I always find It weird that people don't lump 2011 and 2012 in with the "good 3.0" when they seemed to be the part of this era where Phish came closest to finding a new way forward improvisationally. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty absolute disasters in set construction / time management from back then but there's also shows with 30% of the total improv of 2015 shows but 200% of the "I can't imagine phish pulling this off fall 98" improv.

Tahoe is an obvious high water mark, an absolute masterpiece of spontaneous compositon that stands up to damn near anything the band has ever done, but it's part of a tour where the band seemed to fall back into some old patterns that - for me at least- brought on a twinge of disappointment as often as a rush of nostalgic excitement.

This fall seemed like a good course correction after a summer that was my least favorite tour since summer 2010, but then Texas pops up and messes up the narrative for awhile the same way it did last year. Hopefully the recovery is just as triumphant this time!