This feature originally ran in The Standard-Times on Aug. 6, 2004.

By Nick Tavares
Standard-Times correspondent

"Last Friday night I got together with Mike Page and Fish to talk openly about the strong feelings I've been having that Phish has run its course ... the end of the meeting we realized that after almost twenty-one years together we were faced with the opportunity to graciously step away in unison as a group united in our friendship and our feelings of gratitude.

"So Coventry will be the final Phish show ... It's been an amazing and incredible journey. We thank you all for the love and support that you've shown us."-- Trey Anastasio May 25 2004

And with that Web message posted to fans the panic madness and excitement that surrounds all things Phish kicked in.

As an avid Phish Head myself I was stunned by the news of the breakup — and elated to know that I'd see them twice before the end.

After 20 years 10 studio albums and thousands of shows together Trey Anastasio Mike Gordon Page McConnell and Jon Fishman were ready to call it a career. They would make a final summer jaunt across the country before wrapping everything up for good at a two-day festival in Coventry Vt. their home state.

That event which begins this evening is certain to be an incredible emotional catharsis for the 70000-plus Phish Heads holding tickets to the festival -- not including the thousands more who will be inevitably show up trying to get one last miracle ticket into the show.

The Phish phenomenon dates back to November 1983 when the band took the stage at the University of Vermont during their college days to play three songs (including one song twice) in front of a disinterested crowd.

After their third song someone put Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on the PA ending their gig.

Inauspiciously the Phish saga had begun.

Throughout the mid 1980s Phish built up a small but incredibly dedicated following throughout New England and the East Coast with fans following the band to every show they could. It was this loyalty and not really their sound that begot endless comparisons to the Grateful Dead.

Neal McCarthy a musician remembers being blown away by the band in their early days.

"I first saw them at the Living Room in Providence in either '89 or '90 which is a place I've since played myself but for them the place was packed wall-to-wall.

"I had heard of them through a fellow Dead Head. He had given me a (live) tape of the band telling me I had to hear this. Well I saw them and thought that I was watching the four best musicians I'd ever seen."

Phish eventually signed with Electra and while their albums have never stayed on the charts for very long that small loyal following has grown into a legion of millions. Seeing fans zigzag the country in an effort to catch every show possible isn't unusual for this band it's the norm.

But all the jamming the touring and the 40-minute versions of "You Enjoy Myself" and "Run Like an Antelope" are just about over. So for the Phish faithful this tour announced before the breakup has become something of an Irish wake and the scene at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield earlier week for two shows was a sight to behold.

"Me and my buddy drove 10 hours from Chicago to Hampton (Va.) to catch (Monday night's) show and then we drove 14 hours from there to here" said Shawn an 18-year-old fan from Illinois.

"This is my 13th show and after Coventry all we can do is hope for the reunion tour man."

Shawn hadn't even traveled the farthest. Phish Heads came to Mansfield from everywhere across the United States and only a quick scan across the license plates in the parking lot was needed to confirm that points as disparate as Maryland New Mexico Texas and Idaho were all represented.

"We bought a bus ticket and three days later here we are" said Nick 18 who had traveled from Idaho with his friend Richard to see the shows in Mansfield.

"We've been videotaping everything that we've done here on this run. We saw them in Las Vegas in the spring and last year at the Gorge in George Wash. and we might try to make it up to Coventry after this."

"It's just the sense of spontaneity that draws me to the band knowing that anything could happen at any moment" said Jim Carolus 24 of Dartmouth. "Phish is like the Quentin Tarantino of music. They'll reference anything -- classic rock jazz bluegrass -- and fuse it all together into a new context."

Jim was part of the group I was with to take in all things Phish on Tuesday and Wednesday as was Brad Scott 22 also of Dartmouth. They'll be at Coventry to say their final goodbyes.

"It's just the experience of being there" said Scott who was also at last year's festival dubbed "IT" in Limestone Maine. "I remember when we were leaving IT we thought 'Well just 364 more days until the next one.'

"Just to know that you're gonna have 100000 or so people jammed into one spot to watch one band is something to last a lifetime."

Setting the Standard

While the IT festival was recently immortalized in a soon-to-be-released DVD, it's Big Cypress that wins the award as the most-talked-about show.

Held in Florida, Big Cypress was a two-day festival held on December 30-31 1999 to ring in the new century. It set the standard for how far a Phish show could go, culminating in a third-set, eight-hour jam that ended around 8 a.m. the next morning.

The ramifications of that show were a "where do we go from here" feeling from the band and they went on hiatus until 2002 coming back with a new album "Round Room" and a renewed sense of confidence in their craft.

Though that hiatus turned out to be a preview of the permanent split to come it prepared fans for a life without Phish concerts as well as giving them hope that they'll one day pick up where they're leaving off.

"I'd be surprised if they never played again" said Mr. McCarthy "because they're all still friends. I can't imagine they wouldn't just want to play every once in a while just for the fun of it.

"They've always tried to keep things on their own terms and this is just an extension of that. But I believe them when they say that this will be it as far as putting together a major tour or whatever. If they just started touring every five years or so after breaking up it'd just become something like Kiss or the Who.

"They've had their integrity through all of this — why lose it now?"

In Mansfield

Just before 8 on the first night at the Tweeter Center the band took the stage and launched into "AC/DC Bag" immediately sending the crowd into a frenzy.

"Let's get down to the nitty gritty let's get this show on the road!" Trey shouted out setting the tone for the two shows.

Both were nothing short of incredible. The first night found the band in dark concentrated form playing spacy dark jams on songs like "Wolfman's Brother" and "Harry Hood" while the second night saw the more playful side of the band with tunes like "Down With Disease" "Tweezer" and "Bouncing Around the Room."

Thousands of Phish Heads at the Mansfield venue will be in Coventry today to see their favorite band go out in style.

But for the m any fans including myself who can't make it to the final farewell it was a fitting way to say goodbye to Vermont's finest.

Nick Tavares is a columnist for The Standard-Times. Phish Heads feel free to email him at ntavares@s-t.com

This story appeared on Page C1 of The Standard-Times on August 14 2004.