Returning to the scene of so many past midsummer’s night glories, The Phish from Vermont barnstormed their way into Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Friday July 25th, kicking off a three-night weekend run to wrap an exemplary summer 2025 tour. Located in upstate New York’s picturesque, historic Saratoga Springs, not far from the Green Mountain state border, SPAC represents the closest thing to a hometown throwdown most seasons, boasting boukou character and copious Phishtory—the perfect old-school shed to close this fiery recent run up the East Coast.
After a midweek two-show debut at Queens’ Forest Hills Stadium that saw Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Page McConnell, and Jon Fishman start the music early to abide by a strict local curfew, Phish returned to summer normalcy and stepped onstage shortly after 8 p.m. with an immediate dopamine blast in “First Tube”. More often than not, this straight-ahead rocker is the euphoric exclamation/disembarkation point encore, yet this time it served an alternate purpose, leading off the weekend.
The first frame’s clear high point was an ambitious “Bathtub Gin” poured up in the two-slot, swiftly evolving into a sensational type II excursion. This Gin popped off early and proved equal parts patient and potent, a modulating spacecraft moving through circular soundscapes and covering a wide swath of topography. The quartet confidently traversed through the ether before somewhat haphazardly landing in the straightforward dad-rock of “Devotion to a Dream”.
Each band member seemed fully in gear from the get-go, the crew collectively communicating well and playing with veteran confidence. Trey’s ‘doc tone was burly and biting. Page remained creatively content, continuing a seasonal love affair with his trusty Fender Rhodes. Gordo seems as if he’s still unlocking the various capabilities of his latest axe, but his bass playing was bulbous, sturdy, and inventive all night long (though possibly a little low in the mix—unless he was rumbling subaqueous). As usual, the glue and the gusto was provided by Fishman’s metronomic beatscience; his laser-focus, limitless toolkit, and Dumbo-like ears power this unicorn vessel with surgical precision and lyrical wonder—Jon Sullen Melancholy for the win, same as it ever was.
What may look like a relatively standard first set on paper was particularly well-executed, with a strong reading of Evolve’s “The Well” and a brief romp through a buoyant “Birds of a Feather” soon giving way to Shuggie Otis’ 1970 saccharine classic “Strawberry Letter 23”. Introduced by Trey as “Chairman of the Mound“, Page emerged center stage with mic in hand to reach back for his patented Vegas-lounge, sardonic crooner “Lawn Boy”. Debuted on summer tour in 1994, the bluegrass rarity “The Old Home Place” took a trip to the holler, before the fellas flipped the script with some modern-day phunky styles in “Hey Stranger”. A super solid set one concluded with the pensive, progressive “Walls of the Cave”, a thrilling ride through the foreboding 2.0 gem that satiated the throngs and shook the silent trees.
Post-intermission, Phish returned for Friday’s second frame seriously jazzed and proceeded to uncork a searing, exploratory, fully-segued five-song set that began with “Set Your Soul Free”. While not necessarily my favorite composition, it provided a more than competent jam vehicle to set the situation off proper, unfurling into a dark, abyssal journey that saw Trey square off against some demonic forces, buoyed by Page’s Rhodes voicings, gothic synth-bass from Cactus, and bestie Fishman’s steady pulse. They eventually modulated into something major, before awkwardly tumbling into Trey’s arena-rawk guitar intro for “Chalk Dust Torture”. What followed was nothing short of incendiary, the reliable rager metastasizing into a malevolent concoction, exploring harrowing realms of psychedelia, utilizing terrific textures—a brotherhood moving as one organism and speaking in tongues. I suspect the “SPAC Dust” an instant classic, to be much ballyhooed for many moons to come.
Another somewhat clumsy segue followed, but “Beneath a Sea of Stars” was a blessed brake pumping for band and fans alike after the lava-like half-hour that preceded. The respite was brief, as these dudes swiftly stormed through a relatively build-up free “Piper”, charging out of the red worm section and galloping into the free-form jam. The race was on as Trey and Page dazzled with a hybrid strain of guitar/piano harmonics reminiscent of the Allman Brothers and a gospel melody, before busting a hard left towards the heart of darkness. Anastasio strapped in and dug deep, peeling off some sensational six-string pyrotechnics that called out towards Machine Gun Bad Lieutenant days gone by; Ernie Tree-Times may be wielding a little less dexterity with age, but he’s still the brilliant ginger guitar Jedi we know and love, hosing us down for so many crazy, crazy nights like this one.
The fantastic phlowmanship continued unabated with a driving, determined “Everything’s Right” that provided another wide-open canvas for these Burlington boys to get busy, bringing the crucially-segued second set to a high-energy, feel good climax. Trey, Mike, Page, and Bob Weaver emerged for another double shot encore, seemingly the norm for summer 2025. Imbibing more arena-rock bombast, the band busted a spirited stomp through The Rolling Stones‘ “Loving Cup”, a well-worn classic cover that Phish has more than made their own over the years. Eschewing any between-song pauses one more time, “Cup” covertly cruised into a rollicking romp through “Run Like An Antelope”, bringing the first session of this Saratoga Springs tour-closing triple header into the station.
My main takeaway from this Shomer Shabbos summer scorcher: Phish phans are so freaking fortunate to still enjoy this band consistently performing their idiosyncratic brand of highwire hysteria boldy into their fifth decade, and the fearsome foursome clearly feeds on the equally impressive, indefatigable feverish energy of the people who beam it all right back to the boys onstage on a nightly basis. We’ve got it simple, and the devotion to the dream remains forever reciprocal.
Phish will finish off its summer tour with two more nights at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Find tickets here, or stream the show—and every Phish show dating back to 2003—via LivePhish here.
View the setlist, a selection of videos, and a gallery of photos via Andrew Blackstein from Friday night’s Phish show at SPAC below.
Phish – SPAC – 7/5/25 – Set Two [Pro-Shot]
words: B.Getz
Setlist [via Phish.net]: Phish | Broadview Stage at SPAC | Saratoga Springs, NY | 7/25/25
Set 1: First Tube, Bathtub Gin, Devotion To a Dream, The Well, Birds of a Feather, Strawberry Letter 23, Lawn Boy, The Old Home Place, Hey Stranger, Walls of the Cave
Set 2: Set Your Soul Free > Chalk Dust Torture -> Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 1 -> Piper > Everything’s Right
Encore: Loving Cup > Run Like an Antelope
Notes: Following Lawn Boy, Trey introduced Page as “The Chairman of the Mound.”
