Phish Wraps United Center Run With Bullish Finale

Phish closed out their weekend at Chicago’s United Center last night, marking the final indoor show of the summer, with another flow-centric show packed with 2025 debuts.

Getting things started with a groovy “Cars Trucks Buses,” keyboardist Page McConnell led the way through his composition with some sweet organ soloing before handing things off to guitarist Trey Anastasio for a jazzy turn of his own.

“AC/DC Bag” was tapped next, remaining within the song’s boundaries for the first time this summer as the band took a song-oriented approach to the first set rather than pack in the shorter pockets of improvisation that “Bag” had seen in Pittsburgh and Columbus.

“Funky Bitch” was greeted with a big cheer from the crowd as McConnell and Anastasio tore through another set of fiery solos ahead of a slinky “Alaska,” leading into the first real improv of the night in “Mike’s Song.” Though Anastasio built a really great Type I peak, this was similarly the first version of the tour, lacking a foray into extended territory.

A duo of composition-heavy songs continued the set with “Horn” (following “Mike’s” for just the second time ever) and “Reba,” Anastasio making up for some missed notes in the former with an excellent version of the latter, nailing the complex song and building a glorious peak atop some sparkling Rhodes and then piano from McConnell.

The grab-bag nature of the set kept up with “Leaves” and “Taste,” both solid-if-unremarkable versions (still chasing a “Leaves” on the level of July 26, 2022) before Anastasio absolutely torched the venue with a set-closing “Izabella,” resolving the improvisational hints at the Jimi Hendrix song that had popped up over the past two nights.

Returning for the second set, Phish was at last ready to dive into some jamming as they eased back in with a breezy “Gotta Jibboo,” drummer Jon Fishman and bassist Mike Gordon laying down a flowing groove for Anastasio to build a soaring peak off of.

As is custom with most second sets nowadays, the opening song was just a launchpad to set up a big bout of improvisation in the second slot – in this case, “Fuego,” a song that has been on quite the hot streak in 2025 with exemplary versions in Mexico, Los Angeles and Austin.

Anastasio and McConnell led things off with some interplay around the song’s melody, which quickly dissolved into a propulsive, funky zone thanks to Fish’s leadership. McConnell hit the Wurlitzer with an initial chordal approach, anchoring Anastasio’s delayed rhythm work.

Fish went heavy on some cymbal textures as the groove tightened up a bit, settling into a pleasant major key with Anastasio at the forefront. Guitar and keys intertwined as they have been doing so well this year, engaging in a conversational jamming style for a spell before Anastasio led the others through another modulation.

Spending some time between major and minor as they have been doing a good amount lately, McConnell’s brighter keyboard playing was contrasted by Anastasio’s growly melodies, though he soon followed into the brighter space.

Gordon pushed for a transition into a darker, weird mode with some off-kilter synth playing – and Anastasio quickly took the bait and began to infuse the jam with some chirpy play. McConnell’s floaty Moog One work offered the remaining major-key counterpoint, while Fish fluidly traversed the length of his kit back and forth to keep things afloat.

The real pivot into the weird came with Fish’s snare-centric turn, allowing Gordon and Anastasio to battle it out overtop the driving, peculiar space full of rhythmic complexity. Anastasio cleaned up his tone and hammered in some rhythm chords, the drop from the lead allowing McConnell to push forward once again on Wurli.

Committing to the gritty motif that had been developing, Anastasio upped the intensity and was quickly followed by Fish, the long and drawn-out guitar leads beginning to ramp up to a peak. The classic rock feel of some of the weekend’s earlier jams returned in earnest and they easily could have dropped back into “Izabella” both in the cadence of the jam and the quality of Anastasio’s heroic shredding.

Moving past the peak, Fish somewhat abruptly disintegrated the jam by way of cymbal washes, causing Anastasio to start up an exuberant “Sparkle,” much to the delight of the crowd (though this author would have preferred another 10 minutes of that “Fuego”).

Taking a moment to decide what to play next, Anastasio called for “Scents And Subtle Sounds” – complete with a cool rework to the intro where all three melodic members of the group utilized heavy synth effects rather than the grounded and brighter tones we’re used to. I’m very curious to see if this sticks around for future versions, because it was fantastic.

In stark contrast to the moody nature of the intro, the jam immediately went for some breathtakingly beautiful floaty bliss, the band laying out into a mellow build that Gordon quickly began to elevate with some swirling synth effects. McConnell shot for the stars with a subtle-yet-gorgeous Moog pad, letting guitar and bass engage each other in a more active mode.

Anastasio gradually shifted into a more intense build, McConnell continuing his synth sweeps as Fish’s fluid snare-centric play made it feel like we were much longer than 10 minutes into the jam. Falling patiently into a minor key, Anastasio swept in with some punchy envelope filter work before going for some soloing – McConnell’s pads following this change as well and getting into some unease.

Once again returning to an “Izabella”-like motif, Anastasio and Gordon locked in together and began to ramp up to a peak, Fish picking up the pace as his bandmates swept up the intensity. This was not to last, however, as some chordal work from Anastasio saw a slick segue into “Twist.”

Wasting no time, the second compact jam of the night saw the quartet depart the song proper into more beautiful major-key play, McConnell once again taking a pivotal role on synthesizer (though this time on his Prophet Rev2). Gordon went up with some gorgeous melodic work as Anastasio weaved some excellent phrases together.

From there, Phish built a patient and colossal peak, all four working around Anastasio’s leadership to create an explosive and breathtaking peak, the soaring guitar work accentuated by lighting director Chris Kuroda’s big, colourful blasts at the peak.

A perfectly-placed “The Lizards” kept up the excellent flow of the set before “Shine A Light” and a blistering hot “Kill Devil Falls” brought the set to a close, Anastasio building peak after peak in the fiery jam akin to the role that Saturday’s “Chalk Dust Torture” played.

The crowd roared in response to the opening of the “Fee” encore, Anastasio nailing the megaphone-augmented vocal performance before the hanging “Weekapaug Groove” from the first set put the cap on one of the longest “Mike’s Groove” performances in the band’s history.

A frequent trend lately, Anastasio capped the night with a raging “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.,” a song he readily turns to as a high-energy show closer when he doesn’t want to get off the stage just yet – and the crowd ate up every note as the weekend came to a close.

This leg of Phish’s Summer Tour concludes this week with a pair of shows at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium before heading up to SPAC for three shows in Saratoga Springs this weekend.

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Livestream Phish’s Summer Tour 2025 concerts via LivePhish.com.

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