In live music, there are venues like The Gorge or Red Rocks Amphitheatre that are celebrated for their natural beauty. There are others like New York’s “World’s Most Famous Arena,” Madison Square Garden, that represent the pinnacle of the live entertainment food chain—if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. And then, there are venues like Hampton Coliseum, aka “The Mothership,” that are renowned for their history (and a pretty cool exterior): the Grateful Dead‘s fabled 1989 Formerly The Warlocks run and, of course, the 2009 Phish reunion shows.
For a band with 42 years of memories and lineage attached to it, Hampton Coliseum represents the best of Phish. The band tumultuously walked out the door in 2004 following its infamous Coventry festival, an event mired in mud and sloppy performances from the band once beloved for its technical precision. After five long years away—during which time guitarist Trey Anastasio set the foundation for long-term recovery from his addiction that exacerbated the band’s breakup—Phish returned to the stage at Hampton Coliseum and struck the opening chords to “Fluffhead”, ushering in a new era for the band that continues to this day.
On Friday night, Phish stepped back onto the stage at Hampton Coliseum for the first time since 2018 to kick off its fourth run at the vintage, all-general admission arena since the 2009 reunion. The crowd’s roar when the band came out was already thunderous, but when the band played those same opening chords to “Fluffhead”, it turned deafening and drowned out the first ten to fifteen seconds of the song. I don’t know whether Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, Mike Gordon, and Jon Fishman nailed all of the intricately arranged sections of the multi-part composition last night, or if they did 16 years ago. But I don’t think that really mattered, then or now, in the face of the overwhelming significance of that song played on that stage.
Phish — “Fluffhead” — 9/19/25
As a live music fanatic who travels the country searching for the sound, you develop a concept of the “worth it” moment. That second when your brain switches over from all the miles driven, layovers taken, hotels checked into, and Uber rides spent impatiently waiting to finally get to the show, to being in a state of bliss that you’ve finally arrived. That moment seldom arrives as quickly as it did on Friday, with the 6.5-hour drive from Asheville, burn on my finger from topping off my car’s oil, and memories of my sketchy motel in Newport News fading away by the time the band hit “Fluff’s Travels”, and the gravity of seeing Phish play “Fluffhead” at Hampton Coliseum sunk in completely.
While the show started on the most jubilant note, things got dark quickly—in the best possible way. On the “46 Days” that came next, Trey started working out his ankle on his low-octave pedal, which reverberated through the concrete stands for a feeling you just can’t get through the livestreams.
As Mike painted with sparing, wet brushstrokes, Chris Kuroda and Andrew Griffin‘s overhead light rig changed from a crawling snake of flashing green and purple lights to flashes of blood red, right around the time the jam turned evil. Did the evil jam turn the lights red or did the red lights turn the jam evil? A real chicken and the egg situation at The Mothership, but whatever its origin, the darkness continued on “My Friend, My Friend”, which—at 16 and a half minutes—was a high-point of the entire show. “My Friend, My Friend” lit the fuse as Fishman conjured thunder with his floor toms bouncing off the interior walls of the arena that opened on December 1st, 1969.
It’s not too often that a set—especially a first set—goes from evil to light, but that’s what happened last night as “Rift” picked up the tempo of a laid-back (if chaotic) set thus far, and a mildly-seasoned “Gumbo” cooled off a rather hot opening. Though “Gumbo” took a while to get cooking, once it got going, it got going as the band broke through middling bliss via Trey’s soaring guitar hero bends and Page on his Wurlitzer.
“Pebbles and Marbles” came and went, followed by Page’s first “Army of One” since July 26th, 2023 (107 shows ago), per Phish.net, followed by some island flavors on Gordo’s cover of Cyril Ferguson‘s “Ya Mar”. The unusually long first set kept on going through the great divide “The Wedge” and finally “Walls of the Cave”. One of the many great things about seeing Phish live is spotting a couple dudes in front of you miming the grand piano intro just like you do alone in your car. Then you remember you’re surrounded by 10,000 or so other nerds just like you.
If the first set highlighted the transition from darkness to light, set two was a case study in cohesive jamming. The show’s other notable dust-off, The Apples in Stereo‘s “Energy” (LTP 8/2/23, 102 shows ago), bobbed along the surface of Fishman’s snare and cymbal, with Trey making whale noises on his guitar and Page responding with bubbles from his Rhodes—and if there’s anyone who can contribute some bubbling notes to a jam, it’s Mike Gordon. Amid that serene, aquatic improv, Trey decided it was “Tweezer” time and delivered the brief September mini-tour’s long-awaited airing of the band’s quintessential jam vehicle.
Phish — “Energy” (The Apples In Stereo) — 9/19/25
This “Tweezer” took its time, settling into a lofty jam with a murkiness reminiscent of the preceding “Energy”. Page and Trey at one point locked into making lead melodies together, a pattern that would pop up throughout the second set, as Fishman gradually dialed up the intensity into a slow, prog-rock build. As Trey’s notes grew sharper and Page came crashing down with minor chords on grand piano, Fish and Gordon syncopated the rhythms before Trey did hammer-ons and pull-offs so hard he hit CK5’s red light button once again. With Trey going full guitar hero, this “Tweezer” went out sounding like what Led Zeppelin would do if they were a jam band, and though it clocked in at nearly 28 minutes, that wouldn’t be all Phish had to say on “Tweezer”.
Phish — “Tweezer” — 9/19/25
[Video: Chris Connelly]
In the “Ruby Waves” that came next without interruption, Phish seemed to once again pick up a piece of a preceding jam—reviving the atmospheric middle section of the “Tweezer” improv. As the band rode the waves of Page’s synth, Trey provided contrast to the low octave swells with clean, unfiltered notes high up on the neck, Gordon breaking through with a barrage of punchy notes.
Shortly after the band locked into a unified start-stop pattern, the train kept moving to “No Men In No Men’s Land”. The start-stop pattern that concluded the previous jam was a natural precursor to the foundational rhythmic pop that occurs every couple of measures in NMINML, continuing the through-lines from one jam to another. Then, just as Phish got into some hard, prog-rock playing reminiscent of the end of “Tweezer”, the band made it official with a full reprise and tacked on an extra five minutes for 33 total minutes of “Tweezer”.
In light of the headbanging that preceded it, “Waste” was a bit of a cold bucket of water. But luckily, the set was saved by “Rock and Roll” as thousands danced to the fine, fine music, hollering in approval that their lives, too, were saved by rock and roll.
While seeing Phish outdoors certainly has its advantages, there’s no finer setting than an arena to belt “Prince Caspian”, as the roar of the chorus bounces along the walls from one side to the other. The final crescendo of “Bug” felt like a natural conclusion for the show, only for Phish to throw all its cards on the table with a “Tweezer Reprise”, rather than using it as the tour closer on Sunday. Seeing Trey skulk around the stage during Tweeprize, it became apparent how cool it must feel to play that song on guitar to a sold-out arena.
Phish — “Tweezer Reprise” — 9/19/25
[Video: Ryan Mogel]
Phish returns to Hampton tonight, Saturday the 20th. Find tickets for upcoming Phish here or livestream the shows 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!]
Revisit Live For Live Music‘s coverage of Phish’s September 2025 tour stops at Bourbon & Beyond, Birmingham, AL on Saturday and Sunday, and Alpharetta, GA on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Check out some photos from Hampton night one courtesy of photographer Maggie Miles.
Setlist: Phish | Hampton Coliseum | Hampton, VA | 9/19/25
Set One: Fluffhead, 46 Days, My Friend, My Friend > Rift, Gumbo, Pebbles and Marbles, Army of One > Ya Mar, The Wedge, Walls of the Cave
Set Two: Energy > Tweezer > Ruby Waves[1] > No Men In No Man’s Land > Tweezer > Waste > Rock and Roll
Encore: Prince Caspian > Bug > Tweezer Reprise
[1] Unfinished.
Army of One was last played on July 26, 2023 (107 shows). Energy was last played on August 2, 2023 (102 shows). Ruby Waves was unfinished. Trey teased Manteca in the second Tweezer.
