@Gumbo72203 said:

They can play Rift every show and I'd be fine with it as long as they play it with vigor and determination.

A lot of the negative reviews come from the resulting feeling that the music being played is simply perfunctory... no boundary-pushing, no excitement, just rote run-throughs. Sure, there aren't any flubs, but that should be a given... just because Trey doesn't hit a bum note doesn't mean that the version of Funky Bitch is worthy of re-listening.

I guarantee that 90% of all Phish fans came to this band because of some crazy, transcendental musical experience, be it hearing the jet-fueled 6/23/04 Crosseyed jam, the Plutonian 12/29/94 Bowie, or even the sparkling levity of the studio "Fee". SOMETHING MORE was there.

And often in 3.0, Phish doesn't seem to really care enough to try to deliver "something more". Every 3.0 Moma Dance sounds the same. Every 3.0 Funky Bitch sounds the same. That's whats getting lame. We want excitement. We want held-breath holy-shit-ness. We want to hang on every note.

When we know exactly how things are going to pan out, its impossible to hang on every note, because we've heard it before. Phish should always be playing well. They're a professional band. Its their job to do that. But why some people are satisfied with only that, is beyond me.

Thankfully, the band is absolutely obviously still capable of delivering the titanic goods of transcendent metamorphosis in music, with the 7/8/12 Piper, the 8/31/12 Chalkdust, the 9/2/12 Sand, the 7/31/13 Tweezer, the Hollywood Hood, the MSG Disease > Carini, etc.

But what I fail to understand is their reluctance to chase this majesty on a nightly basis, when they clearly simply have to try, and they will generally succeed.

So.... anyway, here's to hoping that Mansfield does not get Bag > Moma > Bitch, Stash, Rift > Ice, Maze > Ocelot, Joy > Antelope'd for the first set, and is instead gifted with something vanity-inducing.... ie: Piper -> NICU, Divided Sky, Roggae -> Possum -> Catapult -> Possum -> Kung -> Possum, Esther, Fee -> Wingsuit,

Well it's nice that we're getting off on a proper start here, isn't it? Methinks that after 30 years and a lifetime of transcendance that the boys can pretty much play whatever the hell they want however they want. If I don't like it I don't need to pay for a ticket.