photos by Kait Dugan and Devon Blue

The Phish band from Vermont (a.k.a. Phish) have capped off ‘Phish in 5’ at Madison Square Garden – five unique shows calling back to their 1990s era. With all five shows now in the books and the tour complete, there’s a lot to look back at and plenty to look forward to later this year, with photos by Kait Dugan from Night 1 of the residency and Devon Blue from Night 4 of the residency.

As of their performance on Saturday night, Phish has now played 94 shows at Madison Square Garden, second only to Billy Joel, and for these most recent shows, they have been performing songs and setlists that harken back to the year associated with each numbered show.

Because this would limit setlists to songs of each era, Phish would need to build some room in for improvisation (easy enough) so that things could be stretched out and they could stay on theme.

Earlier this tour, the jamming of non-traditional jam vehicles was a staple of most shows, with nearly every show of the tour featuring at least one; notably, “Bouncing Around the Room” being taken for a 15-minute jam in Indiana, “Bug” jammed for 14 minutes in Syracuse, and “Ass Handed” in Maryland clocking in at 17 minutes. So with a little practice, jams at MSG were found in traditional (“Bathtub Gin,” “Tweezer”) and the non-traditional as well, something that was warmed up for over the previous 11 shows.

In leading up to these final shows of “Phish in 5,” the championship caliber playing has continued to move ahead, even if the road for these final two home ~~games~~ shows is on the tougher side. A great deal of jam vehicles have already been played and knowing the band will avoid repeats, the potential for what will be in the last two shows, let alone what will get a jam treatment, is more limited, especially after Saturday’s “Diseaser Fest.”

The number of songs and choices the band can make are going to continue to decrease, limiting the band and creating a test for Phish – they’ll have to do something with less options on the table, like when a cooking competition TV show has chefs use ingredients only found in a gas station market.

Just as these chefs pull it off somehow, that’s what Phish will do, starting tonight. It may not seem tasty, but by the end, everyone will be satiated.

Phish has had three residencies at Madison Square Garden – the 2017 Baker’s Dozen, the 2023 7-night run, and now “Phish in 5.” The first residency set a high bar for creativity and covers, as well as staying on theme for each corresponding donut of the dozen. The second residency, while solid through and through, had no discernable theme. By the time the dust settles after the show on Wednesday night, Phish will have reinvented the residency once again, bringing a new twist and theme, calling back to classic eras of Phish and using the history of the band to take fans on a wonderful trip down Nostalgia Lane.

What have we seen each night, and what can we expect in the final two installments of “Phish in 5”? Here are some of the many things considered during Phish’s revisiting their 90s era at Madison Square Garden.

Phish – July 22, 2026 – Madison Square Garden, NYC

On night one, 1992-era Phish give us another jammed out “Bouncing Around the Room,” the first “Cold as Ice” more than three decades, “The Vibration of Life” inside a “David Bowie” and antics from Trey and Mike (laying down on the stage during “I Am Hydrogen” while pedaling their feet in the air) and Fishman (jumping on Page’s grand piano following “Love You”). The setlist had plenty of Junta and Lawn Boy tracks, a slew of heavy hitters to start the run. The 92-era post-show music of En Vogue (“Never Gonna Get It”) was a fine detail that carried into the next two evenings.

Set 1: Glide, Runaway Jim, Foam, Axilla, Stash, Cold as Ice > Love You > Hold Your Head Up[1] > Sparkle, AC/DC Bag > Reba[2] > Possum > David Bowie -> The Vibration of Life -> David Bowie

Set 2: Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Bouncing Around the Room -> My Friend, My Friend[3] -> Split Open and Melt, The Lizards, Harry Hood[4]

Encore: The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Run Like an Antelope

[1] Fish on vacuum and “GOOOAAALLL” announcement from Trey.
[2] No whistling.
[3] No “Myfe” ending.
[4] Aborted and restarted.

Phish – July 24, 2026 – Madison Square Garden, NYC

Night two meant a trip to 1993, when Rift was released and the band toured relentlessly. Alas, no horns yet this run, but we did get Trey wearing a Marvin the Martian shirt, a call back to one of his iconic ‘fits of the time. Pre-show music of A Tribe Called Quest, Morphine and Digable Planets had fans keeping a keen ear out to see what ’93 tunes would be on deck.

Opening with a high energy “Llama” and a jammed out “Bathtub Gin” were a perfect way to bring us back to 1993, as was the rare “Daniel Saw the Stone.” “Big Ball Jam” was brought out of retirement, as was ZZ Top’s “La Grange” which had Anastasio shredding on guitar for the set closer. Set two was highlighted with an invigorating opener of “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” a rare appearance of The Who’s “Sparks,” the revival of “Slave to the Traffic Light” and some weirdness in “Makisupa Policeman” and the “Kung” that followed.

Set 1: Llama, Bathtub Gin, Lengthwise -> Maze, Gumbo > Daniel Saw the Stone, Weigh[1], Guelah Papyrus, Divided Sky, Tube -> Big Ball Jam -> Tube, La Grange

Set 2: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Chalk Dust Torture > Sparks > Slave to the Traffic Light, The Wedge > Makisupa Policeman[2] -> Kung > Suzy Greenberg > Golgi Apparatus > Good Times Bad Times

Encore: Sweet Adeline, Fluffhead

[1] Lyrics changed to “on a summer day.”
[2] “Iced green matcha tea, policeman looking at me” lyrics.

Phish – July 25, 2026 – Madison Square Garden, NYC

On 1994 night, Phish looked back to Hoist and played most of the album throughout the show, even if the first set was cut short by the sound going out after just 50 minutes. The return of Trey’s Pepe Le Pew shirt and “Back in the U.S.S.R.” recalled The White Album Halloween performance in Glens Falls (also the last city the song was covered in) while “Simple” was a nearly 20-minute splendid early jam ala the previous night’s “Bathtub Gin.”

The second set opened up with a fiery “Highway to Hell” that gave way to two “Down with Disease”s and six total “Tweezer”s, a combined 45 minutes for the latter. Adding in songs from Hoist in between the portions of the “Diseaser,” the band tossed in “Catapult” and a set closing “Squirming Coil” before a vacuum-filled “Purple Rain” encore to close the night. Post show music was “Hotstepper” by Ini Kamoze, a perfect 1994 dance track as fans headed out from MSG.

Set 1: Back in the U.S.S.R., Simple, Rift, Punch You in the Eye > Wolfman’s Brother[1]

Set 2: Highway to Hell, Down with Disease -> Tweezer -> Down with Disease > Tweezer > Sample in a Jar > Tweezer -> Lifeboy, Julius > Tweezer -> Catapult -> Tweezer > Cavern -> Tweezer > The Squirming Coil

Encore: Purple Rain[2], Tweezer Reprise

[1] Ended mid-song due to FOH outage.
[2] Trey on drums and guitar.

Phish – July 27, 2026 – Madison Square Garden, NYC

After a night’s rest, Phish and the crowd returned to The Garden, where 1995 was back in style, starting with the band moving a chess piece, ala the last time the audience v band chess match took place (The band’s all time record is 1-1).

An extensively jammed out “Timber (Jerry the Mule)” was the first surprise of the evening, especially with Trey Anastasio taking liberties on a mini drum kit to his right. For those who traded tapes and later CDs, this was not as present or noted nearly as much as it could have been – Trey was having a blast and hitting the kit often. A “Ha Ha Ha” was a nice laugh after the first of these mini kit appearances, the next coming on “Halley’s Comet” which was the clear jam of the set, if not the evening.

Opening Set 2 with “The Curtain With” led to controversy as the “With” part is timed to the late 80s, but no matter, a trio of Billy Breathes songs including the title track were peppered in the set, as well as a phenomenal version of The Who’s “Drowned.” The first Johnny B. Goode this century (last played in August 1998) took the crowd by surprise and checked boxes for most of the venue.

Set 1: Wilson > Timber (Jerry the Mule)[1], Ha Ha Ha, Scent of a Mule, Theme from the Bottom, Halley’s Comet[1] -> The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu, NICU, Funky Bitch, Taste

Set 2: The Curtain With > Prince Caspian[1] > Drowned[1] > Billy Breathes > It’s Ice[1], Johnny B. Goode, Free

Encore: Strange Design, Loving Cup

[1] Trey on mini drum kit.

Phish – July 29, 2026 – Madison Square Garden, NYC

Playing a 1996 show, the year of The Clifford Ball, could have meant anything. Beyond the presumed Talking Heads song, given the Remain in Light Halloween costume that year, all bets were off, aside from an expected “You Enjoy Myself.”

And in this night, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Presley had cameos among a setlist full of some of Phish’s oldest compositions. Not to be left out, Francis Scott Key’s very old composition led off the night, with the “Star Spangled Banner” appearing for the first time in a decade, and nodding to the 2026 NBA Champion New York Knickerbockers, whose colors lit the room before the show.

Diving into “McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters,” the band kept the classic compositions up with “Esther,” “Guyute,” “Colonel Forbin’s Ascent,” “Fly Famous Mockingbird” and to cap it all off, “Harpua,” which referenced the Clifford Ball unfinished version and brought closure to Jimmy’s hanging story from the encore that weekend. And that’s with acoustic versions of “Talk” and “If I Could” in between.

“You Enjoy Myself” opened up the second set, and never let up for just over a half an hour. An impressive jam that never lost steam and kept pressing ahead, finally gave way to “Waste.” Another Jon Fishman vacuum performance on “I Didn’t Know” gave way to “Suspicious Minds,” unseen by Phish fans in nearly 30 years. Finally, with the shenanigans of any Fishman song wrapped up, “Crosseyed and Painless” made its arrival and attempted to match “You Enjoy Myself” in crossing the 30-minute mark, cresting at 31 while “YEM” hit 36, over an hour of music between the two songs.

Closing with “A Day in the Life” felt reflective (and of the era), while “Backwards Down the Number Line,” which debuted in 2009, offered deeper reflection and a nod to the past for the fans, looking back happily on this trip to Nostalgia.

Set 1: The Star-Spangled Banner, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters > Axilla (Part II)[1] > Esther, Guyute, Talk[2], If I Could[2], Bold As Love, Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird, Harpua

Set 2: You Enjoy Myself[3] > Waste, I Didn’t Know[4] > Suspicious Minds > Hold Your Head Up, Crosseyed and Painless[3] > Character Zero

Encore: A Day in the Life, Backwards Down the Number Line

[1] Lyrics restarted.
[2] Trey on acoustic.
[3] Trey on mini drum kit.
[4] Unfinished.

“Phish in 5” was no doubt an exhausting run of shows, but well worth it for those who could maintain the 5 night commitment, spread out over eight days, experiencing a journey into Phish’s past in the most Phish way possible. Throughout, Phish was in championship form once again at their home venue of Madison Square Garden, and these five shows proved to be an historic “Phish in 5,” leaving fans wondering and anticipating what shows #97, #98, #99 and #100 at MSG will look like, potentially later this year.

Photos by Devon Blue