And as for the last shows I thought were facemelters.

The second set of DCU 1 and AC 1 are both essentially flawless in my opinion. Before that the first night of UIC is my favorite show in the 3.0 era and one of the best put together 2nd sets of all time. First two nights of Bethel were outstanding. 12/28/11 was really good but probably the first one I'd put underneath the facemelter label.

But I get almost nothing out of the Superball shows despite hearing a bunch of songs I like.

I guess it's just that I think it's strange that they don't go super weird during the normal sets when they've got tens out thousands of people camping over a weekend to see a single band. IMO " Bug > The Horse > Silent in the Morning > Weekapaug Groove, Joy > Character Zero
Encore: Show of Life" was one of the worst ways to end a show ever. But I'm not mad about it. It's what they felt like doing.

I kinda wish they'd go back to putting thought into setlists. As much as I'm on Phish's jock due to their (IMO) amazing improv lately, I still feel as if they leave us with several head-scratching song choices every night. There's a difference between switching gears and pulling the emergency brake. Going from Simple jam/Bug/Silent to Weekapaug is a switch, going back down to Joy, then back up to Zero then back down to Show Of Life is like pulling the e-brake every time you reach for the gearshift. At least to me- just an idiot with an opinionhole.