Great piece guys, and I think I can say without hesitation that I agree with it all, point-by-point! First NYE for me ever, catching the 29th, 30th, and 31st. You are on the money that the 29th just had that "Je Ne Sais Quoi" characteristic... an electricity that belongs to *special* shows. Just incredible, start to finish, with no let-up other than 'Corinna'.

Since the shows I have most relistened to Everything's Right>Plama from 12/30 which features two incredible jams with the most natural and easy segue you could hope to hear.

Also incredibly moving were the slower ballads that did surface - "Glide 2" (if you can call it a ballad), Bliss>Billy Breathes, and 12/31's Waste were beautiful enough to make this fan misty eyed.

Your rumination about Curveball is very apropos - there is just something about that incredible 8/31 Dick's show which also possessed that special electricity that most likely would not have existed without the cancelled festival - and that first show back, for me was the slingshot that provided the inertia that carried the band into the Fall Tour and on through the NYE shows. It's not very celebrated, but the first night of Fall Tour in Albany was just an unbelievable night - at times I closed my eyes and felt like perhaps I had teleported back to 97/98 - the energy, the funk, the space... the oozing gooey mind melting tones... I just thought it was an incredible show. And I knew then that Fall 18 was going to be absolutely stellar. Because of that energy and that experience I finally put the pieces in place to make my first NYE run after 20+ years of hoping to make it some day. I was greatly rewarded and am forever grateful for the experience.