@noob100 said:

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.

Taking the last part first, I'll agree that the very best of this year (Vegas1-3 are likely the three best shows of the year) can, for the most part, stand up to any era. But there's just no getting around the balance of 2016 being underwhelming IMO. Yes, things began to improve at the Gorge, though let's not forget, 3 of the 6 second sets from that run were either lackluster (Gorge2) or about as unexciting as Phish gets (BGCA3 & Forum). That inconsistency continued into the Fall (I'm still trying to figure out what happened in Dallas), but it wasn't just inconsistency, it was also the peaks of 2016 not matching the peaks of other years. Compare Randalls CDT>Light>Tweezer, Mann Fuego and Miami Ghost>Theme>Cities, OTOH, with, let's say, Dicks NMINML, ATL DWD, and BGCA Sally. It's not a fair fight from my standpoint. Fall 2013 is every bit on the level as 2015, so I'm not sure 2016 will make out favorably in that comparison either.

Anyway, you're free to disagree with all of the above. Phish opinions are just that. But most of us who continue to call this year subpar aren't doing so because we're focused only on one stretch of shows or due to a lack of historical perspective. We're doing it because we think it's underwhelming.