After a full month on the road, Phish played the final performance of their main tour at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, CA. Summer 2016 has been marked by a lot of highs and lows for Phish fans, with a handful of break out shows that stand apart from the rest. Nevertheless, there’s always something to enjoy from any Phish performance, and the tour closer certainly had a lot of true highlight moments.

While an opening “Farmhouse” is always going to elicit groans, the first set picked up steam with “555” and “Water In The Sky.” It was the “Ghost,” however, where the band really got into a synchronous groove that would transcend through the remainder of the set. The jam moved into tight melodic space, with Trey Anastasio taking the lead and Page McConnell accentuating on the piano. The music ultimately slowed in pace until it naturally concluded, letting the band play the new short original, “Ass Handed.” The Jon Fishman led tune is punchy, with the drummer sing “you can get your ass handed to you, every day” before a dramatic musical finale.

Watch “Farmhouse,” streaming below.

The set kept raging with the Gamehendgeian classic “The Sloth,” nailing the groovy rocker before bringing out Chilling, Thrilling instrumental “Martian Monster.” McConnell worked some eerie sound effects into the jam, with lots of reverb getting the music into darker, spacier places before bursting into the beloved “Reba.” The song was well executed, leading through the composed sections into a great open jam. At the jam’s conclusion, Fishman took the momentary pause to say that he wanted to restate his point from earlier, and the band launched into a second “Ass Handed” of the set. It was an unexpected departure that really showed just how much fun this band is having on stage.

As if this set needed more funk, Phish broke out into a noteworthy version of “Tube.” The band was all patience, building up a great jam and stretching the number towards the 10-minute mark. It was easily one of the best “Tube” jams of the 3.0 era. The set kept rocking with “Wolfman’s Brother,” which featured unexpected elements of the 2pac song “California Love” from Trey. Fans will certainly recall the epic “Tweezer” on July 15th, 1998 with its famed “California Love Jam.” This was certainly in the same vein, as Anastasio changed lyrics to reference Chula Vista and playfully displayed his love for the Golden State.

Watch the “Tube” and “California Love”-jam version of “Wolfman’s Brother,” streaming below.

Finally, it was “Walls of the Cave” that brought this set to a perfect finale, even working in a “Streets of Cairo” tease from Trey. What a set!

The second half got off to a great start, as Phish opened with a jammed out “2001” that again included elements of “California Love.” The song’s grand finale brought the energy up, and “46 Days” delivered some walloping rock and roll. The jam was tight throughout, never really heading outside the box, but the following “Piper” took off in the second set. The song moved from the verses into a spacey floating jam, before going full on rager. Eventually, they pulled the jam into “Twist,” keeping the jams flowing in a free-for-all second set. Anastasio’s light touch guitarwork guided the song, bringing his tone from a dreamy treble to a looming low end, and ultimately back into the song’s ending.

Watch “2001,” streaming below.

After “Twist,” the band broke into the Joy tune “Backwards Down The Number Line.” It was a nice version, but the crowd truly erupted for the following song, “Carini.” The song itself featured some joking on the “Ass Handed” lyrics from Fishman and a nice Chilling, Thrilling scream sound effect add-on, but the jam was one of the show’s best. They got into deep and dark territory, really keeping the energy alive before hitting the drum intro of “Harry Hood.” The song’s improvisational section was nice and light, bringing some transcendental Phish into the room. As the feel good ending of “Hood” dwindled, the band saved room for one more song in the set, Rolling Stones’ “Loving Cup.” They nailed it.

With a short pause, Phish returned for the final song of their 2016 summer tour. Trey first thanked the audience, before saying the band couldn’t end without playing Page McConnell’s favorite song: “Sleeping Monkey.” The song was played standardly, but Anastasio threw in a tidbit about Googling “sleeping monkey revived at train station in India” to learn more about the song’s origins. (Could this be it?) Naturally, the guitarist had one more surprise in store, and busted into the riff of “Tweezer Reprise.” Anastasio and Fishman again sang the lyrics of “Ass Handed” instead of the usual lyrics, putting a fun twist on the classic Phish tune to leave fans smiling.

Though the band will be back at LOCKN’ Festival and Dick’s Sporting Goods Park later this summer, those isolated runs aren’t quite the same as a full on tour season. Thanks to everyone for following along with us through all of the twenty shows, and, most of all, thank you to Phish for countless hours of musical enjoyment.

You can see the full Phish.net setlist from tonight’s show, below. All photos contributed by Brandon Weil for L4LM, and a full gallery can be seen below.

Setlist: Phish at Sleep Train Amphitheatre, Chula Vista, CA – 7/23/16

Set 1: Farmhouse, 555, Water in the Sky, Ghost, Ass Handed, The Sloth, Martian Monster > Reba, Ass Handed, Tube > Wolfman’s Brother > Walls of the Cave

Set 2: Also Sprach Zarathustra > 46 Days > Piper > Twist > Backwards Down the Number Line > Carini, Harry Hood > Loving Cup

Encore: Sleeping Monkey, Tweezer Reprise.

Notes: This show was webcast via Live Phish. Wolfman’s Brother contained California Love teases and quotes. WOTC contained a Streets of Cairo tease. Carini and Tweezer Reprise contained Ass Handed quotes.