So...the second set is awesome. To say it's the best set of phish ever, I mean, come on. Oh sure, you can say that. Who am I? Your dad? Well, if I were, you'd be talking about 12/11/97 set 1, 11/22/97 set 2, 11/17/97 set 1, and on and on and on. Anyway...

This Antelope, how is it not the consensus Antelope of all time? It's the second song in the first set. After they run through the initial segments, Mike and Fish start thundering cow funk. And just when you're sure Trey's going to start soloing, all of a sudden he's like "fuck all that, ima kick straight kurds for a few minutes." Which makes it all the worthwhile when he actually drops in. The phishtracks.com (I love each and every one of you, by the way) copy is an AUD, so you can clearly hear the crowd following every single twist and turn. In retrospect, it's the ability of the band members to tolerate the dissonance that invariably occurs in each jam and the ability to guide it back to the theme that separates Fall '97 phish from all other phish. This Antelope is a prime example. Trey's effects at 12:00 are one of my favorite 5 seconds of phish ever. The whole thing...it's just top level 16 minutes of phish music.
It's probably not kosher to write this in a review, and I'd get it if you're irritated with it, but, MAN I miss this psychotically in-control-of-everything version of this band.