True, Seal -

95 would be cool, because the year would invite variety.

You can go to - or listen to - show after show, and be totally surprised. Take a listen to a Tweezer and it's not going to sound like five minutes of BEK.... Hell, if you're at Jones Beach, you'll get DEG AND Cannonball. If I remember correctly, Tweezer ends up in Lake Placid, far removed from the shore, and makes its way into Reprise, with Page soloing, a sign of things to come.

And you were grateful for the tapes you could get when you could get them.* Crisp - what a loosely defined term.

For sure, 11 and 12/97 are great. Stellar, as is said. But:

7/26 - Energy, energy, energy: Percussion driving the band (and SONGS) in entirely different directions, and this in places other than those afforded to the run leading to 10/31/96;

8/11 - Despite what happens the night before, a great Maze and Lope (to end a first set, which was cool); and while Timber is always cool (and dark - which is what got me into the band in the first place; and far, far removed from the 8/10 set II opener) Vultures is interesting, but, more importantly, leads to a YEM which, while weird, if you were there, or if there were a crisp recording*, you'd find to be totally cool and rife with sonic relief (were you to tire of nightly forays into 'funk,' which is mastered in the months to come**);

8/14 - This will never translate to tape (nor should it, really) but, following PA, and before the Went, more fun and surprises. Technically not the same thing, obviously, but the Jam coming out of the Kesey moment is akin to hearing, without expecting to, a well-executed Pebbles, or 03 Scents.

Of course it sounds this way, but none of this is to be a Summer apologist. Phish, in my opinion, is at its best when rehearsed AND adventurous. 11 and 12 are totally cool, but the shows grew to be just a bit self-congratulatory - one too many victory laps**. It was awesome to see them having fun; but even in the moment it grew wearing knowing what to anticipate.

Which is why I think a lot of you who point to spots in 98 and 99 get it right.

*More than the wealth of great existing sound from that tour, the absence of great sound from the mos. before skews perception. Cool Chalkdust's, Gin's, Drums', Foam's, Limb's; for now, these get listened to less than 2012 KDF's.

A long way of saying that there was a lot of repetition. And forget Foams.... Waiting for Makisupa's.

Do love this site. Read forever and never before felt compelled to write; so many of you have do it longer and much better.