@nichobert said:

I haven't seen anyone say it was the best show in decades. Miner said it was the best show in the last week though. I guess I can see how "a week" and "decades" are interchangable terms, if you don't believe in time.

Miner's quote about St. Louis: "In the aftermath of Bill Graham’s finale, everybody wondered if Phish would put on another performance of that caliber this summer. Well, they just did."

Miner's quote about BGSFIII: " Although Phish has played so many shows in their career, only the best of them have rolled off the stage as flawlessly as last night’s performance in The City By the Bay."

I will admit, I really enjoyed the BGSFIII 2nd set. But let's not pretend that's what we heard in St. Louis. We heard rock, rock, and more rock. Sample, Sloth, Camel Walk, Possum, Quinn, CDT, Sand (for the last time there is no need to rock out this song), Walk Away, Julius.

Was this fun at times? Sure, but sometimes - treason! - I feel like I am listening to Guns N Roses or Aerosmith. Where is the funk? The space? The trance? The ambiance? The deliberate searching for new dance grooves? The band can rock, but I for one - maybe the only one - would like to see more of the elements that made 97-99 great rather than what made 94-96 great. Ridiculous standards? No, just different genres. If Phish 3.0 could be characterized by one dominant quality, it is relentless rock. And from a "psychedelic" perspective, the last thing I want is to have my ears blown out by yet one more Possum or Julius.

Since you are a Timber fan, go listen to Timber> Wolfman from 12/7/97 in Dayton and tell me you wouldn't be lapping enormous praise on the band if that was the sound that now dominated their style. And while you're at it, listen to the Tube jam at that show. And then the whole Island Tour from Spring '98.

The irony of all this is that we have finally seen the jamtronica scene becoming a prominent part of the jam scene. It is no longer just STS9 and Disco out there, it's Lotus, Pretty Lights, Bass Nectar, Big Gigantic, the New Deal, Manhattan Project, etc. all laying down thickly textured and nuanced - yes nuanced - funk, house, space, trance, and dance grooves. And yet we I see my favorite band ignoring these styles for old school rock. They used to take those styles and Type II jam them.

I don't blame Trey for this. The band is on the rock bandwagon together. Last night they really wanted to sing and to rock, and that's by and large what they did.