@Justsayit...

Great observations. What I want to elaborate on is your commentary about sloppy playing taking away from the jams and general show's quality.

It's often downplayed in the forum in that many are so thankful for the jams when they happen that they ignore (or don't notice) the flubs and miscues. For me, when the band isn't tight or seemingly focused, the jamming rarely saves it. After all, any decent musician can pull out his bag of tricks and make it sound as though something original is happening by droning on and on is an endless loop of minor/major scales interspersed with stylings and occasional lyrical phrasings, but when it's a muddy mess it doesn't mean anything. This was often a problem during the latter half of 2.0, where Trey would commonly venture into no-man's-land, for no-definable-reason and his mates knew they must follow because "the show must go on".

The past year or so, while I've been as excited as everyone else about the penchant for more frequent explorations, I have at times actually found myself longing for more of the tight, precise playing of, say, Fall Tour '10, or dare I say, Phish circa '93-94.

Not trying to be greedy, but my favorite moments are when the jamming is real, organic and tight. By tight....I mean they are listening to each other and responding.

My chief complaint about the Alpharetta show this summer was that Trey just seemed out on an island the whole night with Page and Mike along for the ride. SB2 was as you described....on point, purposeful and rich in subtle majesty. I loved it.

The genius is in the subtlety and focused intent. The mastery of the single note placed perfectly and in harmony. The LISTENING.....

You captured this well in your post and I agree with you.

Thanks for those thoughts. Hope you post more often.

BTW, couldn't agree more with your take on Ghost. I feel the same way.