[We would like to thank Ryan Storm (@ry_storm) for recapping 2025's NYE show. -Ed.]

Phish closed out 2025 last night with one final monumental trip into the freezer, closing out an amazing year for the band with one of the Phishiest gags in the band’s history – an absolutely ridiculous theme and production that was immediately followed by almost an hour of nonstop incredible jamming.

Before that, the band primed the crowd in set one with an opening salvo of “Free,” “Birds of a Feather,” “Bouncing Around the Room,” “Stash,” and “Waste,” all well-played yet restrained, which continued the trend we had seen for much of this year’s MSG run.

“My Friend, My Friend” has had one of the best 4.0-era renaissance periods of any song in the Phish catalog and last night was another very worthy entry, embarking on a high-energy jam and foreshadowing the greatness to come later with an absolutely relentless assault of energy.

Trey in particular always seems jazzed to take this song for a walk and hammered some riffs with gusto to kick off the improv, Page following him nicely and opening things up courtesy of some smooth Wurlitzer electric piano work. The jam continued at a steady pace thanks to Fish’s hand, Mike really adding dimension and thickness on the low end as Trey seemed to toy with the choice between going anthemic or continuing a more exploratory space.

Exploratory won out as Mike flipped on a bumpy effect and Page began to colour with Moog One textures, Trey’s laid-back rhythm work eventually morphing into fluid leads as some of the patience that dominated 12/30’s second set returned. Hypnotic motifs poured forth from the guitar as the energy gradually began to ramp back up, things morphing into a rocking major key space. Trey pushed through a sustained peak and brief return to the “MFMF” chorus, a beautiful cap to the first set highlight before opting for an “A Life Beyond the Dream” cool-down.

Brief runs through “Kill Devil Falls,” “More,” and “Monsters” (not the most ideal song selection, but it worked) set up a fast-paced “Life Saving Gun” set closer, capping the 90-minute opening frame with another turn into anthemic peak jamming. Trey dialed in his beautiful Dumble tone for some blasts of sustain in the brief bout of extended improv, demonstrating for the umpteenth time his absolute mastery of the sounds coming out of his guitar right now.

As is usually the case with 12/31 shows, the second set focused more on energy rather than big jams, the band keeping one eye on the clock and impending gag. “Sand” got things started back up with an absolutely perfect major-key expansion, the full-band modulation into the smooth and buttery space getting accentuated by Mike’s incredible play.

Flowing through the peak, the band landed in “Fuego” next for some more efficient jamming, contrasting the bliss of “Sand” with some underwater exploration courtesy of Trey and Mike’s looping sounds. A beautiful thick bed of Rhodes laid down by Page felt akin to floating on a cloud, though the band resisted the pull of another major turn and opted to continue in the more brooding zone.

Upping the energy and rocking through a slick peak, Trey somewhat abruptly pulled the band into an oddball call for “No Men in No Man’s Land” – not in terms of the selection, which is generally right at home in the middle of a second set, but in the fact that it was under seven minutes long.

“What’s Going Through Your Mind” made its long-awaited appearance for the first time at MSG outside last year’s gag, offering us another strong Anastasio-led peak before “You Enjoy Myself” brought up the energy with a blistering dual-jam rendition of the quintessential Phish classic.

A weird late-second-set call for “It’s Ice” quickly became clear that the gag was imminent, as an actor dressed as a milkman rang a cowbell walked around the stage and then through the audience as the band debuted Prince’s “Cream,” closing set two with no doubt left to the fact that “Tweezer” was looming larger than ever.

As the third set began with “Harry Hood,” dancers dressed as milk cartons took over the stage, the costumes eventually getting shed as a big carton descended from above the stage and “spilled” everywhere. Foreshadowing for later, a “missing” picture for “Spock’s Brain” was prominently displayed.

“2001” came in as the final song before midnight, the band extending the intro for longer than normal thanks to the time they needed to fill, each musician adding to the layered textures until Trey went over and swapped out Fish on the drums in the second jam. Much like the 2009 cannon gag, Fish was strapped in to a big chest freezer that had been brought on stage with a rocket helmet before a body double rose from there and through the ceiling at the stroke of midnight, attached to a sparking and giant rocket pop.

The usual “Auld Lang Syne” was the final predictable part of the gag as Phish tore into “Tweezer” to start 2026, costumed dancers from years and gags past singing the lyrics in different languages and styles – a really fun callback to 12/31/10 that also featured a gleeful “Meatstick” tease from Trey, though the legendary hot dog did not unfortunately make an appearance.

As the jam began and tore through an absolutely monstrous first peak, I figured the “Tweezer” would wrap up relatively quickly and we’d get the usual fun jukeboxy third set fare – and I could not be happier about being wrong.

Trey briefly hinted at some “Izabella”-like riffs in the initial drive, Fish’s return to the drum kit being marked by a rock-steady groove full of excitement for the new year. Getting into a dark and brooding space, Trey set up some subtle loops as Page moved to Wurli, gently pushing the band into a blissful major key as Fish continued his drive forward, the mellow space eventually dissolving into fluid exploration atop a smooth wave of Moog synth textures.

Developing into a gritty minor-key zone from there, Fish’s rhythmic hits on his china cymbal gave the jam a hypnotic quality as Trey dug in on some darker-toned riffs. Before too long, the guitarist upped the ante of the energy and inspired Page to turn back to piano, blowing through a renewed peak full of high energy to close out the first half-hour stretch of 2026.

Melting gently into “Piper,” the band once again defied third-set expectations and proceeded to unleash what might have been the best jam of the entire MSG run right on the heels of the giant “Tweezer.”

Cooling off the energy out of the song proper, Page’s nimble piano play twined with Trey’s probing leads as the band blazed through an initial peak, the guitarist continuing to alternate between lead and rhythm work to great effect. Swirling loops began to take over as the rhythm section dominated with foundational work, building into a beautiful blaze of glorious “Piper” peaking as is traditional with this song.

Trey continued to absolutely shred through the peak as Fish got faster and faster – before an on-a-dime pivot went from all-out blistering assault into half-time, sparse play. Trey flipped on synth effects as Page gently went minimalist on piano, dissonance seeping in and resulting in an incredibly cool low-key section of improv.

After the mania of the gag and excitement of the first half of the “Piper” jam, it’s really spectacular how the band was able to completely turn down the energy and keep the crowd intensely connected to the music through the more exploratory zone – complete with a sly “Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley” tease from Trey.

Just making it past the 20-minute mark and establishing “Tweezer” > “Piper” as the tenth-ever back-to-back jams of that length in Phish history (not including “YEM”), the 80-minute third set came to a close with a blazing hot “Say it To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.,” one more ode to the “freezer” (Subterranean Arctic Neuro-Technology Orientation Station).

A longer-than-usual encore break saw the band re-emerge for an a capella debut of “Sincere,” each of the four musicians dressed in full milkman regalia complete with hats before the big bustout of “Spock’s Brain” came in as the giant carton suspended above the stage came back.

One final “Tweezer Reprise” – really the defining song of the year – put the cap on another legendary Phish New Year’s Eve show, marking what is now the longest concert ever performed at Madison Square Garden. The greatest band in the world, the greatest place in the world, and a gag that was so quintessentially Phish – one hell of a way to ring in 2026.

And hey – only a few weeks until we get the first shows of the new year in Mexico!

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