After resuming its summer tour on Friday with a rare festival appearance at Bourbon & Beyond, Phish returned to its regularly scheduled programming with the band’s first show within the city limits of Birmingham, AL in over 30 years.

The last time Phish played in Birmingham proper was on May 2nd, 1994. That show turned into a bit of circus with surprise sit-ins from Oteil Burbridge, who joined in on bass and hopped on the trampoline during “Mike’s Song”, and Stacy Starkweather, who played standup bass while the band switched instruments, with Trey Anastasio hopping on drums as Jon Fishman played Page McConnell‘s organ. Since then, Phish has performed down the road a few times, most recently in 2021 at the recently demolished Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Pelham, AL.

Saturday’s show at the newly opened Coca-Cola Amphitheater may have lacked the onstage antics of Phish’s last Birmingham performance, but it gave the band a chance to get back on track, kicking off the final leg of what has been an outstanding 2025 summer tour. Fitting that theme, Phish opened the night with “Back on the Train”, which started the first set off strong with a solid upbeat Southern-fried country jam.

Phish then yielded to fan expectations early on with a predictable cover of “Cities” by Talking Heads. The lyric name-dropping Birmingham drew cheers from the crowd, and Trey later doubled down on the reference between songs, saying, “Look over there! Dry ice factory.” Like “Back on the Train”, the song unfolded into a jam that saw the foursome quickly lock in, shifting fluidly through a range of moods and modulations with relaxed confidence.

A short but sweet “Sample in a Jar” provided a bridge (there are a lot of those in Birmingham) to another first-set standout, “Theme from the Bottom”. Once again, the band settled into a groove and stretched out a bit, gradually building to a climactic peak.

A Mike Gordon-led “Old Home Place” brought back the down-home country vibe that started the set and marked an unusually succinct song for Phish, clocking in at only two minutes before the off-kilter opening to “Bathtub Gin” lit the fuse on the longest song of the evening. 23 minutes of undulating improv later, the runaway “Gin” gave way to first set closer “Runaway Jim”, another uninhibited exploration representing 4.0 Phish at its finest.

Phish — “Bathtub Gin” — 9/13/25

Bookended by two pairs of standout jams, the first set would prove difficult to match after set break, but damned if Phish didn’t try. Busting into set two with a substantial if meandering 21-minute “Sigma Oasis”, the band kept the jams flowing without pause, diving right into a patiently evolving and ultimately unfinished “Down with Disease”, unholstering a far-out “Life Saving Gun”, and floating atop “Pillow Jets of Sound” before landing gently in “Mountains in the Mist”. When all was said and done, the band had played for over an hour without stopping, and it wasn’t done yet.

Phish — “Down With Disease” > “Life Saving Gun” — 9/13/25

“Blaze On” brought the energy back up a bit, gradually ramping up to set two’s climactic “Ghost” finale. A two-song encore of “Shine a Light” and “Say it to Me S.A.N.T.O.S” rounded out the night, leaving fans both satisfied and eager for night two in Birmingham.

Below, view the setlist, videos, and a gallery of photos from photographer Robert Francis from Saturday night’s Phish show at Birmingham’s Coca-Cola Amphitheater.

Find tickets to upcoming Phish tour dates here. If you can’t make it in person, you can watch each of the band’s upcoming shows live from anywhere via nightly LivePhish pay-per-view webcasts, available a la carte or in multi-show bundles here.

Phish – “Down With Disease” > “Life Saving Gun” [Pro-Shot] – 9/13/25

Setlist: Phish | Coca-Cola Amphitheater | Birmingham, AL | 9/13/25
Set1: Back on the Train, Cities > Sample in a Jar, Theme From the Bottom, The Old Home Place, Bathtub Gin, Runaway Jim
Set 2: Sigma Oasis > Down with Disease [1] > Life Saving Gun > Pillow Jets > Mountains in the Mist, Blaze On, Ghost
Encore: Shine a Light > Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.
[1] Unfinished.