@nichobert said:

2.0 Phish often meanders and then fizzles (in the best way possible, i'm infinitely more impressed with this period than i used to be. feels way more post-rock and less 'generic jamband')

I was just thinking about this comment while listening to the incredible 8/15/11 UIC show, specifically that absolutely holy second set jam:

Sand > Light > Dirt > Waves > Undermind > Steam

This, to me, is an incredibly smooth-flowing hour+ of music. Sand goes through multiple stages before making way for Light, which reaches peak intensity and complexity and dissonant madness all at the same time; Dirt is a perfect palette-cleanser, and the musicians take their time, taking (if memory serves) an extra chorus at the end to distance themselves from the darkness of Sand > Light. Waves is a strummy/textural jam, so the melodic/funky post-lyrics minor key outro has a little extra impact.

And check out how Trey shapes the segue into Undermind...the band's ready for Timber, so he just layers these nice major chords (if I remember right) over their building rhythm, to smooth out what might otherwise have risen/fragmented into the more menacing Timber music. There's no hesitation from the other players, but also no hurry: it's not calm but it's peaceful, if that makes sense.

And, and, and: and Trey doesn't hurry past the FX-laden first half of his solo (he's playing his usual blues licks with a parallel line added a fifth above, essentially layering a knotty modal jam atop a common blues-Undermind jam), segueing smoothly into a more conventional Undermind solo. And then DAMN: the gorgeous Undermind outro jam, which is a slowed-down Undermind chord progression played with unexpected delicacy and reserve, dissolving into the opening of Steam. They don't let go of Undermind an instant too soon, but they also keep the momentum going. The Undermind outro feels like a valediction instead of a distraction; it's part of the progression from the chunky mid-song jam into the chilled-out textures of Steam. It makes perfect emotional/musical sense.

When folks talk about the smooth flow of Phish 2.0, they invariably mean 'long jams that change very slowly.' But the new stuff, at its best, has the same emotional logic, the same sense of elastic time and infinite space...with more variety than any 2003-04 jam ever mustered.

They are peaking right now. I love the IT festival and stretches of Summer '03, but I think the new shows offer up the best, the richest music they've made since February 2003. What a time to be a fan!