Show Review - Phish 6/24/25 Pittsburgh, PA
Lot Mitzvah & a 42-Minute Jam
Situated perfectly on the way from Manchester, NH to Austin, TX, Pittsburgh’s Petersen Events Center was a logical choice for a Tuesday night Phish throw-down and the first solo stop of their summer tour so far. Having hosted two shows in the past, this relatively small college arena was the setting last night for one of the oddest Phish concerts I’ve ever seen – big bustouts, weird play, and an absolutely staggering 42-minute “What’s Going Through Your Mind” that stands as one of the greatest pieces of music I’ve ever seen.
Last night also marked 13 years since my first Phish show on June 24, 2012 (which I decided would be my “Lot Mitzvah” after being offered the opportunity to lay tefillin on shakedown before the show), an incredibly special marker to me because 11-year-old Ryan truly had his life changed that night.
With that in mind, as well as the fantastic and adventurous jamming displayed in the tour’s opening three-night run in NH, anticipation was high and the crowd was AMPED from the first notes of the classic opener call of “AC/DC Bag.” Getting a bit of a jam workout, keyboardist Page McConnell pushed things through with some solid Wurlitzer work underneath guitarist Trey Anastasio, the band rocking through an early peak before wrapping things up just short of the 10-minute mark.
The first of three bustouts in the first frame came with “Dogs Stole Things” in its first performance since 7/31/22 (123 shows), as the slinky blues number led into the bluegrassy romp of “Paul and Silas,” coming off the shelf for the first time since 6/22/16 (323 shows).
Adventurous jamming returned with a surprisingly early call for “I Always Wanted it This Way.” While not my favourite song, I was immediately excited at the prospect of improv as the jam began with a propulsive groove from drummer Jon Fishman as McConnell laid into some clavinet. Bassist Mike Gordon swirled on some spacey effects while Anastasio picked out some sharp envelope-filtered riffs, continuing to uphold the low-key and driving nature of the jam.
McConnell infused some subtle Moog One synth into the jam as Anastasio threw in a San-Ho-Zay tease, Fish then upping the intensity and tempo. Driving toward a peak from there, Anastasio augmented his tone with some rotary Leslie simulator tones, giving his riffs a warm, vibrato-rich quality as he eschewed a big release in favour of continuing the groove.
Gordon’s tone took on a punchy, glassy quality as he took a leadership role in the groove, McConnell taking on some psychedelic synth patches for an all-too-brief moment as Anastasio cued the ending of “IAWITW” just as things were really getting cooking.
The oddball first set continued there with a slight misstep to start “Water in the Sky,” returning for the first time since July 15, 2022 (134 shows). A syrupy “Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan” and bouncy “Ya Mar” kept things going with the same vibe, the band never quite perfectly locking in on either song.
“Gumbo” was a great call next, fitting the slower-tempoed nature of the songs before – and much to my delight, it followed up San Francisco’s breakout version from April with a gorgeous Type II jam. Hanging on the E-flat minor, the band departed “Gumbo” proper into a percussive funk jam with aggressive Wurlitzer work from McConnell over Fish’s laid-back groove.
Anastasio engaged in some gritty riffing akin to “Wilson” as McConnell added in some elastic Moog synthesizer. The groove continued to deepen as McConnell moved to clav, Fish picking up the intensity to match the level of insistence in Anastasio’s riffing. Gordon engaged in some great interplay with the guitarist from there before the band modulated to a breezy major key.
Coasting atop a bed of synth textures, Anastasio dipped back into the rotary tones as the jam flowed into an uplifting jam that just felt like a warm hug. The blissy zone peaked nicely before unlocking a new level of the floaty quality, Anastasio and McConnell circling each other’s riffs while Gordon went full texture underneath.
Screaming in from overhead, Anastasio took things minor once again as Fish pounded away at his toms. Gordon battled some brief rig issues before coming back in with the “Gumbo” bass line, unfortunately cutting off the burgeoning improv with a somewhat rocky return to the song proper.
To close the set, Phish called for “Walls of the Cave” – a perfect choice given its gradual ramp-up in energy and absolutely blistering explosion that would both end off the first frame on a high note and set things up for a massive second set. Anastasio tore through the jam, building up a huge final peak as the band was taken into the break by huge cheers from the band.
Coming back for the second set, “You Enjoy Myself” was the call for a rare appearance in this slot and was met with huge cheers from the crowd. Navigating the composition well, Phish blew through the typical raging trampolines segment and a quick vocal jam before reviving the music.
Sticking close to the song’s form for the brief second jam, the percussive funk led into the opening of “What’s Going Through Your Mind,” setting up what would be a second-set centrepiece – but we had no idea how much of a centrepiece it would be.
The sixth-longest jam in Phish history began with a nice Anastasio solo, he and McConnell engaging in some early interplay before bringing back the “mind” chorus to signal that it was time to head for open waters.
McConnell hit the Rhodes almost immediately and sparkled overtop the steady groove, his thick chords complementing the insistent bass lines from Gordon very well. Building up more of a head of steam, Anastasio kept to some subtle work at first before beginning to gradually push his way to the front of the jam.
Looping a whine of feedback, the guitarist turned the jam on its head, taking what was heading for a major modulation and turning it into a dissonant, scuzzy mode before the jam was even at the ten-minute mark. McConnell went into some floaty Prophet Rev2 synth textures as Anastasio engaged his Whammy for some off-kilter harmonized effects, Gordon underneath on some deep synth of his own.
Fish kept up the steady pocket, anchoring the music while the other three musicians went way off into outer space. Gordon went into textures as he had prominently featured in the first set’s “Gumbo,” whipping up a thick haze as McConnell returned to Rhodes for the band’s smooth major-key emergence.
Continuing to play within a murky cloud of various synth effects, Anastasio began to solo in the developing upbeat space, his continued bedrock of loops elevating the space as McConnell kept up his gentle Moog pad work. Gordon’s ebb and flow between anchoring bass lines and in-the-clouds synth haze continued as Fish slowly increased the tempo, picking up the intensity as Anastasio worked a repeated riff.
It felt as though a big peak was imminent, and McConnell hung back beautifully as the rest of the band began to play more aggressively – inspiring a new melody from Anastasio before the keyboardist made the switch from Wurlitzer to piano.
Building from there, Anastasio soared through the blissy zone with ease – but just as the energy was mounting toward a big release, he switched gears entirely and began to lead the band back down into a darker space, the first indication that this would not be your typical jam.
McConnell coloured with aggressive piano work as Anastasio took a rhythm work, the ivory work going from bright and sparkling to uneasy and tense in no time flat. Things threatened to come apart as Anastasio initiated a modulation down into a new key, the band entering what is usually a transitional space to set up the next song.
This was obviously not the case, however, as McConnell brought in a space-age synth tone that seemed to creep in from all sides as Gordon joined him on textures. Anastasio looped several psychedelic sounds of his own, throwing in some major-key licks for good measure as the jam continued to drift through the cosmos.
McConnell laid down some vibrato-heavy Wurlitzer chords as Anastasio dive-bombed some phrases, the busy space continuing to be anchored by Fish’s driving beat. Chaos threatened to poke through briefly as Gordon activated a wild ring-modulated effect, but Anastasio offered a lifeline in the form of a new modulation and transition into a renewed major-key space.
With the jam crossing the 20-minute mark, it would have been expected to build a huge peak here and wrap things up – already a fantastic piece of improvisation. Phish had other plans, of course, and the ramp-up was buoyed by some gentle synth textures as the band entered a “Mountain Jam”-like space and drove toward the easy peak.
Pure joy built and burst forth as Phish worked as one, Anastasio’s gorgeous melodies pouring off the stage in waves. Just as the peak was ready for its final release, Anastasio stopped soloing entirely and instead began to dive into some wild Whammy work, sending crazy bends shooting across the arena as the rest of the band continued to build the peak around him, creating a really cool juxtaposition of energies. Dive-bomb delays came in as well as the guitar lines shot around like laser beams, the whole jam in danger of coming apart at the seams at any second.
Without missing a beat, the whole band flipped the jam on its head and dove headlong into the weird, Fish going faster and faster as McConnell engaged in some frenetic play underneath. Anastasio stuck to loops and textures for a bit as Gordon poked in with some effects-heavy play of his own, things progressing once more as McConnell brought in outer-space synth textures around gentle Wurlitzer chords.
Gordon drove up from the low end aggressively, Anastasio returning to the fray with some dissonant Whammy octave-up riffs over the chaotic jam. Fish’s whirlwind fills kept things driving and anchored before Anastasio returned to wild bends like before.
So cohesive, yet so chaotic and dissonant, this section is an incredible example of Phish at their best, firing on all cylinders and working together while somehow playing different versions of out-there, crazy tones. Anastasio’s bends got weirder and weirder as Gordon activated swirling tones akin to the Stranger Things theme, Fish pushing harder and harder underneath all of them.
Losing some of the steam at last, the improv began to fragment as Anastasio introduced some dive-bomb reverse-delay ring modulator effects (yes, you read that right), poking out into the space hauntingly as Fish finally took his foot off the gas a little bit.
Getting past the 30-minute mark, the music collapsed in on itself and was left as just a fading Fish groove while Anastasio’s haunting ring mod riffs left themselves out in the open space. Reviving from near silence, Gordon brought in some deathly evil synth’d out riffs that felt like the doom of the universe as Anastasio continued to bend ring modulator everywhere.
Fish dropped away his driving groove and began to pound toms as the ring modulator guitar repeated hauntingly, some whistling synth swirling around as a tornado-like jam emerged, beautifully chaotic as the tom-heavy space continued to develop. Coming back to earth a little bit, Fish brought the band together with his more varied beat as Anastasio sloughed off chorus-heavy blocks of chords and then switching to sharp synth-filter, loops and reverb swirling around his new riffs.
McConnell stuck to minimalist Wurlitzer tones as the aggression continued, Anastasio and Fish really dominating this segment before threatening to collapse in on themselves once again – but the jam was revived by Fish once again, who pushed up from nothing into another aggressive, driving groove.
Gordon and Anastasio battled with synth effects as Fish put out whirlwind fill after whirlwind fill, returning to the controlled-chaos zone from earlier as the galloping beat toyed with dynamics in an absolute masterclass in drumming. Gordon played steady quarter notes as Anastasio returned to a clean tone, engaging in some blistering runs in sort of a reverse-peak, Gordon matching him on a “Gumbo”-like descending riff as Fish continued to blaze ahead at full speed underneath them all.
We were now officially past the forty-minute mark of this jam and McConnell was in the process of suggesting a major modulation as Fish dropped back into a slower groove and Phish slipped cleanly back into a final, euphoric reprise of the “WGTYM” chorus, putting a neat conclusion on the staggeringly amazing jam that had just taken place.
It's not easy to hold an arena-sized crowd’s attention for that long, let alone with such out-there sounds, but Phish is one of one in their ability to play something like that with nary a chomper to be heard.
“Prince Caspian” offered a breather to the crowd, though it felt like the band was just warming up as they demonstrated their complete hold over the crowd once again with a rocking “Julius,” every person in the arena dancing and singing along – find another concert in the world with any band where that percentage of people in attendance are just in the moment, grooving, and having a great time. You likely can’t.
Almost as a bonus, the set-closing “Blaze On” featured some solid, albeit brief, jamming atop an insistent cowbell-driven beat from Fish as the band drove to a final big peak.
Beginning the encore with “The Howling,” Anastasio had a huge smile on his face through the dancey funk vehicle before kicking into “Ghost” to close the show, whereas I was expecting something like a “Character Zero.” “Ghost” has closed a set in three of its four appearances so far in 2025 and seems to be fitting that role very nicely, offering a more open-ended approach to getting to a big peak as opposed to a standard or composed shorter rock tune.
Walking off stage to massive cheers, Phish left Pittsburgh with Petersen Events Center a smoking ruin, dropping the clear best jam of 2025 so far only four shows into their summer tour. I’m incredibly grateful to have gotten to celebrate 13 years of seeing my favourite band with literally the best possible thing that could have happened to me – my first 40+ minute jam.
Thank you, Phish, for such an incredible night of music – can’t wait to see what the other eleven shows I’ll be at this summer have in store!
The band continues tour Friday and Saturday in Austin, Texas. Webcasts are available via LivePhish.com.