@waxbanks said:

Rankings are a retreat into abstraction, and though they're their own kind of fun (oh I know), the deeper wells contain pure experience. I aspire to really believing, all the time, that the best Phish show is the next one.

...

I guess I'm saying that there's deeper happiness to be had in really submitting to the best of the new stuff, rather than in finding new stuff that reproduces what we like about the old. Would I love a 20-minute funk jam from Phish this weekend? Yeah, probably. But on balance I think we're better off with something new -- even something that doesn't tickle our sweet spot in quite the same way. The old way. Probably that's healthier for the fandom. (After all, leaving aside what folks loved about pre-1997 Phish is what made post-1997 Phish possible.)

First of all, I want to thank waxbanks for elevating the level of discussion about Phish. I've been reading a lot of your stuff, and it makes me feel less guilty about spending so much time on this board. I honestly wish I could wake up in the morning after a show and read your thoughts on it, rather than that other guy's.

Enough fluffing though, it's that above point that really rings true with me, and has since...well, since before I even started listening to Phish and saw the same behavior in Deadheads. There's a contradiction in the fandom that's always stuck in my craw, and that's the dichotomy between the exploratory, "in the moment", nature of improvisational music (and the Phish experience) on the one hand, and the need to measure, rate, and analyze on the other. Like you say, I definitely understand it, but I also think it can go way overboard. There's a type of fan that is all about the stats, and listening to someone like that is about as enjoyable as listening to a Creationist. They're just looking for a comfortable structure to latch onto. It's the same thing with the tons of people I see that confuse the difference between a religious experience and a spiritual experience. Sure, it's great that you can go out and have your mind blown, but when your sitting there looking at the pieces of your brain scattered on the floor in front of you, it's about what you do when you start picking them up that really matters. It's a "map is not the territory" kind of thing. Phish provides a great starting point, but if you're really going to get out there, you've got to do it yourself. Otherwise, you're just out there re-creating the same experience night after night, chasing that first time, and not really getting anywhere. That's why, for me, the best show to listen to, is the one they just played.