What do you think? If you haven’t heard Coventry, you should, because in my opinion, they are as MUST HEAR as any other shows that you’ve been encouraged to hear.

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.