awesomeness. I feel the same way. I wouldn't say that "scene" is gone forever - like Christians and pedophiles, dirty wookies will always find a place and an event to get together at and throw glowsticks around and spin hula hoops and talk in mock Southern accents. But will there be another band that will lead the way into arenas and festivals and stadiums? Who knows? I will say this, this time with no sarcasm or particular ill-will involved: there is no band on the radar that I can see or sense that is poised to take those reigns. I know, I know - "well, what about _________? I saw them late night at the 'roo and they blew the place up!". Sorry, the cultural and technological variables are not aligned to let that happen at this time. See, the Dead and Phish were *contrarians* at exactly the same time their audiences grew. No-one wanted prog-jazz-jam-rock in the 1980's-1990's but Phish single-mindedly furrowed a path. In the 1970's and 1980's, it wasn't really cool to be into the Dead (until 87 that is) but still, arenas and stadiums got filled. What we're really seeing now is not Dead scene, Phish scene but a more overall spanning scene we could call the 'Roo scene. Instead of a central focal point for all that energy to flow into, out of and around, it now gets more evenly spread around so many bands that - while different - kind of rely on each other to create sums bigger than their individual parts. Therefore, none of them are contrarian, they are in sympatico, and ergo, things like the 'Roo exist and flourish. Everything is so different, the whole concert industry has changed, everything from politics, to the price of gas, to the integration of the Web 2.0, all of that plays a part in these things and based on where we are now, today, it's hard to see a band on the horizon that is going to take it over the top. Having said all of that, if you're a jamhead, enjoy this time while you can. There's no shortage of music to go see, at smaller places and with fair accessibility.