IT definitely FEELS like a new beginning despite the unquestionable existence of those excellent improvisational highlights from 2009-2011.

It's hard to put a finger on it. It's hard to quantify passion and focus. It just feels like something clicked and we've entered a new phase. Thank you so much for that handy list of 2009-2011 highlights, I'm quite excited to go back and revisit them.

I'm down on the 'Roo set as well, but I still feel like the way they brought the Tweezer jam down to nothing and then brought it back up was a masterstroke that got lost in all the grumbling. The little Hydrogen fakeout before the Freewreck was pretty cool also.

It's certainly a bummer that on a tour with such consistent excellence, two of the biggest risks they took- Unfinished Hoods into Light & What's The Use?- didn't end up as great as they appear on paper. I love Hood as much as the next guy, but it's a treat when they go off the beaten path. Unfortunate that those segues didn't pan out. On the other hand, it seems like a lot of people were mad about that Nellie Kane emerging from Sand but I thought it was a statement segue for the entire tour. Phish finally got over thinking it was funny to play horrible segues on purpose and read about them on the internet afterwards. I like to think of it that way though, my glasses are rosy as can be.

My two biggest dark-horses from the tour are the Alpine Farmhouse and the Atlantic City Heavy Things. I love when songs that I find to be unquestionably best ever versions fly under the radar and then I have to bang my head against the wall like some rom-com villain (Oh, that stalker is the male lead? You sure he's the protagonist? Really,. woah"