That was a great read. I am one of those fans that gets pegged occasionally for being a jaded vet (kind of...I was the total NOOBER 96-99 and even though I loved the band and dove in head first to the material, I never toured and always deferred to the older fans.) But, I digress. In this glorious year of 2013, 2 years before Back to the Future II occurs, I can be called a jaded vet from time to time. I think the Phish of today is VERY predictable. Not song choices, per se, but the almost guaranteed structure and flow to the show - but that's fine, just different from my infant fandom years of roughly 95-98 where you absolutely never had any idea what would happen on a given night. You still kind of don't in 3.0 and they will certainly drop a Tahoe Tweezer from time to time. It's also a lock that the opening 45 of the second set is going to be the improv time. It's the GD concert structure. There have been very few, if any at all first set free flowing extended jams. That's fine. Certainly 88-93 is similar and even into 96, they would not go nuts in the first half. The playing would be incredible and still is with all our favorite tunes getting nailed, but there was, and I would argue currently isn't any feeling that shit could hit the fan at any second. 97-99 had that. I'm not pining for the past, but it's the Phish I grew with and loved. I still love them to this day, but when I say that a show is "predictable", this "jaded vet" means...

First set will open with KDF, Chalkdust type of jam, etc. (it always peaks and ends too soon) Then comes Moma Dance or Back on the Train (not really ever outside the box. You get a Rift, Bluegrass tune, Gin, and they close it out with a rocker. There is always a tasty little diversion in there (see, MPP2 It's Ice, Scent or even MPP 2011 Wolfman's Boogie on).

Second set is the bread and butter for fans of improv - most if not all highlights of 3.0 come from this opening sequence of the second set. Certainly, I've seen some great stuff the past few years in this slot, most recently the Hampton night 2 Ghost-DWD-Steam. Then the set cools down with Caspian or Wading before a Hood or YEM takes us home.

Encore is Loving Cup or another classic rock cover.

I must stress, this is not to say that I don't LIKE this structure because I do and I respect the way they have honed the show into one that fans from all eras and styles of the band will leave feeling happy. I haven't left a 3.0 show unhappy out of the 7 I have seen. It's just different from the 97-99 Phish I absolutely loved. You never knew what set, date, city, or venue the would burn down.

Thanks for the Phish geekdom. I enjoy this talk.

Dosque