This is, for me, the greatest Phish show of all time, and there are two reasons for that.

First, the music. This show is of a place with the European shows of 97-98. Think Amsterdam, Hamburg, Cologne, Prague, Barcelona. Small venues, intimate settings, and you can absolutely feel that conveyed through the music. The first-set Cities is played at a great, relaxed tempo (kind of a theme for the night, I would say), and the Gumbo -> Llama that follows is top-shelf. The second set is the best set of live Phish ever. Yes, a setlist that reads BOTT, Twist -> Walk Away -> 2001 is the best set of live Phish ever. Not a Tweezer or a Mike's Groove or a Hood to be found, yet the set contains a cohesion from start to finish that other contenders for "Best Set Ever" lack. There simply isn't a dull moment, and, what's more, the set contains two separate "Best Evers" - Twist and 2001. And to top the whole thing off, the encore of Sleep and Squirming Coil is the absolute perfect way to end this particular show. No other choices would have served this night and this venue and this crowd as well as Sleep and Coil. (Shout out to the guy screaming "Sleeeeppp" when the band comes out for the encore - good call!) Page's notes to end Coil and the night are, quite simply, beautiful.

The second reason I consider this show to be the best of all time is more personal. In the not too distant past, I picked up my old copy of A Live One, which had been shelved for a very long time (sophomore year of college if I remember correctly), and gave it a spin for no particular reason. As I made my way through the Stash and the Montana (I just love that little section) and the Slave and that glorious Hood, I found myself thinking that, hey, I remember why I once spun these guys every once in a while. But I didn't know where to go from there. Eventually I made the decision to pick up two shows, just to see what might happen. Those two shows were 11/17/97 and 6/14/00, and as much as I love 11/17/97, it was 6/14/00 that I played on repeat for days and weeks at a time. Just to hear that Cities and that Jam out of Twist and that glorious dancehall funk of 2001 and, yes, that Sleep-Coil encore.

This, then, is the one Phish show that you'll have to pry from my cold, dead hands.