@n00b100 said:

It's so hard to compare this tour to the others b/c it's about half as long as even a 3.0 tour...but there's one show you can call below average (Rochester), a host of shows you can call above average, and a few all-timers thrown in. Summer 2012 is very, very top-heavy, IMO. 8/31/12 is better than Fall 2013's best show (either 10/20, 10/27, or 11/1), and 8/19, 9/1-2, 8/28, 6/7, 6/23, 7/8, and 8/15 are damned good shows, but you also have KC (a pretty close analogue to Rochester, actually), OKC, Charlotte, and some other okay to below average shows in Summer '12 to deal with (there's a reason nobody mentions 8/17-18, IMO), whereas you don't really have that problem here. The "peaks vs. consistency" argument, much like with the baseball Hall of Fame, is one where you can make valid arguments for either side. In this case, though, I think I'm going with consistency. I'm not ever going to listen to OKC again; I'll listen to Glens Falls (or, at the very least, the Twist) again.

I'm not going to call anybody wrong that prefers 2012 to 2013 (certainly not @nichobert, whose opinions I always value), but to me it's Fall '13 and then it's everything else in 3.0.

Couldn't agree more with your assessment. I also agree with @nichobert that large portions of '10,'11 and '12 are too easily forgotten and dismissed, and I have some personally treasured stretches from all of them, such as late fall '10 which was tight as a drum, but you couldn't be more right about the top-heavy nature of summer '12. That year there were teases of greatness throughout the summer with a few really top shows, and then it all came together in the last week.

This year had a really slow, sloppy start but once it built up (and it stopped raining!) they hit a marvelous groove which seemed to carry them for quite a number of top shows.

I like and agree with @nichobert regarding the feel of the 2012 sound, but I believe they've melded that with some new groundbreaking approaches now and I think it's organic. The band is just clicking right now in a way that is legendary. The fans, the band, the whole scene is just RIGHT at this moment, and the freedom of expression we are seeing and hearing in the music reflects the vibe.

It truly is a community and the positive energy needs to come from us as much as them for it to happen the way we hope.

This Fall tour has been a complete jailbreak by the boys. They're ripping the shit out of the place and taking names.

I believe in my heart that all they needed was a committment to each other for the long haul and some new material to energize their creative juices. This might be the first year since '09 that I am convinced they really have a long range plan in place. I felt before this tour that it could end at any moment and dissolve into side projects and occasional reunion runs.

I'm more than thrilled with what has transpired. As artists, they have made (obviously) an new committment and we are the blessed ones who get to experience the fruit of that. It's a Golden Age!