Wu-Tang Phorever: Photos Of Trey & RZA Instead Of The Phish Folsom Recap I Was Supposed To Write

Throughout the last couple weeks, Colorado has felt like the center of the live music universe: Phish at Folsom Field. Wu-Tang Clan at Fiddler’s Green. Metallica at Mile High. Pretty Lights in Buena Vista. Widespread Panic, Vulfpeck, an all-star orchestral tribute to Jerry Garcia, and more at Red Rocks. The list goes on…

As much as the scheduled shows themselves, this confluence of talent passing through the Centennial State has spawned a number of notable storylines: Jared Polis became the first sitting governor to hit both Phish tour and Panic tour in the same week (probably). Phish’s Mike Gordon joined Oteil Burbridge, Melvin Seals, and the Colorado Symphony for a surprise sit-in during an orchestral tribute to Jerry Garcia at Red Rocks. Minimalist funk collective Vulfpeck winked at Phish with a snippet of “Waste” during its own Red Rocks show as the jam titans played a competing concert in Boulder (and got Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch involved, taboot). Lettuce recruited both the RZA and the GZA after Wu-Tang Clan’s show on July 4th for a cross-genre, late-night throwdown at Denver’s Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom. You get the idea.

But of all the Colorado concert convergences in the past few days, one particular collision of worlds is monopolizing our consciousness today: On Saturday night, Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA spent his 56th birthday seeing Phish in Boulder, hanging with the band, and examining Trey Anastasio‘s Languedoc guitar backstage.

But that’s not all… During a second set cover of Talking Heads’ “Crosseyed and Painless”, Phish called attention to the occasion: First, drummer Jon Fishman tossed in a “Happy Birthday, RZ!” during the “still waiting” refrain (just shy of the 4:00 mark on the LivePhish recording). Without skipping a beat, Anastasio grabbed the birthday baton, played the “Happy Birthday to You” melody over the groove, and proclaimed, “Wu-Tang forever.” We’ve gone ahead and queued up the RZA shoutout in the video embedded below:

Phish Wishes RZA Happy Birthday During “Crosseyed and Painless” (Talking Heads) – 7/5/25
[Video: Chad Sclove]

I’m well aware that there was a lot of concert surrounding those 30ish seconds in the second set. Looked like a really fun one. “Buried Alive” opener, a big “Blaze On” / “The Lizards” / “A Day in the Life” combo to close the first set, an out-there “Fuego” > “My Friend, My Friend” > “Fuego” in set two, a venue-appropriate “Buffalo Bill” in the encore. Great stuff.

But if I’m being totally honest, I saw all the RZA/Trey photos before I heard a note of this show, and my brain is still too scrambled by Phish captioning snaps of RZA holding Trey’s Languedoc with Star Wars-adjusted Wu-Tang Clan lyrics to really dive in now. Those images of the Ruler Zig-Zag-Zig Allah wielding the Jedi master’s weapon of choice will live forever in a special corner of my Phish- and hip-hop-loving mind—right next to that clip of Jay-Z being like “You guys is hiding all this, huh?” in ’04, that photo of Trey partying with Nelly after the Grammys, and this Bonnaroo superjam we pretended was happening for April Fool’s Day 2019 [Note to Phish: You can absolutely still do this. There’s still time.]

So, instead of trying to write about the rest of Saturday’s Phish finale at Folsom Field, I’m just going to drop the setlist and photos (via Brad Niederman) below and go back to bumping Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and imagining RZA and Trey as Jedi fighting ninja spies with Languedoc light sabers.

Phish returns to the stage on Wednesday, July 9th for a one-off performance in Columbus, OH (Schottenstein Center). We’ll do our best to actually recap that one. RZA and Wu-Tang Clan also hit Columbus on Wednesday, July 9th in Columbus, OH (Nationwide Arena). I wonder…

Wu-Tang Clan – “Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber”

Order your LivePhish webcasts for Phish’s upcoming summer tour dates and find audio recordings of recent shows here. Find a full list of upcoming Phish tour dates and ticketing details here. Find a list of upcoming Wu-Tang Clan farewell tour dates here. Revisit our coverage of Phish’s first two Folsom Field shows here: Night 1 (7/3/25) | Night 2 (7/4/25).

Setlist [via phish.net]: Phish | Folsom Field | Boulder, CO | 7/5/25
Set One: Buried Alive > 46 Days, Birds of a Feather, Sigma Oasis, David Bowie, Evolve, Blaze On, The Lizards, A Day in the Life
Set Two: Wilson, Fuego -> My Friend, My Friend -> Fuego > Crosseyed and Painless > Everything’s Right, More, Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Buffalo Bill, Harry Hood
Notes: My Friend, My Friend did not include the “Myfe” ending. Trey quoted My Friend, My Friend in the second Fuego. Fish wished RZA (who was in attendance) happy birthday in Crosseyed and Painless which subsequently contained Happy Birthday and Fuego teases from Trey and a Three Blind Mice quote from Fish. After Trey’s Happy Birthday tease in Crosseyed, he said “Wu-Tang Forever.”

Phish – “Fuego” -> “My Friend, My Friend” -> “Fuego” [Pro-Shot] – 7/5/25