Now that this fun exercise is in the books, as it were, I want to make a statement of context...

I feel strongly that 2014 was in many ways a major step backwards from 2013. With a couple of years gone by to add perspective, most agree that 2012 was a tad better than we wanted to give it credit for at the time. Based on the Dick's run, particularly, we had high hopes for 2013.

When Trey came out with his older Languadec and stripped down sound at Bangor, many fans took some time to adjust to it and that, in addition to some horrendous weather, caused the tour to take time developing. But Tahoe (coming off an epic 2-night Gorge run) was a high water mark, and the momentum seemed to deeply impact the Fall of '13, which was the first time that many long-time fans felt they were approaching pre-hiatus levels.

I want to say, though, that the band's playing, with a few exceptions, was spotty, sloppy, incoherent and quite frankly (to my ears) rather disconcerting during large stretches of Summer and Fall of '14. There were some great moments certainly, such as Halloween, but generally the year felt to me more like a Fall '13 "hangover" than a progression to the future.

I think we may be witnessing another stretch similar to 99-00.

For example, the Randall's Chalkdust, which so many lauded as the finest jam of '14 (I certainly don't share that opinion), is basically a rock-fest, turned directionless noodle exercise, that never really took any form or synergy before finally giving up entirely after a god-awfully long 28 minutes of nothingness. Yet it's considered top-shelp 3.0 fare.

Sorry, for once I must side with the jaded vets....perusing through the lists of old-time classics yields a richness of experience that the band still hasn't begun to match on a consistent basis.

I truly hope that '15 yields a change of direction and we see a tighter, more focused, approach to music. I'm not interested in long rehearsals.

Here's to summer...may it shine brightly.