@metawhy said:

this basically summarizes the shortfall of 3.0. All screaming guitar loudness/flashing lights and not enough deep, patient grooves.

Thank you metawhy for putting so succinctly what has took me numerous paragraphs to say. I would not have even posted yesterday if I hadn't read so many reviews rating this as one of the greatest Phish shows of all time. While I would love for a St. Louis show - my hometown - to bear that distinction, it just wasn't true. The vibe coming out of the show was that we saw a good one and after the Fox '09 letdown, people were grateful. But no one was making claims like what we read on the internet yesterday. I personally wouldn't put it in my top 10.

@nichobert You only validate my point further by lengthening the list of contemporary electronic influences that Phish could generously draw from, your negative critiques of some of the bands I mentioned notwithstanding. The simple fact is, the way the band played on Tuesday clearly indicated that jamtronica and electronic music being made right now is having little to no effect on their style. My observation was simply that that is too bad, because no one loops and jams off those styles as beautifully as Phish. That era is over, I get it. Maybe one day we'll see those styles reintegrated, but I doubt it.

This would be fine with me if what I heard on Tuesday had more of the "deep, patient grooves" that have characterized many of their best shows. It doesn't need to be "electronic". Big Cypress, MSG 98> 99, 11/7/98, 11/14/98, 7/4/99 etc. all had a great balance between mind-blowing crazy jams and deep, patient transcendental grooves. There were moments beyond the Limb x Limb Tuesday that harkened back to those days, however briefly. But for the most part what we heard were jams that relentlessly hit their peaks with screaming guitars, flashing lights, and pounding drums. My ears are still leaking wax.