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I'm with Fishman: bad as the shows leading up to the 2004 finale were, Coventry was first time the band's professional/personal turmoil had come out in the music itself, and it's painful to listen to. So much sloppy, hopeless, terminal playing. Ruined singing. Obvious tension. So much drugged-out jamming, hard to distinguish from the rest of August 2004.
The Velvet Sea/speeches/Split series is one of my favourite runs of Phish, not because it's good, but because it so purely embodies the band's connection with their community.
But I don't get any pleasure from the music itself. Workmanlike and reined-in as the 2009 Hampton reunion shows were, they're a purer listen. Coventry doesn't sound like music, to me. It's too wrapped up in the band's dissolution.
I unexpectedly got invited to the two Great Woods shows just before Coventry, and they were terrible - 80% of the music simply wasn't worth paying for. Dismal. But I also got to see the 6/19/04 SPAC show, in some ways one of the best Phish shows I've seen. When they encored with Velvet Sea I thought it was the last time I'd ever hear Phish play a concert. It was perfect.
For me, the summer ended at SPAC, not Coventry. By mid-August the music wasn't really there, and I don't much care to hear crisp SBD recordings of an acrimonious onstage divorce.