@AlbanyYEM said:

I think part of it has to do with what is designated a jamming song and what is not. After so many 'in the box' Boogie On's in 3.0, it's probably hard to get everyone together for an extended jam. I especially thought this was the case in the Roses where the song portion had ended and it was like how do we keep this going? In past eras they go back to their signature sound for that era like the funky interlude after the song in Island Roses (if memory serves correct). That kind of platform would then be the bridge to an extended jam. But now there's no go to style so it seems more difficult, you need an idea for the jam's direction almost immediately. I think that's also the reason why Mike's suffers the same fate. After the closing chords that's pretty much it. One could argue the jams are overall more original in 3.0 because of this lack of style but it also seems to bar the door to extended jamming quite often.

I'll comment on two things you mention. First, night 2 had the potential to be just as epic as night 3 had Mike's band mates followed him during Boogie On. Alas, the set cooled off considerably after that moment, though they redeemed some credits with a nice Hood later on.

Second, I think you're on to something with the lack of go-to mechanisms. To be specific, they certainly don't lack go-to musical devices, but a go-to musical syle to fall back on, as you allude to. I have a hard time buying into some of the fluff that anything from 97 seems to automatically get. I am reluctant to say that it's wrong to do so in most cases, because it was a grand period. Yet many of the jams in that period had long stretches of elongation with no real improvisation. Just a lot of grooving followed by a segway. I always felt they were much more innovative and chancy during the 94-95 period. '97 was kind of a funk-party most of the time, I thought. I think they're playing these days has more in common with '99, only with more maturity.

You spoke earlier this summer about this phenomenon and the idea has been eating away at my already corroded mind since. I can't shake it.

I still think they're in the process of reinventing themselves a bit right before our eyes and it's very exciting. I just hope they finish their damn album soon. They're getting more like the Dead all the time in that area. When they finally release it, it will sport songs that we've been hearing in concert for three years.