"Nobody needs to feel offended by this, but maybe people do need to realize/accept that yeah, if you stayed home and just listened to the stream …you missed out on something that is an irreplaceable part of the Phish experience. Just because we listen to tapes of a show doesn't mean we had the full experience of the show—or even the music. To discount the actual experience of seeing the band play the music, the body language of the musicians, much less the auditory aspect of live music (speakers, vibrations, the mix as delivered in a live setting vs. recorded)….this would be like arguing there's no use for the live experience, if a recording is "as good". "

If ANYONE were making that argument, what you're saying might have some bearing on the subject.

But they aren't. No one is suggesting that you don't "miss out on something" by not being at the show. Of course you miss out on a lot. No one is claiming that listening to tapes of a show gives them the "full experience of a show."

So you're arguing, in part, against something that isn't even being put forward.

And you're seemingly neglecting to realize that, unfortunate as it may be, it is nevertheless true that many aspects of what it means to *really* be there and *really* experience the show are also intensely subjective, variable and, as everyone who sees shows and later listens to recordings realizes, capable of interfering with a judgement of the music.

So it's fine to say, "I only care about the real experience of the show" -- but most of us are going to miss most shows. Therefore I'm always going to prefer a review of the music (which is all I'm going to ever get if I miss the show), uncolored by the fleeting phantoms of the in-person experience which never make it to the tapes.

More absentee reviews, please!