Top Gear: Monster Jams Fire Up Phish To Another Hot Summer Night At Deer Creek

You can slap any corporate sponsor name you want on the outdoor amphitheater in Noblesville, Indiana, but it’s always Deer Creek and you can bank on a fantastic weekend from our four boys from Vermont.

Phish history is littered with terrific Deer Creek shows and Saturday’s show fell on the 26th anniversary of one of the most beloved: 2000’s famous “Moby Dick” show.

It’s an easy formula: Phish + Deer Creek = magic.

And Friday’s barnburner with a jammed-out “Bouncing” set the bar for this year’s run. Could Saturday night match?

The band stretched their legs with a solid “AC/DC Bag” opener that went near the 10-minute mark, a signal that the first set was going to be a bit more than the usual throat-clearing.

As if to prove the point, an extended intro to “Punch You In the Eye” kicked things up a notch. Page's synths took the lead while Mike and Fish pushed the groove forward and Trey played Spice Bae with some buzzy guitar licks before the band hit the song proper, which itself had an extra oomph.

Next, a standard “Theme,” left out the “theme from the bottom, theme from the top” vocal play but patiently built and unfolded into a gentle bliss jam. After gaining some steam towards the end of its 13 minutes, “Theme” paved the way for a “Timber Ho” that was a little rough around the edges of the jammed section, a few missed notes not quite successfully pulled into minor-key discordant runs. But a smoother back half helped the song land as yet another tune eased past the 10-minute mark.

“555” followed and — I was sensing a pattern — ran beyond ten minutes with another pleasant jam that took its time and featured some good Trey and Page interplay, earning the song what will surely be its fifth jam chart entry on Phish.net. That led into an outstanding “Reba” with a red-hot final segment, including some beautiful work from Trey. There may have been no whistling, but a beautiful and perfectly placed “Dirt” was next, a quick cool down as dusk settled around the venue.

An overall excellent first set drew to a close with the Page-penned “Most Events Aren’t Planned.” Always a fun spacey tune, some bluesy piano licks added a bit of smoke before the song shifted into its sped-up, funky back half with the Mike-Fish rhythm section setting a booming foundation for scorching Trey-Page work.

While there may not have been any mind-blowing, jammed-out “Bouncing” moments like in Night 1, the stellar opening set was consistent and cohesive, strong playing paired with excellent song choices.

If the first set was more about the collective whole than an individual song or jam, the second set was all about the opening one-two punch. A tight, kinetic “Everything’s Right” melted perfectly into a monster “Tweezer” thanks to one of the band’s better segues in years. And it only got better from there.

The opening stages of the “Tweezer” jam were a foreboding, minimalist affair — and, dare I say, restrained — before Trey shifted gears into major key jam territory. From there, it was another patient build, layers of looping Page synths, Mike’s chugging bass, and Fish’s impeccable drumming. Around the 15-minute mark, the jam started its climb, Trey’s riffing beautifully underscored by matching work from Mike and Page on piano. A melodic line from Page took the lead near the 18-minute mark, with the rest of the band following and building on it, the beautiful “yes and…” approach in action. After a brief downshift into quieter territory, the band returned to the original “Tweezer” riff and, honestly, reader, at a certain point I just gave over to the jam and lost track; the only thing in my notes at that point was, “30 minutes… wow.” For a song that hasn’t gotten much play at one of Phish’s best venues — and for the first time in 14 years! — the band made it count.

Not long after hitting the half-hour mark on “Tweezer,” the band made a nice segue into another perfect jam vehicle, “Golden Age.” A typically terrific version of the TV on the Radio cover only suffers from the burden of following a monster “Tweezer” jam. But it was a rollicking performance that kept the energy up on a humid Midwest July night.

Sensing the need to insert some evil into the set, “My Friend, My Friend” was up next. An old song that’s gotten a new look with some pretty great jams in the past few years, this version never got up to speed — but only because an impish Trey sent us back into “Tweezer.” It was just a quick revisit, though, as the band quickly jumped right back into dark and moody territory with a version of “No Quarter” that had more than a little mustard on it.

Where else to go from there than a short but fiery “Carini”? If the band needed to remind us that they’re still firing on all cylinders more than 40 years in, they didn’t have to flex this hard — but I’m damn glad they did.

An all-killer, no-filler second set with a tentpole jam meant just about any encore would be a cherry on top, but Phish in 2026 doesn’t settle. After a solid “Life Beyond a Dream,” “Tweeprise” closed down the show with the band putting just a bit more muscle than usual behind it, extending the best three minutes in rock music to closer to the best six minutes in rock music.

So getting back to my original question: could Saturday night top Friday’s stout opener?

After that second set, it seems almost laughable revisiting it. But, yes. The band hit another gear and built on top of Friday night to deliver a Saturday banger, which just leaves one more night in another superb Deer Creek run.

And you know what they say about Sunday shows.

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Phish Summer Tour 2026 continues tonight at Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana. Livestreams of Phish Summer Tour 2026 shows are available with a LivePhish With subscription.

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