COVENTRY, Vt. (AP) – They slept outside on piles of mulch to be the first at the ticket gate. They plodded through ankle-deep mud to get to rickety portable toilets, only to be faced with more of the gloppy substance inside the dank and usually overflowing water closets.

Die-hard Phish fans did it all this weekend – and all felt it was worth it.

Passion for the jam band’s playful, artful tunes transcended the inconveniences of waiting in traffic, or walking miles in the August sun along the byways that led to the two-day Phish farewell festival.

Fans found different ways to express their commitment.

Bumper stickers and clothing emblazoned with Phish references were common media inside the festival site, the 600-acre Newport State Airport. “YEM,” read the sticker on the back of one car, shorthand for the signature Phish song “You Enjoy Myself.”

One fan wore a T-shirt that morphed images of lead singer Trey Anastasio’s face with the head and hair of Jerry Garcia, the legendary Grateful Dead front man who died in 1995.

But the most direct way that fans gave thanks was also the loudest: screaming.

Shouts and hollers echoed across the Vermont countryside at all hours, but always reached crescendo at the end of a set – regardless of how lively or subdued it may have been.

The din, though, conveyed something more meaningful than just post-song revelry.

For fans, it was the last hurrah for a band that had been at the center of their universe – for some since Phish’s inception in the early 1980s, for others later in the band’s evolution. Concertgoers were overwhelmed by that finality as the band began its last set Sunday night, crying and hugging as they mouthed the words to the ballad “Fast Enough For You.”

Phish fans are known by many nicknames – “Phish heads,” for example, or “phollowers.” But those gathered inside the state airport grounds referred to themselves in more symbolic terms like “family” and “community.” They shared a common language of appreciation for Phish’s music, and were united by the troubles they endured to see it played live.

Fans were resolved to find a way to maintain those bonds after the concert lights dimmed at Sunday’s final show.

“People will go their separate ways,” said Steven Bonamort, 26, of Maryland. “But they’ll always listen to music.”