Show Review - Phish 7/19/25 Chicago, IL
Splinter and Grow
Phish returned to Chicago’s United Center last night for the second of two shows and their lone sold-out night of the weekend, following up Friday’s heater with an eclectic song selection and another excellent segment of music to kick off the second set.
While many in attendance likely expected an opener along the lines of “Free” or “Wolfman’s Brother,” the band had other plans and put their feet directly on the gas with a call for “Life Saving Gun.” While not unheard of, it’s usually rare for them to come out of the gate with a deep jam – a more than welcome treat.
Drummer Jon Fishman’s groove was unrelenting from the first seconds of the jam as he and bassist Mike Gordon absolutely locked in to each other. Keyboardist Page McConnell attacked his clavinet with gusto as guitarist Trey Anastasio took an aggressive rhythm-oriented approach, shearing off minor chords.
McConnell moved to Moog One synthesizer as the jam began to hit an exploratory mode, Anastasio’s turn driving riffs sparking some nice interplay between the two musicians. Gordon pushed to the front of the jam with a bone-rattling tone, the rhythm section continuing to be the absolute MVPs of the improv.
Anastasio toyed with a major modulation as he burst into some lead work, the band finding their way briefly back to “LSG” proper before departing back into jam land. McConnell anchored his spacey synth work with some poignant Wurlitzer chords, he and Anastasio engaging in some more smooth back-and-forth.
Getting a bit brighter, the pace and momentum of the jam continued to build with Fish really leaning into his ride cymbal, Anastasio’s leads getting more urgent as he once again toyed with a flip to a major-key hose peak. Eschewing that, Phish slammed back into the chorus of “LSG” to wrap up the excellent opener – a fantastic way to get started.
A long string of tour debuts began with the year’s first “Steam,” the band also interestingly flipping the manic energy of the opening song on its head for a molasses-thick jam, McConnell’s buttery Rhodes tones melding beautifully with Anastasio’s laid-back leads.
“McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters” came next for some old-school feels (another first of 2025) before the night’s biggest bustout came with the first “The Line” since October 21, 2018 – a 258 show gap. The Fuego cut was in pretty heavy rotation from its 2013 debut through 2018, and was often marred by some unfortunate deep second-set placement which prevented it from being appreciated as a pretty solid song – understandably. The basketball-themed song was also appropriately played at the United Center, given the Chicago Bulls history in the building (yay, sports!).
“Seven Below” came up next and featured a weird miscommunication where Anastasio missed the cue to sing the lyrics – and just pushed into the jam rather than attempt a second time, making this the first instrumental version of the song to be played. Making up for the lyrical flub, Anastasio confidently led the rest of the band through a beautiful, democratic peak filled with strong interplay.
“Ocelot” kept up the downtempo nature of the set with another 2025 debut, Anastasio building to a great Whammy-driven crescendo before picking the tempo up a little again through “Ya Mar.” A cool-down (not that we needed one) of “Mountains in the Mist” was played at a very deliberately languid pace, though at times it felt maybe like the space between the notes was a little bit too big.
The first set came to a close with a hot 1-2 punch of “Golgi Apparatus” and “Most Events Aren’t Planned,” ending things off the way they began, with some frenzied jamming that whipped the packed arena into a wild state of energy to set up the second set.
Returning from the break with an auspicious choice of “Tube,” the usually-first-set funk vehicle opened right up into extended jamming, Anastasio kicking things into gear with some sharp envelope filter work.
Just like in the show-opening “LSG,” Fish drove an unrelenting pace that forced the rest of the band to improvise at a more insistent pace than normal. McConnell laid into some Wurli riffing as Anastasio continued his envelope filter-heavy play, toggling between cleaner riffing and his darker bag of effects.
Fish continued to keep things anchored in “Tube” as Anastasio and McConnell began to get into a cacophonous zone, loops and riffs swirling around each other before being quickly joined by Gordon on some serious synth effects. Just like in the Charleston “Thread,” Anastasio faced McConnell as the band dove into the murk, working his Whammy pedal with his left foot and Boomerang looper with the right.
Smoothly transitioning into lighter pastures, the effects-heavy scuzz fell away and Phish pushed into a beautiful and patient bliss build, Anastasio taking the reins and going full guitar god for several minutes. This kind of hose is pretty rare nowadays, and the band had every member of the crowd absolutely dialed in and going nuts for the sustained energy.
Right at the apex of the peak, Anastasio perfectly cued the drop into the ending of “Tube” for a huge roar from the crowd as the band took a beat to rest before tapping the year’s first “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing” as the set’s improvisational centrepiece.
Some amazing Anastasio/Gordon interplay led things off as the band hit an early major modulation, the seas calm and the skies clear. I always think of the appropriate ocean imagery when listening to this song, and I feel like the jams often take on a quality of a seafaring voyage of some kind.
Sparkling piano work from McConnell saw Gordon and Anastasio match him on a repeated, arpeggiated riff before the keyboardist pivoted to Rhodes. What could have been heard as a sour note from Anastasio was quickly capitalized on by the rest of the band as the skies clouded over and our ship began to get tossed about by a sudden storm, Yamaha CS60 entering alongside angular, dissonant play from Anastasio.
Gordon went into a fully evil effect as Anastasio looped some siren-like chirping, the band briefly coming up for air and riding the line between true evil dissonance and a brighter space. Gordon tipped the balance with his wild washes of deep-impact synth sound as the storm intensified, Fish’s fluid play continuing our trip down to the depths of the sea.
Pure chaos was reached, Anastasio’s chirping melodies and loops searching overtop of the thick textural bed laid down by McConnell’s Rhodes and Prophet Rev2 work. Things calmed a little as Fish began to push the tempo into a driving groove, Anastasio hitting some nice rhythmic patterns over continued thick Rhodes work.
Expanding back into a blissy zone, Anastasio’s beautiful phrasing melded perfectly with Fish’s bouncy beat, the guitarist finding a cool ascending riff within McConnell’s play.
Building to another exemplary peak, Anastasio showed off why 2025 has been one of his best guitar-playing years in over a decade with a continued confidence and energy, opening up melody after melody and exploring the extent of the jam to the fullest while still maintaining a fluid and active connection with the rest of the band.
Ending “ASIHTOS” somewhat abruptly, Gordon rumbled into the signature intro to “Down with Disease” to keep the flow of the set going strong.
Departing the song proper into a churning minor-key space, Anastasio augmented his tone with some octave-down growling as McConnell worked his Moog. Continuing to take off from there, the band reached a really cool, deep motif that they expanded on for a while.
Finding the “Dave’s Energy Guide” riff, the band circled it for a bit in a really amazing example of collective interplay before seeming ready to get into some serious Type II stuff – but instead, Anastasio pulled the band into a mulligan on the first set’s “Seven Below,” working through the lyrics and song proper before landing back in “Disease” to close things out.
“Pillow Jets” offered a breather before an all-too-brief segment of psychedelic synth-drenched guitar informed a segue into a nicely extended “2001,” Anastasio really giving his envelope filter effect a workout in the middle section.
“Chalk Dust Torture” brought the second set to an end with a relatively compact 10-minute version that saw Anastasio go into god-mode, his volcanic soloing through several extended, shreddy peaks bringing the house down.
Continuing in the guitar-centric vein, the encore pairing of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “First Tube” saw Anastasio rip a hot solo and then bounce around the stage like a kid in a candy store to end off the night.
With two fantastic shows under their belt, Phish plays their final indoor show of the summer tonight to close out the weekend in Chicago, and it will no doubt be a HEATER. Tune in from home via LivePhish.com.
