1. I think, at this particular point, calling 2016 "underwhelming", given that the tour has more or less been at the level of 2013-14 ever since the Gorge, is putting much more emphasis on what came before the Gorge run (a not-insignificant portion of the year, admittedly) or trying to stack it up to 2015 (one of the all-time great touring years) than actually acknowledging most of what's come afterwards. I don't think 2016 stacks up to 2015, but I certainly think it stacks up to, say, 2014 (another year to whom due isn't much often paid beyond its greatest shows), and the best of this year (even with those gosh-darned terrible Marimba Lumina jams and such) can stand quite proudly with the finest of this and any other era.

2. I was discussing the album choice with a fellow fan upon its announcement, and he made the point that Occam's Razor might well apply here - the band has spoken very highly of Bowie in the past, they took it very hard when he passed, and in a long line of sentimental album choices for musical costumes, this was perhaps the most sentimental of all. He also noted that a lot of Phish's formative musical choices were from the early-to-mid-70s - Bowie, Zep, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Zappa, et al. Sometimes it's just a cigar. Grand statements are grand statements because they happen rarely, not because every single show has to Be A Thing. We can make something A Thing after the fact. We don't need to do it here, I don't think, with the benefit of hindsight.

3. As for Trey's "creative risks"...if he *primarily* steps away from playing guitar down the line, I'd probably wonder. I don't think he will. You do ANYTHING for 30-odd years, sometimes you want to do something that's, y'know, not that.

4. I do wish a bit more attention was paid to that third set - it's a set that reveals its pleasures more subtly (that all-star Sand notwithstanding) than the three Godzilla-monster second sets preceding it, but there are pleasures, indeed. Do NOT skip that Also Sprach Zarathustra.

5. Quite a nice recap, on the whole.