@waxbanks said:

Anyhow, I guess I'm trying to roll back the negativity in some of my earlier posts here, and say that these retreats into abstraction do get in the way of bliss (i.e. nostalgic comparisons don't explain why the new stuff isn't as satisfying, they cause the dissatisfaction), but they're sources of pleasure and sense in their own right, and I don't wanna throw the timers and setlist-bickerers out of the fandom or anything. I've been and continue to be that dude. I guess I just want the forebrain-heavy stuff to become optional; I wanna work with the music to enter into bliss. It's weird to ask Phish to respond in any way to my prejudices.

Just a quick note. I didn't mean to imply that there's anything wrong with analysis. Anyone who knows me wouldn't let me get far with that argument. I'm just questioning analysis at the expense of 'pure experience', which I am also guilty of. Also, I would never advocate for anyone being thrown out of fandom, or argue over the validity of one type of experience over another, but I would argue that there are more evolved levels of experience. Really I'm just expressing some of my own residual frustration over that kind of "forebrain-heavy" thinking. I came into the Dead in the late 80's and early 90s and I would hear similar things about them from old deadheads, so these thoughts have been formulating for a long time. That's it. Enjoy the show tonight folks. Looking forward to tomorrow's recaps.