Wow! Thank You! I could have written this piece! (although not quite as well!! ) It really echoed a lot of sentiments and thoughts I had about the lead-up to FTW and the shows themselves.
I was there the whole weekend, grew up as a deadhead seeing 35 GD with Jerry and quite a few Jerry Garcia Band shows, 90 Phish shows since '97, and I honestly agree with virtually everything you said. The piece even made me tear up a little, not the first tear-up this week!
Not sure about the implications to Phish, though, but I can't wait to find out!