A little more than a week has passed since Phish fans got some of the worst news they’d ever received as fans, the heart-breaking news that Curveball needed to be fully cancelled just as fans had showed up on site and started arriving at the local airports.
Logistics ruined, artwork shelved, no secret sets, no 11th Phish festival to enter the fan lore of the future… it was horrible to watch from the sidelines. My heart really just burst and I did my best to console my friends who were there and had gotten that much more emotionally invested, and ultimately I got off pretty easy being ready to take in the festival from the couch with a hefty dose of FOMO.
My heart seemed to burst a little more when I talked to our friend Brian Ferguson of BUT I WAS THERE photography, who was assigned to shoot the festival for us. He was told the soundcheck was coming up soon, and that well, he’d be able to go into the grounds and take shots of the band as they were sound-checking. I got an email confirming this with lots of exclamation points and a happy photographer, only to see the news posted mere minutes later and seeing him deflate about as quickly as he got amped up. Ugh.
In some respects it will always be the less-crappy Coventry moment of the band’s history, no one’s fault but Mother Nature’s, and we may not want to re-live this one all that much. Let’s hope the jamband blogs of the future don’t choose to mark the occasion with a post on social media hoping for some more clicks.
In the meantime we can enjoy what Brian brought back for us, albeit cut so short from a full gallery that would make us want to go back. This only leaves us wanting more… —Editor
Curveball Festival 8.16.18
