Phishy

kickingbird

candle lighter
The cops have closed all the roads to the Coventry, Vermont PHISH concert, but the concert will go on. They've had so much rain there's no place to park all the cars. There were about 80,000 tickets sold. I have a close relative who lives in Newport, right next door to Coventry. They said it's crazy there - people were abandoning their cars on the highways and walking into the concert (shades of Woodstock - the 1st one!). When one local resident opened their land for camping (for a small fee), the concert organizers actually had the balls to ask for half their money! I'm surprised they didn't go all over town asking all the local retailers for half of their money too!
Bruce Willis was spotted - he's a big Phishhead.
Should be an interesting weekend. A lot of fans will be royally ticked off not being able to see the show, but "they'll get a refund" ... big deal.
I'm a big Phish fan, but their concert managers suck. They should have planned for rain. This is their last concert together, ever. They should have known it was gonna be BIG.
Oh well, will just have to wait until it comes out on DVD ... that is if the managers allow it ... and I hope they don't come knocking on my door everytime I watch it and want half my money ...
 

TDWoj

Administrator
Staff member
Ewan McGregor is a big Phish (ahem) fan, as well. Wonder if he'll be turning up, too?
 

Serena

Administrator
What a mess! :eek:
80,000+ muddy, wet fans. :rolleyes:
Bet Bruce Willis won't be, though. :D

Thanks for the update, Kickingbird. :)
Don't forget to wipe that mud off your feet when you get home.:D
 

Amos Stevens

New Member
I remember when the Grateful Dead was in town & no traffic moved for miles because of the backup to get into see them
 

Serena

Administrator
An update.

Well, not quite 80,000. What determination! :D

COVENTRY, Vt. (AP) Some of them had to walk more than 15 miles to get there, but by last night, almost 70-thousand fans had made it to the Newport State Airport to see the band Phish play.

Fans abandoned their cars and started walking yesterday after police put up roadblocks. Heavy rains had made parking areas too muddy to take any more cars.

Ticket-holders were told they'd get refunds if they were turned away.

But most of the fans that were headed for the band's final show this weekend were determined to make it -- and they did.

Police estimated last night that 60 to 68-thousand people packed into the concert grounds in Coventry.

More than two-thousand cars were left on Interstate 91. Fans might not have to walk back to them after the festival ends this evening -- police are talking about bringing in some buses.
 

kickingbird

candle lighter
CNN showed pics today of the mud ... amazing. I haven't talked to my friend there yet to hear the "local" news yet but will post anything interesting.
It's nice the cops might arrange for buses. I'm wondering why the concert managers didn't think of that, but they already had their money. They sound like real tightwads.
Oh well, I'll wait for the DVD ...
Note if interest - the Bonneroo concert this past summer was partial mud. One day was hot and muggy, the next it rained and was a sea of mud. My son was there and said it was a good concert nevertheless. People didn't mind the mud at Woodstock either ...
 

Serena

Administrator
Phish Fan Found Dead At Vermont Concert Identified
08.19.2004

The body of a Phish fan found in a tent at this weekend's Coventry festival has been identified as that of Ian Niles Gardiner, a 25-year-old from Bristol, Connecticut, according to Vermont State Police. The body was identified though fingerprint comparison conducted by the state's forensic laboratory in Waterbury, Vermont.

Gardiner's body was discovered by fellow concertgoers when they returned to their tent after Phish's final set early Monday morning. He was not carrying any identification.

"It was quite obvious that he was dead," State Police Sergeant Bruce Malindy said. "The ironic thing was that [the body] was found in a tent not far from where the medic tent was. It appears he just wandered into the wrong person's tent. But he could have been in his own tent and he would've died."

No cause of death has been released.

A friend had originally reported Gardiner as missing Monday morning when he failed to return home from Coventry. According to Malindy, there were as many as 36 people reported missing after the festival, but as of Wednesday morning, that number had decreased to 18: 15 males and three females.

More than 65,000 fans attended the Coventry festival, braving mud, heavy rains and traffic snarls to witness the final shows by Phish (see "Phish Fans Angry After Being Turned Away From Final Show").
 

Serena

Administrator
Phish Fans Angry After Being Turned Away From Final Show
August 19, 2004

Phish may have swum off into jam-band history with this past weekend's Coventry festival in Vermont, but thousands of fans turned away from the event — many with tickets in hand — are plenty mad, and they're angling for much more than just an apology.

A week of torrential downpours left parking areas at the Newport State Airport, the site of the festival, badly flooded. According to the band and festival organizers Great Northeast Productions, efforts were made to secure additional parking nearby, but nothing turned up. Citing safety concerns, Phish, Great Northeast and the Vermont state police announced that no more vehicles would be allowed into the festival, leaving many concertgoers stuck in traffic on Interstate 91 with no choice but to head home.

"We probably moved a total of 1,000 feet in the 10 hours we were in traffic. Everyone had to walk into the most tick-infested woods I have ever seen to use the bathroom," said Eric, a Phish fan from Long Island who declined to give his last name. "[Phish] had set up a radio station, and the DJs kept telling everyone, 'Remain calm, stay in your cars. We're letting in 150-250 cars an hour.' But on Saturday morning, Mike [Gordon, Phish's bass player,] came on and he said no more cars would be let in."

But Gordon failed to clarify whether or not any more tickets would be honored, and the confusion sparked an unintended reaction: If no more vehicles were being allowed into Coventry, some fans reasoned, they could still enter the festival on foot.

"My own brother made it in," Eric said. "Everyone who didn't leave got in."

Despite repeated warnings from the state police that abandoned vehicles would be towed, many concertgoers parked their cars on the side of I-91 and walked to the concert site, which for some was more than 20 miles away.

"They told us our cars would be towed. They absolutely said not to park our vehicles on the side of 91," said Phish fan Jeff Tundis. "So we went home, and that's when the real frustration set in. We saw news photos and there was a sea of people there. They obviously were still letting people in. We basically lost out on our last chance to see Phish."

Neither Gordon nor any other member of Phish could be reached for comment about the confusion, since according to a spokesperson, "Phish is done and no one will be doing any more interviews about Phish." In an effort to appease fans who were turned away from Coventry, both the band and Great Northern Productions are offering refunds through their Web sites, but that isn't enough for some fans.

"When this refund offer came in on the Web site, it read like this corporate form letter: 'Thanks for being patient. Sorry for the inconvenience,' " Tundis said. "Everybody's so distraught and they've got this patent-letter dismissal up there. I wish they'd acknowledge the people who went home."

"If they're going to turn away thousands and thousands of fans, they have to play another show for us," Eric said. "The right thing to do would be to play a single show for everyone with an unripped Coventry ticket. I'm hoping Phish is going to make this right somehow."

Traffic and ticket problems weren't the only things that went wrong at Coventry. A man in his early 20s wandered into a fellow concertgoer's tent and died, according to The Associated Press. His body was found early Monday morning, and an autopsy is scheduled. The man was carrying no identification.
 

kickingbird

candle lighter
http://www.caledonianrecord.com/phish/phish-pictures/coventry
For all kinds of photos and info, check out the above link :) There are all sorts of reports about the concert, the locals, the mud, the cars, even how the Phish Phans left nice areas of trash but the locals picked through it and made it messy ... Danny Devito was there, and someone (according to my friend) saw Bruce Willis. All in all it sounded like a nice concert. Of course, there is always gonna be something "bad" happen, but then again, those things happen anywhere. I can name a local country concert near here years ago that netted a murder-suicide event. I didn't go. Then again, I'm not a big concert go-er. I would have liked to have gone to the last Phish Festival though ... good band ... and good fans ... check out the link :)
 

Serena

Administrator
Looks like a very nice community online site at a quick glance, Kickingbird. :) I'll have to explore it more in the morning. I saw several articles already that looked interesting. Thanks for the link! :)
 
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