Interesting how OP writes about how the Coventry jams would easily stack up against 3.0 jams, but doesn't write a word about how they'd stand up to the most spirited and thrilling improvisation of the decade they preceded. None of those jams can compare to anything from 1997? I'd like to hear how the Coventry AC/DC Bag holds up against the Mud Island Tweezer!

If you go and take a look at the jam chart entries for a lot of the jams from these two shows, you will see a common theme - a description along the lines of "well, they fucked up the composed section beyond repair, but MY GOODNESS THAT JAM!". That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Phish as a band and how deeply ingrained their jamming instinct is, about where they were when they reached Coventry, and the general jam-houndedness of Phish fans. They botched the everloving shit out of songs they'd been playing just fine for YEARS (and songs they generally play just fine in 2014, for the record), but a lot of the jams are thrilling (esp. the SOAM jam, which is as harrowing an experience as this generally pleasant band ever gets), and that tends to be the apologist view on this show. Why else do you think the Melt Jam on LiveBait does not contain a single note of the composed section?

Here's my view on Coventry - there are hundreds, literally hundreds of great shows with great jams in them. It is not worth wading through six sets of horrific botches and gruesome sloppiness (even occasionally during the jams) and Trey fucking Anastasio bursting into tears on stage to hear some great jams in these shows, no matter how happy the ending turned out to be. IT's a single click away, y'know?