Phish finished off a two-night weekend run in Austin, TX with a Saturday closer highlighted by a half-hour “Ruby Waves”. Last night’s show at the Moody Center followed the Friday opener, which included a 51-minute pairing of “Fuego” > “Golden Age”.
Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Page McConnell, and Jon Fishman charged out of the gate on Saturday with a nine-song first set. Trey snuck some teases of “Tweezer” in the opening “Punch You in the Eye”, perhaps like many fans still thinking about the monster 42-minute “Tweezer” from last Sunday in New Hampshire. Later on down the line, a beautiful “Reba” served as a highlight of the opening frame, with Trey taking flight in an ornate closing jam. Phish found its groove for a funky one-two of “Hey Stranger” and “Plasma” ahead of a rocking “Moonage Daydream” to close the frame. Saturday marked Phish’s first performance of the David Bowie cover since last July at Alpine Valley, a gap of 43 shows, per Phish.net.
Phish — “Punch You In The Eye” [Pro-Shot] — 6/28/25
While the first set contained only one segue between songs, the second frame kicked off with a continuous four-song stream of “Chalk Dust Torture” > “Twist” > “Ruby Waves” > “Monsters”. While “Ruby Waves” did most of the heavy lifting by supplying 30 of the 58 minutes, the momentum started with a “Chalk Dust Torture” that fluctuated gracefully through dark and light tones by way of Page’s keyboard army. The energy picked up through an all-too-brief “Twist”, which started barrelling towards a satisfying peak after only five minutes.
Phish — “Chalk Dust Torture” [Pro-Shot] — 6/28/25
Following a couple jams that could have perhaps gone a bit further, Phish finally settled in during “Ruby Waves”. After only a few minutes of jamming, it seemed like this “Ruby Waves” could go the way of “Twist” with a premature ejamulation, only for Trey to pull back and start experimenting with an echo pedal while Jon kept the rhythm steady. Within minutes, Phish had shifted down several gears into ambient improvisation defined by the gentle rise and fall of Page’s synths, from there going into a bliss jam, clavinet-fueled space funk with punchy Mike Gordon bass, and more before at last arriving at the final peak.
Phish rode the last bit of inertia in the brooding darkness of “Monsters”, delivering Floydian classic psych-rock ahead of the rhythmic dexterity of “Limb by Limb”. A penultimate “Split Open and Melt” injected one last bit of avant-psych insanity before yet another set-closing cover with The Velvet Underground‘s “Rock and Roll”. Returning for the encore, Phish pulled back the energetic slingshot with a wistful “Waste” before releasing on the “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.” finale.
Phish summer tour 2025 continues with a 4th of July weekend run at Folsom Field in Boulder, CO. 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!]
Check out photos from Phish in Austin courtesy of photographer Kit Tincher along with some fan-shot videos.
Phish — “Moonage Daydream” (David Bowie) — 6/28/25 — Part One
[Video: City and Clothing]
Setlist: Phish | Moody Center | Austin, TX | 6/28/25
Set One: Punch You in the Eye > Free, My Soul (Clifton Chenier), 555, Reba[1], Hey Stranger, Plasma, Guelah Papyrus, Moonage Daydream (David Bowie)
Set Two: Chalk Dust Torture[2] > Twist > Ruby Waves[2] > Monsters, Limb By Limb, Split Open and Melt, Rock and Roll (The Velvet Underground)
Encore: Waste, Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.
[1] No whistling.
[2] Unfinished.
Trey teased Tweezer in Punch You in the Eye. Reba did not have the whistling ending. Chalk Dust Torture and Ruby Waves were unfinished. Page teased The Very Long Fuse in Ruby Waves.
