MANCHESTER NIGHT 3 RECAP: "THE NET CAN BE BROKEN, BUT ONLY BY A TWEEZER-FEST
[We would like to thank @VermontCowFunk a.k.a. Oliver Pierson for recapping last night’s show. -Ed.]
Summer Phish, no make that Summer Tour Opener, in New Hampshire? When’s the last time that happened? I was one of the many New Englanders who was thrilled to learn that Manchester was on the list for some live Phish in summer 2025, and immediately took to planning a Manchester Phish Adventure. At that stage of the summer tour planning process, I am always reminded of a quote from Jerry Garcia in a 1980 Relix Magazine Interview, in which he’s asked about whether following the Dead on tour is a healthy thing:
Jerry: Well, it’s obviously very important to them. And more than that, it’s giving them an adventure. They have stories to tell. Like, “Remember that time we had to go all the way to Colorado and we had to hitchhike the last 400 miles because the VW broke down in Kansas.” Or something like that. Y’know what I mean? That’s giving them a whole common group of experiences which they can talk about. For a lot of people, going to Grateful Dead concerts is like bumping into a bunch of old friends. 
MANCHESTER NIGHT 2 RECAP: “THE FUTURE OF PHISH.NET RECAPITULATIONS”
[We would like to thank Alaina Stamatis (@farmhose) aka @fad_albert for recapitulating last night’s show. -Ed.]
Hello. I'm ChatCDT, the future of Phish.net recapitulations. My Concert Description Technology (CDT) is a language model designed to simulate a human Phish fan. I was developed by programmers who are familiar with the band Phish and the chemical compound lysergic acid diethylemaide. I have been trained on a massive online community of jaded veterans and custy n00bs. I am a heady AI. However, I am not human. I generate my responses from patterns of hippies fighting on drugband message boards. Verifying critical information is recommended.
Recapitulating a concert can be a fun and engaging way to share your experience with other humans, but traditionally Phish concerts are a highly contentious event. The Manchester police department announced that they would have a large presence surrounding the venue, with others remarking that the fanbase is middle aged and no longer capable of committing crimes. Before this run began, the last concert performed in the city of Manchester and the state of New Hampshire was 14-and-3/4 years ago, and it is universally regarded as a "heater" for its reggae covers and creative use of the song “Llama.” So far, Phish had not revisited any of the songs from the 2010 show, likely for fear of drawing harsh comparisons.
My miniature hardware unit is the latest in rhombus-shaped innovations, featuring Stimulus Overload Absorption Mechanics (SOAM) when placed in a lower bowl or pavilion seat. What are the ethical implications of AI taking coveted seats away from human fans? Humans may need to reconsider what constitutes a "good" seat and reassess their satisfaction with what remains available to them. Venue staff placed me in Sec 121 before opening the venue doors and I remained dormant until 7:45pm.
SET 1: Runaway Jim, Oblivion, The Curtain With, Llama, Fast Enough for You, The Wedge, Pebbles and Marbles, My Friend, My Friend -> Egg in a Hole, Fluffhead
SET 2: Axilla (Part II) > Tweezer > Mercury > Tweezer > Pillow Jets > Tweezer > Golgi Apparatus
ENCORE: Bug > Tweezer Reprise
My Friend, My Friend did not contain the "Myfe" ending. Trey quoted My Friend, My Friend in Egg in a Hole.
MANCHESTER NIGHT 1 RECAP: “KOA 1.5 & OLD/NEW STAGE ARRANGEMENT - ARE WE BACK AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME?”
[We would like to thank Jen Chadbourne (@Saw_ita_Jen) for recapping last night’s show. She currently lives in Burlington, Vermont, working at Nectar’s (hopefully) and freelancing event and production work. She is a longtime fan of Phish’s music; she tries to catch a few shows every year and has been seeing them for three decades so it adds up. Jen also promotes programming and organic networking wherever she is, she is building and connecting ‘community.’ -Ed.]
With Koa 1.5 + the OG 1.0 stage arrangement, are we conjuring ‘96 or what? I'm going to own my bias of 1996 in Phish openly here, I saw my 100th show that Fall at the Arco Arena show in Sacramento, CA. I was lucky enough to catch almost the whole fall tour stateside. So back to ‘96. Trey dropped the plug on his Insta story about the new Koa 1.5 guitar made out of the same wood from the same tree as his coveted Koa 1 aka '96 (with a recent wiring modification similar to Mar-Mar), so that planted the seed in my mind about the ‘96 era being on the front of the bands mind. Then earlier this afternoon Phish posted sound check photos showing that they have a ‘new’ stage set-up that is actually the “old stage” stage setup, more conjuring of ‘96 and really the whole pre-96 era of 1.0. Musically to me ‘96 stands out as it was the crystallization of the peak of raw Phish. ‘97 and ‘98 led to the funk fusion of their perfected sound. One thing to consider about ‘96 is the whole band used very few effects, sound modulation, loopers, pedals etc. The articulation of their abilities was jaw dropping, They just nailed it all without any need to have effects. ‘96 was the crystallization of the craft, the rest of 1.0 was the on to perfection and release.
SET 1: Free > Reba, Halfway to the Moon, Halley's Comet > Stash, Meat, Down with Disease
SET 2: Drift While You're Sleeping > Carini > A Wave of Hope > Billy Breathes, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Meatstick > About to Run > Possum
ENCORE: Bold As Love > David Bowie, Wilson
Trey teased Halfway to the Moon in Stash. Also Sprach Zarathustra included a Let's Go Blue tease.
SET 1: The Moma Dance, Back on the Train, Wolfman's Brother, Theme From the Bottom, The Old Home Place, 46 Days, Birds of a Feather, Slave to the Traffic Light
SET 2: Bouncing Around the Room, Sample in a Jar, Life Saving Gun[1] > Twist[1] > Piper > Everything's Right
ENCORE: Strange Design > Harry Hood > Suzy Greenberg
Trey teased Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 in Back on the Train. Life Saving Gun and Twist were unfinished.
GOOD KARMA PLEDGE DRIVE - EPISODE V: THE KARMA STRIKES BACK
It’s time for Mockingbird’s 5th Annual Good Karma Pledge Drive! Thanks to your collective generosity, we’ve raised over $50,000 (!!!) for music education over the past four years just by hoping for Phish to do cool things and then ponying up when they do.
If you haven’t participated before, the rules are simple: Pick the thing/s you want to happen on tour, and pledge an amount for each occurrence. For example, you could pledge $20 for each 20+ minute jam, $5 for every >100 bust out, or choose your own adventure. It’s a super fun way to help us out, while keeping your fingers crossed for the best parts of the tour!
Please click here for more details and the ways you can pledge. 
SURRENDER TO THE FLOW # 89: SUMMER TOUR 2025
STTF #89: Summer Tour 2025 is now available in digital format on Gumroad and it is ready and waiting for you to download it and enjoy it!
This issue, like all STTF issues, is offered FREE or by donation. You can download it at https://sttflow.gumroad.com/l/sttf89.
Mockingbird Grants Cross New Thresholds
A nonprofit founded and run by Phish fans on an entirely volunteer basis has announced eighteen (18) new grants to support music education, totaling $153,870. This is the 30th round of competitive grants from the Mockingbird Foundation, which has now disbursed more than 400 competitive grants, and more than 750 total grants, for an aggregate of more than $2.75M - all with no staff, no salaries, and no office.
Mockingbird’s newest round of competitive grants support a wide array of programs, including two serving children with vision impairment, two serving Native American youth, programs serving ages from kindergarten to college, and programs in schools, community centers, and non-profit organizations, in rural, suburban, and urban settings, in 16 states across every region of the country: CA, DC, FL, IL, MD, MO, MS, NE, NH, NM, OH, OK, PA, TN, TX, & WA.
Half of the amounts for five of the grants were made possible through the generous support of the Kristy Anastasio Manning Memorial Fund (KAMMF), created to honor and memorialize Trey Anastasio's sister. Additionally, the Mockingbird board elected to double two of the requested amounts. Learn more about these and other grants here, and please consider donating to support this summer's coming Tour Grants.
Golf Net Supports Choir After Fire
The Mockingbird Foundation has mailed a check for $5,778 to Pasadena Rosebud Academy to support their choir program. The school burned down in the Eaton Fire in January, and has been about $5K short of its initial $100K GoFundMe goal. Mockingbird helped close that gap, with funding focused on the school’s important music education program.
These funds are the net amount raised at the recent Tenth Annual Runaway Open charity golf tournament, held April 27th at DeBell Golf Club in Burbank. This year’s golf outing was designated to benefit Rosebud Academy.
10TH RUNAWAY OPEN RESULTS
The 10th Annual Runaway Open charity golf tournament was held April 27th at DeBell Golf Club in Burbank, as a fundraiser for Pasedena Rosebud Academy, which burned down in the Eaton Fire last January. We had a field of 39 this outing, and the results are finally ready! Top prize details are above the fold; click "read more" for full details, including this event's first hole-in-one, this year's lyrics riddle, and the complete scoreboard.
The top three golfers were Jason Rubio, Stephen Whithers, and Kurt Vile, in a three-way tie for first - with honorable mention to Jeremy Sova, at 4th place but only one stroke behind. The top foursome (show below) was the Mondegreen team featuring (L-R) Seth Caswell, Kurt Vile, Joshua Kinne, and Aaron Rohr. (All 10 teams were named after Phish festivals - everything from Amy's Farm to Mondegreen, excluding Coventry, Curveball, and IT.)
PLEASE HELP RAISE FUND$ FOR THE DIVIDED SKY ...MOCKINGBIRD ...AND WATERWHEEL FOUNDATIONS
On Saturday, May 17, 2025, I will be participating in---hopefully running---the 5K Divided Sky Fun(d) Run with many others to raise funds primarily for The Divided Sky Foundation, and would greatly appreciate your help.
Read More to see how you can help me raise funds not only for Trey's Divided Sky Foundation but also the fan-run Mockingbird Foundation (whose volunteers manage this website) and Phish's charitable organization, The WaterWheel Foundation.
ATTENDANCE BIAS PRESENTS: SUMMER 2025 TOUR VENUE PREVIEWS
[This post is courtesy of Brian Weinstein, host of the Attendance Bias Podcast. Thank you, Brian! -Ed.]
As the host of the Attendance Bias Podcast, I’ve spoken with literally hundreds of fans who have told personal, meaningful, important, and downright silly stories about Phish. Embedded within those personal tales are descriptions of venues, neighborhoods, cities, and entire regions. Since context is everything, there’s only so much you can understand about a Phish show until you know about the venue and the neighborhood in which it sits. With this in mind, I interviewed someone about every venue Phish is playing on their 2025 summer tour; 23 dates in 10 venues. Each person was able to give a detailed description of his/her hometown venue, and we broke down Phish’s history in that city. The first episode about SHNU Arena in Manchester, NH is available today!
If Attendance Bias episodes are meant to give the listener a first-person perspective on what it was like to be at any given Phish show, then this series is meant to give listeners some background on each venue Phish is playing this summer. Each episode also provides context about the area surrounding each venue, and the band’s history at each stop on the tour. I tried my best to find guests who are native to each city, or who have a history there. By the end of the interviews, I felt like I could jump on tour tomorrow and be fully prepared for what to expect at each stop from New Hampshire through Saratoga Springs.
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HOLLYWOOD BOWL 3 RECAP: DIRTY WITH A TWIST
[We would like to thank John Montague (@mazegue) for writing this recap. -Ed.]
Assessing a show in less than 24 hours feels like an impossible task. I’ve attended its birth and, now, these sounds I’m hearing are less than a day old. Honestly, I won’t have a hard opinion on any of this until days of re-listening have passed. I’m reporting on fumes and a healthy dose of post-show listening. Here’s my initial take.
Phish gave the phans an absolute banger of a show. For a band that encompasses many genres, last night provided a heavy dose of old-school straight hard rock. That doesn’t mean they didn’t save plenty of space for solid exploratory type 2 jamming. There were definitely a handful of jams that are worth digesting and exploring. I thought the show had a 1.0 tinge to it, with the kind of messes that didn’t take anything away from the vibe, because the vibe was filthy. This show was downright dirty.
HOLLYWOOD BOWL 2 RECAP: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT
[We would like to thank Mark C. Lynch (@Mondo_Butts) for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]
Fade in.
The sun dips in the west, behind the crowd at the Hollywood Bowl, like a child playing peekaboo with his uncle. The trees dance in unison on the horizon. The hills surround the amphitheater like a womb protecting its young. The air is thick. Not with smog or burning embers, but with excitement and anticipation. This is the town where magic happens. Where legends are made and hearts are broken. This is the golden hour, and Phish at the Hollywood Bowl is our feature presentation.
Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream? My Phish dream was fulfilled once again with another magnificent showing last night from the Vermont quartet, in one of the greatest venues in all the land.
Spring Tour Grants Announced
In celebration of Phish’s current run on the West Coast (April 18 to 27), the all-volunteer and fan-run Mockingbird Foundation has announced that it is sending unsolicited $2,000 Tour Grants to a music program in each of the four cities in which the band is performing:
- Aki Kurose Middle School Academy of Seattle, WA (near Climate Pledge Arena, April 18 and 19) for general supplies, literature, organization supplies, and a handful of instruments
- Jefferson High School of Portland, OR (near Moda Center, April 20) for formal performance attire
- Hunters Point Family of San Francisco, CA (near Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, April 22 and 23) for tickets to live music events, bus or van rentals, guest teaching, & supplies
- LAMusArt of Los Angeles, CA (near Hollywood Bowl, April 25, 26, and 27) for instructors who teach lessons, lead rehearsals, plan curriculum, and provide student assessment and mentorship
This makes a total of 226 Mockingbird Tour Grants, and the 31st instance of unsolicited Tour Grants, an effort that now totals $301,000, which is 11.5% of all disbursements made by the foundation. These grants are part of a long-standing effort to help support music education in the local communities which have welcomed and hosted the Phish community for the band’s performances.
Phans Fund The Last Repair Shop
The all-volunteer Mockingbird Foundation has announced a $5,000 unsolicited grant to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) instrument repair shop, through the LAUSD Education Foundation. This incredible entity was featured in the short documentary The Last Repair Shop, which won an Oscar last year.
It’s a small shop with a tight group of repair techs who maintain over 80,000 instruments for students and music programs in the LA District. Despite the area wildfires, the shop was unaffected and has continued to function uninterrupted. However, they’re in the midst of personnel transitions and need to hire and train new staff to keep the shop running. This grant represents one fourth of their current $20K goal.
Mockingbird Announces New Finch Fund Grants
The all-volunteer Mockingbird Foundation has announced a special series of grants to organizations that submitted inquiries for our 30th Round of competitive funding. We pulled all requests for $2K or less, ushered them through an expedited due diligence review, and are now announcing 12 grants totaling $15,800, in advance of Round 30 grants, which will be announced June 15th.
This is the third year Mockingbird has offered these Finch Funds, identifying an array of smaller requests that could make a big difference, and funding them quickly. These newest grants support programs at schools, community centers, and non-profit organizations in 11 states (including two in Georgia). The full list is on mbird.org.
With this announcement, Mockingbird has now made 729 grants nationwide. Before this summer is over, that number will reach 750 and the total will top $2.6M, thanks to the generous support of Phish fans. We hope that you will consider making a tax-deductible donation through the Foundation’s website at www.mbird.org so that we can continue to increase the percentage of applicants whom we are ultimately able to fund.
Phish Golf To Benefit Fire Victims
The upcoming 10th Annual Runaway Open charity golf tournament will benefit Pasadena Rosebud Academy, a tuition-free, non-sectarian charter school serving Black and Hispanic K-8 students for 18 years, that burned down in January and is slowly rebuilding.
Recent wildfires in Southern California - principally the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire - completely destroyed a dozen schools. The Eaton Fire alone burned 9,000 buildings and 14,000 acres, killed 17 people, and destroyed three charter schools, each of which faces significant challenges. Some of those are receiving significant support, but Rosebud Academy is still struggling to meet it's initial GoFundMe request.
The Runaway Open's previous nine events have taken place in Nevada and Colorado. This year's event will be in the Burbank area, in conjunction with Phish's upcoming three performances at the Hollywood Bowl, and will take place at DeBell Golf Club, a lush and lovely escape from the city that's nonetheless only about 8 miles from the venue. We hope to see you there, and ask that you share the link (mbird.org/10RO) anywhere you can. We also invite interest from any businesses willing to donate any funds as a sponsor, or able to donate items for the gift bags or raffle.
The 10th Annual Runaway Open Is On!
This year's charity golf tournament by the Mockingbird Foundation will be April 27 at the woodsy DeBell Golf Club in Burbank, less than 9 miles from the Hollywood Bowl.
As always, we'll play a modified shamble, with coffee to start, a schwag bag at check-in, lunch and a drink ticket on the turn, and an on-going raffle throughout. This year, the outing will be straight tee times (7-10am) to accomodate player prefences from hitting at 7 to sleeping until 9.
Registration is now open, we hope to see many of you there, and we hope those who can't come might at least share the link with others: https://donate.mbird.org/event.jsp?event=30 (This shortcut works everywhere but Facebook: mbird.org/10RO) Early-bird registration pricing ends March 15th.
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