I agree 100%. It is almost like Phish are playing a shell game and you never know where the interesting jams will pop up, or what style they may be, even in a space normally reserved for a standardized 3 min Type 1. It seems fair to say Tweezer is not currently an improvisational jam vehicle (but it still retains a T1 section). Ocelot, Kill Devil Falls, Light and Waves have all featured memorable tour highlight jam. I'm curious, and excited to hear each new show. Regardless of what's in the setlist.

One of the best things about Phish...not knowing what to expect.

I appreciate your enthusiasm, zzyzx, although I disagree with many of your points, but in some ways it might be a case of your having a much longer history with the band than myself; some of what seems similar to you seemed/seems wildly different to me, both then and now.

However, attempting to eschew all those conflicts, I still have one point remaining: not only would I say that '94 was the peak and '95 transitional--something I've just recently begun to think--I would also say that the style of the Storage Jam is straight OUT OF '94, in large part. Yes, there are elements of 3.0 that make it unique; I'm not saying it's an attempt to recreate the past. But the 3.0 style has been evolving for a couple years now, and part of that has been re-incorporating elements from the past, and the Storage Jam is the clearest example yet of re-energizing the new with the familiar and still-exciting elements of the experimental '94 sound.

Which, to me, was THE peak--SO FAR, so I'm just incredibly thrilled about all of this. I got really sick of even discussing this shit for a while, burnt out on Phish entirely, and I've just been listening to SBIX in an attempt to reinvigorate my own enthusiasm in time for UIC. And it's working. As is reading your piece here and realizing I still have a lot to say about this shit. Even if it IS a waste of time. Heh. So thanks!

While some of these styles do seem like a new age birth of Phish, as @deceasedlavy said many of these stylistic weird jams do have many roots in the bands early history - in fact, Trey said it himself at Super Ball that this type of space-jamming was in fact created during their Colorado tour which tells us they have always had the taste for these oddities, maybe now they feel they can be accepted more and more often.

2 and a half years out of the hiatus Phish seems to be hitting their stride styisticly now. The peaks of 2011 have been far more thrilling to my ears than any of the peaks from the past 2 years. Coming outta that long hiatus the it seems the band has been trying to cast off a lot of old musical paradigms, shed old skins and find a new way to approach their music. The jamming peaks of 11' have to my ears been more concise, thrilling and self aware than anything i've heard since 1.0. The boys seem to be able now to do more in 12 minutes than they could do in 20 minutes in 2003. The jams seem more organic and far less complacent. I haven't heard any muddled down jams that get lost in a theme or a particular sound for 5 or 6 minutes. I hear every member of the bad driving the jam forward and not resting on their laurels.
This year has featured stunning versions of Wilson, Light, DWD, Sally, Possum, Wavves, The Curtain, Halleys, Gin and many more. The jams in these tracks have stood I think more for the fact that the entire band seems to be attempting to forge new musical landscapes rather than just playing whatever for 20+ minutes. It's super encouraging to hear elements of The Storage Jam in these last few shows although I think the Storage Jam is less an influence on the band than on us the listeners. Phish seems to be in a place where a breakout is poised to happen it just appears to be comingled with alot of head scratching decsions as well. Most of us would probably agree that it's been slim pickins' as far as finding much to love in 1st sets this year and theres been definite issue with song placement all year long. I know that the band is doing what it wants though and I hate to question their creative process simply because they continue to thrill me on regular basis and I have total faith that once they meld this new style of all inclusive non-complacent jamming to a better set structure that something truly unique will bubble up. No Phish tour save for the whole of 97' has ever ever ever been perfect. The band has waxed and waned their whole musical career, only to shock our brains with new musical innovations at almost every turn. I don't like to make predictions about Phish as they usually fall way off the mark but I don't know ANY phan thats not totally stoked for HELLOWEEN and a fall tour this year. A song like Steam and many of the 2.0 songs seem perfectly poised for this fresh style of jamming that just blew my mind with The Gorges "R & R" and last nights whole 2nd set. Someone said the other day on here that maybe it's time for alotta of our old phavorites to hit the shelf for awhile and I couldnt agree more. With alot of reapeats this year played in a perfunctory style that goes against the non-complaceny theme it would be nice if our future "bustouts" were some of favorite 1.0 gems. I look forward to a new crop of Phish songs being written next year and to a show where only a couple of 1.0 songs make the bill. It would be fresh and forward thinking in a way that the peak jams of this year have been. All that being said Phish could play 30 6 minute songs and they'd still be one of the best touring acts on the road. I know theres no better party in town and certainly no better fans to speak of. We're all in this together with the band and our criticsms all come from a place of love, excitement and shared history with this fucking timeless band. Here's hoping for a Florida run this Fall! peace

David, clearly we are on the same page. Here's my post from Fall 2010:

http://forum.phish.net/permalink.php?commentid=1288180673

Wow that's freaky that someone else used that analogy...

I think you tend to give Phish 2.0 too much credit. Here's what their history boils down to for me: 1) there's Phish (until the hiatus and since the breakup) and 2) there was that sucky Phish-wannabe band with their short shows, endless guitar-loop-space-"jams" and repetitive setlists (known as 2.0).

The REAL Phish is BACK... enjoy it, they are at the top of their game.

a lot of really good points. the musical style has also reflected their lives. by 03-04 the music felt directionless, there was lots of stagnation, it seemed like they were almost playing 30 minute versions of Discern so they WOULDN'T have to nail the composed sections of harder songs.

with sobriety and a new importance on their family structures came the new focus, the new direction, cutting out the party scene in a way cut out the meandering jams. it brought structure and direction back. and you can tell they are enjoying it.

sweet jeezus i hope so! (storage jam as the new musical compass). i've been having pretty much the same discussion with folks about a re-evolution of phish in 3.0 along the lines of the history of 1.0 that being said, it's definitely not a perfect mold but is useful in describing some of the trends we've been seeing. i gave the 91~=09 and 92~=10 last year but it didn't exactly feel right specifically because this is the cutting edge of new creation as we speak; the same as it was whenever the moment was "now." i guess thats sort of the point here, if we could encapsulate the present or future with a trend it would no longer be a free existence. phish is not deterministically inclined to any sort of trends (just as no one person is) and any preconceptions of what the music should be ultimately is detrimental to what it could be.
i also think it's interesting that some of the best jams have come from non-standard platforms like soundchecks or the storage experiment. it seems to me that the band is truly the most free when there are minimal to no expectations on the qualities of the art they are creating, and thus are able to transcend the thousands of people that are experiencing the music. the mere fact that we are there changes the path or exploration that the band goes on similar to the scientific idea that there can be no observation without alteration. the mere fact that one is recording the data means it will change.
another point is the dichotomy in expectations of the fan base: the dreaded vet vs. noob polarization. for however many people there are that want them to jam like its 1.0 there are just as many people that are not in it for the more exploratory jamming. this boggles my mind (haha, bias) but a look at any comment thread will back this up. i don't mean to overstate the idea that phish is affected by the expectation of its fanbase, but rather that *because* the fans are so different in their experience of a show, phish is just going to go out and do what they do. there certainly isn't a consensus on us wanting them to jam more and, ironically, i think this is a good thing because it doesn't make us seem demanding or ungrateful and thus not worth the trouble of playing to (or dropping a 30 min yem, ahem, fingers crossed).
the last thing (i swear!) is the danger of assuming that the band is on an ever-upward ascent to become the ideal phish they can be. ok, hyperbolic, but still the building and building of expectations for each tour to be better than the one before creates the space for deep disappointment when one's expectations are not met. i'm the guiltiest fan i know of this pitfall. as hard as it is to do you gotta go in there with ZERO expectations or even aspirations. i had given up the idea that i was ever going to see phish do a 20+ min jam (in a fit of unbearable and ungrateful bitchiness) and went to pine knob to hear whatever "greatest hits" phish would play with my arms crossed and a little bitch expression on my bitch face. phish school'd.

I still love 'em more than anything and I enjoy 3.0, but I give current shows one listen then spend the rest of the day listening to the good old days.

wow, I was thinking the exact same thing.

Good stuff, @zzyzx, thanks!

So far this year they have produced a jam that literally brought tears to my eyes (Waves soundcheck) and a jam that literally dropped my jaw and left me staring at my stereo (Gorge Rock & Roll). And I haven't even heard the Tahoe Light yet. Future looks promising...

In the four shows since Superball IX, two of them have featured a jam based on the style of the “Storage Jam.”

I think you can also trace the style to before the Storage Jam, as early in the tour as the very end of the Bethel Waves, and through the IX Simple. I'd bet there are some more examples tucked away throughout Leg I.

I'm extremely psyched to hear that sound re-emerge in the Gorge RnR and hope it does become another weapon in their arsenal of sonic awesomeness.

So now, in less than 3 years since the breakup, we potentially have the evolution of 2 new styles or flavors of Phish - the stacattto and this heavy ambient electronic/industrial whatever.

There might be criticism of them goofing around playing "signs" and dropping new covers here and there, but its getting increasingly harder to argue that they are not creatively inspired.

I have to say that version 3.0 has been by far my most favorite version.

Version 1.0 was where the band learned to be a band. They had nothing but the future to look forward to, and anything that they did at that time was groundbreaking. I've listened to shows circa '93-'97, and I'll be damned if I don't get goosebumps on top of goosebumps. Sure, there are the bad shows scattered here and there. Shit doesn't always go as planned. But dammit, these guys were grooving, and more importantly, they were listening. That's key, and you can hear it in the jams.

Version 2.0, well, it was pretty flat. I mean, I can't even believe this was the same band that I knew and loved. It was like some shitty goth band that I was a little too un-hip to understand. That was it... I didn't understand it. It seemed half-assed, mainly on Trey's behalf. To be honest, when the break-up happened, it felt right. Why continue the shitfest?

Version 3.0, at this point, has been as high as 1.0 in terms of energy, but in my opinion, it's been better musically altogether. They are on the same page. They're listening again. The jams don't feel like work. It's lighter and better spirited. It's like they've stripped out all of the bullshit and just decided to rock. In my opinion they have nothing left to prove to me, but it feels to me like they have more to prove to themselves. It's like being a rookie, and dammit, I'm gonna show you what I can do! Are they still playing bad sets? Yep. Are they still botching shit? Yep. Are they still coming out and giving me goosebumps? Yep.

I got on the Ferris Wheel as the storage shit was going down. I make good choice.

"We’re just getting used to Song Based Jamming, but the rules are changing again. In the four shows since Superball IX, two of them have featured a jam based on the style of the “Storage Jam.” It’s starting to look like that late night jam might be one of the defining moments of the band, along the lines of how playing Remain in Light started the cowfunk revolution. It’s a new style of playing, one that at least will define the end of summer 2011."

I agree completely with this outlook on the Storage Jam, which is why the article on .NET about Super Ball not holding up was so short-sighted and totally off base in reality. I asked friends who went to Denver, and who were also with me at Super Ball, and they said the shows in Denver were amazing but that the vibe in Watkins Glen was unmatched (as well as having such forward-looking improvisation like that in the Storage Jam, ASIHTOS, Simple, Golden Age, and others). I was so upset to see Super Ball dismissed so casually (turkey sandwich analogies are casual at best), and this important point you bring up has restored my faith in the goodness of the .NET masters. Thanks, and here's to many more years of pushing our conceptual limits of what this band can do.