@GhettoSloth said:

Just wantd to comment on the tight rotation thing.
We were talking at .net meetup that with todays technology, with couch tour
& everyone listening to all the shows, phssh should start thinking about
'Tourlist' intstead of setlist. They have so many great tunes, how much space
Is there for the repeats & two cover encores in a row? That's a vision &
Really my only neg comment. I've had my fill of loving cup.

Nice thorough review.

All good commentary guys. I agree with all of it. My suspicion is that there has not been enough practice time to facilitate what we are looking for. Sure, they could pull of a Tela, or bust out Spock's Brain, but if they haven't played it together in 2 years, how good would it be, really? My gut tells me that the boys are ripping through what they feel comfortable with. I think it's interesting that the last two soundchecks have included Architect. Obviously they feel it needs work. We can all see that they spent some time working on It's Ice before tour, and the work has payed off. Really, these guys make the music they play look easy, but it clearly isn't. Their music is complicated and intricate. Complicated and intricate doesn't flow well when you're thinking instead of playing. I believe that's why we see so many BDTNL's and Julius's and Chalk Dust and Possum's this tour. Those songs are simpler and more straightforward than say, Reba, Fluffhead, or McGrupp. I mean, it's not rocket science to figure out.

Finally, the fact remains that their rotation is tighter, smaller, however you want to describe it and it's irritating many of us. Yet there may be no cure but to wait, because they simply may not be ready for some of the songs we want to hear. I don't know what the rest of the band has been doing, but Trey has had a pretty straight out schedule with the Broadway thing and TAB. They haven't exactly been too committed to the tour thing if you ask me. 20-something shows all year since New Year's? Really? That's not the workload of a band that's "pushing forward" as someone said above. That's a band on the back nine that has already accomplished everything they need to and is simply enjoying themselves and their fan base, which, by the way, there is NOTHING WRONG WITH AT ALL. In the end, they are what they are, for all their faults, which is only the best band on the planet.

That's my 200,000 cents.