Yeah to be fair, I think saying "a great show... For 3.0" is a sensible way to put things. But as far as actual 4 guys improvising goes, I'd put 3.0s highlights against the late 90s and early 00s any day.

I forget when it clicked for me. At some point, maybe the Camden 2010 Chalkdust or Chicago 2011 DWD..Or something random in between I had this realization: "I don't think Phish was capable of doing this in 1999" - and at some later point in summer 2012 I had to dig down, look myself in the eye and go "I don't think Phish was capable of this in 1997" and let me tell you, I'm such a 97 fluffer that thinking such a thing hit me like a physical blow.

Obviously Phish (often) wasn't really going for "8 part multidimensional suite" in those jams the way they are now, and comparing them qualitatively with the better jams of the last few years really misses the point of what the band was stylistically trying to accomplish..but I'll be damned if it doesn't feel like an evolution. I've been harping on it for awhile now but it seems like they've done a fantastic job of taking the two overarching improvisational styles - the frenetic unpredictability of the 93-95 Phish, and the methodical / textural / thematic stylings of 97-04 and molding them into something new. Shedding the worst excesses of both approaches (namely- occasional total schizophrenia of the former, contentment at resting on their laurels for entirely too long in the latter) while celebrating the things that made those approaches so addictive to begin with.

When I hear this band work through 4 different themes in two minutes and every change feels organic while also feeling surprising.. It brings me such joy. I honestly don't even listen to old Phish anymore. What they're doing in improv the last few years is getting so close to this imaginary ideal of what I think Phish should sound like that I feel like I owe it to myself to live in the now.

40 minute Bouncing.