Phish Stacks 51 Minutes Of Back-To-Back Jams At Long-Awaited Austin Return

After a brief hiatus — this time just two days instead of two years — Phish was back on the trail of their 2025 Summer Tour, reconvening down in the Lone Star State, where — allegedly — “everything is bigger.” And while no single jam approached the 42-minute high-water mark from the tour’s previous show in Pittsburgh, the night offered two back-to-back improvisational centerpieces that each blew past the fabled 20-minute threshold for a combined heavyweight total of 51 minutes. Whereas a single +20-minute jam in a show was once a hunted prize for tour heads, just five shows deep, this tour has offered that, or something close to that (or even something double that), every single night.

Phish opened their first night back inside Austin’s city limits in 15 years (but only seven if counting the outskirts) with “Crowd Control.” Given how much has changed in the American landscape since Phish last played Texas, along with Supreme Court decisions handed down earlier in the day, it deserves mention that “Crowd Control” is arguably the closest thing Phish has to a political anthem or protest song. But in typical Phish fashion the lyrics are vague enough to be inclusive and ambiguous enough to allow that they may actually just be referencing the self-contained Phish scene. The song is laced with entendre (“It’s crowded in the lowlands / But the fools stay on the hill”) and calls to action (“Do something or we will”), all of which are cryptic enough for plausible deniability except in one area: it always makes for a fun opener.

But such a scripted opener comes with near zero variance, so the “Mike’s Song” that came next was as welcomed as it was mildly surprising in the two-spot. Guitarist Trey Anastasio immediately went into launch mode, and with the benefit of Arena Phish, the lights were quick to follow. Keyboardist Page McConnell turned around to visit the Hammond and drummer Jon Fishman quickly settled into a flow that allowed for flourishes within consistency, allowing the band to weave the night’s first tapestry of sound. Out of the gate, it was an egalitarian effort to paint some kind of scene and that kind of team effort would be a pervasive theme throughout the night (…throughout the tour …throughout Phish’s career).

Trey’s new guitar, “Koa 1.5,” made with wood cut from the same tree that gave him “Koa 1” in 1996 (and built around the same time) sliced through the jam’s fabric with an early lead that was both soaring and comforting in its familiarity — the sound of comfortably settling in for the night, while some fans were still getting settled into their seats.

Bassist Mike Gordon went high up on his fretboard to both move with and punctuate, while Trey drove the jam vehicle into the kind of “Mike’s Song” territory that is loved by us all and that loves us back by offering different views every time. A safe but expertly controlled acceleration into the song’s breakdown led into the night’s first big surprise: “Cities!”

In the past, when they’ve veered off course during a “Mike’s -> Groove” segment, the traditional “I Am Hydrogen” is oft replaced with a comparable valley song (if not for “Simple”). But instead they chose to push it into third for the third song of the night, and it was onward with the set’s steady upward climb.

Page was the first to speak up, via his Clavinet, while Trey noodled and doodled beneath and Mike got a little cow-funky for a quick group foray between verses.

Trey almost opened up “Cities” by way of the whale, but instead he recentered with the chunky groove that the song is famous for, adding some high-pitched effect weirdness for Austin-brand uniqueness before the entire band coalesced into a jam-space, with Page on piano and Fishman delightfully all over the place while still holding steady for the get-down.

And then something slightly unusual happened (at least in the context of a “Mike’s -> Groove”); “Cities” came to a complete stop instead of segueing into “Weekapaug Groove.” What that meant is that, from there, anything could happen in the space before they bookmarked the segment properly.

After a quick pause, Phish embarked on the tour’s first “Divided Sky,” which was also self-contained. Trey closed his eyes during the pause in the middle and mouthed something to himself, as if he was channeling something deeper than we could hear, from inside the Phish well, in hopes of bringing it up in the basket.

Minutes later, Phish actually launched into “The Well.” It was just the song’s eighth performance ever, having first made the leap from a Trey Anastasio solo project into the big leagues back in 2023, and as such, every time Phish takes it out, fans seem to breathe a sigh of relief. From the batch of farm-team songs that “The Well” came from, some have risen (“Oblivion”), some have fallen (“Splinters of Hail”), while the songs that are caught in between are perpetually threatened with obscurity.

Having just dusted off “The Well” for their Spring Tour, it appears to be marked safe from oblivion (pardon the pun). And as long as that’s true, there will come a night when “The Well” will steal the show, with repeated, menacing “From the bottom of the well!!” refrain returns woven into additional songs, putting a fingerprint on the entire evening. That wasn’t this one. But due to its rare nature and undeniable appeal, it still counts as a first set highlight. The headbangers in the front row certainly and demonstratively thought so too, as if Trey’s pleased smirk wasn’t confirmation enough.

A mid-set “Daniel Saw the Stone” checked both the bluegrass and the rarity boxes, making it the perfect song at the perfect time, complete with enjoyable B3 work from Page to take us on down the mountain.

For a quick first-set check-in with the band to see how it was going, Trey’s pervasive smile gave it all away. Phish was having fun and Trey’s perma-grin remained in place as he called out for “Taste.”

It was the first taste of “Taste” on Trey’s Koa 1.5 guitar, as the band has been revisiting so many of the songs that were so near and dear to the guitar’s older sibling. Sticking to the first type (“Type 1,” that is), this “Taste” felt like a cool summer breeze, even though the show was indoors. There wasn’t much ventured, but the script that it stuck to was a pleasant revisit all the same.

“Dirt” continued with the older cuts before the inevitable “Weekapaug Groove” brought the set home with the proper bookmark. The era-appropriate tempo allowed for Trey to make Koa 1.5 growl while Page answered with some complementary ideas on the Moog and Mike bounced around the fretboard giving the groove its buoyancy.

It was full charge ahead for the set closer, building in momentum as Trey, after some additional growling, took a clean lead out for a poke-about while lighting director Chris Kuroda brought the lights into the chase above Trey’s head, the entire rig in motion, encouraged perhaps by Fishman’s quickening pace.

All in all, the first set offered its own kind of excitement with an enticing song selection that formed a cohesive, energetic narrative. But once you hear its story, you want to move on to the sequel — Set II — to see where it will go from there.

The answer came loud and clear, after a “Keep Austin Weird” setbreak.

Read on after The Skinny for the rest of the recap and more.

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The second set opened with a second set opener kind of song, “No Men In No Man’s Land,” and making haste, Mike went on a fretboard exploration while Trey took rhythmic stabs, as if switching roles without switching gears.

Trey initiated the next change in the fabric as he let out a short lead, which led to the others filling in the blanks, and just six or so minutes into the set, the first jam’s uniqueness came with a quickness and as Trey dialed his tone to dirty and distorted, the song’s arena rock DNA came spiraling out, while Fishman’s foundation and Mike’s swift movements created a banger in real-time on the dance floor.

And even as Trey deftly built the jam to a frenetic, note-dense peak, it still felt like this was just a set-opening stretch. Second set openers this year have included curveballs like “Bouncing Round The Room” and “Drift While You’re Sleeping,” to get re-acclimated while saving the blast-off for deeper in the set. And while this “No Men” was no fake-out, the band brought it back to the song head before it had time to develop into its own destination. The night’s first actual landmark would be found in the “Fuego” that followed.

Perhaps spurred on by the Texan temperatures, which reached 96 degrees earlier in the day, “Fuego” had the spark that lit the set on fire.

This summer saw Phish bring back ensemble “space jamming” and, delightfully, this “Fuego” transmuted into a space jam near the start of the jump, with Phish showing off their magical powers of alchemy for Austin, turning the Moody Center into Spaceship Phish, a place where the music can get slimed with cosmic goo while the vessel cuts right through.

Meanwhile, back on earth, Trey started building an idea with a melodic lead, then supplemented it with some strumming for momentum, as if to give a gentle push to his next lead which, sure enough, leapt off the cliff, landing the jam into more space sludge as the band trudged through, navigating this strange Phishscape with their exploratory all-are-one ethos. And the band headed onwards to what one could only hope would be a far off destination.

The jam developed a bit of a bounce to it, complete with some chordal jabbing and stabbing from Trey and supplemental bass punches by Mike. And, like that, we were back inside another full blown Type 2 fabric jam. Fishman offered impossible flourishes while keeping the whole enterprise in gear. Mike started exploring the territory and Trey continued the build, ensuring there would be an arc to the design. His melodic lead ripped then roared while Mike’s synth bass stitched through the tapestry that Page then sewed up with frenetic piano chords.

And through all of their whims and all of their larks, the band moved as one through this novel topography that they themselves created, locked-in in a way that only four decades of working on it will reward you with. So when Trey hit on a “Fuego” fragment to indicate the song’s return, his bandmates were right there with him to take this one home, via a scenic path that none of them had ever been on before. They took it together.

And before the spaceship found a spot to land, the “Golden Age” riff emerged, fueling the next part of the night’s journey and launching the band right back into orbit.

“Golden Age” offered a glorious build that morphed into an exciting groove jam. Page played the Prophet (appropriately), Mike dropped some of those Mike bombs, and Fishman claimed responsibility for a thick percussive stride, allowing Trey to take his guitar on a tour of an interstellar arcade, complete with bleeps and bloops, and suddenly “Golden Age” appeared deep inside Type 2 territory.

And, again with their telepathic “we-move-as-one” mindset, Phish pivoted in lockstep until what sounded like “What’s the Use?” could have emerged from the swamp trot. But instead, they chose to stay the course on a stray horse, with Trey showing off some linear and snake-like Scofield-worthy solos in a space where youthful freneticism has been replaced by elder mysticism.

Mike played short and staccato melodies to complement Trey’s sustained-note statements, which led into a variant glance at everything from Pink Floyd to potential “Tweezer Reprise” corners, and then suddenly Phish entered the “Holy shit!” portion of the night; the jam continued to climb into a non-manufactured peak, leading to a vista earned, with woods lovely dark and deep. Ignoring any other promises, the band soldiered on and took the peak to the peak beyond, making the case for one of those Phish nights where you might even high five a stranger.

“Squirming Coil” served as the come down, the mudroom on Spaceship Phish as it were. But wait! There’s more! After a typically beautiful piano solo from Page, the whole band dropped into “Sand.”

This “Sand” jam was of the first type; Trey soloed over the song’s trademark bedrock and one could discern on the front end, from the placement, that this was a placeholder “Sand” — so it held its own, in place. They peaked it while staying in form and then stuck a smooth landing back into the coda.

The lone star set got a lagniappe close, with a “Character Zero” that left Trey — and presumably the entire arena — smiling.

For the encore, the bleeding-heart “Life Beyond the Dream” paired with “First Tube,” which was worthy of the wood that Trey’s new guitar was cut from, as he took it off his neck and held it up above his head for inspection and admiration, then wielded it like a lightsaber to show off its Jedi powers.

All told, the first of two shows in Austin was “Trey’s Night Out” in that he couldn’t stop smiling, grinning his way through the entire show as if it was 1989.

A Texan by birth, Trey addressed the audience in a rare mid-second-set banter break: “I just want to say my heart is really full right now.”

Yeah. Most fans leaving the Moody Center could probably say the same.

Livestreams of all remaining shows can be purchased at LivePhish.com.

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