SET 1: Free, Birds of a Feather, Bouncing Around the Room, Stash, Waste, My Friend, My Friend, A Life Beyond The Dream, Kill Devil Falls, More, Monsters, Life Saving Gun
SET 2: Sand > Fuego > No Men In No Man's Land, What's Going Through Your Mind, You Enjoy Myself, It's Ice > Cream[1]
SET 3: Harry Hood, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Auld Lang Syne > Tweezer > Piper > Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.
ENCORE: Sincere, Spock's Brain > Tweezer Reprise
YEM contained Fuego teases in the jam after the vocal jam. During It's Ice, an ice cream man walked around the stage with a cowbell. This show featured the Phish debuts of Cream (Prince and the New Power Generation) and Sincere. The second setbreak featured songs focused on "ice," "cream," and "ice cream." The ice cream man returned during Harry Hood. Dancing milk cartons appeared on stage with the cartons eventually being discarded. The dancers ended up exiting through a giant "it's ice cream" freezer. During 2001, ice cream men brought out giant ice cream props, Trey took over on drums, and Fish was given a helmet prior to descending into the freezer. A fake Fish then rose with a giant popsicle (a bomb pop). During Tweezer, dancers from past New Year's Eve gags exited the freezer and at times did the Meatstick dance. Trey teased Meatstick in Tweezer. The encore featured the band in ice cream man outfits.
MSG3 RECAP: COILED AND PAINLESS
[We would like to thank Jeremy Willinger (@Jeremy8698) for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]
Phish is not a snake. But in a sense they are: colorful, representing transformation, temptation, and wisdom. Much like their music, snakes are also the most diverse of reptiles second only to…the Lizards. And while a snake will coil itself to conserve energy, tonight there will be none of that as the band came ready to strike and sink their fangs into music mostly old and some new.
With two days of standout moments and mid-first set surprises, we enter 12/30 with Phish presenting patience and energy in equal measure as they rewarded us with a standout 12/28 that reminded us not to miss a Sunday show and a wavey 12/29 with juxtaposed tempos and lively jams throughout. Yes folks, it is a Golden Age of Phish and it doesn’t seem like they will falter going into what is always a special night of music. Personally, this is my fifth time reviewing this evening and it is an event I anticipate all year long.
Lights down just in front of 8:00 PM as per the two nights prior, and we are go for launch.
“Chalkdust Torture” opens a show for the first time since 2022. This slot allows the band to spotlight the song away from its typical set closing position and give it potential to stretch its legs. There are some mild calisthenics here with an uplifting mid-section featuring Page doing a jazzy interlude.
SET 1: Chalk Dust Torture > The Moma Dance[1] > Chalk Dust Torture, Back on the Train, Axilla (Part II) > Divided Sky, Blaze On > Tube > Reba[2], Split Open and Melt
SET 2: Ghost > Ruby Waves > Light > Crosseyed and Painless -> Twist, Cavern, First Tube
ENCORE: Drift While You're Sleeping
The Moma Dance was unfinished. Reba did not contain the whistling ending.
Nyc Tour Grant
In celebration of Phish’s 2025 New Year’s Even run (December 28 to 31), the all-volunteer and fan-run Mockingbird Foundation has announced that it is sending an unsolicited $2,000 Tour Grant to the Opportunity Music Project in New York City, to fund a half-sized bass and two violas for students, and sheet music for beginner, intermediate, and advanced orchestra students.
This is the 34th time that Mockingbird has issued Tour Grants, and 241st tour grant Mockingbird has made. It is funded in part by two recent auctions (1 & 2) of original copies of The Phish Companion. If you have an original condition copy that you'd like to donate for charity - or anything you'd like to donate, whether cash, stocks, bonds, vehicles, cryptocurrency, seriously anything - please contact us.
MSG2 RECAP: 30 YEARS LATER
[We would like to thank Max Alter (@SplitOpenAndMalt) for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]
Thirty years subsequent to the band’s first New Years’ Eve at that arena above Penn Station, Phish continues to explore new ground.
After just over three months since their prior run, Phish’s return to their colloquial home arena was heavily anticipated. Succeeding an above-average Night One, anticipation was at its finest heading into 12/29. With significant standout jams the previous two years (with 2023’s "Chalk Dust Torture" and 2024’s "Ruby Waves"), each serving as arguably the pinnacle jam for each year’s respective New Years’ Eve run, I wondered if the band’s 89th show at the venue would yet again serve us with a massive and multi-elemental jam.
Personally, this run served as my first MSG run as a local to the city (conveniently, just one train away from my couch). After reviewing the second night of each of the prior years’ runs, I was looking forward to the energy that a night’s sleep in my own bed would service for tonight’s show. I walked out my door at 5:57pm and headed to The Rutherford for some preshow libation. For a part-bar-part-restaurant mere steps from The Garden, I was pleasantly surprised with the roominess of the bar and timeliness of its staff– after arriving just after 6:20pm, my girlfriend and I were in the venue by 7:01. Would absolutely recommend both the food and drink to those trekking out the next few nights.
SET 1: Carini -> Plasma > Carini, Quadrophonic Toppling, The Curtain With > Bathtub Gin, NICU, Evolve, Mountains in the Mist, Fluffhead
SET 2: Mike's Song > The Final Hurrah > Weekapaug Groove, A Wave of Hope, Twenty Years Later > Golden Age > Character Zero
ENCORE: The Lizards, Possum
Quadrophonic Toppling was performed for the first time since May 27, 2022 (172 shows). The Final Hurrah began with a Blaze On tease and later included a Sand tease..
STTF#91 IS READY!
The 91st issue of Surrender to the Flow (NYE 2025-2026) is now available. This 39-page issue includes reviews of the "Late Summer" (aka September) Tour, six different TAB shows, and Page's new album; articles about The WaterWheel Foundation, The Divided Sky Foundation, the Phertility Phriends Facebook group, and more; plus, regular features including the recipe column, beer column, horoscopes, advice column, new philosophy column, statistics, a word search puzzle, celebrations, and still even more.
It's available by download in digital format only, so don't bother looking for a copy outside MSG. Get it online, at www.gum.co/sttf91, for free or at any donation amount you specify.
MSG1 RECAP: THE UNEXPECTED AWAITS
[We would like to thank Ian Zigel (@RipenessWasAll) aka @ianzigel for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]
Phish at Madison Square Garden on the last four nights of the year is an experience that needs no introduction. But humor me and I’ll try.
Madison Square Garden – affectionately known as MSG, YEMSG, The Gah-den, The Center of The Universe, The Round Room, The Garden of Earthly Delights, Phish Mecca, Harry’s House, Trey’s House, The World’s Greatest Arena, and so on – holds the record as Phish’s most played venue, with a tally set to reach 91 on 12/31/2025. Phish currently holds the 2nd place record for artists that have performed the most concerts at MSG, and it’s only a matter of time before they claim the top spot from the first place holder.
In a community rife with differing opinions, I think we can all agree this place is a cornerstone of the Phish extended universe. A time capsule of formative memories for many a devotee, the mere *thought* of this place can spark a knowing smile up my face.
SET 1: Buried Alive > AC/DC Bag, Roggae, Rift, Wolfman's Brother[1] > Punch You in the Eye > Sigma Oasis > Taste, Sleep[2], Run Like an Antelope
SET 2: Oblivion > Down with Disease[1] -> Simple -> Gotta Jibboo, Theme from the Bottom[1] -> Simple > Everything's Right
ENCORE: Slave to the Traffic Light
Trey teased Norwegian Wood in Roggae. Wolfman's Brother, Down with Disease, and Theme from the Bottom were unfinished. Sleep featured Trey on acoustic guitar and was performed for the first time since November 29, 2019 (231 shows). Trey teased Manteca in Down with Disease.
tpc3 Auction, Again!
Following our recent successful charity auction of an original copy of the out-of-print, hard-to-find, third edition of The Phish Companion, Mockingbird Foundation supporter Anthony Bonanno contacted us offering his copy, still in the original box, all in great shape, which we are now auctioning on Ebay to help us raise additional funds for music education and help fund a brand new thing we'll be announcing mid-January. Past copies have gone for up to $900 in auctions, though we've started bidding at only $125, and both welcome and appreciate your generous support. This 10-day auction is open now, and closes 7:30 pm EST on Tuesday, January 6th.
Mockingbird is an entirely volunteer 501c3 nonprofit, founded and managed entirely by fans, fundraising for music education for children. We've made over 766 grants so far, totaling more than $2.8M, in all 50 states, funded entirely by projects such as this book. We appreciate your generous support, in helping put instruments in the hands of children nationwide, as well as giving them the equipment, sheet music, and instruction they need to gain access to the liberating and enlightening power of music.
About the book.... "Completists will get lost in thousands of freshly-manicured setlists, song histories, and charts. Prose junkies will binge on hundreds of evocative show reviews and fan stories. Photophiles will gape at 128 pages of dazzling Phish photography - most of which has never been published. And poster collectors, get ready: The Phish Companion's eight chapters are anchored by stunning original works from Welker, Masthay, Helton, and more - each of whom was commissioned to interpret a period of Phish."
12/29 Pre-Show Wine-Tasting Fundraiser For The Mockingbird Foundation
As many of you know, volunteers run this website, which is a project of (funded by) the 501(c)(3) non-profit Mockingbird Foundation, which raises funds to grant to music education programs for children and young adults.
On 12/29 before the MSG show in a private space at Portale restaurant (about a 15 min walk from MSG), from 4:30-630pm, David Beckwith (@Slewfoot) and Charlie Dirksen (@Icculus) are hosting a wine-tasting fundraiser for the Foundation. Even if you hate Phish, this is a great pre-show bargain in the city if you like wine (or if your friends and family who hate Phish like wine), in that you get to eat good food, drink fantastic wines (perhaps even the finest you've ever even had the opportunity to taste), in an informal environment, for $95 (inclusive of tax and tip) plus a $100 tax deduction (donation to the Foundation). For more information and to purchase ticket(s), please visit this page here. If you've previously attended one of these fundraisers, please comment or post in this thread in the Forum. Thank you!
YOUR CHANCE TO OWN A PIECE OF ART PHISHTORY: ORIGINAL ARTIST’S PROOF OF “THE RHOMBUS” GOES UP FOR AUCTION
[We would like to thank Matt Hoffman (@tonapdivine) for this update. Matt is a music journalist and writes for Relix, Live for Live Music, JamBase, Glide Magazine, and others. -Ed.]
By now, you may have read, whether in Relix or elsewhere, that the original artist’s proof of New Piece, Tony Smith’s 1966 sculpture better known to phans as “the Rhombus,” is now available for sale at auction. (Members of Smith’s family have engaged Retroactv as auctioneer.) Smith is widely regarded as an important figure (pun intended) in the minimalist art movement, so the piece is significant both as a matter of art history and Phishtory. Other versions of the sculpture have sold at recent auctions for upwards of $300,000, and bidding for this “one of one” original artist’s proof begins at $250,000.
SAMSON AND DELILAH
PLAYING IN THE BAND
THIRTY YEARS SINCE 12/14/95 BINGHAMTON (LIVEPHISH VOL. 1)
[This post is courtesy of L. rufus on BlueSky who some of you may recall from RMP as squirrel. Read on to learn to whom Trey was directly speaking before launching into the encore. Fwiw you can listen to LivePhish Vol. 1 on YouTube Premium. -Ed.]
"ANGER, he smiles towering . . . !” The first time I saw Phish perform “Bold as Love” was as the encore to the 12/28/94 show in Philly. It was one of the best encores I’d seen, at the conclusion of a tremendous show that these days is overshadowed by the following night, but which at the time was transformational for me. “Bold as Love” thus became my favorite Phish cover. Prior to 12/14/95, however, I had only seen the song one other time (at the Mann on 6/24/95). Thus, while I still hoped to see “Bold as Love” at every show, I was starting to think I was doomed only to see it in Philly, if at all.
My original plan had been to attend the Binghamton show with my girlfriend at the time and her sister. Between the Phish Tickets by Mail order date, however, and the date of the show, my girlfriend and I had broken up. Her interest in the band had waned, and she was no longer interested in making the trek from Haverford College (where we were both students) up to Binghamton. To my enduring gratitude, however, she agreed to sell her pair of tickets to my friend Josh and his girlfriend, with whom I got a ride to the show. I’m not sure how or whether I would have been able to attend the show otherwise, being an 18-year-old with no car. The drive north to Binghamton was fraught, as we were buffeted with monsoon-like freezing rain. The roads were flooding, the car (it was a compact) was hydroplaning on the inundated roads, and I was feeling anxious in the backseat, trying to distract myself from my obviously imminent death by making a sign for the show.
MONSTERS
MISSION IN THE RAIN
PHISH STUDIES ASSOCIATION’S 2025 CONFERENCE RECAP
[This recap is courtesy of user @paulj Paul Jakus, Executive Director of the Phish Studies Association.]
Following stand-alone conferences in 2019 and 2024 in Corvalis, OR, the newly incorporated and nonprofit Phish Studies Association is excited to announce that our first annual meetings were held in Philadelphia November 6-8, as part of the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association (MAPACA) meetings and were a resounding success!
The fifteen scholarly presentations ranged from the genesis and influence of Phish festivals, to a technical explanation of why "Tweezer Reprise" rocks so hard. (Hint: Listen to Page!)
JEMP RADIO RELEASES NEW MOBILE APP
Last month, J.E.M.P. Radio released the latest version of their mobile app. The new app, which replaces the one they had for a few years, works on current generation mobile phones and brings long-awaited new features to fans.
When app developer and station operations manager, Andy Michels, reached out to me a few weeks ago to explain how phish.net would be incorporated into the new app, I was thrilled. Now, when JEMP Radio plays live Phish tracks, you can tap the track name in the app to go directly to the phish.net setlist page for the associated show. This is a perfect example of our community using the best data available, centrally, to provide the best listener and fan experience.
Phish Returns To Sphere
Phish has announced a return to the Las Vegas Sphere for nine shows across three weekends in 2026: April 16–18, April 23–25, and April 30–May 2. Ticket requests through an online lottery are open now through thru Monday, December 8 at 9AM PT/Noon ET. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, December 12, at 11AM PT/2PM ET. Ticketing information is available at phish.com/tours.
A limited number of three-night travel packages (which include hotel and tickets) go on sale on tomorrow, Wednesday, December 3, at 10AM PT/1PM ET at phishatsphere.100xhospitality.com.
Phish.net
The Mockingbird Foundation