I'm a post-first hiatus nOOb (got in to the band in 2003), but I've listened to hundreds of shows from all eras. It seems to me that Phish is in one of those transition periods (like 1996) between styles. There's a more "electronica" feel to some of the songs and jams, Trey is experimenting with new sounds and pedals/effects, Page is playing more synthesizer, they're tweaking the boring "First set = songs, Second set = jams" thing. Some of it works (more synths from Page is a good thing), some of it doesn't (sometimes Trey's sound is flat-out terrible).

I really liked the first two nights of this Vegas run but was meh about the third one. I also think it might be time to re-think the musical costume thing. I love the Ziggy Stardust album a lot and Phish played it well but the four guys simply don't have the lead vocal chops for this material. There were some cringe-inducing moments when they were wildly off pitch or just couldn't sing the parts. The arrangements were good but the great "Rock n' Roll Suicide" just didn't have the impact it should because the electric guitar part which drives the song wasn't played and the important brass parts weren't either. Trey simply couldn't do the song justice as a singer. I thought the third set was weak tea, they looked exhausted from my couch. They played the worst Meatstick I've heard, the jams didn't go anywhere.

I've been saying for years that if they continue the musical costume, they should do mostly instrumental albums that they can improvise with rather than acting as a tribute band. King Crimson's Lark Tongues In Aspic is a perfect example, it was on the list for Festival 8's slot but instead they did Exile on Main Street which = tribute band time.