@chopaganda how do you factor in the relative lack of high quality 1st sets from 12-16 into your consideration? What elevates ‘21 (and to a lesser extent, ‘23) specifically into my favorite year of modern Phish are the sheer number of front to back elite shows. The peaks may be higher in 12-16, but also a lot more mailed in 1st sets, IMO.
As an aside - this is my 1st post on Mastodon. Arguably an inauspicious beginning to be defending 4.0 phish as my opening move here, but we’ll see how it goes