11/17/97 is a great show. It's also one of the most overrated shows in Phish history, a process to which this list unfortunately contributes.

This show fools you into thinking it's better than it is. The five-song first set looks a lot like the epic four and five-song second sets from this tour, which are among the best sets in history. But it's nowhere in the league of things like the second sets on 11/19, 11/21, 11/22, 11/23, 12/30 or any of the other top-ten second sets of the year. And unlike many of those sets, it doesn't have unexpected between-song jams that link everything into a suite. There are just two jam songs nestled in a set that happens to have merely five songs.

That first set has a very good (but not great) Tweezer, and a Ghost with a very exciting and uplifting jam, but not conclusively better than 7/23, for instance. It's a fantastic listen, but just not a groundbreaking event. So: great stuff for a first set, but not enough to carry a best of year contention.

Here's the important part: Even 11/17 supporters concede that the second set is not even in the conversation for the best, say, 20 sets of the year. Think about that for a second. It's among the weakest second sets of the tour, for instance, which is more of an amazing statement about Phish's greatest-ever tour than a knock on the show itself. It has a type I Disease in a year with many great versions that far surpass it, and a no-big-deal YEM. The spacey jam out of Johnny B. Goode is the musical highlight of the show, and it's great! A very '97 moment. A really nice set, but one that gets completely elbowed away by at least 30 (no hyperbole) better second sets in 1997.

In a year with so many stacked second sets, this one jam out of JBG doesn't merit a high enough ranking for this set, or show. And though 11/17 is a pleasant listen all the way through, and deserves great respect for its depth, it lacks dramatic high points to compare with the other elite shows of the year. That Ghost is just no Hampton Bag, Winston-Salem Gin, Auburn Hills Tweezer, MSG Bag, 11/19 Wolfman's, 11/22 Haley's, 7/1 Cities, etc etc etc. Basically, the 1 ranking for this show rests on a raging Ghost that alone is not among the year's very best jams, and a deep supporting cast of jams even further down the totem pole.

In a year with so many amazing second sets, how can a show with a merely-average second set be the best show of the year? The answer is: It can't.

I'm not saying not to love the show. Love it, it's great! But we're talking about the best show of the year here. When you break it down, 11/17 just doesn't add up. It's a safe but awful pick for best show of the year.