Nice read, thank you for posting. Personally I felt that 7/1 was the strongest show because of the balance, flow, and precision of the music, as well as the unspoken interaction with the audience. I laughed to myself when they opened with Possum, because it was so classic, after hearing people complain all tour about Phish playing one of their favorite songs that they love and have fallen in love with again this tour, wallah they open with it. Perfect. Classic Phish. Love what you love Phish, as much as you want, please, and play what you want. I know I am not the first one here that is annoyed at the intro of many soundboard recordings where you can hear fans yelling out songs they want to be played, often in a very abrasive manner.

I find it puzzling that no one mentions how the lyrics in Mighty Quinn have changed since Phish brought it back in 2010 - the "everbody's gonna wanna dose" line the Grateful Dead used to get the crowd crazy with was replaced with "everybody's gonna wanna go" most likely because of the sobriety aspect of the band now. But guess what, this version of Quinn it sounds most definitely that Trey goes to sing the "dose" line, and the band subsequently loses its place a bit but then hammers into a wicked psychedelic rocker that was a top highlight of the weekend and a nod to the "dose" statement. They then open set II with more psychedelia with a straight improv jam > C & P which kept the flow in tact from Set I, something that is not actually achieved often with Phish shows - if you disagree with this point think to yourself how many "great shows" you listen to where one set is dynamite and the other fails to keep the flow in tact. Think how good 11/22/97 is - think why. There are no portions of this set that are "meh" in my opinion. In fact I personally do not thing anything Phish plays is "meh" otherwise I would not be at shows. The "Simple" from this show is the crown jewel and makes everything around it shine even brighter as the band gets back from the transcendent journey they just took us on.

The best portion of 7/3 came for me in the first set with the - > sequence from Reba to Bowie. While what they did in Wilson and Mound with the jammin was candy - it just does not even hold a candle to what occurred with this transition. The jam out of Light contained a wonderful mashup of "The Wedge" and "Timber Ho!" a jam that is a cousin of the Stash from 7/2 which contained strong elements of "The Wedge." Very quality jamming.

"If 7/1 set one is one of the better first sets of 3.0, 7/3 set one is one of the best first sets of 3.0"

Overall all though 7/3 does not even make my top 5 or honorable mention for the best shows of the tour although it might for the best first sets of the tour (definitely not of 3.0 though), its a good set no doubt, but I felt this was a great tour which makes me happy to say. Getting to hear "Soul Shakedown Party" "Forbins" "Mockingbird", "Destiny Unbound" and "Mound" in one set is nice but its a bit much for me, like eating a whole chocolate cake. I Love, LOVE these songs, but for me personally the balance was off. Apart from the Reba> Bowie I think "The Curtain Without" was the best part. Simply because it was without. How long will we wait for another with? Who knows. Thats why I see Phish shows.

In regards to 7/2 I think that set III was the best set of the weekend. The band had been wanting to jam out "Golden Age" since 6/8 but they saved it for us, which I appreciate and it was Nasty. Caspian segued almost perfectly into Piper which Trey ripped the sh*t out of and then came a twisted Tweezer. Top it off with a great "Twist" and "Hood" and I can safely say that this set will be in rotation for years to come for me personally.

"The Storage Jam" was unspeakably profound and made me feel blessed to be alive. The top highlight of the whole weekend, but its not fair to rank it with the other sets as it is a different beast all together. Tedious it is not - in any way.

Set II of 7/2 was what is was. Not a whole lot of spontaneity as the band had their sight set on playing until it was dark the moment they took the stage. This is NOT a band that does their best when precedents are set. The "Stash" was real nice though as well as the "SS&S" and the "Lope" which had a killer ending segment that was ala '97ish. Set I of 7/2 was a gafternoon set with a real treat as a closer and the only "When the Circus Comes of the tour" - so nice. Suskind was also a treat and sounded so nice with Phish playing - Mikes vocals were more pronounced and smooth then with the GRAB config and you can tell Trey was hyped to be playing it by the way he rips the chords throughout the song. Monkey Man was just awesome, the perfect way to be let back to the campsite for a bit - pumped!

To answer the question though I truly believe these shows will have "staying power" especially 7/1 as it is one of the best shows of a great tour, 7/2 set III as it is one of the best sets of a great tour and "The Storage Jam" as it is one of the most memorable moments in Phistory.