After starting the run with a nod to Hampton Coliseum past and using Saturday to dispel the present darkness surrounding Friday’s deadly stabbing, Phish finished the 2025 summer tour and the Hampton run with a show that will be talked about long into the future. On what was officially deemed “Phish Day” in Hampton, VA, by Mayor Jimmy Gray, the band showed precisely why “The Mothership” is steeped in the lore of all-time great shows.
Sometimes a show is made great by a huge jam or a bust-out, but sometimes it’s just a result of the formula: setlist + jams + crowd energy, and Hampton night three was the sum of that equation. There were plenty of standout moments for sure, the first set “2001” and 20-minute versions of “What’s Going Through Your Mind” and “Scents and Subtle Sounds” back to back, but this wasn’t about just a few choice jams but rather the evening as a whole. It all started with a “First Tube” opener, guitarist Trey Anastasio bunny hopping from the very start, and even going full rockstar mode and walking up to the pit of photographers for some candid action shots.
Phish — “First Tube” — 9/21/25
[Photo: Maggie Miles — The force is with Trey]
Sunday’s show also showcased Phish’s stylistic diversity, featuring the heavy outro of crashing psychedelia on “Twenty Years Later”, the compositional weirdness of “Foam”, a funky “Life Saving Gun”, and the instrumental insanity of “Split Open and Melt”, all within the first set. On the eve of the fall equinox, it was a Phish for all seasons. The band even took a request as bassist Mike Gordon honored the fan-made “Meat” banner that hung off the stands all weekend.
The aforementioned “Life Saving Gun” brought the evening’s first notable jam midway through the first set. Even with the visual clarity of my sidestage perch, drummer Jon Fishman‘s octopus-like limbic movements were no less stupifying. As the band settled into a funky vamp, Anastasio kicked on his elastic envelope filter as Page McConnell moved to his synth rather than a predictable clavinet for a jam with this kind of bounce, with Gordon filling the space between Fishman’s persistent snare and cymbal, or “percussion rinse.”
As the last notes of a tranquil “Roggae” rang out, Fishman dropped into the backbeat of “2001”, Chris Kuroda and Andrew Griffin hit the rainbow rotating lights, and The Mothership blasted off. In a lean nine minutes, the instrumental covered a lot of ground by way of Anastasio’s same bouncy envelope filter and McConnell’s probing Rhodes keyboard. From “2001” on—with maybe the exception of the first encore choice—the rest of Sunday’s program was about all you could ask for from a modern Phish show.
Phish — “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (Richard Strauss/Eumir Deodato) — 9/21/25
[Video: Ryan Mogel]
Following the fan-requested “Meat”, with all eyes on Fishman to see when the stumbling beat would drop out from under the band, came the consistently chaotic “Split Open and Melt”. Opening up into a foreboding sound, Fishman clanged away on cymbals as McConnell stacked brooding minor chords on grand piano, while CK5 bathed the band in blood red lights. As Fishman sent the rhythm in every direction, Anastasio buried himself beneath a tangled cacophony of effects which—combined with strobing white lights—made for an overwhelming assault on the senses. In short, a classic “Split Open and Melt”.
Phish — “Meat” — 9/21/25
[Video: kembra allen]
“Golgi Apparatus” felt like the set closer, but “Most Events Aren’t Planned”. McConnell’s Vida Blue original that took 15 years to make it to the stage with Phish developed into a darkhorse contender for one of the night’s most fun jams, bouncing along on Page’s grand piano before Anastasio took it home with snarling leads to close the set.
As Phish returned to the Hampton Coliseum stage for the final set of the weekend and the summer of 2025, Anastasio’s guitar intro to “Mike’s Song” rang out, and it was all gravy from there. The breakdown was everything you want from a Mike’s jam: it was funky, it was driving, Gordon’s bass a rock-solid foundation, plenty of clavinet, Anastasio’s soaring notes, and Kuroda making the perfect choice to cloak the band in deep purple lighting (because the Mike’s breakdown is so purple).
Phish — “Mike’s Song” > “I Am Hydrogen” > “Weekapaug Groove” — 9/21/25
Continuing to spotlight its sonic diversity, Phish went from hard-driving funk to floating lighter than air on the blissful “I Am Hydrogen” and then got everyone dancing again on “Weekapaug Groove”. Gordon’s driving bass again laid the foundation for the next song, frontrunner for the best Phish original in many years, “What’s Going Through Your Mind”. The newest reliable jam vehicle transitioned from the classic prog-rock structure into dreamlike tones, Anastasio picking gentle bedtime story notes and Page releasing droplets of Wurlitzer onto a wall of low-octave synth. At an even 20 minutes, this was a satisfying, slow-building jam where audiences got to hear the band stack up sounds level by level.
Following the payoff of a tension-and-release build, the lights turned a cool blue as the band embarked on aquatic tones, ultimately landing in the familiar wonky opening rhythm of “Scents and Subtle Sounds”. For the second consecutive 20+ minute song, Phish repeatedly throttled back and forth from a shimmery dream to a freeway onramp toward a fast and heavy jam, only to dial back and forth yet again, ultimately leading to a big climax and a requisite “Lonely Trip” cooldown. Amid Anastasio’s pandemic-era lullaby, plenty of bro hugs were exchanged throughout the stands as the time for goodbyes drew near.
But not before the story of the “Ghost”, with plenty more purple-draped funk pushed by Anastasio’s muddy muck low-end tone. The modest jam finally led into the frenetic charge of the set-closing “Chalk Dust Torture”, as all of Peter Pan’s Lost Boys and Girls bellowed “Can’t I live while I’m young?!” one more time before we have to return to the real world.
All week long, from the social media comment sections to amid the absurd security lines to get into the arena, many folks seemed to think this would be the weekend for “Harpua”. The story springboard song hadn’t been seen since the all-animals October 30th, 2021 show in Las Vegas, per Phish.net, and those holding out hope for hearing the tale of Jimmy and Poster Nutbag screamed their heads off when the band returned for the encore, only for that applause to fall deathly silent as Anastasio sang “When we were talking, I didn’t need to hide,” to singal the opening of quintessential encore bringdown “A Life Beyond the Dream”. Oh well, after everything we’d gotten all night long, none of us had a right to complain. It’s my own fault for actually believing we might get “Harpua”.
With go-to closers “Tweezer Reprise” and “First Tube” already off the board for the weekend, “Harry Hood” got the call up to bat to close the show, the weekend, the tour, and the summer. Just like with those instrumentals, you know what you’re getting with Hood, but that doesn’t make it any less thrilling. Anastasio, Fishman, Gordon, and McConnell swelled up all the energy of the extended summer tour that began back in June, channeling all those months and miles into one last mountainous peak, and it was over.
Phish — “Harry Hood” — 9/21/25
[Video: travelingempire]
But Trey Anastasio still wasn’t done. After the band took its final bows, the guitarist went to the front of the stage and was gifted a drawing of himself by 15-year-old artist Bella (@artsy.phartsyy), whose proud father was handing out free mini prints of her Trey drawing to everyone in the lot. Never one to receive without giving back, Anastasio handed Bella his guitar pick for the most wholesome closing to a tour anyone could hope for. Watch the whole interaction on Bella’s Instagram here.
The legacy of Hampton precedes itself, given its history going back to the Grateful Dead in the 1980s. Phish made the venue an indelible part of its own history with its 2009 reunion at the venue. Coming into my first Hampton run, that legacy set some sizable expectations.
Walking into Hampton for the first time on Friday, it was shocking how small and intimate the place felt in contrast to its towering legacy. But by the end of the weekend, it became clear that Hampton Coliseum really is just a building (a building with a cool exterior but a building nonetheless). What makes this such a celebrated place in Phishdom is the energy all the fans bring into the weekend, not just believing but knowing these shows will be great. And in the self-fulfilling prophecy of manifestation, that’s exactly what made them great.
Phish is off the road until its annual New Year’s run at Madison Square Garden, December 28th–31st. Find tickets here and relive the summer tour on demand on LivePhish. [Editor’s note: Live For Live Music is a LivePhish affiliate. Ordering your Phish summer tour 2025 webcasts or audio downloads via the links on this page helps support our work covering the world of live music. Thanks for reading!]
Check out some photos from Sunday’s show courtesy of photographer Maggie Miles. Revisit Live For Live Music‘s coverage of Phish’s September 2025 tour stops at Bourbon & Beyond; Birmingham, AL on Saturday and Sunday; Alpharetta, GA on Tuesday and Wednesday; and Hampton on Friday and Saturday.
Setlist: Phish | Hampton Coliseum | Hampton, VA | 9/21/25
Set One: First Tube, Twenty Years Later, AC/DC Bag > Foam, Life Saving Gun, Roggae, Also Sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss/Eumir Deodato) > Meat, Split Open and Melt, Golgi Apparatus > Most Events Aren’t Planned
Set Two: Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, What’s Going Through Your Mind -> Scents and Subtle Sounds > Lonely Trip, Ghost > Chalk Dust Torture
Encore: A Life Beyond The Dream > Harry Hood
Trey teased First Tube in Chalk Dust Torture.
