[We would like to thank Rachael Wesley, author of the book SECOND SET CHANCES (Vine Leaves Press) for reviewing last night’s show. Find her at rachaelwesley.com. —Ed.]

The grumblings of Phish’s venue and date change from their usual Dick’s Labor Day weekend to a 4^th of July Folsom Field run have been a constant since tour was announced in February. Or at least that’s how it appeared to this Denver denizen. Since we are everywhere in this city, I often ran into fellow phans, and our conversation was certain to include a complaint about the switch. Folsom sucks. It’s so far. What, no shakedown? I certainly did my fair share of bitching.

For me, that all transformed during Thursday night’s magnificent show. Leaving the venue Friday night, after that nearly perfect second set, my feelings grew even more positive. And so, walking in last night, I was awash in various sentiments. Stoked for the night of music ahead, excitement to dance among friends, and curious about how many others’ ill feelings about Folsom had shifted throughout the run. However, there was one emotion that ruled above all the others.

Sadness.

You see, last night was my last Phish show while living on this continent.

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[We would like to thank Brett F (@BrettsintheBathtub) for recapping last night’s show.]

Phish returned to Folsom Field for a red, white, and bluegrass-tinged Fourth of July celebration that deftly balanced high-octane jamming, sharp song selection, and peaks as high as the flatirons themselves.

Per the band’s notice earlier in the day, set one kicked off about 30 minutes earlier than usual with a laid-back but slyly funky “Bathtub Gin”---an appropriate lyrical start for yours truly. The band eased the crowd into a beautiful Colorado summer night with a playful jam that culminates in a soaring, Leslie-soaked peak. The tone has been set.

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[We would like to thank Michael Ayers for recapping last night’s show. -Ed.]

Reviewing a Phish show is a bit like trying to rate dreams—some nights you wake up inspired, others leave you squinting into the haze wondering what just happened. The line between transcendent and “just fine” can be razor thin, and sometimes you’re handed a setlist that feels like a spiritual test more than a musical journey.

But last night? Last night, the clouds parted, the heavens opened, and God—clearly a fan of tightly wound jams and whimsical segues—shined down upon me and said, “You, my child, shall have the show.” And lo, I did.

Before the show even began, my friend and I found ourselves deep in conversation with the couple seated in front of us—bonding over one of life’s great mysteries: an odd vegetable that came with my friend’s meal from the food truck parked outside. Nobody was entirely sure what it was, but the woman guessed it might be a radish. Turns out, she nailed it—it was a Daigo, a bright yellow pickled radish. My friend insisted I include this moment in case she happens to read this… because credit where credit’s due: she called it.

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[This post is courtesy of user @kliked, thank you! -Ed.]

We interrupt your regularly scheduled tour recaps to present a new-to-circulation recording: November 9, 1990, at Lounge Ax in Chicago, courtesy of the Aadam Jacobs Collection!

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[We would like to thank Landon Schoenefeld (user @nomidwestlove IG: @_colonel_mustard) for recapping last night’s show. -Ed.]

Howdy Partners! For today’s recap I’m going to need you to read these words and imagine the writer's voice is a cross between Sam Elliot’s character from The Big Lebowski and The Rich Texan from The Simpsons. I’m really leaning into the Texas thing here, and if you can’t handle that, then this recap may not be for you. Mosey along now, and feel free to hit that dusty trail doggie.

Austin, Texas. Helluva town, barring all the damn hippies that is. Amazing Tex-Mex. The best BBQ in the world. Every dang cocktail you’ve ever heard of turned into a slushie. The smell inside Allen’s Boots. They even build the buildings here in a way as to not block a single ray of sun from hitting the capitol building. Deep in the heart of Texas (clap, clap, clap)!

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[We would like to thank Ian Zigel (user @ripenesswasall) for recapping last night’s show. -Ed.]

When it was rumored and then announced that Phish would be playing in Austin, Texas this year, I made a mental note to self that I’d be hitting this run no matter what. I’ve been wanting to check out Austin for quite some time, I have a great crew of fellow music lovers who live out here (shoutout 4501 Depew!), and the energy of summer Phish shows in the south is unparalleled. As fate would have it I found myself at the Moody Center on this swelteringly hot Friday, brimming with anticipation for my first run of shows in 2025. The west-coast spring run was unbelievable, and the FOMO was deep as the first four nights of Summer 2025 tour all proved to be outstanding, with each seemingly better than the previous.

A few hours of cooking in the hot sun was a questionable decision, but it allowed us to secure some excellent space on the dancefloor for a large crew including several Phish virgins, about seven rows back from Trey and Page.

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[We would like to thank Aaron Presuhn (@presuhn) for recapping last night’s show. -Ed.]

Four shows into summer tour, and the band is as hot as the weather has been. We’re currently in the midst of a heat dome and the whole northeast has been scorching for the past few days. I’d hoped for a return to Star Lake and some outdoor Burgettstown Phish. But I’ve gotta say that I was really feeling the air conditioning on a day like yesterday.

After a meetup with some friends at Piper's Pub for some shepherd’s pie and scotch eggs, we opted to drink a few brews at our buddy’s hotel instead of sweltering in the heat of a parking garage. Yeah, yeah, I know. But the older I get, the less tolerant of extreme temperatures I become.

Petersen Events Center or “The Pete”, as the locals affectionately call it, is the University of Pittsburgh’s sports arena, and host to three Phish shows over the past decade. I’ve been to all three, the first of which was the summer of ‘17, on a day much like this one. We parked at a garage at the top of the hill and had to walk down as opposed to up to the arena. Good call. Because hot. Ok, I’ll STFU about the heat and talk about the show!

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[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.

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[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.

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[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.

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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.

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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.

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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.)

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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.

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[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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