Ahh, here we go, time for some debate!

@The_Optimistic_Vet said: "Just one man's trash, but yet again, the feeling seems awfully slanted towards one's personal experiences and the shows they attended."

I've attended a grand total of zero of these shows, so I guess the personal experiences are me listening to these shows in bed on my speakers?

"I've said it before and say it again, I read this list and feel I'm listening to different shows. Did the reviewer even listen to Fall 2010? No Augusta Set II? No Utica? Barely a reference of Atlantic City? 10/30 is #47? 10/30/10 was raw, unadulterated Phish. No Mullins Center? Manchester Set I was probably better than 75% of what is on this list. Even the Providence show was a barn burner - not one single bathroom break/non-rocker. Fall 2010 is still the Holy Grail of 3.0. Summer 2015 coming in a close second. "

Well, there's your hand tipped, then. I love Fall 2010, and have talked about it a lot on the forum, but we're talking absolute best of the best here. Both Utica sets are probably in the top 20% of all 3.0 sets. 10/19/10 II would be here if the Reba was part of the set, instead of the encore. 10/26/10 I is a strong *first set*. Agree to disagree on everything else.

"Where is the Exile set and Waiting for Columbus with full horns sections and guests? "

I lean a) more towards improv and b) more towards sets that feature Phish doing more than performing (awesome) versions of someone else's songs. They're both great!

"The festivals and NYE shows just get way to many mentions when almost every one of those shows have produced mediocre content relative to 3.0. Sure there is a heady jam in every gig. But almost every one of those sets has every day dreck. Not even the Drive-In Set made an honoroable mention even though it was the best set of Magnaball and the reason we all go to these shows. "

Just about every set ever played has everyday dreck, unless you think only the 4/5 song sets deserve to be considered the greatest ever (which I'm not 100% unsympathetic towards). Let's put a pin in the Drive-In Jam.

"Always to fun to read this stuff and appreciate the reviewers time and effort, I just could not disagree more with this entire 50 plus list. I guess thats why we are here and the phun of it! I agree with "humalupa," while my list is way different, theres no room to argue the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of compiling any list. Nice work!"

Thank you! I imagine I'd disagree with your list as well, but that's what fandom's all about - having differences, and respecting them.

@RobPJohnson3 said: "First off, thanks for your thoughtful comment on my earlier post about the relative merits of early 3.0 vs. late 3.0. I was on vacation and unplugged from the Internet for a few days so I just saw it."

No problem! Thanks for giving me something to chew on.

"You clearly find more value in 2012 in particular than I do, but it's all good. I may disagree with some of your rankings, but you know your Phish. However....

No Drive-In Jam? At all? As in, the Drive-In Jam is not one of the Top 50 sets of 3.0? I know it's not a "normal" set, and I'm not even one of those "20+ minute jams are the only thing that matters" type of fans, but come on man! Really?

Sir, I demand satisfaction. Pistols at dawn!"

So here's the thing - it's called the Drive-In JAM. Not the Drive-In Set (despite what @The_Optimistic_Vet referred to it as above), the Drive-In Jam. You let that one in, you're opening up a can of worms. What about the Storage Jam? Would you count the Tower Jam and Ambient Jams in 2.0 and 1.0 lists, respectively? What about soundchecks? The Magnaball soundcheck is over 50 minutes and absolutely incredible music, shouldn't 8/20/15 get some recommendation as a great set? Shoot, at least the Storage Jam has > Sleeping Monkey tacked onto the end of it, that'd *definitely* give it a better case to call itself a set than the Drive-In Jam does. It's the same reason it's not part of the 2015 Jam of the Year Tournament - it's too hard to categorize.

For the record, a) I think if it was in the 2015 Jam of the Year Tournament, it'd win pretty handily or at the very least get to the Final Four, and b) if I *was* including it in this exercise, it'd probably be *at least* between 7/31/15 and 7/13/14.