I think it's pretty sensible that people are emphasizing time more lately.

There was a year or two there where Phish almost never let themselves get deep into the improvisation. In 2011 & 2012 they loosened the reigns considerably but still seemed to have significantly higher standards for what jams were worth continuing than us refugees from the late 90s and early 00s were used to. The last three years they seem to have really lightened up on that. And since the batting average for longish-long jams from 2011 & 2012 was astronomically high, it became a convenient shorthand. If a jams long, it's probably pretty damned good. If it wasn't, they'd have stopped and started the next song.

At some point a few years ago I started wondering if Phish was going through a conscious re-evolution of their sound following similar lines to the original evolution. I was curious about when they'd hit the "97" period on that re-evolution, and it feels like maybe we're there. Set construction is at a premium, the jams are long, and the jokes are rare.

It's pretty hard to shake me from thinking 2011 & 2012 are the pinnacle of the last 15 years if we're looking solely at Type II improvisation, but they're certainly putting shows together in a way that's more cohesive and playing tighter in the composed sections lately.

Random show/jams I totally forgot about until the other day: 7/31/99 David Bowie & Simple. I always forget how weird that Bowie gets, and I can't believe I ever forgot the "reverse Simple jam" where they bring the beauty up to a peak instead of working it down to nothing. I was reminded of it when making a case that Caspian has had way more interesting moments in it's history than a lot of songs that don't generate similar levels of revulsion in the fanbase.