with more albums comes more responsibility to play well known tracks. its either that or extend the show by 2 hours.
back pre-BF, the boys had a decent amount of deep cuts they could play to fill up the show. now that they have 5+ its getting harder to slip those little gems like Confusion, Twist, Air Towel etc into to the show. Just recently they've been dropping Moaner and there is already a longing for it. Imagine if they dropped: TMO, BS, KoS, Cowgirl/Rez from their show. It would be great for the super fan who has every live show downloaded anyway, but it would suck for the average fan who sees them live once or twice.
i think this most recent tour is the closest its been to the 1997-99 days (the BF pre and prior tour.) Generous improvs, fan faves mixed in with some new stuff is the way to go. I think the days of 5 Dubno tracks are done unless the show hits the 3-4 hour mark (ala Electraglide) and that's asking way too much.
Although it does open the door for the radio show now doesn't it?
For the record, I'd love to hear the "gets much better" version of Confusion
.