Addendum

A few more thoughts on the nostalgia post that I should have/meant to include:

• Just to be clear, I'm not down on anything the band is doing now in any way shape or form. In fact, I'm pretty thrilled with all of it. The post was more a response to the discussions & arguments swirling around on Twitter, etc. My point is: the band is great now, the band was great "then" (whenever that may be), it's OK to wish for it to be like the past, it's OK to make signs and long for long jams and bustouts and all, and it's equally OK to argue against signs and the longing, etc.... it's always been that way and it always will... it's (a BIG) part of what makes it great. Excuse the inelegant paraphrasing.
• Another part of the impetus for the post was seeing the movie "Midnight in Paris" (spoiler alert) which centers around a guy visiting Paris longing for an era long gone, long before his time. And then he gets to essentially go back in time and it's as good as he'd hoped, but there's someone there that's nostalgic for an even earlier era and he's dumbfounded -- THIS is the best time to live in!! And so on and so forth. It struck me as very analogous. It's all about where you are now and when you came in and what looks like "new" to you and what looks like "nostalgia." My brother was talking about new songs played during a set at Watkins Glen and said something about "Ghost" and I was like, um, they've been playing that song for 15 years!
• Point being: at my first show (in 1992) on the way out a guy was talking about "the days" when Phish played his dorm with an "alas! they've gotten so big!" tone. It's always been that way.
• Poing being: I'm kinda nuts but it's always been that way.