@funkdubayous said:

I felt like I was robbed of a great historical moment of phish history when those actors came up on stage.

I think this gets close to the heart of the problem that some people who were in attendance have with this Harpua. When the interaction about the signs started, we felt like something authentic was happening. When the illusion really started to crumble (detectable much earlier on the stream than from my own vantage point in front of the soundboard, I might add), I felt uneasy, and from there it continued downhill into a bizarre, uncomfortable couple of minutes. Yes, I get the many layers of mockery and can totally laugh and appreciate it...from a distance. In the moment, I felt burned for buying in to the premise and it didn't feel good. It never does when the joke's on you. That's not the feeling I'm going for at any Phish show, much less in the middle of the Harpua that rewards dedicated fans who stayed around despite getting pelted with rain and sleet in the first set. Seems like an odd time to be sending that message. Mike did bring some authentic in-the-moment classic Cactus, but the weird vibe from those "sketch"y moments was hard to recover from.