Phish Debuts New Song ‘Fling Your Head’ On Opening Night In Mexico

“Welcome, it’s so good to see all of you again!,” Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio said from the stage in the midst of the first set of this year’s Mexican destination event.

Phish: Riviera Maya 2026 is the band’s ninth festival in Mexico, returning once again to the all-inclusive Moon Palace Cancún for what will amount to four oceanside shows. Those returning to Cancún and others making the journey for the first time (along with livestreamers watching elsewhere) were presented with a satisfying event-opening performance over the course of Wednesday’s two sets.

The first set was a blend of the expected and unexpected. Following the “Hey Stranger” opener, the standby second-slot song, “The Moma Dance,” and its nautical lyrics stayed true to form.

The band proceeded through a fun “Back On The Train” and languid “Roggae.” The beachside staple, “Sand,” then served up the first dose of pointed jamming that would continue throughout the rest of the show.

After “Sand,” the band dug up another song with lyrics referencing sand (and waves), Anastasio’s “Breath And Burning.” Having been buried since 2022, “Breath And Burning” was busted out after an absence of 159 shows. “Sigma Oasis,” another song with lyrics referencing the oceanic landscape, slid in next.

When packing for this trip to Mexico, the band brought with them a new original song, “Fling Your Head.” Bassist Mike Gordon sang lead on the funky new number. Page McConnell added bluesy, bar-band piano fills and drummer Jon Fishman fortified with a sturdy rhythm. Gordon and Anastasio sang the new tune’s final chorus together.

The feisty first notes of “Chalk Dust Torture” signaled the initiation of the final song of the set. The versatile rocker affords the band the option to deliver a concise, straight-ahead rendering or open up into an expansive jam – the latter choice proved true in the form of a 16-minute edition of the superlative closer.

With waves crashing on the nearby shoreline, “Waves” was appropriately selected as the second set’s first song. Easing into part two of the show, the opener lapped along before Anastasio started hinting at the subsequent segue into “Fuego.”

Eventually clocking in at 24-minutes, “Fuego” rolled into a spirited improvised sequence stacked with peaks and valleys, while staying musically sharp across the various segments. Both substantially exploratory and tastefully lean, the “Fuego” journey concluded with an arrival of “No Men In No Man’s Land.”

Bounding through “NMINML,” it served as a bridge to the second set’s other big jammer, “Mercury.” The foursome worked through the song’s various structured components before opening up into the evening’s most inspired and adventurous jamming. Toeing a line in the proverbial sand between a sense of urgency and absolute patient resolve, the improvised material wove through different sonic pastures, anchoring around a blues vamp that brought the jam to an end.

The night’s first and only cover, Stevie Wonder’s wondrously joyous “Boogie On Reggae Woman,” trailed the 23-minute “Mercury.” Instead of a frequently chosen slow-down song at this point in the show, the exuberant “Backwards Down the Number Line” teed up the bombastic “Character Zero” — laced with Anastasio adding Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” licks — that wrapped the set.

A bigger bust out than the one delivered in the first set kicked off the encore in the form of the first “Dog Faced Boy” since October 30, 2021, ending a 186-show gap between appearances of the tender Fishman-written original.

Another somewhat unexpected song choice punctuated opening night as “Ghost” found its way into an encore for just the fourth time since its 1997 debut. The potent last helping of improv did not stray too far from form before circling back to its grooving conclusion.

Phish: Riviera Maya 2026 continues tonight. Livestreams of all four Phish performances in Mexico are available to purchase through LivePhish and nugs.

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