Oy...

NPR ran a very moving little piece the other day by a Summer intern who was off to the show. Ah youth...

I'm going to try to tape the TV broadcast of the show in Limestone Maine from last year which is being offered tonight.

Anybody's kids in Coventry this weekend?
Anybody seen the band?

What is this thing called phish?

[Gentle Giant]

You might want a check an already existing thread on the subject: "What Do Y'all Think About Phish?"

[Mingus]

Pouring to-beat-the-band here in VT right now.

70,000 phish fans sprout gills. film at 11:00!