The list of guest sit-ins with Phish is just as strange and unexpected as the band itself. For decades, there’s been no telling what to expect when the crew starts shuffling around mics onstage and a Phish show. From Abe Vigoda (wait… what?) to Kid Rock (what in the..?) to Jay-Z (HOVA?!) to Tom Hanks (is that really..? No, nevermind), there is no telling who will come strolling out to create a once-in-a-lifetime moment with this once-in-a-lifetime band—and that was certainly the case at the band’s U.S. summer tour opener twenty five years ago this week in Antioch, TN.
While the opening show of a tour can often come across like a warmup, Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, and Page McConnell were already loose and limber following a seven-show, early-June run in Japan when they arrived at the Nashville-area AmSouth Amphitheatre (long known as Starwood Amphitheatre) to kick off their domestic campaign.
Phish opened with “First Tube”, still in its infancy after having debuted the previous fall. The song was so new that the band ran through it several times at soundcheck—which, based on Mike’s sound issues at the song’s start, didn’t help much. Trey dropped the “In A Gadda Da Vida” riff into “Wolfman’s Brother” (easily the best Iron Butterfly reference since Bart Simpson pranks the church organist). “Limb By Limb” and “Roggae” floated with a spacy, late 1.0 buoyancy, and a turbo-mode of “Chalk Dust Torture” brought the set to a close. The first set was not particularly memorable but not entirely forgettable, either—exactly what fans had come to expect from tour openers.
So, why are we revisiting this quarter-century-year-old tour-opener? The Antioch show is still talked in Phish circles for two reasons—the 50 minute setbreak and the string of guests who arrived for set two—and they might just be related. Tour tales tell of a dressing room hoedown foreshadowing the onstage jam that would soon overtake the show, but we’ll have to use our imaginations there until (hopefully) someone’s grainy home video footage makes its way online one day.
When Phish finally hit the stage after the elongated intermission, “Gotta Jibboo” got the nod to start the second set, Trey’s delay loops washing over the hypnotic groove, a defining sound of late era 1.0 Phish. “2001” was a ground score at Studio 54 before “Sand” upped the energy even higher. The “Harry Hood” intro proceeded as usual until the band abruptly pivoted to Fishman-penned penned wormgirl of Hanoi breakup lament “Dog Faced Boy”, then back to the “Hood” intro without missing a bar. The sequence is one of the more random alligator mouth sandwiches the band has ever offered, but the real meat of the set started as the band launched into the “Hood” jam.
Bluegrass luminaries Sam Bush (fiddle), Robbie McCoury (banjo), and Ronnie McCoury (mandolin) wandered from the stage wings to join mid-jam. The band and guests were politely reserved, which made the patient “Hood” build the perfect ice breaker for a musical conversation.
From there, Del McCoury (guitar), Ricky Skaggs (mandolin) and The Travelin’ McCourys‘ Mike Bub (upright bass) and Jason Carter (fiddle) showed up to the hootenanny to kick off a run of bluegrass staples including “I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome” (Bill Monroe/Hank Williams) and the Phish debut of “Hold Whatcha Got” (Jimmy Martin). By the time bluegrass royalty traded licks on “Uncle Pen”, the show had officially turned into a Nashville showcase akin to the ones held at the legendary Ryman Auditorium.
Related: Billy Strings Reflects On Two-Night Stint With Phish [Videos]
Even after the bluegrass segment, the most surreal moment of the evening was yet to come: For the set’s final song, Trey welcomed country music legend Wynonna Judd. The Nasheville diva sashayed across the stage while Anastasio played soulful lead guitar on the most sarcastically requested song of all time, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”, played with full instrumentation rather than in the cheeky a cappella style Phish often employed.
The triumphant final coda had an extra stomp from the surplus of strings onstage. The coterie of musicians in the mix with Phish at that point had the numbers and vibe of a small party, with a love drunk country diva commanding the center of attention. Wynonna flaunted her divorce anniversary, attempting to seduce Fishman between verses. Wynona declared she was running off with Phish (or Fish?) before the band brought the “Stairway of Souther Rock” to a crescendo. The possible Fish-Wynona romance seems to have been dead in the water, as there are no Entertainment Tonight reports from the era indicating the pair ever became an item. Whatever they may have had together in that moment, it fizzled quickly as Wynona pulled a shirtless audience member from the crowd up to dance with her—validating the awkward “Dog Faced Boy” from earlier in the night.
After taking their bows with the full Nashbville ensemble, Trey, Mike, Fish, and Page returned for their encore as a quartet—this was Phish’s show, after all—returned to their bread and butter with their seminal composition, “You Enjoy Myself”.
The musical curveballs and guest sit-ins in Antioch, TN on 6/22/00 exemplified what Phish phans have come to love about this band: backstage musical hangs that turns into onstage collaborations, genre detours, and other unexpected twists. Throw in Wynonna Judd flirting with Jon Fishman, and you got yourself a Phish show worth remembering a quarter-century later.
Watch a full, crowd-shot video of the 6/22/00 Phish show at Antioch, TN’s AmSouth Amphitheatre featuring Wynonna Judd, Del McCoury, Sam Bush, members of The Travelin’ McCourys, and more below. Scroll down for the full, annotated setlist via phish.net.
Phish’s 2025 summer tour continues on Tuesday, June 24th in Pittsburgh, PA. Find tickets to upcoming Phish tour dates here. If you can’t attend, you can still follow along with Phish’s 2025 summer tour via nightly LivePhish webcasts. Order single-show webcasts, multi-show weekend bundles, or full-tour I Saw It Again webcast packages here. [Editor’s note: Live For Live Music is a LivePhish affiliate. Purchasing your webcast or audio download via the links on this page helps support our work covering Phish and the world of live music as a whole. Thanks for reading!]
Phish – AmSouth Amphitheatre (Starwood Amphitheatre) – Antioch, TN – 6/22/00
[Video: The Pharchive]
Setlist [via phish.net]: Phish | AmSouth Amphitheater | Antioch, TN | 6/22/25
Set One: First Tube, Wolfman’s Brother > Beauty of My Dreams > Golgi Apparatus > Limb By Limb, Bug, Poor Heart > Roggae, Chalk Dust Torture
Set Two: Gotta Jibboo > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Sand > Harry Hood -> Dog Faced Boy > Harry Hood[1], I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome[2], Hold Whatcha Got[3], Uncle Pen[2], Free Bird[4]
Encore: You Enjoy Myself
Setlist Notations:
[1] Robbie McCoury on banjo, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin, and Sam Bush on fiddle.
[2] Robbie McCoury on banjo, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin, Sam Bush on fiddle, Del McCoury on guitar, Ricky Skaggs on mandolin, Mike Bub on upright double-bass, and Jason Carter on fiddle.
[3] Phish debut; Robbie McCoury on banjo, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin, Sam Bush on fiddle, Del McCoury on guitar, Ricky Skaggs on mandolin, Mike Bub on upright double-bass, and Jason Carter on fiddle.
[4] Robbie McCoury on banjo, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin, Sam Bush on fiddle, Del McCoury on guitar, Ricky Skaggs on mandolin, Mike Bub on upright double-bass, Jason Carter on fiddle, Wynonna Judd on lead vocals and was played with full instrumentation, as opposed to the usual a cappella arrangement.
Other Notes: Wolfman’s included an In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida tease. Hood featured Robbie McCoury on banjo, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin and Sam Bush on fiddle. I’m Blue I’m Lonesome, the Phish debut of Hold Whatcha Got, Uncle Pen, and Free Bird also included Del McCoury on guitar, Ricky Skaggs on mandolin, Mike Bub on upright double-bass, and Jason Carter on fiddle in addition to those already on stage. Free Bird featured Wynonna Judd on lead vocals and was played with full instrumentation, as opposed to the usual a cappella arrangement.