Epic Yem

photo by bo & marco

Indeed, I didn't make it to Coventry. Here's what happened. I got to the Oakland Airport at around 9pm for a 10:30pm scheduled JetBlue red-eye, scheduled to arrive in New York's JFK at 7am in time to connect with a 9:30am to Burlington, VT. From there we would rent a car, hit the road and be in by...?

Before we arrived at the airport our flight status was delayed. First midnight, then 1am, then 2am. When we got to the ticket counter, the status was confirmed - at least 4 hours delayed, we would miss our connection, and yeah - they didn't have any seats for us on any later flights that day to Burlington. We begged, we pleaded, we even asked to get on a Saturday flight (a day later) to no avail, apparently the computer couldn't do it more than 24 hours in advance (?).

We talked some more, we begged some more, nothing was happening. Phone calls, other people going to VT talking of driving up the East Coast, basic ticket counter worst-case scenario right before our eyes. Combine the moment with the hurricane moving up from Florida expected to actually get to VT? (!). The woman at the counter did say that we could try to fly to JFK and hope to fly stand-by on a later flight, given that someone coming from Florida would be cancelled and we could get their seat...nice. She even pointed out the mass of clouds enveloping the East Coast in storms for the next few days.

Combine it all with a conversation with my roomate, already on site Thursday morning, providing vivid details of the already torrential rain, ankle deep mud and unbelievable conditions. Already having vision of Bonnaroo sludging, or worse and full cancellation, being stuck on the east coast and waking up from the red eye already exhausted, I was convinced that these were all very pointed signs that I shouldn't ignore. Sure - I could have pressed, I could have pushed, I could have really really really made it if I really really really wanted to...

But when I looked at my girl and said "How about we go to Vegas and watch it on the movie screen?", her eyes lit up and I knew that was the right call. In hindsight, I feel that it was what any self-respecting Phish fan would have done in that situation. (besides hike 20 miles to get there!)

We bailed, gave our concert tickets to our dear friend on the flight committed to making the trek, passed some friends in the night unloading their bags to gasps and wonder - then headed back to the city for the night to cancel our flights, get new flights to Vegas, sleep for 6 hours and then back to Oakland for our new voyage to sin city.

We got there early on Friday, hung with family, got a tour of the "Casino" house, then off to The Hotel for some brotherly suprise, checking in at the Luxor and prepations for the final Phish voyage.

After a day of Vegas-izing, we got the "show" right on time (2:15pm PST) and hung out for a few minutes with the 2 other kids in line outside the theatre. Inside, the scene was mellow at first, then got more rowdy as things started to evolve. Same pre-show shot as Coney Island, and after some pop-corn drinks and candy the cameras shifted to a more high definition viewable format, panned backstage to the band walking up and the show was on!

From the beginning, things looked tense. It was clear that people had endured more to arrive at that moment than any concert in the history of mankind. Add the drama of the 'finale' and you've got ten's of thousands of headz with their minds glued to the stage.

You were there, or you saw it, or you've heard it, or you've heard about it - so I don't need to relive the experience for you. One thing above the movie is that you were THERE, up close and personal, and you saw it all - too much at times.

After hearing from all of you about your experiences and excitements, it's clear that the joy of Coventry was in REALLY being there with family and friends, saying goodbye one last time to our heros, enjoying the joys and holding on to that feeling we've had for so many years. That's what the movie didn't show me.

...and with that, a career ends. I don't know if a band should really plan their own funeral. It's very sad, emotional, intense, dramatic - yet in some unique way, very human.

Thanks again Phish, we enjoyed ourselves.