I think what may get lost in the categorization and rankings of this year and last is the difference in the structure of the tours and the effect it has on the band. Although I agree with @FACTSAREUSELESS in terms of this *ought* not having an effect on the height and breadth of the shows, the simple reality is that the schedule does in fact alter the level of shows. Last year they were able to come out of the gates incredibly solidly at DCU (come to think of it they did that at Bethel 11 too), but this year had some uneven moments all the way through the SPAC run.

We can speculate on reasons why this happened (working on new projects, etc), but the level of consistency was not up to the standard set last year throughout the early portion of tour. There were a couple of off shows here or there afterwards (MPP 1 comes to mind) but there were a couple last year as well (I'm looking at you, Portsmouth). Last year, Dick's was the culmination of 3 weeks straight playing shows that clearly had sharpened them up to the point where the music dictated the direction of shows (even paradoxically in a planned setlist). This year we get close to a month off and they are back to some of the same problems of Bangor/SPAC.

It seems that we have a pretty clear new trend (yes I know it only happened twice) of the band needing time to gather momentum throughout shows this year. The problem is that they simply don't play enough shows to figure things out as they go. The schedule this year is full of bursts of shows followed by time off so the year they need to be sharp off the bat the most, they are pretty off each new cluster of shows. It would seem less taxing to play smaller runs with breaks in between, but I'm starting to think that's not a great idea.

Phish took amazing strides each year through last year, literally each year was significantly better than the year before it. Whatever you may think about the Tahoe Tweezer, it is as much a statement of ability (if not intent) as it is a piece of music. All that said, this year has been a step backward (a small one but still backward) compared to last. I know last year had its lulls (Southern leg II run, e.g.) but overall was more consistent. Last year seemed to be a return to the full Phish show, where all of the smaller jam songs (Hood, Bowie, Reba, whatever) were revitalized along with one or two centerpiece second set jams. They also greatly diversified sets, dipping thoroughly into the catalogue.

It seems like this year is the "where do we go from here" year, where they returned to a level of consistent competency both in overall shows and jamming last year and are now just riding the wave instead of breaking new ground. Stylistically, they have the *structure* absolutely down in jams (a couple of minutes or less in each motif) and are playing more as a leaderless unit than maybe ever before. Yet this is much more demanding because there is no fall-back go-to *content* that serves as a springboard for new variations. I'd say this method of jamming has organically developed but is now more of a conscious choice. The content itself has no specific directions (ambient, cow funk, speed jazz, etc) and is beginning to show cracks in terms of its ability to provide consistent jams throughout a tour.

So to wrap up this unnecessarily long post, it feels like this is the '96 year (bad analogy) which still has some amazing shows but is beginning to wear in terms of needing new content. Phish is just too competent a band to ride the wave of past progress, so I'm not going chicken little here or anything. I'd say the off time and the contentless (no go-to jam styles) nature of the jams where anything is possible is a combination that has led us to a year that is a tiny step backward. But after '96 came '97...so I'm really optimistic about the future horizon of the band in general.