@toddvoss said:

Agree if we had applied the 'Phish criteria" to the Dead in the 80"s and 90"s , we would have crucified them and quit going to shows. In terms of the 1990's they seemed to resurrect for the spring 1993 run - especially the Chicago run. Not a coincidence that this was likely Jerry's last "clean" run. You can hear the energy in his playing.

An excellent point. That supports what I was saying and should make the fans of the band remorseful over what could have been if Jerry had succeeded in doing what Trey did; namely, kick the drug bug.

The work of Lesh and Weir in their respective projects the many years after Jerry's passing sort of prove the point. They had plenty left in the tank, it turned out.

One of the most harrowing quotes I ever read belonged to Phil Lesh after Jerry passed:
"In the end, drugs were more important to him than the music."

That quote from Phil, easily his closest friend in the band, was a cutting statement of reality as a postmortum sentiment. In other words, more important than his friends.

I couldn't stick around to watch it happen, meaning the end of Jerry. He meant too much to me in memory to watch him go the way he did.