@andrewrose, I think your argument was better the first time (use of the word "easy" aside). That 8/7/09 show is a bit of an outlier. First set extended jams are pretty rare in '09 and there were plenty of song packed second sets that year, too, even post-June.

What's telling to me is that they really seem go on a lot of these longer excursions during soundchecks (Fest8, Bethel Waves, SBIX, etc.), which I interpret as they just, for whatever reason, don't want to have that as the focus of the actual shows. Usually. But it's not a matter (as far as I can tell) of them being unable to play that way or needing more practice. It seems that when they want to play that way, they can, and the results are as good as ever. They just don't want to on a night in and night out basis.