I am new to the site, but not new to reading all that is good here. I am somewhere between a NOOB and a Vet, having attended roughly 15 shows, including parts of Super Ball, all of Magna Ball and Wrigley (btw, what is the cutoff between a NOOB and a Vet).

I 'couch toured' for the first time this weekend on Saturday and Sunday with my son. I will say that couch touring brings a whole different, slightly more critical vibe to the experience. Let me also say that no matter how you take in Phish, it is all incredibly good. I grew up with The Dead, went to Cornell '77 and worked through all the challenges in the early '90's with those guys. No matter what, The Dead and Phish just bring me ultimate joy every time I listen.

I found Saturday's show more pleasure from 'the couch' than Sunday's. Sunday's show had very good moments (Moma Dance was scary good and I always love watching Trey play Rock n Roll) but the band just seemed to stop a good flow when it was happening. You would think they were going to go on a run and then they slowed it down. My son and I both commented on the 'weirdness' of the set list, especially set 2. I noticed that Trey ran off the stage pretty quickly last night before the encore and was wondering if anything was going on (maybe reading too much into it). I'm trying to not be a Magna Ball snob but something seems a little different this year. Not sure why I think that, but perhaps some of the more seasoned vets can give insight.

Regardless, I'll take this band's 'bad' over any other band's 'great' anytime. No other band can grab you with their music, hold your hand through the journey, let you experience all that is good about music and keep you coming back for more. My analogy for Sunday - the Red Sox lost 6-2 but Ortiz hit two home runs. They may have lost but I always love the Sox and it's always good seeing Papi hit home runs....

These guys will NEVER let me down...