@The_Optimistic_Vet said:

Decent list, but the truth is 2014 was about 7/27 MPP and Halloween. And then there was everything else in one big bucket, with the exception of maybe a dud or two. Im hard pressed to find the dud anymore. Phish just plays way more consistently show to show in the mature days of 3.0 era.

These days a vast majority of shows have all the same elements: a couple oldies, a few Fuego newbies, very few true segues, limited jamming and mostly straight forward songs, one or two signature jams that are becoming predictable. Its all about song selection. But Halloween and MPP were the only two shows all year that had it from start to finish and had a batch of totally unique characteristics that were outside the box of the conventional Phish show. They are the only two.

I love Phish these days and in a happy place, but lets stop over-hype or analyze every song and list and try to figure out what is the best Free of the decade. Gimme a break, folks.

The only tour in 3.0 that was truly loose and compares to 1.0 or 2.0 was the Fall of 2010. That said, I'm enjoying gigs as much as I ever have! You may not know what songs they will play, but attendees at every show get some bites at the apple of some good stuff...

Ready for Summer '15!

More and more I tend to agree with the bolded. There isn't a big cavern between say the "5th" best show of the year and the "20th". Same thing goes with jams. Perhaps it is partly attendance bias, but I have never been on board with 7/13 or 1/3 or 10/28 or 11/2, etc really being in the conversation with the 2 shows you mention. At a show like 7/13, which the overwhelming majority of people would have in the top 3 of the year, they played a phenomenal show with a great 1st set and a 3-headed monster that will stand the test of time as a great jam sequence. But there are other shows in the last 2 years in the same ballpark as that one. Shows with masterful, creative playing, great flow, and where some magic happened. And I disagree with you, because I do think talking about which is "best" is a fun debate. But 7/27 and 10/31 are in their own league this year. I've been to a couple of the more highly regarded shows the past 2 years (12/29/13, 1/3/15), and I think both were standout Phish performances, especially the 1st one, but 7/27 wasn't just a standout Phish show; it is the greatest concert I have ever attended in my life. And I have seen easily 500+ and maybe close to 1000 concerts going back to the late 80s. You probably disagree with the puffery given how many 1.0 shows you have seen, But I agree with your overall point. I think sometimes we get a little in the weeds with analyzing this stuff (and I like doing it as much as anyone) but if you take a step back and think about the importance of the concerts in relation to the legacy of the band, I think the others become more of their own grouping, with 7/13 probably being the best of that bunch.