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As you mention Aristotle, I figure I'll just give you some of my own philosophic source-influences here (no philosophy in a vacuum either): Heidegger, Lyotard, and Gadamer. Extremely challenging thinkers but I think more relevant to the post-modern landscape (context) we all live in, including Phish.
That quote from Aristotle makes things a little sticky: the "inward" can refer to either the state created in consciousness when identifying and responding to the source-art or some essentialist quality of the art itself. However, I think your reading is correct as it would be a more Platonic quality for the actual art to hold in itself ontologically the ideal of whatever the viewer finds within it.
I think for Aristotle, art represents a special case of being as something that is purely created with intentionality regarding material and form. This inward quality is thus a response to the combination of these two causes representing a "pure" case of the different Aristotlean causes. The final cause as intention is of course where things get interesting and we see that the art moves beyond that original intent to represent apperceivabe resonance within the culture. Also, a good place to go for the culture/historicity of art is Hegel.
As to your first point, definitely! Phish is without question uniquely reflexive in that regard. Much better fleshed out than I put it. For the second, I'd say that a hermeneutic reading of Aristotle is an excellent interpretation for modern times but is not exactly what he had in mind. Thirdly, yes absolutely. Part of my love for the band is that they are so challenging and seem to somehow be playing directly for me: instigation as impetus for the creation of new art and thought.
Anyway, since you took the time to think about what I said and added some more concrete points I thought I'd be an ass if I didn't respond. Thanks again for the kind and thoughtful words. Also, most of my friends are sick to death of the word "hermeneutic" when applied to phish so its a nice outlet for me...