With all the negative reviews and the intense buildup for 2 reasons really. . 1 Magnaball and the Summer 2015 were both so SO good. . and 2 Dicks at least night 1 usually had a spelling gag that was lots of fun. Now we see they saved that for a more modest "just encore" THANK YOU instead of FUCK YOUR FACE like that sarcastically told us they would not play lushington based on the rolling stone article in a round about way etc.
I say all this in perspective. We all think that this was a disappointment and compared to Magnaball and 7-31 8-4 and 8-7 and even 8-11 and 15 these were all inferior even w a Harpua.
But then I remember something that for me is far more important. I look at the reviews the amount of say 3.75 and below ratings for shows in our favorite year 1997 and they ARE THERE. Just as many in fact as in this year so far. That is impressive and hopeful. . inspiriing even for a bunch of old men still able to occassionally find greatness. They never were on every night guys. We have too high of expectations for 50 yr old geisers who could never sing well to begin w. . they are amazing musicians but they are not BB King or E Clapton or Paul McCartney. . .they are for me on the level of Garcia or David Gilmour . . but they are not Hendrix. . Trey just has too much experimenting to be considered great the way the media sees great. I personally "like" him better and will always like them better but they will never sound as "pretty" as Gilmour does on Division Bell or Marley does or Del McCourey - because not only do they not stick to str8 playing which is exactly what we love about them -we never know what is going to happen - but they also are JACKS of their trade and not Kings of any and by that i mean they pull from ALMOST ALL genres instead of mastering one. They will never be the best bluegrass band (not even in 94 when they learned the craft) nor will they ever be the best funk band - they will never be black enough and Mike Gordon is amazing but he is just not exactly the King. On their own they are just great musicians. . together it works because they all love to experiment and we the audience always let them. Lots of acceptance within the community. But we act like they are immortal and cannot make mistakes at 50 and in 2015. Guys come on they made mistakes in 1995 and 1997 and 1999 my personal favorite yrs. . they were always humans who portalled to levels of greatness with energy and chemstry by taking risks and falling really flat sometimes and jams that just sorta go on forever but never have the moments like the Sand 6-7-09 at the end w that amazing riff . . they cant all go there. I never expected them too. Dicks was ok . .just ok i agree. But overall this Summer was amazing and they are HAVING FUN! Perhaps the most important thing in all this is that their leader is sober and seems to always wanna stay that way and so yes the jamming has changed a bit. . look at him fucked up in 2-22-03 playing Tube at i admit it was far better but that same heroin led to him eventually playing like shit and only 1 yr later. . .the entire 2004 only had 3 good (not great) shows. Only 1 great. 6-19 6-20 and 8-12 parts of 11 were ok. . .I take the short Tube jams and the garage band is some are calling it where Trey just totally stops a jam mid-jam and goes into another tune w a jarring obviousness cause the cords at the beginning of the new song dont fit the jam they are coming out of (in other words, it sounds like Trey is in a rush to go somewhere or get through the songs or night and we do NOT like that) and i agree i dont like it . . but sober minds work different than opiate laced minds. . .i preferred the slow cow funk and dark jams in 2003 like 2-22-03 and 7-30-03 (highly underrated show) but some think it got scary dark. . I always liked dark jams but Trey is no longer in a DARK place. . he is in a happy place and unfortunately the jams then are gonna be happier, shorter, less experimenting and more new songs w LOTS of lyrics. . deal w in Phans. I have to and so do u. . remember there are still 3.0 moments of greatness we maybe just have to look harder. . they are GRINDing at many many days on the clock . . .we all are slowly dying w them. . Id rather them happy and healthy than play the best jams for 1 yr and burnout like 1999 and 2003 w a wave crashing yr to come as Trey put it w Charlie Rose. 2000 and 04 both seemed like the end of something. . i am so glad the story did not end my Senior yr in college 2004. . .