>>>>It in fact does matter what they’re playing because somehow, after all this time, they are continuing to evolve right in front of us at a point in their career where 99.9% of the bands that have come before them have been very content to reel off the hits and collect the check. At this scale, for a rock and roll band, it’s without precedent.

At first I was thinking, "What about a little band lead by Jerry Garcia, pal?" But then realized you are 100% correct. The Dead had been long defunct 39 years after they began, unlike Phish. And by the end, the Dead were phoning it in, playing similar setlists in similar ways with drums>space in the same place every night. Current Phish, on the other hand, continues to produce boatloads of new material and play it with more and more gusto, while interpreting old songs differently, etc. Song placement can surprise on any current given night, as well. They are truly pushing the envelope for band that has been playing together close to 40 years...

Nice review.