^^Good observations.
It is obvious enough that as four accomplished musicians, they can appear together as Phish and make a pretty decent go of it, hitting some pretty hot strides together without the need to practice on a regular basis. But even Trey, who performs the most out of the four of them, is flubbing a lot more of the composed guitar parts of the earlier songs. They are pretty intricate compositions and require a dexterity that is lost if not played often or practiced regularly.
But they always seem to counterbalance what they lose from lack of practice in jamming that they are still able to make work for them as singularly unique more than any band. Like the gambler reinforced by the occasional win, I’ll continue to seek them out for those moments of jamming nirvana that is Phish. Yes, I miss the exactitude of the compositions, but I can live with that.

