My two cents.

Deadhead since '89. Phish vet since '92. Saw the Dead 12 times (once with Brent, 11 with Vince). Jerry was literally dying on stage from '92 on. Loved the music dearly (still do) and loved going to the shows but knew it was something (much) less than what it used to be. Actually disappointed at several shows I attended, and I'm not one of those guys! I can't listen to anything post '90 now because it's really just terrible for the most part. I only say all of this because I know what it is to watch a band crumble.

Now to Phish. Saw about 15 shows between '92 and 2000. Started going again in 2011 and have seen another 12 shows. Phish today is as relevant and imaginative and plain old fun as they've ever been. Period. I'll grant that Trey is no-longer the gunslinger he used to be but that's ok. Michael Jordan went from holy-shit-did-you-see-that-dunk machine in the first half of his career to dead-eye jumpshooter in the second half. Just as effective and just as deadly. Trey's doing the same thing and he's still at the top of his game. And as far as I'm concerned, neither Mike, Page nor Fish have lost even a half-step, in fact they could be on steroids because they've all gotten better as time has gone on.

Bottom line, I watched the Dead fade away. Phish is picking up steam and going to their shows is a fucking treat, even though not every one is truly epic. And they're still writing great new tunes. I was there in '92-'93 when tons of songs were played back to back nights because they didn't have all that many (and several were awful tunes that thank god are no longer in their repertoire). I pull out shows from '11 just as soon as I'd pull out a '97 just for the great variety, not to mention growth in playing.

So quit yer whinin', feel free to critique versions of this vs. that - that's what we do. As someone who absolutely loves '90s shredding machine-gun Trey, stop with the whole they ain't what they used to be. Some nights they're better, some nights they're worse. Grow up and enjoy.