I enjoyed your piece for it's introspection, because to me, for a long time now, for any review Phish, is as much a mirror revealing the reviewer , as it is an accurate description of the state of the band as an object.
I'm going to claim some high ground here. I was in Burlington at Nectars and The Front in 87 , 88 , 89 goofing on these precocious kids (who were my age) at precisely the time I was becoming a jaded Deadhead. My first Dead show was New Haven 4/23/83 2 days before my 16th . I thought Jerry was wizened an old man trying to spare some me some of his hard earned pain, as he took me through Wharf Rat deep in the second and Broke Down finale. Guess how old Jerry was kids........ 38.....The Grateful Dead sold 5400 seats of That 10,000 seat venue. Brent was new (3 years in ) and brought huge energy to everything, helping build monstrous crescendos that would dissolve into bliss-filled meadows where we could catch our collective breath before the next climb. Bobby was on fire too, having had enough time (10,000 hrs?) to master his craft and still be in his early thirties. In 4 amazing years I would be done with seeing the Dead, and on to seeing Phish. Dylan and the Dead in Foxborough was the end of the ride for me. 150,000 in the lot 65,000 in the show. The scene was fun (and sketchy with hangers on from Jersey etc)but the music was garbage compared to the beauty I had seen in Hartford ,Springfield , New Haven, Providence, and The SPAC. Jerry was nodding out more and more frequently. Your odds of a transcendent moment were not terrible , but a whole show? <30% ?
So Phish was young and fun and full of grandiose ideas that they could not quite execute ...yet. The silliness was refreshing. The tempo was high vibrational. The stumbling through divided sky was forgivable because it was so far beyond what anyone in rock was attempting (Frank Zappa excepted).
So I think My perspective is pretty full field. I was there at The Mother Ship for the return. Would I be anywhere else on the planet? No. Will I ever listen to those shows again? No . I've never seen them fall as low as the Dead. I saw plenty of throw away Phish shows in '93. I have often doubted them and questioned my choice to continue to travel great distances to go see them. But as of yet they have never let me down in the over all progression. Last year was tough. But in 2010, I was at the Gorge for Rock and Roll . Do you have any idea how amazing that was after 2009? I've been to all the Dicks and before this last 10 shows I would have said the peak was Dicks 13. I'm really excited about Dicks 15. I was worried after Bend. Sometime I wonder if they are just fucking with us. Like I said in the beginning, any review is as much a mirror revealing the state of the reviewer as it is and objective view of the band. CAN YOU STILL HAVE FUN?!

s?