CAPTIVE IN COVENTRY



Reports from behind the lines in the Coventry 'Green-Zone'



Day 1 - Wednesday
Day 2 - Thursday
Day 3 - Friday
Day 4 - Saturday
Day 5 - Sunday AM

Greetings from behind the lines.

THE SUNDAY FESTIVAL AUG 15:
THE CAMPSITE - 'WE WANT RUNWAYS NOT MUD'

I was now approaching the center of the campsite.
Up on the solid footing of the airport runway was
a bizarre, carnival, beach resort, county fair,
refugee camp, kind of atmosphere. In the heat of
the sun the whole scene became very exhausting very
quickly.












But it got even more exhausting.

A little farther on the other side of the runway
The Commons was probably going to be the
showcase of the whole campsite. A large,
lighted, public space ringed with stores,
especially local craft and food vendors.






The area was a nightmare of mud.














The "Coventry Cafe" a fairly nice attempt
at a coffee house/tent right in the middle
of the commons area was only accessable
by a treacherous walk on a long winding
narrow plank path made out of by now
broken wooden palletes.





The whole mud thing was finally put in perspective for me
after I spent some time talking with a group of 'older' gents
about the good old days. And it brought into focus a
generational gap amongst Phishheads that I had only perceived
a few days ago. The old fans, some who even remembered Woodstock,
(or claimed they remembered) were tired of muddy venues.
While the youngsters put up with it, or even revelled in it
these guys were tired of it.



As this experienced Phishhead put it, "We don't want cow pastures.
We want runways where we can drive right in, pull right off, park
and set up our tents."

Well being myself on the same side of the generational
gap, I was ready to agree with the old dude. My brain
was beginning to frazzle. The Commons should have
provided the respite I needed from the sun and the
crowd but the mud was just plain exhausting. I tried
to drink a strawberry smoothie to keep up my liquid
levels but it went down slowly and hard. It was time
to get out of there.











The Concert - Respite And Art