I Really love your work here!!! I especially appreciate you writing a concise analysis and offering legitimate reasons for the redonkulously controversial ranking for Coventry (for our small sliver of humanity who take this crap way too seriously .
*I will take issue with leaving out "secret' sets, though. Why-I-Outta'!?!?
*There could even be a case for considering sound checks, I say this because this weekend's sound check could have passed for a secret set with absolutely zero detection to most ears. Seems that this is an illustration of the band's maturation as an improvisational unit.
*I didn't go to Coventry. I was ticket-less. I watched the simulcast at a theater with a great sound system and a relatively small crowd and none of the inconvenience that Vermont ticket-holders had to endure. I came away believing that this band was still relevant as a creative force, and this was based solely on the force of the highlights you've mentioned. But there were just too many horrible moments-not characteristic of even that tour- that you can't omit. I believe that almost all of the festivals, and I will admit to little expertise on Went and Clifford Ball, combined don't have as many truly low moments as Coventry. I don't mean boring or average moments, I mean bar-band bad moments. There really were some transcendent moments, truly beautiful, but you can't just edit out all the crap or explain it away with the emotional weight the time if you are only judging "the music."
*I'd also add that I would not eat anyone who would put Magnaball a close second to Cypress. It's true it needs time, but with the sound check and drive-in, it's a whole-helluva lot closer than I would have imagined possible.
Again, I seriously unload mass amounts of proper praise in your specific direction for writing this up!!!!
AAAANNDD, you're dead on about Day 2 at MB!! For a bunch of old guys?? They're still progressing!