Great stuff Jeremy! I wish I knew more about 3.0 as (for conversations sake) I'd love to take an opposing view ;-)

I've found myself poking around this parts after being reminded (thanks Phish.net) that I saw my first show 21 years ago tonight. Cool that I am able to see a show tonight as well.

If I am not mistaken, when met, I was a bit surprised that you had only seen shows in the NE. You were doing so much for the community at the time (I imagine you still do thanks!!). Anyway, I am pretty sure I was trying to point out how much this band feeds off the audience and because of this, the influence of the crowd out West can produce a different feel to the show than one in the NE...I think you reminded me of that in Vegas or somewhere along the line...blamed me for your travels ;-) I hope you were able to see what I meant and experience some different 'feeling' shows because of it.

Oh, so earlier today I saw an interview w/ Page and Trey done while they were doing the Lettermen show, I really wish Trey wouldn't care so much about trying to please everyone...I feel that was a big part of his downfall from the 1.0 days...just caring too much, taken it all personally or something. Trey sounded so thankful that folks were cool with the idea of Phish playing their own album, but at the same time he sounded a bit bummed that folks really hated it. I assume from what you wrote above that you were not a fan. Sorry I did not (not yet anyway) go back and look up what you had to say about it, but I have a hard time understanding why someone would be let down by it not being a cover set...I could understand not liking the set or the choice, but what if they played a cover of an album you were not familiar with? I recall a cab driver in Vegas telling me I was the 1st person in his cab who he felt was old enough to even know who the Velvet Underground was...so I feel for many that night was all new to them, so I hope to dislike is not because they played their own music but simply because folks didn't like the show...

Reading the comments here, I guess I have missed a lot over the years...people have taken sides...I see terms like 'jaded-vet', but hey, I had those in my days of following these guys...I knew a good chunk of the tapers back in the day, knew a lot of folks that saw ever night, they always had something to bitch about...I liked the way I did things...try and catch around five shows in a week when I could...so what if you heard heavy things or something every third night...I always imagined there were around 2K folks that saw every night why the other 18K were only there for a night or two.

I don't have much to say about 3.0. I enjoyed the 1st set from GA tonight. It is so great that the darkness that was there leading up to Coventry is gone and the light has returned. The band seems to listen to each other and most importantly (to me), they seem to be having fun! I enjoyed how fast bath tub got (without being out of control), I miss how they could change tempo sort of like a train's wheels...slipping on the track, how they could speed up, slow down, change on a dime...but what I heard tonight was neat...went way fast, they fell back to normal when they wanted to get back to it...fast enough was slow...neat tempo stuff still

Oh, set two is starting I think...chalkdust...nice memories being enjoyed by myself for the first time in a long time...so the only 3.0 run I saw was that NYE run in Miami (I stay close to home these days)...some 'jaded-vets' I talked to seemed unsure about the whole direction of the band...me I loved it as it helped me heal from memories of Coventry that I did not want to be my last memories of such a great run....but I was mainly happy to see that a new generation would have Phish as part of their lives...I may have grown up and out of it (maybe not), heck the band has grown and changed too, we all do...but I was so happy to see some kids, jotten down the set list...I got a kick out of how I knew the band was playing 2001 long before these kids recognized, but that's OK, I let them be, didn't explain how we had been in the intro for some 5 minutes...I just recall being at a show not long before hiatus, was just standing with a friend when this girl, I imagine around 16, just shaking...tells us she just had to let us know that she had just seen the best concert of her life...I was sad when Phish hung it up that there wouldn't be others having their lives influenced like that anymore..so glad that there are folks getting to enjoy 3.0

Peace out,

Peter B (enjoying the memory of my 1st show 21 years ago)