@Live_Eels said:

Though I have yet to attend a show in person yet this tour, I keep up with the reviews pretty regularly. I am amazed at how fast people changed their tone - saying things like "declining", and "getting better is not their concern anymore" - LESS THAN TWO WEEKS after all the crazy hype following the Detroit and Blossom shows, Where things such as "this is the best they've ever sounded" and "they are clearly in their primes" were thrown around regularly.
How about we come up with a final verdict when the tour ends?

Probably because a lot of the folks who have built up an impressive reservoir of goodwill toward this band over the years want to give them the benefit of the doubt, and aren't interested in "going negative" without waiting for more evidence. You're not reading people going bipolar. It's a different crowd