It seems that we can agree that what's going on right now with them is very very satisfying. It's difficult for me to put it in historical perspective, not only because memory fades to myth (RIP Robrt Jordan), but because I'm not the same person I was in '87 or '93 or ’97 or '03 or even '10. All that remain from those years is an impression of a feeling. For example, listening to Glen Falls ’94 now I can't quite recall exactly how it felt that day (except of course the confusion as I asked myself "Is that Fish's cock?"
In some ways, even though it's recorded on tape or disk or stored on a hard drive, the music seems to change - to age. It'd be overly simplistic to say that merely the listener has changed. Indeed the entire backdrop for listening to the music changes - from listener to the listening environ as a whole. What the band does tomorrow does have some impact on how the music of yesterday sounds. The foreground of these shows form the background of 2013 and beyond.
And boy, what a background!