Feel like now is as good of a time as any to turn the clock back 16 years to the first time Trey (and Page) got the chance to truly dig into the Dead's music.

Those Warfield Phil and Friends shows from April 1999 were something I remember adoring right afterwards but I never kept them in the rotation. Over the last few weeks that has come to feel like a missed opportunity. Because I should have been evangelizing for these shows this whole time.

Listening to them now I'm absolutely stunned by how excellent the improvisation is. There's a part of me that feels like the improv highlight reel from these 3 nights challenges the very best 3 night stretches the Dead or Phish ever did. From Viola Lee Blues, most assuredly the greatest first song any band has ever played together, to the third nights Dark Star broken up into three segments adding up to over 100 minutes of music in Dark Star-> It's Up To You, Days Between -> Dark Star-> My Favorite Things and Terrapin-> DWD-> Dark Star-> Friend Of The Devil, the magic is gushing from the stage in torrents.